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Handle Exception Shipments with Exception Agent (Beta)

This feature is currently in Beta and available to a limited group of merchants only.


Overview


Exception shipments often require teams to manually investigate between tracking events, carrier updates, internal notes, and customer communications. This takes longer to understand what went wrong and what action to take next. 


AfterShip Tracking's built-in Exception Agent simplifies this process by automatically investigating shipment exceptions and preparing recommended actions in one place. Instead of manually reviewing every affected shipment, operations teams can review a ready-to-action exception task with supporting context, reasoning, and drafted communications. 


Read the article to know how the Exception Agent works and understand the end-to-end exception handling workflow.


During Beta, Exception Agent operates entirely in Copilot mode, meaning every action still requires manual review and approval before execution.


What you’ll learn



What Exception Agent does


Exception Agent automatically detects shipment exceptions, including situations that carriers may not clearly report yet. It investigates the issue using shipment events, carrier patterns, delivery risks, and historical shipment behaviour to recommend operational actions and next steps. 


Recommended actions may include:


  • Customer notifications
  • Carrier escalations
  • Internal operational alerts


Supported exception scenarios may include:


  • Multiple shipments are stalled in transit, with no movement for several days
  • Failed delivery attempts caused by address issues
  • Shipments at risk of returning to sender
  • Carrier or facility-level disruptions affecting multiple shipments


Step-by-step: Exception Agent workflow


The following workflow explains how to review and resolve shipment issues using Exception Agent.


Step 1: Review exception tasks


On the Tracking Home page, the Exception shipment tasks card displays shipment issues (pending tasks) detected by the agent.


Each task includes:


  • Exception type
  • Impacted shipment count
  • Priority level


Example tasks-


  • Stalled shipment cluster (8 Shipments affected)
  • Address verification failed (3 Shipments affected)
  • Customs document request (5 Shipments affected)


This helps teams quickly identify operational risks without manually reviewing individual shipments.


Step 2: Open the exception task queue


Click Check all from the Home page or navigate to the Exception task from the sidebar to open the task queue. The queue acts as the central workspace for reviewing and managing active shipment exceptions.


Operational metrics at the top of the page summarizes the current workload and performance. This may include: 


  • Impacted shipments
  • Resolved shipments
  • Resolution rate
  • Average resolution time


Below the operational metrics, each task also displays:


  • Task name
  • Impacted shipment count
  • Recommended actions
  • Status
  • Priority
  • Timestamps


Step 3: Review the task summary


Go to the Home page or task queue > Open any task to review the task summary. 


Each exception task starts with a summary explaining the shipment issue, its impact, grouping logic, and urgency. This reduces the need to investigate tracking events across different systems manually.


Step 4: Review the agent’s reasoning


Select View reasoning to open the Agent reasoning panel. The Agent’s reasoning panel explains shipment signals and operational context behind the recommendations. 


Depending on the issue type, reasoning may include shipment anomalies, carrier performance patterns, delivery risk indicators, or related historical cases.


The reasoning panel is typically organized into:


  • Task details
  • Agent analysis
  • Supporting signals and evidence


Ask follow-up questions directly within the task chat for additional clarification.


Step 5: Review grouped shipments


For tasks involving multiple shipments, the Grouped exception shipments section displays all impacted shipments together, including their tracking numbers, statuses, carrier information, and last known locations. 


You can also: 


  • Review individual shipments in detail
  • Remove shipments from the task
  • Split shipments into separate tasks
  • Mark shipments as resolved
  • Ignore shipments that no longer require action


This ensures that the task is aligned with the latest operational status before action is taken.



Each task includes one or more recommended actions generated by the agent. Depending on the scenarios, recommendations may include customer notifications, carrier escalations, or internal operational alerts. 


Moreover, each recommendation can be reviewed before execution, allowing you to take the following actions:


  • Edit the drafted content
  • Preview the final communication
  • Proceed with execution


You can also expand any recommendation to review the drafted message before taking action and create additional actions manually within the task if more follow-up is needed. 


For example, you may send another carrier escalation or create a new external communication.


Step 7: Edit and preview communication


Select Edit to customize drafted communications before sending. Editable fields include subject line, message body, tone, and more. The changes apply only to the current task and do not affect future drafts.


Select Preview to review the final communication exactly as the recipient will receive it, including personalization and branded styling.


Separate templates can be configured for:


  • Customer notifications
  • Carrier escalations
  • Internal operational alerts


Step 8: Run actions


Once the recommended action has been reviewed, click Run to execute it.


Exception Agent displays the execution progress in real time and shows a Completed status once the action finishes successfully.


Step 9: Review the action log


Each task includes an Action log tab that records all executed activity, including Executed actions (what was sent), Execution timestamps (when it was executed), contacted recipients, and users who approved the action.


Teams can also manually log actions to maintain a complete operational record.


Step 10: Resolve or ignore tasks


  • Once the shipment issue has been handled, mark the task as Resolved.
  • Tasks that no longer require action can also be marked as Ignored to remove them from the active workflow.


Step 11: Chat with the Exception Agent


You can interact directly with the Exception Agent within any task to:


  • Ask follow-up questions,
  • Request clarification,
  • Rewrite drafted communications, or
  • Explore alternative actions.


This ensures that the team can continue investigations without leaving the task workflow.


Create shipment dashboard views for exception handling


You can also customize the Shipment dashboard views, focused on exception handling workflow using exception-related filters and columns. This helps better monitor shipment issues.


For example,


  • Filter shipments by exception resolution status
  • View shipment data and exception information together
  • Monitor shipments linked to active or resolved exception tasks


Related exception tasks can also be opened directly from the shipment dashboard for additional investigation and action.


Demo video



FAQs


1. Will the Exception Agent take actions automatically?


No. The Exception Agent currently operates entirely in Copilot mode. Every action requires manual review and approval before execution. 


2. How is customer data handled?


Customer data is managed under standard AfterShip security and privacy policies. Personally identifiable information (PII) is not used to train AI models.


3. Can communication templates be customized?


Yes. Branded templates, sender email address, and default communication settings can be configured. You can also edit individual drafts before execution. 


4. Can I undo actions after execution? 


No. Executed emails, escalations, or alerts cannot be reversed. It is suggested to review recommendations carefully before running actions.


5. How is Exception Agent different from shipment alerts?


The existing shipment alerts notify your team when a shipment issue occurs. However, Exception Agents go beyond by investigating the issue, explaining the reasoning, recommending next steps, and preparing operational actions for review.


6. What if the recommendation is incorrect?


You can reject the recommendations, edit the draft content, or provide feedback directly within the task workflow. These feedback signals help improve recommendation quality over time.


Updated on: 03/06/2026