Focal Methods — AI automation for customs brokers

The reality on the desk

The shipment is simple.
The paperwork is the job.

Every clearance hides hours of low-value typing and cross-checking. That's where the time, the errors, and the missed deadlines live.

Typed three times

The same figures get typed out of the documents and into your spreadsheets, your entry software, and the declaration — by hand, again and again.

Documents that disagree

The invoice, packing list and bill of lading rarely match perfectly. One drifted weight or quantity turns into a hold, an exam, or a delay.

Entries pile up

Documents sit in the inbox waiting for someone to read and type them up, and the queue only grows when volume spikes.

How it works · three steps

From inbox to entry, without the typing.

Forward the documents

Drop shipments into a shared inbox or folder. PDFs, scans, phone photos, email bodies — Focal Methods reads them all, in any layout, from any carrier or supplier.

Commercial invoicePacking listB/L · AWBEmail

Read, compare, flag

Every field is extracted from each document, then the commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading are compared line by line. Goods are matched to HS codes, and every discrepancy is flagged before anything is filed.

Data capture3-way comparisonDiscrepancy flagsHS classification

Review and hand off

You check a clean, finished entry worksheet with the flags front and center — not a stack of PDFs — then file it from your own customs software. Focal Methods prepares the entry; you stay in control of what gets submitted.

Human approvalPrepared entry dataYou file it

Document matching · the core check

Three documents that should agree — and the one line that doesn't.

Your commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading all describe the same shipment. When a weight, a quantity or a value drifts between them, it becomes a hold, an exam, or a costly delay. Focal Methods compares all three line by line and flags every difference before the entry is filed — so the catch happens at your desk, not at the port.

See it on your own documents

Quantities & cartons

Gross / net weights

Invoice values

Shipper & consignee

Marks & numbers

HS code consistency

Country of origin

Incoterms & currency

⚠ FLAGGED Gross weight: CI & PL read 1,240 kg, B/L reads 1,420 kg. Caught before filing — not after a hold.

What it automates

Built around how you actually work.

Not a generic document tool. Each automation maps to a task you already do by hand today.

Three-way document matching

Compare the commercial invoice, packing list and bill of lading automatically and flag every mismatch — wrong weights, quantities or values — before it causes a hold.

Document data capture

Pull shipper, consignee, values, weights and line items out of invoices, packing lists, BOLs and AWBs — no manual typing.

HS / HTS classification

Get tariff-code suggestions with the reasoning behind them, plus duty and PGA flags for you to confirm.

Entry preparation

Assemble a validated entry worksheet so you review a finished draft to file, instead of building one from scratch.

What changes

You stop typing. The work still gets done — faster.

Caught early

Mismatches between the invoice, packing list and B/L surface before a deadline, not after a costly hold.

30 min → under 2

Entry prep turns from half an hour of typing into less than two minutes of review.

Entered once

The same shipment data flows through every system instead of being typed three times.

Let's run it on your shipments

Send me three recent shipments.

I'll run them through Focal Methods and walk you through the extracted entry data, the HS codes, and any discrepancies flagged between the invoice, packing list and bill of lading — on your own documents, on a quick call. No setup, no commitment.

Book a 15-min call or email info@focalmethods.com

The shipment is simple.The paperwork is the job.