Introduction
Profit Tools software is built to handle various types of LTL trucking, including "hub and spoke" operations, "load to ride" moves, as well as cross-docking, distribution and consolidation. It will accommodate variations in process to suit your company's individual needs and business mix as well as to fit regional variations in terminology and practice.
Since no two LTL operations are ever quite the same, please bear in mind that your evaluation of Profit Tools' suitability for your business will require careful analysis on both your part and ours, beginning with your examination of the information presented here, followed by a detailed review of your needs with a Profit Tools representative, and a thorough live demonstration of Profit Tools software with your business needs in mind.
The following is a brief description of an inbound LTL move, followed by load-building and dispatching of an outgoing LTL move. You may also want to view the workflow descriptions for INTERMODAL,
MULTIMODE,
BROKERAGE/ FORWARDING,
and TRUCKLOAD.
If you like what you see and you're ready for more information such as product literature, access to our pre-recorded demos, a copy of our free report:
"How to Buy Business and Operation Software for Your Trucking
Company," or to contact us to schedule free phone consultation or a live demo,
click
here. Take your time! Before purchasing software, it is important that you understand specifically how you will apply Profit Tools to your business needs, and that all of your questions have been answered.
INBOUND LTL: ORDER ENTRY THROUGH DISPATCH
Order Entry
Enter pickup order into the shipment screen by selecting "New Dispatch
Shipment" or "New Cross-Dock Shipment" and entering available information such as pickup location, pieces/wt, description, Bill To, BL number, etc. You are not required to have all of the information up front. You can start the process with as little as a pickup location, and add more as it becomes available. Profit Tools automatically generates a tracking number, which can be used to track the shipment later, along with any other reference numbers associated. If the shipment is a Cross-Dock, it will automatically set up your preset dock location in the shipment itinerary (ex: leg 1 is pu at shipper, del to your dock; leg 2 is pu from your dock, del to consignee).
Inbound Load
Management
View your pickups on the Shipment Summary screen or in printed reports.
Unassigned pickups will appear in green. You can view these shipments by virtually any criteria you require, typically by pickup location, ready or scheduled date, and pieces/weight information for building an incoming load. With Route Manager you can auto assign the incoming leg to the vehicle servicing that zone, and it will appear on the vehicles dispatch schedule (we use the term "itinerary") for the scheduled day. As it is assigned, then completed, the pickup will change color denoting its change in status. The Shipment Summary Screen offers a wide range of options for sorting, filtering, grouping, and presenting your active shipments, to enable you to manage them by almost any criteria. Custom views specific to your needs are also available.
Auto Rating
With Auto-Rating, system will automatically rate the bill, based on the type of
move it is, and based on the appropriate rate table for the customer and freight. Accessorial charges can also be automatically rated. Changes at a later time, such as adding a new stop, will automatically add the appropriate charge to the bill, and make the necessary changes in the stop sequence for dispatch.
Route Planning
Profit Tools automatically creates the necessary dispatch events required to
complete each shipment, and allows them to be assigned to truck and driver by leg. The Profit Tools Itinerary screen then becomes your dispatch board, showing all of the moves assigned to a driver/vehicle on a given day. Here, your dispatchers can pre-plan the moves to accommodate schedules and appointments. Route Manager can automatically optimize stops, which can be easily adjusted by dispatchers. If an appointment is about to be missed, the system displays it in red. When operating with PC*Miler in place, and pre-set stop times for each location, dispatchers can accurately forecast the driver's schedule and avoid problems.
OUTBOUND LTL: ORDER
ENTRY, DISPATCH, BILLING, AND BEYOND
Outbound Load
Management
Returning to the Shipment Summary screen, you can view outbound LTL shipments in a variety of ways with the Shipment Summary's flexibility in sorting and segregating your active deliveries. For example, look at all cross-dock shipments by various criteria such as assigned/unassigned status, scheduled delivery date, delivery location, pieces and weight, etc. You also have the option to find all deliveries originating from your dock and delivering within a specified radius of any location.
Load Assignment
There are three approaches to assigning outbound loads:
-
You can assign any individual load to a particular truck, trailer or zone directly from the Shipment Summary screen.
-
With Route Manager, outbound loads are automatically assigned according to pre-set zones-typical of a distribution operation. This is done at the time of order entry by hitting the "Auto Route" button in the shipment screen.
-
You can build consolidated loads from the Shipment Summary screen.
Load Builder
The Load Builder lets you combine any group of two or more shipments and determine if the resulting consolidated load meets your criteria for revenue, weight, number of pieces, stop locations, etc. You can easily change the result by swapping freight in and out. Once satisfied, you an assign all of the shipments to a specific truck, trailer, or placeholder (such as "dock door #x if the vehicle is not known at the time) in one step.
Route Optimization
Once assigned, your Dispatchers can manage the outbound freight by truck
and date from the Itinerary Screen. Freight that has been assigned to a placeholder can be assigned to the appropriate vehicle, once known, in one step. Profit Tools enables dispatchers to automatically or manually optimize the stops geographically, for the best route, and will display an estimated delivery schedule based on projected drive times and pre-set stop times at each location. Dispatchers then have the freedom to adjust the stops to allow for other criteria such as appointment times, detours, etc. In a distribution setting, Profit Tools makes it easy to juggle freight between zones, or hold some freight to the next day, to balance loads between zones or avoid overloading. Finally, Profit Tools will print both delivery and loading manifests, as well as del receipts, directions, and maps.
Pick-Up &
Delivery Confirmation: Automated Links to Drivers &
Customers
As confirmations are received from drivers at the completion of each stop, dispatchers enter confirmation times from the itinerary screen. With Mobile Communications, this information may be input and confirmed directly from the driver. At any step in the process from order entry through completion of dispatch, Automatic E-Mail notification will send notices of shipment status to a pre-set list of recipients. You are in control of who gets notified, when they get notified, and what information they receive.
Invoicing
If you bill upon move completion, shipments move to a completed screen where they can be approved for billing. If you force bill upon pickup, shipments can be invoiced immediately and are moved off the active board upon completion of dispatch. Single or manifest invoices can be generated. For printing invoices, you may choose standard Profit Tools invoice forms or custom forms of your own design. Invoicing sends Accounts Receivable information to your accounting system. Profit Tools interfaces with several popular accounting systems from QuickBooks
Pro® and Peachtree Complete® to MAS90® and Great Plains
Dynamics®.
Settlements
Driver Settlements will identify the work each driver has done in any time
period based on dispatch history. It can also separate individual legs of any move that have been performed by different drivers and apply pre-set rates or revenue splits. Accessorial charges can also be associated with the appropriate leg and automatically settled. Multiple rate tables can be created and applied for driver or work type, or for individual drivers. Regular or one-time advances and deductions can be entered, and time payments can be set up to run for a set time period and automatically terminate.
Rate Quotes
If you are being asked for a rate quote, you can enter a new order using
pu/del locations by city/state or zip code. If you are using PC Miler in conjunction with Profit Tools, it will calculate the mileage for you and allow you to rate by mile. The shipment can be saved as a quotation and a rate quote can be printed or directly faxed. Later on, the quote can be recalled and turned into an order, or used as a template to produce multiple repetitive orders. The city/state or zip locations can be switched to the actual shipper/consignee company locations.
Document Imaging
Signed documents such as PODs and TIRs can be scanned into the system
and stored with the transaction for later reference by customer service or for printing automatically with invoices. With LiveLoad.Net, customers can access these documents from your web site.
Online Status
Checks
With LiveLoad.Net, a variety of customer service functions can be offered
from your web site, including retrieval of shipment status information for individual shipments, access to detailed business/transaction reports for your larger customers, retrieval of scanned documents associated with any shipment, and the submission of load tenders and rate requests.
Management
Reporting
A number of options exist for creating management reports based on the data you have captured within the Profit Tools database. You can run reports within Profit Tools, or use our flexible MS Excel export feature, or use a 3rd party reporting tool like Crystal Reports. If we do not have a pre-built report that meets your needs, we can create a custom report for you, or we can train you on how to create your own. Sales and revenue reports by period or customer,
driver productivity reports, on-time reports etc. Profit Tools is set up to put you in control of your data.
Custom Forms
We also offer extremely flexible custom forms capabilities. Forms can be
generated through Microsoft
Word®or Excel® templates, created by Profit Tools internal form/report generator, and by external reporting tools such as Crystal
Reports®, InfoMaker®, and Microsoft Access®.
Further Options
Profit Tools is designed to be flexible and is adaptable to a broad range of workflow conditions. For further information about how our products can help you address your specific business requirements, or to explore other workflow options,
contact us to schedule free phone consultation or a live demo,
click here. Before purchasing software, it is important that you understand specifically how you will apply Profit Tools to your business needs. Thank you for visiting!
