The request for transportation of goods is created based on the customer's request to transport goods from one point to another. The module allows for accounting not only of cargo transportation, but also passenger transportation and requests for special equipment.
The system's functionality allows for the coverage of the maximum number of conditions and to take into account the features of each transportation:
- Different branches and work in different time zones
- Encashment and retail sales
- Accounting for packaging and its return
- Calculation of the transportation cost for the customer
- Accounting for additional operations at points.
The request includes information about the cargo sender and receiver, the cargo route, and information about the cargo being transported:
- Classification of the cargo place
- Characteristics of the cargo place
- Weight and dimension characteristics of the cargo place
- Cargo composition
Tracking the execution status of each request can be carried out by the logistician or responsible manager directly in the system, and/or by informing employees and responsible persons. Thus, dispatchers and logisticians receive information about the formation of another request, and transportation customers are informed about the acceptance or rejection of such a request.
Automating the process of route planning can reduce the number of trips and total mileage of vehicles, as well as significantly reduce the manual labor of logisticians in planning trips. In our transportation management system, route planning can be performed in automatic and manual modes. To plan, you need to connect to a mapping service and use routing services.
The map is also used for geocoding addresses, that is, attaching an address to a specific point on the map. Geocoding can be performed automatically or manually. The manual geocoding mode is used if the address in the request is incorrect or incomplete, or if such an address simply does not exist and needs to be forcibly marked on the map.
In automatic planning mode, the system allows you to select the most optimal vehicles from a list of your own fleet or from a type of vehicles that can potentially be ordered from a carrier. When selecting your own vehicles, the schedule of their availability is taken into account.
The task of building an optimal route and delivery schedule is to distribute all transportation requests among routes in the most optimal way according to agreements with customers, while minimizing the required resources.
When planning routes, it is necessary to take into account many parameters, such as:
- The carrying capacity of the vehicle and the transported cargo;
- The road map, including the statistics of traffic jams;
- The compatibility of the transported products;
- The driver's schedule, in compliance with working and resting regulations;
- The length and time of execution of the route, and many others.
When automatically planning, many constraints are also taken into account, such as:
- Time windows for delivery and partner work schedules;
- Delivery taking into account bypassing several loading warehouses;
- Driver schedules and planning several routes for one shift;
- Limitations on the number of goods;
- Limitations on the accessibility of transport zones;
- Collection and return of containers and other return cargo;
- The ability to deliver goods for each vehicle and driver;
- Consideration of working time in delivery points according to delivery statistics and unloading time;
- The percentage of route distribution among carriers.
The "Transportation Management" module allows logisticians to not analyze constraint data manually, but to issue the result of automatic planning for route execution control.
The planning result is visually available to the user, indicating the time indicators of the route and the length of its path.
Control over the completeness of documents upon returning from a shipment allows for improved tracking and verification of documents, which in turn improves the quality of the company's document flow.
The "Transportation Management" module allows for simplified control of returned documents – monitoring the total number or meticulously recording each returned copy with its quality indicated.
Regarding the actual return of documents, the module allows for payment of bills to third-party carriers and payment of a bonus component to their own drivers to be configured. This functionality not only improves the quality of document flow, but also provides the ability to pay only for those shipments for which a full set of closing documents is available.
Flexible mechanism for setting tariffs allows for the determination of various tariff schemes. The “Transportation management” module can be used to input a transportation request and determine the composition and cost of the transportation services, as well as the cost of any additional services provided to the client within the scope of transportation.
The cost calculation can be based on various factors, such as the weight and size of the cargo, the distance between the start and end points, the duration of transportation, the transportation mode, and more. Custom formulas based on these factors and table functions for value ranges can also be designated to calculate the cost of the services provided.
The “Transportation Management” module related to controlling settlements with customers and carriers.
The system allows recording settlements with transportation customers and carriers, and to calculate the services based on the actual data for transportation.
The system enables the accounting of the principles of payment for transportation requests (prepayment, post-payment), as well as controlling the payment terms and maximum debt limit on the level of each contract. To manage the settlement process, the system has a separate workplace called "Settlement Management with Customers", which allows generating invoices for the provided services in the context of transportation requests, monitoring the payment of invoices, and performing reconciliation of services provided by contractors for each transportation request over a certain period
The planned and actual costs are recorded in the automated transportation management system. All types of expenses, including those allocated to specific routes, transportation requests, or proportionally based on various parameters such as weight, volume, or distance, can be taken into account. These parameters can be combined, such as the distribution based on ton-kilometers. This cost accounting structure provides a true representation of income and expenses for various types of activities and cost centers, such as each specific customer, transportation types (e.g. regional or intra-city), types of vehicles, directions, types of transported goods, etc.
Planned expenses related to a specific route are recorded directly in the route. The calculation of planned expenses is performed using mechanisms similar to the calculation of service costs for clients, and is based on parameters specific to the route. The calculation of planned fuel expenses may be performed using the Waybill mechanism and inherited by the route. Planned expenses not related to the route are recorded separately.
For each expense item, the method of distribution to transportation requests is specified. This distribution is required for profitability analysis by each transportation request. Expenses for a specific route can be distributed to transportation requests proportionally based on several parameters such as time, distance, weight, volume, estimated cargo value, or any arbitrary formula.
When using the services of third-party carriers, the cost calculation appears to be relatively simple. However, in the case of using one's own fleet of vehicles, the calculation becomes more complex. In the latter case, it is necessary not only to take into account the direct costs of performing a specific route (fuel, driver's salary, etc.), but also indirect costs (rent of the office, depreciation of the vehicles, repairs, etc.), which need to be subsequently allocated to each transportation request.
In addition to cost calculations based on different criteria, analytical reporting is necessary for making strategic decisions. To analyze data on expenses, planned and actual indicators for specific routes, and other data, Transportation Management software provides a flexible mechanism for generating analytical reports which can be presented in the form of tables, diagrams, and maps. Users can customize the reports as per their requirements. The system has convenient tools for measuring and monitoring key performance indicators (KPIs).
