Customs Broker Management

Centralized platform to collect, normalize, control and monitor customs declarations received from external customs brokers.

DomainCustoms Operations / Broker Collaboration

UsersCustoms teams, brokers, finance, audit

Main integrationsBrokers, ERP, TMS, Customs Systems, Analytics

At a glance

Area	Description
Purpose	Manages broker declaration data across import, export and transit flows. The module maps broker reports into a structured customs data model, validates content, monitors declaration status, archives documents and measures broker quality.
Typical inputs	Broker reports, customs declarations, MRN/LRN/UCR, duties and taxes, supporting documents, ERP shipment or invoice data.
Typical outputs	Normalized declarations, validation alerts, correction requests, declaration status, document archive, broker performance metrics and customs reports.
Business value	Improves control of broker performance, reduces blind spots in customs declarations, supports post-filing reviews and simplifies audit preparation through centralized records.

Core capabilities

• Declaration, declaration line and declaration document workspaces
• Broker registry and mapping configuration per broker/report format
• Excel upload and mapping engine with transformations and lookup tables
• EU CDM-oriented data model for declaration header, shipment and line items
• Multi-step upload validation and detailed error reporting
• Configurable declaration status workflow and mass status update
• Comments, annotations and correction tracking at multiple levels
• Broker quality KPIs, duties/taxes reporting and document traceability

Business challenges addressed

• Multiple brokers provide declaration data in inconsistent formats.

• Companies lack centralized visibility over MRN/LRN status, duties, taxes and supporting documents.

• Broker reports need to be checked against expected operational data, customs data models and compliance rules.

• Post-filing control, correction requests and broker quality monitoring are often manual.

• Customs audit evidence must be archived and easy to retrieve.

Functional description

Customs often remains a mandatory crossing point for companies and a field not always well known by managers. It is therefore rarely questioned or even identified as an activity that can be improved or optimized operationally.

As exemplified also by the current period of crisis and increasingly fierce competition on international markets, the customs matter cannot be neglected.

In particular, the operational efficiency, the conformity of operations, the professionalism of the brokers and the amount of duties paid must be monitored very closely.

The MyTower Customs Broker Management module helps our customers to:

• Collect all cross-border transactions and their applicable duties in one platform

• Control the operations and guaranty their conformity

• Follow the performance of brokers

• Measure and follow all activity and expenses

Collaborative declaration monitoring

The Customs Broker Monitoring module has been built to monitor the consistency of brokers’ declarations (post-filing control), both for import and export.

An analysis is performed to identify missing or incorrect data in the brokers’ declarations. The correction or completion of the declaration is also tracked in the system to always provide the latest data.

There is a 3-steps workflow:

1. Integration of the declaration (by the broker or by the Shipper):

   1. The systems have a configurable integration interface, based on Brokers extraction capacities. The system setup makes it flexible and simple, without EDI connection needed,

   2. The broker imports its reports on a regular basis in order to run the consistency check and to validate the data that has been sent to customs,

2. Automated consistency check by MyTower:

   1. For each line of the declaration, identification of missing data (e.g. incoterm, Movement Reference Number (MRN) status, etc.) and alert generation

   2. For each line of the declaration, identification of inconsistent data (unknown customs code, unknown customs office, etc.) and alert generation

3. Analysis and correction of the exceptions:

   1. The Shipper and the brokers interact via the module in order to:

      1. Identify the missing data (and complete the declaration if needed)

      2. Correct the wrong data (and correct the declaration if needed)

      3. Explain the assumed error and record decision to validate the data as initially sent

Content consistency

This solution includes the possibility to carry out a comparison between the consolidated reports of your broker, and any other data source you may want to use (it can be an extract from your ERP system, a customs master data base, an extract of your flows from the customs administration, etc.).

Although you receive reports from your identified brokers, there might be a gap between the consolidation of your brokers reports and what should be expected. Volumes, for example, can be wrongly declared, causing a gap between data sources. Brokers outside your usual contractual perimeter might file declarations on your account.

By default, an automated control of consistency based on the declaration number & customs code allows to identify matching declaration vs. declarations to be analyzed. An alert is emitted whenever a discrepancy is found.

Feature reference

Declaration Management Views

The central workspace for customs compliance teams, built on a powerful AG Grid interface with three specialized views:

View	Purpose
Declarations	Header-level view of all customs declarations across all brokers — LRN, MRN, status, broker name, declaration type, dates, duties & taxes
Declaration Lines	Line-item level detail — commodity codes, goods descriptions, country of origin/destination, values, quantities, packaging, procedures
Declaration Documents	Attached documents per declaration — broker reports, invoices, customs documents, with upload/download/versioning

Each view supports:

• Customizable columns — declaration type (H1/B1/D1), LRN, MRN, CRN, broker ID, customs office, declaration status, duties & taxes breakdown, and 100+ EU CDM-aligned fields

• Advanced filtering & bookmarks — save complex filter combinations by broker, status, period, declaration category

• Inline editing — update declaration fields directly in the grid with configurable editability rules

• Excel export — with CSV fallback for large datasets (5,000+ rows)

• Show more/less — expandable error messages and long text fields

Broker Settings & Configuration

Comprehensive broker onboarding and configuration workspace:

• Broker registry — AG Grid listing all configured brokers with add/delete capabilities

• Broker reference data — broker ID, name, contact details, associated company entities

• Field mapping per broker — each broker can have multiple mapping configurations (one per declaration type/report format)

• Full-screen panel — expandable broker details view for working with complex mapping tables

• Non-editable Broker ID — once set, Broker ID cannot be modified to ensure data integrity

Intelligent Excel Upload & Mapping Engine

The core data ingestion engine for broker declarations:

Mapping Configuration (in Broker Settings)

• Excel column mapping — map each column from a broker's Excel report to the EU CDM declaration data model (Header → Goods Shipment → Shipment Items hierarchy)

• Static mapping — define fixed values for fields not present in the broker report (e.g., always set currency to EUR)

• Transformation rules — apply regex-based transformations to clean/convert values before storage (e.g., date format conversion MM/DD/YYYY → DD/MM/YYYY)

• Lookup tables — configurable value mapping tables (e.g., "EURO" → "EUR", "Germany" → "DE") with category-based organization

• Export/Import mapping — download current mapping as Excel, edit offline, and re-upload to apply changes or replicate across brokers/environments

• Mapping persistence — save partial mappings and continue later; auto-expand unmapped mandatory fields

Declaration Upload

• Upload popup — drag & drop or browse Excel files, with full-screen display option for managing complex uploads

• Multi-step validation — file format check → column mapping verification → data validation → upload confirmation

• Error reporting — detailed error grid showing row number, status (blocking/warning), error type, and error message for each issue

• ISO2 country code validation — validates country fields against official ISO2 reference list

• Mandatory field enforcement — LRN and UCR fields enforced as mandatory with non-editable protection after first creation

• Re-upload handling — update existing declarations with new report versions while preserving audit trail

• Loading spinner — progress indicator for large file processing

EU Customs Data Model (EU CDM) Compliance

Declarations are structured according to the EU CDM standard with configurable JSON schemas:

Schema	Description
H1	Standard import declaration
B1	Standard export declaration
D1	Transit declaration
Custom schemas	Extensible per customer need

Three-level data hierarchy:

Level	Key Fields
Declaration Header	LRN, MRN, CRN, Declaration Identifier, Declaration Type, Activity, Customs Office, Declarant, Importer, Representative, Currency, Total Amount Invoiced, Declaration Status
Goods Shipment	UCR, Incoterm, Transport Mode, Country of Dispatch/Destination, Transport Documents, Supporting Documents, Container ID, Consignee, Seller, Buyer, Location of Goods
Shipment Items / Goods Items	Commodity Code (CN/TARIC/HTS), Description of Goods, Gross/Net Mass, Procedures (Requested/Previous), Country of Origin, Statistical Value, Packaging, Duties & Taxes (CDU, VAT, ADU, ECT, OTX), Supporting Documents

Duties & Taxes breakdown per goods item:

Tax Type	Description
CDU	Customs Duty
GVT	VAT (Government Tax)
ADU	Anti-Dumping Duty
ECT	Excise Tax
OTX	Other Taxes

Each tax type includes tax base, tax amount, tax rate, and currency.

Declaration Status Workflow

Fully configurable lifecycle tracking per customer:

Standard statuses:

01-Open → 02-Submitted → 03-Closed → 04-Canceled

Extended statuses (example of a customer-specific workflow):

01-Open → 02-Submitted → 05-SOR → 06-ESO → 07-ECC → 03-Closed

Bonded warehouse statuses (e-globalization example):

READY_TO_SUBMIT → PRE_FILING_GLB → POST_FILING_GLB → VALIDATED → PRE-CLOSED → CLOSED

With error states: POST_FILING_GLB_REJECTED, POST_FILING_GLB_ERROR_PERIOD_CLOSED, POST_FILING_GLB_ERROR_LRN_NOT_FOUND

Features:

• Custom status configuration — define statuses per customer workflow

• Declaration Status Error column — with expandable "show more/less" for detailed error messages

• ECS closure tracking — automatic timestamp when declaration reaches closed status, with computed closure delay (date of closure – date of creation)

• Mass status update — apply status changes across multiple declarations in one action

• Submit / Re-submit workflow — submit declarations to customs authorities, amend and re-submit when needed

Declaration Editing & Mass Update

Comprehensive data correction capabilities:

• Inline declaration editing — modify individual fields with validation rules

• Non-editable reference fields — LRN and UCR fields locked after first creation to prevent duplicate references

• Mass Update — select multiple declarations/lines and apply common corrections in bulk (currency, date format, text encoding fixes)

• Use cases — fix systematic broker errors: wrong currency across entire report, American vs. European date format, character encoding issues (# replacing accented characters)

Declaration API (Inbound/Outbound)

REST APIs for programmatic declaration management:

• Create declaration — API creates a new declaration with full JSON payload

• Update declaration (full) — replaces the entire dataset of an existing declaration

• Update declaration (partial) — updates specific fields (status, date, error message) without overwriting existing data

• Key identifiers — Technical ID, shared broker key, and LRN for unique identification

• JSON format — all API payloads follow the EU CDM JSON schema; external format conversion handled by integration layer (Airflow)

Comments & Annotations

Multi-level commentary system for declaration monitoring:

Level	Use Case
Declaration level	Track anomalies identified during monthly review (e.g., wrong importer entity, generic HS code usage)
Declaration Line level	Fine-grained annotations (e.g., HS code correct at HS4 but wrong at HS6, value discrepancy on specific line)
Report level	Comments applying to all declarations from same broker report
Document level	Document compliance tracking (e.g., "V1, non-conforme pour XX")

• Mass comment — apply same comment to multiple selected declarations

• Comment concatenation — line-level comments concatenate declaration and report level comments for full context

• Audit trail — full history of all comments and changes

Document Management

Integrated document lifecycle per declaration:

• Automatic archival — when an Excel report is uploaded, the source file is automatically attached to all declarations it created/updated

• Version history — multiple versions of broker reports (V0, V1, V2...) are preserved with upload dates for audit

• Document types — broker reports, invoices, transport documents, customs documents, certificates

• Upload/Download — with document counter per declaration

• Source traceability — from any declaration, trace back to the exact source file

Error Tracking & Control

Built-in error management for declaration quality:

• Control Error Code table — structured error tracking with error codes and descriptions

• Error history — track errors across declaration lifecycle

• Validation at upload — mandatory field checks, format validation, ISO2 country code verification

• Error worklist — centralized view of all declarations with errors requiring attention

E-Globalization Integration (Bonded Warehouse)

Specialized workflow for bonded warehouse duty management:

• Automatic declaration creation — when a bonded stock movement triggers duty payment, eglobalization transactions are automatically created in CBM

• Softpak integration — declarations submitted to customs authorities via Softpak with bidirectional status updates

• Status synchronization — Trade Compliance ↔ Customs Tracker status kept in sync

• LRN linking — declarations linked back to originating warehouse movements

BI Analytics & Reporting

Power BI integration for customs analytics:

Report	Description
Monthly Customs Report	Consolidated view of BONDED stock movements linked with CBM declaration data
Overview Exports/Transits	Exhaustive list of export/transit declarations (B1/D1) with broker data

| Customs Broker Dashboard | KPIs on declaration volumes, processing times, error rates per broker |

Features:

• Cross-module data linking — match CBM declarations with Customs Tracker movements via container ID, transport document, shipment number

• Flexible date ranges — filter by year, month, or custom period

• Company name harmonization — standardize entity names across reports

Typical workflow

1. Onboard brokers and configure mapping between broker reports and the customs data model.
2. Upload broker reports or receive data through API/interface.
3. Validate mandatory fields, formats, country codes and declaration references.
4. Create or update declaration records with source file traceability.
5. Monitor declaration status and documents across brokers.
6. Record comments, corrections and quality issues.
7. Produce broker performance dashboards and customs reports.

Integrations

Module	Integration
Customs Tracker	Automatic creation of declarations from tracker transactions; bidirectional status synchronization
Bonded Warehouse	Stock movements trigger e-globalization declarations; stock allocation and consumption tracking
Classification	Commodity codes from classification feed declaration line items
Master Data	Materials, suppliers, company entities synchronized as reference data
Dashboard	Visual KPIs on declaration volumes and broker performance
Collaboration	Create correction/information requests linked to specific declarations

ERP and external system integration

• Inbound — receive materials, orders, company data, and stock movements from SAP and other ERPs via API or file-based interfaces (SFTP)

• Outbound — send validated declaration data to customs authorities via Softpak or direct API

• Airflow orchestration — all data transformation, format conversion (XML ↔ JSON), and routing logic handled by Apache Airflow integration layer

• SFTP — automated file exchange with broker systems and customs software

• Error monitoring — daily automated email reports with injected/rejected file counts, weekly monitoring alerts

Access control

Context-based access control with granular permissions:

Role	Broker Settings	Declaration Upload	Data Visibility
Admin	Full access to all brokers	All brokers, all entities	All declarations
Entity	Brokers linked to their entity only	Brokers linked to entity, own entity only	Declarations for their entity
Broker	No access	Own broker only, associated entities	Own declarations only

Additional capabilities:

• Easy role duplication for rapid onboarding

• Configurable views, action buttons, and column visibility per role

• Detail tab visibility management

Related

• Customs Tracker / Bonded Warehouse
• Implementation steps