A reference number can be used as a cross-reference for most of the transactional entities used by Transportation Manager. They can also be used to capture additional data elements not formally supported in the Transportation Manager data schema (a.k.a. flex fields). Reference numbers can be supplied by an external entity such as a customer or carrier to help identify an object such as a shipment, container or load. Reference Numbers can also be supplied internally, either via integration from other applications or by users from the UI.
Reference numbers include bill of lading numbers and master bill of lading numbers. You can enter a single reference number for a given qualifier type, or enter multiple reference numbers.
When you view reference numbers for an entity, all numbers at that level and lower appear. However, you can only make changes to reference numbers at the level at which they are associated.
For example: If you have shipment level and container level reference numbers, you can view both at the Shipment Reference Numbers screen, but you cannot modify container level reference numbers from that screen. From the Container Reference Numbers screen, you can view only the container level reference numbers and also modify them.