Automated Manifest System (AMS)

And

Importer Security Filing (ISF)

User Guide

Before we start filing it is useful to understand how AMS system to CBP is organized. AMS was developed for steamship lines and subsequently expanded to include NVOCC’s, forwarders and other entities. That is how manifest became a basic unit of work in AMS. Manifest is equivalent to a Vessel Sailing, which in turn consists of many Master Bill of Lading. For NVOCC a Master Bill of Lading represents a file or a job. File can consist of one or more House Bill of Ladings. Each house bill of lading can have one or more commodities associated with one or more containers. Before you can start entering house bill of lading data you need to create a manifest and a file with a container. When you have completed entering all house bills of lading for a manifest you need to release it to CBP. In CBP AMS manifest system, changes are not allowed. Instead of changing a record you need to delete it and then add a new one. We do this for you internally when you perform the move function, or when you reopen a manifest and resend it. Subsequently CBP has added Importer Security Filing or 10+2 for each house bill of lading. Prior to loading cargo you must obtain ISF number from CBP, via electronic filing facility. We at CMS have integrated our AMS with ISF. If you do not need to file ISF then proceed as usual. When you need to file ISF select ISF-5 or ISF-10, additional fields will open up with additional conditions. When you release records, they will be released to AMS for 24-hour filings as well as for ISF filing. House Bill of Lading input screen will be updated with received responses from CBP, including ISF number. We also provide extensive use of notes, where all actions by user as well as CBP responses are recorded. If you intend to file ISF transactions, which contain many parties to transaction in a structured way, you may find it useful to create these customer records before you start. Two records should be created ahead of time, these are stuffing location code and consolidator code, furthermore these can be added to user control so that we default them for ISF-10 filing. For each manifest transmission CBP sends us back responses, these include errors, acceptances, matches, and a multitude of notification messages.

Some of these messages are on house bill of lading level, though most are on Master Bill of Lading level. When looking for messages you may want to look at both file notes as well as house b/l notes. All of these messages are trade specific and it takes some time to get used to them. For ease of use we have created work-in-progress section, which contains all bills of lading which have not been accepted in AMS or those which do not have ISF no. and ISF filing was needed. From this section you can go directly to either manifest, file or house b/l record maintenance. Once house bill of lading has been accepted it will be removed from works-in-progress and can be tracked thru BL Status Display. We will now go thru each function. Create a manifest Create a file Add a container Create AMS Filing Create AMS filing with ISF-5 or ISF-10 Release manifest to CBP Works in Progress Correct an error and re-release to CBP Display B/L status

To access the AMS-ISF 10+2 filing program go to www.cargomanager.com and click on this tab.

You will then be taken to a login screen. Here you will enter login and password assigned to you by CMS

Once you are logged in, you will see this screen.

The first thing you should do is setup your customer file. To do that, click on the Validation Tables tab.

That will bring you to the following screen.

Setting up Customers

To setup customer codes, click on the link Customer Codes, shown here.

You will be brought to the following screen where you will enter customer information.

Enter Customer Code, Name and Address in respective fields.

You will see two fields on the right side, Customer Qual and Type.

These fields are important for determining the type of customer and what type of customer code you

will use for them.

For ALL Importers and Consignees you MUST enter IRS Number, SSN, passport number, or CBP assigned

number, in the appropriate format. When entering Importers or Consignees be sure to choose IRS for

the Customer qual and Importer or Consignee for the type. This will make searching for them easier

later on.

If customer is not the Importer or Consignee, you can enter Our Code as the Customer Qual, and then

select what type of customer they are from the type list.

When you have finished entering customer click save.

If at some point you need to modify a customer that you have entered you can come back to this screen

to do so.

Entering a new Manifest

On this screen you can enter a new manifest.

Required fields are Marked with *

The Manifest number is assigned automatically.

Steamship line, Flag and Port codes are all preloaded. If you know the codes you can enter them in the

respective fields. If not click on to open up this search screen, where you can enter All or part of the

name, in this case Steamship line, click search and get results. The same can be done for all search fields

on Manifest entry.

Once you have entered all appropriate information click on Continue to file.

Entering a new File

Once you have entered all your manifest information it is time to enter a new file.

Manifest number will be carried over as shown below.

File number is assigned by user, and can be any combination of numbers and letters.

As with manifest port codes are preloaded and can be searched for if not known.

Once you have entered all File information, click on Continue to Container to enter container

information.

Adding a new Container

Once you have entered File information you can begin entering Container information.

As shown below Manifest and File number will carry forward, to let you know what manifest and file you

are editing or creating.

If you have multiple containers you can click on the button. This will save your current

information and bring you to a blank screen.

Once you have entered Container information, click on Continue to Bill of Lading.

Add Bill of Lading

One can enter Bill of Lading for AMS filing by itself or combined as AMS-ISF filing.

For AMS Filing alone fill in the screen below then complete commodity details. AMS Mandatory fields

have * next to them.

First you need to place bill of lading onto a manifest and file. This is done by either selecting file or

manifest from or by typing them in manually.

If they do not exist, you need to go to and follow directions above.

Once bill of lading data has been entered you can release that bill to CBP or wait and release file or

manifest to CBP.

Filing AMS and ISF combined

To file combined AMS & ISF fill in the screen below then, complete commodity screen.

To get screen to switch from normal AMS filing to either ISF-5 or ISF-10, click on drown down box next

to FILE ISF and make appropriate selection.

When filing ISF-10, you are required to provide codes for Importer of Record and Consignees. The rest

of customers do not need codes, you can type name and address, all customers are required. We

recommend that you create customer records for repeat customers and then by entering code bring the

name and address forward. You can assign your own code if you do not have a required one. These can

be done in Validation Tables under ISF Customer.

Stuffing Location and Consolidator can be defaulted by user login, just setup codes for these, then go to

security and make adjustment.

Entering Commodity

On this screen you will notice a new field, Manufacturer. This is required for each commodity that is

entered. In many cases they are the same as the seller. You can either enter name and address

manually or use lookup to enter those you have saved but do not remember the codes for. As shown in

the screen shot below.

To add any customer without having to go into Validation Tables click on the look up button and the

following screen will appear.

Releasing Manifest

Once a manifest or File has been entered , you can release each one directly from the input screens.

Do to so, go to Works in progress, where you will get the screen below.

Click on the manifest, file or BL you wish to release. For example if you click on Manifest, the following

screen will appear.

Click on Release to release manifest. A message will appear telling you Manifest has been released.

BL Status Display

Once you have released a manifest, you can enter manifest into the BL Status display screen, shown

here.

Enter Manifest number, File Number or other appropriate information. Then click All and Search, where

you will see the following screen.

Here you will see the status of your filing.

You can also view notes related to the manifest, file or B/L, by click on the N in the notes column next to

the manifest, file or B/L number.

Below is an example of one of the notes screens.