Most shipments aren't a single touchpoint—they move through multiple stages (booking, in-transit updates, arrival, customs, delivery), often across several email threads over days or weeks. This guide covers how to keep a file up to date in Helm as that happens.
Returning to a Shipment You've Already Matched
When you open a new email related to a shipment you've worked on before, Helm will typically resurface the same match automatically if the email contains matching identifiers. If it doesn't:
Use Shipment Search to manually locate the file.
Confirm you're looking at the right file by checking the customer, route, and reference numbers before continuing.
Adding Documents as They Arrive
As a shipment progresses, you'll often receive new documents (updated arrival notices, revised packing lists, proof of delivery, etc.). Each time this happens:
Open the new email.
Confirm Helm has matched it to the correct existing file.
Go to Uploads and add the new documents—see Document Upload (eDocs) for the full upload workflow.
What Helm Can Update vs. What Requires CargoWise
Helm can: attach new documents and email correspondence to an existing file, and surface current shipment details (route, dates, organizations) from within Outlook.
CargoWise is required for: changing shipment status, editing core file fields, and any other updates outside of document upload—Helm is a companion to CargoWise, not a replacement for it.
Handling Multi-Stage Shipments
A single shipment may generate several separate email threads as it moves through its lifecycle (e.g. a booking confirmation thread, an in-transit update thread, and an arrival notice thread). Treat each as an opportunity to check in on the file:
Confirm the match is still correct at each stage.
Unlink any shipments that turn out to be unrelated so future emails in that thread match cleanly.
Upload new documents as they come in rather than batching them at the end—this keeps the file's paper trail current for compliance.