CUSTOMER STORY

Pentagon runs UK customs data prep at scale with Ripple

Sequoia-ready entries

Extraction software replacement

UK CDS customs clearance readiness

UK customs prep was high-volume, high-variation work that couldn’t keep scaling manually.

Pentagon’s customs team was handling very high volumes of commercial documentation with massive variation. Ripple took on this volume and variation, creating a repeatable execution workflow and freeing staff to focus on value.

USE CASE

UK CDS customs data prep

CORE SYSTEMS

Sequoia, CDS, CargoWise

LEGACY TOOL

Pentagon workflows

AT A GLANCE

~1400

Hours per week removed from UK customs prep

~35

FTE equivalent weekly capacity freed up

0.5-2h

Estimated prep effort per declaraton

~140

Declarations per day

CUSTOMER STORY

"I wanted the users to use it and say, oh wow, that was really easy. And they have. That has been a big win for us."

Business Process Lead, Pentagon Freight Services

THE PROBLEM

Previous software solution worked only after each customer had its own bespoke workflow.

SETUP EFFORT

Each customer needed examples and a build cycle

Operators had to send several examples of customer paperwork so a workflow could be built around that customer. Errors were difficult to decipher.

CHANGE CONTROL

One logic change could mean dozens of workflow updates

Imports, exports, and GB changes had to be maintained across 50-80 workflows, creating variation, risk of error and re-work.

COMPLIANCE RISK

Operator-made changes could affect live customs entries

Pentagon described a workflow change causing large entries to declare the wrong destination country, then requiring significant amendments.

THE SOLUTION

Ripple prepares the customs entry, operators compliance check and send to CDS.

Ripple reads invoices and supporting documents, applies the correct logic across multiple client formats, creates the job and entry structure, and hands the data to Sequoia all within seconds, leaving minimal operator checks and CDS submission.

Receive paperwork

Commercial invoices,packing lists clearance instructions, licence details, and multi-document packs arrive by email.

Extract line data

Ripple reads messy PDFs, Excel files, scanned layouts, merged cells, and multi-line invoices.

Apply customs logic

Commodity, CPC, origin, licence, Y-code, and procedure logic are structured for the entry.

Create Sequoia entry

The job and declaration are created in ASM Sequoia-ready format for operator checking.

Submit and resolve

Operators check exceptions, submit to CDS, resolve errors, and receive status messages.

IMPLEMENTATION

Deployed around Pentagon's existing customs stack, not as a rip-and-replace.

SOURCE DOCS

Invoices, clearance instructions, PLs, POs

ENTRY SYSTEM

Sequoia

SUBMISSION ROUTE

CDS via Sequoia

DOWNSTREAM RECORD

CargoWise e-docs

Logic-led, not client-by-client

Ripple learns what operators look for in an invoice so the process can generalise across customers without specific config each time.

Central control

Changes to export, import, and GB logic can be controlled centrally rather than by individual operator workflows.

Sequoia continuity

Operators keep the Sequoia/ Cargowise workflow they know: review, add missing fields, send to CDS, and handle returned statuses.

IMPACT

Ripple converted manual data prep into measurable execution capacity.

CAPACITY IMPACT

Up to 1,400 hours/week removed

• Based on ~140 invoices/day and 0.5-2 hours prep per invoice • Equivalent to up to 35 FTEs of weekly capacity • Frees specialists to check, resolve exceptions, and manage compliance

OPERATIONAL IMPACT

60% lower clearance costs and 40% less software costs

• FTE time savings • Reduces rework and inconsistent spreadsheet handling • Standard work moves from manual prep to repeatable execution • Software costs slashed

CUSTOMS CONFIDENCE

Complex entries handled accurately

• 1000+ line entries checked as perfect in seconds • Specialists refocused on checks, exceptions and compliance • Large entries become practical without client-specific workflow rebuilds

TAKEAWAY

Ripple gives Pentagon UK customs teams execution capacity without the overhead of constant manual extraction or software configuration.

Ripple owns the data-prep work from source documents to customs-ready entry structure, so operators no longer re-key data and instead focus on applying customs judgement.

For Pentagon, the old software provider model of customer-specific workflow maintenance is replaced by centralised logic that can scale across all offices, entry types, and document variation and all at 40% less than the previous software cost.