Understanding the Costs of a UK Customs Software Implementation

• Everything in one place, reducing the amount of systems to work with.
• Great for businesses who are starting from scratch and want to simplify the setting up process.
• Single point of contact for support.
• Typically have native integrations between the modules in the system.

• Businesses with more complex processes or plans to expand in to a great variety of customs offerings will find themselves limited.
• Typically operate walled gardens and are unable or unwilling to integrate with other systems.
• Single point of failure from a systems and support perspective.
• Customs is secondary to the main application so typically not as easy to use and lacking in quality of life features that help when dealing with higher volumes or more complex processes.

• Dedicated focus on providing best in class solutions for customs filing.
• More likely to cover a wider range of customs processes and systems, future proofing against changing customs needs.
• Typically designed to integrate with existing systems.
• Dedicated focus on customs clearance, promoting ease of use and accessibility even at high volumes.
• Typically have greater expertise relating to customs within their support and development teams.

• Will not cover business needs outside of customs and compliance.
• Data will be spread across different systems.
• Can add complexity to infrastructure as integrations may be needed to link key systems.

As the name implies, Core is the central module needed to access the software and run any additional modules, but don’t let the name mislead you into thinking it’s barebones. The core modules come with pretty much everything you need to operate customs clearance in the UK.

With Core you get access to:

• Imports (CDS) – Works with all declaration types at all inventory linked & non inventory linked ports and CSPs providers. It also includes additional functionality to work with CNS courier.
  
  
• Exports (CDS) – e-customs offer all export message types along with dual running of CHIEF exports and CDS exports (subject to the HMRC timetable and demise of CHIEF).
  
  
• New Computerised Transit System (NCTS) – Start or finish your transit movements under Authorised Consignor and / or Authorised Consignee using Simplifed Procedures or under the Normal Procedure.
  
  
• GB Safety & Security (GB S&S)– Submit your consignment data for safety and security pre-border checks prior to the goods arrival and file entry summary (ENS) declarations as well as diversion and arrival notifications. Connectivity to EU ICS filings is also available.
  
  
• Simplified Customs Declaration Process (SCDP) Formerly Customs Freight Simplified Procedures (CFSP) – Covers all SCDP message types and captures a comprehensive audit trail from the Simplified Frontier Declaration (SFD) to the Final Supplementary Declaration (FSD), with a suite of reports to assist with audits.
  
  
• Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS) – Manages excise movements to and from an Excise Warehouse produces detailed audit reports and can generate any necessary Export declarations from the export EMCS movement and cross-refers to the EMCS movement to fulfil regulatory requirements.
  
  
• CCS-UK – CCS-UK is the UK’s electronic air cargo community provider, they connect inventory linked cargo from airlines and logistics operators with HMRC, however they do not have a user interface. If you want to link to the CCS-UK community, we can provide that connectivity and interface.
  
  
• Goods Vehicle Movement Service (GVMS) – for goods arriving at UK RoRo or certain Short Sea Ports report the vehicle and consignment declaration details prior to being able to depart from the port of departure.

The Duty Management set of modules encompasses a range of options for suspending or avoiding duty payments. Which is right for you will depend on your specific circumstances and your customs advisor should be able to help.

Modules in this category:

• Customs Warehouse Management – Manage both bonded and free circulation stock with smart stock selection and creation of receipts, removals, declarations and documents. Keep your existing ERP and WMS systems in place and connect them with standard interfaces.
  
  
• Excise Warehouse Management – Just like a customs warehouse, but for your excise duty suspended stock.
  
  
• Descartes e-Customs Inward Processing Relief (IPR) – Helps businesses manage IPR authorisation online from a streamlined user interface. * (OPR) on request.

Other options include:

• Descartes e-Customs External Temporary Storage Facility (ETSF) using CCS-UK inventory systems – Streamline trade at Cargo Community System CCS-UK inventory-linked airports by allowing goods to be moved from the Frontier to be held in temporary storage.
  
  
• Descartes e-Customs Designated Export Place (DEP) using CCS-UK inventory systems – Receive, arrive, and obtain permission to progress goods from an authorised business’s own premises with shortcuts to create and link declarations.
  
  
• Descartes Pentant Inventory: Allows the creation of Pentant Inventory records from within the e-Customs screens to complete the manifest record.

Committed volumes + Overages - Committed volumes allow for a predictable expense each month, while still offering competitive pricing. Overages avoid a hard cap when volumes are reached, but if you go over consistently, it may be better to increase your volumes. Line items do not cost extra, you can have as many as you would like (up to the HMRC/CDS cap of 99) on a declaration without it taking extra from your volumes.

Volumes shared across modules: In most cases, messaging volumes are shared across modules, meaning you don't need to worry about where to spend your message account, only that you have enough to cover your various operations. The exceptions to this rule are Customs Warehousing Removals, where a separate messaging count is required to record removals, and Non-GB ICS ENS messages.

Users – concurrent max usage - Users limits are concurrent – (how many are logged on at the same time), allowing for flexibility in shifts. Users are added to the core module and then can be used across all modules.

• £56 per month
• Based on concurrent usage to allow for flexibility in shifts.
• Users shared across all modules.

• £150 - £900 per month
• Duty Management
• CCS-UK

• Starts at £2.44 per entry.
• Tiered pricing structure with discounts available for committed volumes.
• Volumes shared across message types and modules, except for customs warehousing.

• £1,400 - £20,000
• Tailored and priced to meet the needs of more complex projects.
• Integrated support
• Project management
• Support with transfering existing data.