Shipping cost calculations

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Shipping cost calculations

    This framework enables ServiceNow customers to integrate shipping cost calculations into Sourcing and Purchasing Automation. It supports accurate purchase approvals by including shipping cost estimates in the total purchase value. Shipping estimates can be provided by both ShoppingHub administrators and buyers, allowing flexibility and control over shipping cost management.

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    Key Features

    • ShoppingHub Administrator Shipping Estimates: Administrators can set a default system-wide shipping estimate as a percentage via the snshop.default.shipping.estimate system property. This applies when no other estimates exist and can reflect organizational policies on acceptable shipping cost thresholds.
    • Inclusion of Shipping Estimates in Purchase Requests: Through the snshop.shipping.estimate.inclusion system property, administrators control whether shipping estimates are included in purchase request approvals.
      • If set to true, shipping estimates from cart lines or checkout are included in purchase lines and total amounts for approval, excluding cost allocation estimates.
      • If set to false, shipping costs are excluded from both approval calculations and checkout, regardless of existing shipping data.

      Note: Shipping estimates are excluded from the total amount once a purchase request converts to a purchase order.

    • Buyer-Provided Shipping Estimates: Buyers can set shipping estimates at two levels:
      • Supplier Level: Enter a default shipping percentage on the supplier record to apply to all orders from that supplier without product-level estimates.
      • Product Level: Enter a default shipping percentage on individual supplier product records, which takes precedence over supplier or system-wide estimates.

      Decimal values entered represent percentages (e.g., 10.5 is stored as 10.5%).

    • Shipping Cost Calculation Logic in Cart: For goods, shipping cost estimates are calculated using prioritization logic based on available estimates. For services, shipping cost is shown as zero.

    What Customers Can Expect

    By implementing this framework, ServiceNow customers can ensure that shipping costs are accurately estimated and included during the purchase approval process, reflecting true purchase values. This helps maintain compliance with organizational policies on shipping expenses and improves budgeting and cost control. The flexibility to configure estimates at system, supplier, and product levels allows tailored control over shipping cost calculations for purchasing activities.

    A framework to integrate shipping cost calculations into Sourcing and Purchasing Automation is implemented such that approvals can be done on the full value of purchases.

    Shipping estimates can be provided by both the ShoppingHub administrator and the buyer.

    Shipping estimates from ShoppingHub administrator

    A ShoppingHub administrator can set a default system-wide shipping estimate as a percentage. This can then be applied to all purchases that require shipping, when no other shipping estimates or data exist. This is enabled through a system property sn_shop.default.shipping.estimate. Organizations that have a policy around an acceptable threshold shipping cost might want to enter the threshold in the sn_shop.default.shipping.estimate.

    A ShoppingHub administrator can also configure shipping estimates to be included in purchase requests for the approval process. This is enabled through a system property sn_shop.shipping.estimate.inclusion, which is included in purchase request approvals. If this inclusion is marked as true, the shipping estimate from the cart line or checkout is included as a field in the purchase line and in the total amount in the purchase request, while the estimate in cost allocation is not considered. However, if this inclusion is marked as false, not only would shipping be excluded in the purchase request approval process, but also not calculated at checkout, even if data is included at the product, supplier, or system levels.

    Note:
    When a purchase request becomes a purchase order, the shipping estimate is not included in the total amount.

    Shipping estimates from buyer

    A buyer can set shipping estimates at the following levels:
    • Supplier:

      Set a standard percentage estimate for shipping costs from a specific supplier. This estimate is then applied to all the orders that require shipping from that supplier, which do not have any estimate at the product level. In the Purchasing Automation tab of the supplier record, enter a shipping estimate value in decimal in the Default shipping estimate for products from this supplier (calculated as percentage of negotiated unit price) field.

    • Product:

      Set a default shipping estimate for a supplier product record. This is then prioritized in estimating the shipping cost of a purchase over any supplier level estimate or default shipping estimate. In the Purchasing Automation tab of the supplier product record, enter a shipping estimate value in decimal in the Default shipping estimate for this supplier product (calculated as percentage of negotiated unit price) field.

    Note:
    The entered decimal values are stored in percentage. For example, a shipping estimate value of 10.5 is stored as 10.5%.