This article aims to provide a comprehensive explanation of how TAI’s LTL Automation operates within the TMS. It will guide you through the entire process, highlighting important considerations and best practices to ensure you can use the system effectively and efficiently. By following the information in this article, you will gain a clear understanding of the workflow from start to finish, helping you make informed decisions when managing LTL shipments.
Additionally, this article is an essential resource for understanding the LTL features within TAI's platform. For more in-depth details and additional resources related to LTL functionality, please refer to this link. Click here
Table of Contents:
LTL Automation Overview
Our TMS offers an exceptional feature that will allow us to automate the dispatch workflow of shipments. Once the workflow is started, it will allow us to retrieve information through connections from carriers offered through the Generate Smart Quote option.
Automation Trigger
For the overall workflow, we need to highlight that it operates based on a trigger within the TMS.
You have two options to initiate the process:
Once a shipment is created and a carrier is selected through the 'Generate Smart Quote' option, the process will follow accordingly;To trigger the Electronic Dispatching to the carrier, we will enter the Check call option within the shipment profile.
Once in there, we will look to change and “select other status,” then select the Ready status.
Or
In the Linehaul section, you can select the desired carrier and choose the Ready status while creating a shipment.
This will trigger the electronic dispatching expeditiously while creating the shipment.
These two paths will provide the same result, which will automatically notify the carrier to accept the shipment's dispatch. Where we can see two different outcomes
If the shipment is accepted by the carrier
The TMS will move the shipment from Ready status to Dispatched. Additionally, it will add an alert to the shipment called “Carrier Confirmation Response” letting you know that they have accepted it.
If the shipment is not accepted by the carrier
This will trigger the TMS to move the shipment from Ready status to Sent status. Additionally, it will add an alert to the shipment called “Rejected by carrier” that will let you know that the shipment needs to be re-rated.
If this is a Marketplace carrier, you can contact the marketplace seller to get more information about the shipment's rejection. If this is a Carrier integration, you can contact the carrier directly.
Continual Workflow
After the shipment is accepted by the carrier and moved to the Dispatched status, which is the best-case scenario for the workflow to continue smoothly.
We will start retrieving information:
Starting with the Pick-Up number, which is added to the shipment automatically, right after the continued workflow. This reference number will allow you to track the load during the Pick-up stage by the carrier.
After the shipment has been picked up and processed, we will retrieve the Pro Number assigned to it for reference.
It is important to note that these two numbers will be automatically added to the shipment profile as reference numbers that you can view.
The Pro number will also serve as a hyperlink that will redirect you to the carrier's portal to view updates and more.
Lastly, the TMS will automatically update the statuses of the shipment throughout its lifecycle from the initial Dispatched status until Delivered.
It's important to note that this workflow relies entirely on the updates the carriers provide through their portal. If a carrier fails to update the portal, the TMS cannot automatically refresh information using this workflow.
Document retrieval is possible. It only depends on the carrier, which can be seen in the document manager within the shipment profile, API Document Retrieval.
Keeping record
During the lifecycle of the workflow, you can view its traces using a couple of tools within the TMS.
Shipment Automation Log
This feature will be available under the Tools options in the tools bar of the shipment profile.
This tool will provide more detailed information on what has been requested or updated within the shipment for the LTL. You can find a brief description of the type of update requested alongside the specific time of the request.
Activity log
Alongside the manual logs entered into the Activity log, you will see LTL workflow logs entered by the system, which detail the action the TMS has automatically added to this tool.
Within these updates, you can find:
- Statuses updates
- Reference numbers additions
- Document retrieval (Depends on the carrier)
