Retrieve and manage freight data with ease

"With 'Rate Management', we have developed a module in co-operation with some of our customers which meets special requirements with respect to contract management and rate inquiries in transport logistics," said Scott Stevenson, Business Development Manager UK for TICONTRACT.

"Personnel working in freight purchasing have to manage an incredible number of different prices and validity periods. We ensure that these are documented and can be retrieved - an important basis for strategic decisions in transport logistics, but it also makes work much easier for the logistics department, shipping, sales and controlling."

Recurrent problems in freight data management

Most companies, regardless of their size, turnover and transport volume, do not have a uniform system for managing freight data. A lack of central storage locations, freight data tables that are often only available locally, as well as no clear overview of rate validity periods, of active and expiring contracts as well as of overall and itemised contract volumes are the result. Well-founded spend management is not feasible.

Manage contracts easily and consistently

In the new "Rate Management" module, all freight and logistics contracts are stored in a central database. An overview listing displays all current and expiring contract validity periods as well as the relevant freight rates. The module also contains templates and modules for preparing contracts to facilitate the processing of the contract modalities. All relevant documents can be saved per service provider and per contract. "Rate Management" thus guarantees complete documentation of all processes and documents.

Flexible retrieval of freight rates

A click of the mouse will create a rates history, that reflects changing costs per route and carrier over several years, for instance. All queries are displayed in a master index, that can be filtered according to different criteria (such as rates and contracts per route/country/factory/service provider; overall contract volume with one/several service provider(s);target/actual cost comparisons for budget control purposes). In order to enable other departments involved to make use of the documentation and information tool, different querying methods exist using either the Internet or an intranet. Access rights to individual contracts and rates are individually controlled. Shipping employees in individual factories and countries, for instance, may only retrieve the rates relating to them, sales employees can check freight prices and their validity periods for calculation purposes, auditors can use them to facilitate control of accounts. Laborious research to handle inquiries from other departments, which is very time-consuming for the logistics department, is no longer required.

Data import made easy

The contracts and prices in question can be integrated into "Rate Management" in various ways. If a customer is already using the "Tendering" module for freight tenders, all relevant data from tenders and simulations can be transferred automatically to "Rate Management". However, the module can also be used as a stand-alone system. Then the data can be imported via interfaces (eg XML) or as Excel files or entered in the freight tables manually.