BrokerWare Software Updates – October 2010

3PL Systems is very pleased to announce that NEW updates for BrokerWare are coming in October. There are many exciting features being added. The following is a list of the highlights:

Edit Shipment Pricing Window
We have updated the Edit pricing window to add the ability to assign pricing to stops. This update is designed to help with consolidation and full truckload shipments. We also make some usability changes to the page that should make it easy to use.

Calendar and Dates
Throughout the system we have updated the calendar and date entry boxes. You now have the option to manually enter the date rather that only being able to select it from the calendar drop down. The calendar is still available and has a new look as well.

Customer Portal
There is a new look to the customer portal. All the current functionality is still available. Some of the options have been moved, mostly on their home page. You will now notice a chart with shipment history at the top. We have also added some maps that show the number of inbound and outbound shipments based on state. These charts are intended to provide your customer with the ability to visualize the work you do for them.

Customer Portal - Security
Another very important change to the customer portal is the addition of security levels for customers. We have added 2 additional levels of security that can be set for each contact within a customer account. This will allow you to grant one user “Manager” access and another user with lesser permissions. These are the three levels of security:
•Full Access – Customer can create shipments and view all accounting information. This is the default security level and what all your customers are currently using.
•Operations – Customers can create and view shipments but they can not access accounting related information such as invoices and statements. They will see the billing amounts for specific shipments.
•Booking Only (Vendor Access) – Customers can only create and view shipments. NO BILLING AMOUNTS ARE DISPLAYED. This is the level of access that should be granted to customers, vendors or people that should not be allowed to review shipping charges.

Updated Menus and Searching
The menus at the top of the page have been completely redesigned. The new more modern menu system allows us to offer some new functionality.

Searching for customers and shipments has been added to the menu. That means on every page you will be able to enter a load number or customer name to jump directly to the next location.

Information Messages
We have added a tool that will change the way information is shared with you. With this release when you save information, you will be alerted at the top of the page. We have tried to make this consistent throughout the application. The color of the message is designed to help you identify what has happened with the desired action.
•Green – displayed on success.
•Yellow – shows a warning or validation error.
•Red – displayed when an error has occurred or the page could not be saved.
•Blue – displayed for informational messages.

Truckload Updates
A number of updates have been made to help improve and streamline the existing truckload tools. One of the main updates is to the spot quote section. We have updated the options for getting shipments on and off of the list.

We have also added functionality to assign a shipment to yourself or another operations person. This allows you to see and manage shipments that are assigned to you.

Combined Tracking Page (Truckload)
We have added an option to display a combined tracking page that will show all the shipments from quotes all the way to delivery. The combined tracking page is color coded to help keep all your shipments organized and moving forward. This page is optimized for truckload brokers.

There is also an option to change the home page to show much fewer links. For those of you who want to reduce the number of options in the operations and QA sections this might be right for you.

Commissions for Carrier Reps
Another big update for truckload brokers is the support for Carrier Reps to receive commissions. This allows for the Rep who is assigned to the shipment at the time it is dispatched to be added to the load and receive a commission. The commission can then be processed using the existing commission auditing tools. As with all commissions, the amounts are automatically calculated and updated based on the configuration of the rep.

Carrier Portal
This is the first release where we have support for a carrier portal. The carrier portal is designed to help small carriers work with you. They have the ability to update existing shipments assigned to them, as well as reply to pending quote requests. The new portal is accessed by providing a special link to the carrier. That saves them from having to remember a username and password. The new portal is also mobile friendly.

QuickBooks Integration Updates
A completely updated QuickBooks integration is included in this release. We have been working on this for almost six months. The update has been specifically designed to simplify our integration and reduce the issues that we currently deal with. One update that you will notice is that we now put integration and sync errors for shipments into the shipment notes.

Speed Improvements
All the new tracking pages and the quote page have been optimized since the last release. The functionality on these pages is mostly the same but the optimizations should make the page load in about half the time.

Consolidation
Based on your feedback from the previous release we have further refined our consolidation tools. With this release we have a much more complete and refined consolidation solution. We look forward to getting your feedback.

Freight Forwarding
This is our first release that will directly support freight forwarding operations. We have added substantial functionality to streamline some freight forwarding specific tasks like dispatching to multiple carriers and tracking individual segments of the shipment.

Please contact us at www.3plsystems.com or (800)965-8205 if you have any questions.

Increase Your Posting Exposure

The importance of posting to multiple loadboards at once is too often ignored. By posting your loads to multiple loadboards you are increasing your posting exposure ratio which is key to the success of keeping your trucks filled and loads moving.

3PL Systems has negotiated a great promotion with 123Loadboard.com. Now all 3PL System clients get a 3-month test drive of 123Loadboard.com's freight matching services when they start posting loads to their site. Integrating your loads with 123Loadboard.com is as easy as 1-2-3.

Contact your 3PL System Representative at 1-800-965 -8205 option 1 or call 123Loadboard.com's posting department at 1-877-875-5301, ext.3 for more details.

Never Pass on a Shipment Because of Credit Issues

Nothing is worse than denying a customer's request to book a shipment due to credit issues. Especially in this today's economy in which every shipment counts. Because freight brokers are becoming similar to banks, it is typically bad business to accept these orders. The risk of not being paid promptly, or at all, significantly outweighs potential profit for that shipment.

Credit card processing is one solution to this dilemma; however there are many of obstacles to overcome, such as the task of credit card processing for each individual load by your accounting staff. This process can be very time consuming.

What if there was a software application which allowed your customers to pay by credit card as they book shipments from your website? Meaning a customer can conveniently enter a shipment online, choose a carrier rate, transit time, and pay by credit card at once directly from your website.


BrokerWare Credit Card Processing

BrokerWare enables your staff and customers to pay by credit card directly from your website and TMS application. Customers can be individually configured to have options to pay, or to make payment by credit card mandatory while booking a shipment. They will also have the ability to pay for additional open invoices listed on their statement. Their credit information can also be saved to their account making it convenient to pay for future shipments.

Your staff will have the same options as the customer, giving you more flexibility when booking freight for non credit approved customers. To enable this feature an account with Paypal or Authorize.NET is required.

Process shipments faster for customer's without credit or over the credit limit and speed up payments by allowing customers to pay by credit card.

Please contact us regarding BrokerWare so we can setup this service for you today.

For more information about BrokerWare Software please visit www.3plsystems.com or contact Customer Support at (800) 965-8205 or email Support@3PLSystems.com