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TMS Solution for Trucking Companies and Freight Forwarders

Our client is a transportation industry leader in the country. They transport goods for some of the biggest manufacturers from the automotive industry in Europe.

They operate with 100 + vehicles that are part of their own fleet, but they also hire subcontracting companies, so they can handle more loads for their loyal customers. They also have a local fleet for local transportation, their own warehouses, vehicle maintenance shops, and gas stations.

The core of their success is a trustworthy collaboration with all their customers and safe transportation guarantees.

The company works with forward-thinking managers who constantly seek to improve their day-to-day operations and find ways to work smarter, and not harder, while still growing their business.

Challenge

Our clients are managing their operations using multiple software tools to perform operations like order management, tracking and management costs, GPS tracking, invoicing, and finance management. None of these tools that are serving different parts of the process are connected in any way, or able to offer some kind of cross-functional operations so that our clients could make use of the data stored in each of them.

Furthermore, most of these software tools are still desktop-based, which means there is a number of usability constraints that are being overcome slowly, or not at all.

Therefore, the company felt the need for a solution that will integrate all of the processes and data related to it, while at the same time being easy to use and flexible enough to fit exceptional situations.  

Solution

To be able to provide flexibility and advanced visibility, we needed to create a model for a full-specter TMS solution that will connect all the operations from different departments in one place. Our goal is to focus all operations around the transportation order, as the primary and most important entity that is at the core of the processes in each department.

Using the transportation order as a starting point, we could develop fully automated processes where we can plan routes based on order locations and deadlines, we can track the movement status of the order, can attach costs related to the order, generate invoices from the order and use the order to provide a different kind of reports for all management levels.

Therefore our TMS solution was developed using modular architecture on the ERP, which is consisted of a few main modules, that aim to provide the main services – order management, route planning, route dispatching, order invoicing, and payment.

To enable the fully automated processes we also use a few auxiliary modules, like fleet management, driver management, customers, contracts, and documents, that “feed” the main processes with the necessary information.

Additionally, to enhance visibility, we followed the native process of all the users/operators to create a logical flow within the software. that tracks all the states and status changes for all of the important entities. Based on that flow we were able to design an advanced notification system that will alert the user when exceptional situations occur.

The Driver Assistance mobile app is also part of the whole TMS solution, and it aims to provide the driver with correct, on-time information in one place so that errors and miscommunications can be avoided. Also, by using the mobile app, the driver will be able to make records of any important documents or events, that are shared with the back office in real time, which also adds value to the visibility features that the system provides.    

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Result  

We can separate the main benefits of a TMS solution into a few areas which are:

Advanced visibility

The TMS integrates all the processes on one platform and enables our client to handle every part of the workflow in a few clicks. Therefore, now they can:

  • follow the resources  that are important to them (orders, drivers, vehicles, invoices), throughout the whole flow of operations and activities,
  • overview orders and other resources in every status they can be found – they know what’s happening with their items  at any point in time
  • receive notifications when some events in the flow occur and respond timely and effectively

All these should support the main goal which is – to plan more effectively and to get ahead of difficult situations by working smarter, which provides the basis for the next point. 

Manage expectations

The concept of visibility that the TMS is offering is not only based on a set of tools that will help eliminate excel tables and manage operations from one platform. The software is designed to be a tool that will help in making smarter decisions, faster. The modularity of the software, the visibility of each entity in every possible state, and the integrated alert system enable the user to be aware of potential issues with the process and react proactively instead of reactively. The TMS manages all the data that pass through the client’s processes to provide accurate, up-to-date information for the operator to resolve issues quickly, and even before they happen.

Data-driven decisions

Bad data is the main reason for main bad business decisions. Since the service the TMS provides relies on managing data flows and processes, maybe the most important tool it has is the reporting and analytics tool. Our clients can now get reports that are customizable in a way that they can extract just the right information. Tracking the right costs for the right items helps with building better pricing strategies, or making any decisions that will support business at the highest level, and most importantly, our client’s findings will always be supported by facts derived from actual data.

Solza Tanovska

Mar 22, 2019

Industry

Transportation and Logistics

Technologies

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