Keep up to date with the latest information from 3PL Systems.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Today's Tips & Tricks
From your toolbar, choose “Support”, then “Create Request”.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Expedite the LTL Rating Process
3PL Systems understands that time management is vital to freight brokers. To assist freight brokers with this common struggle we have developed tools in our TMS needed to assist in making these responsibilities more manageable. Amongst the various ways many freight brokerages split their time is by spending several minutes researching carrier websites every time a quote is needed. Another obstacle freight brokers are often faced with is the numerous incoming and outgoing calls and emails for quote requests. This is something anyone would find not only time consuming, but frustrating. These problems can be solved with our application and the integration with SMC3.
Solutions to Your Struggles
Searching multiple common carrier websites for LTL rates is an inefficient way of generating cost information for your customer shipments. With BrokerWare’s Least Cost Routing (LCR) and SMC3’s RateWare, you can generate multiple LTL rates in seconds, opposed to minutes when using carrier websites. Also useful for LTL planning is BrokerWare’s SMC3 Carrier Connect integration. This integration will populate transit times and terminal contact information, useful for dispatchers to schedule pickups. By utilizing our integration, dispatchers can spend more time helping your customers with their needs to increase customer satisfaction.
LCR will manage hundreds of different customer specific discounts, giving your customers the convenience of retrieving rates and selecting their most favorable option through their customer portal. With SMC3’s package for BrokerWare, customers are able to get accurate pricing for customer tariffs and compare multiple rates in seconds. This eliminates mistakes and saves time by doing away with the need for several calls and emails exchanged between your customers and dispatchers. Additionally, an advantage of the convenience of a preset margin is, by establishing customer tariffs errors in profit calculations will never be an issue resulting in meeting optimal profit potential.
3PL Systems recognizes the value and importance of your time, therefore, we ensure BrokerWare successfully integrates with SMC3 products to assist in your day to day struggles. The goal of offering the simplicity of these solutions all within one system has proven to increase efficiency and revenue, something any freight broker would appreciate.
For more information about BrokerWare Software please visit www.3plsystems.com or contact Customer Support at (800) 965-8205 or email Support@3PLSystems.com
Sunday, January 16, 2011
BrokerWare Software Updates – Feb. 2011
Menu Searching
The search bar in the top menu has been updated to include both shipments and customers in the same search results. This update eliminates the drop down options that were previously used to change the search type. The updated search will also allow for more advanced searching options, such as, pro numbers, shipper numbers, AR invoice number and AP invoice numbers. The home page still has advanced searching options if needed.
Terminal Information from Carrier Connect
We have added functionality to show the carriers origin terminal information on the dispatch and confirm pickup tracking pages. This information is collected by the SMC3 Carrier Connect application and updated monthly. When requesting the terminal information make sure that a carrier is assigned and that the SCAC code for the carrier is correct.
Tariff Enhancements
The tariff engine has been further updated to give more functionality for service areas. We have expanded on the ability to add additional charges for each service area. This allows you to add charges based on percentage, cost per hundred, pallet among other options. This enhancement will help with island delivery and high cost service areas.
We have also added the ability to link supplemental charges to service areas. This is a new set of functionalities and is in addition to the ability to link supplemental charges to tariffs. Primarily, this will help with high cost service areas, but will allow for many additional options. It is important to note that service area supplemental charges will take precedence over tariff level charges.
Default AP Invoice Date
For a long time the system has allowed the default AR invoice date to be changed from today, pickup date or delivery date. With this release we are now providing the same options for the default AP invoice date. You will notice this option when using the receive payables page to confirm carrier invoices.
Logout Screen
We have updated the login and logout page to allow you to return to the most recent page you were working on. This will avoid having to return to the home page after entering your login information. This update will assist when opening a link from an email or when returning from lunch.
Equipment Types for Load Boards
The ability to post custom equipment types to load boards has been added. We have expanded the equipment type list, (under the setup menu), to also allow you to map the equipment types in BrokerWare to the equipment types for each of the active load boards.
Shipper Number by Customer
We have added the ability to force a customer to select the shipper number from a pre-defined list of options. The list of options is set from the customer profile page, and can be customized for each customer.
Grouping by Equipment
This is a big functionality change that does not apply to everyone. Currently our grouping functionality only groups shipments based on the sales rep linking to the shipment. We now support the ability to group shipments based on the equipment type selected. This option will allow you to divide your operations team based on the types of shipments. It is important to note that grouping works based on sales reps OR equipment, but does not work for both.
Customer Portal - Security
We have continued to improve on the security options in the customer portal. We have extended the Booking Only (Vendor) access level to only allow the user to view shipments they created. Meaning, those users will no longer be able to see all shipments for the customer account.
QuickBooks Integration Updates
Additional updates to the QuickBooks integration are included in this release. We have been working on this for quite some time and have continued to improve on the recent updates. One update you will notice is that we now put integration and sync errors for shipments into the shipment notes.
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 your feedback.
Friday, December 10, 2010
Login-Less Carrier Portal That Benefits Freight Brokers
1. How effective are carrier portals in the market today?
2. Do owner operators remember username and passwords for every broker they move freight for?
3. Why would a carrier login to a freight broker's website in the first place?
4. Can Carriers access their portal on Mobile devices?
3PL Systems has the answer to each of these questions… a Carrier Portal with no login required. This unique approach was created with you AND your carriers in mind. We have taken feedback from within the industry and successfully developed this user-friendly solution.
The Carrier Portal will allow carriers to log into their individual carrier portal by clicking on a hyperlink that is provided through quoting or tracking emails. The hyperlink can be saved as a bookmark on the carrier’s web browser for future reference. This provides a fast and secure way for your carriers to access their information without having to remember a username and password.
Below are some solutions the Login Less Carrier Portal provides to carriers and freight brokers.
Get Tracking Updates From Carriers
Your staff can email an Owner Operator to request tracking updates for your shipments. Owner operators can easily open the portal through a web enabled mobile device and communicate the latest shipment status instantly for all shipments currently moving. All shipment updates will be posted as a public note for staff and customers to view.
Respond to Quote Requests and Bid on Available Loads
Carriers will have a one stop shop to respond to your quote requests and bid on available loads. They can review the shipment information and submit a quote response through the Carrier Portal.
They also have the ability to login to their carrier portal to see available loads to bid on. You can make these loads available to them through our Carrier Spot Quote Section. This allows carriers to be proactive during the bidding process and search for uncovered shipments..
Give Your Carrier the Opportunity to Post Their Equipment
Your carriers can now post their available equipment on the new carrier portal. All available equipment that is posted will be available for your dispatchers to research when looking to cover a load.
For more information about BrokerWare Software please visit www.3plsystems.com or contact Customer Support at (800) 965-8205 or email Support@3PLSystems.com
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Tracking Pages
BrokerWare’s tracking pages are designed to help promote time management within the application. These pages allow the user(s) to perform several tasks for a shipment without having to go to the shipment profile each time. This also allows user(s) the ability to update several shipments in the same amount of time it would take to update one. These changes can range from altering the shipment weight, to updating the status of a shipment.
Getting Started
Depending on the link selected from the home page, each tracking page will then display the according type of shipments. There are two types of tracking pages: a Primary Tracking page, which will display all loads per that status (ex. quoted, booked, dispatched, in transit, delivered) and a Filtered Tracking page, which are listed on the home page under the primary link with names such as “View by Carrier” or “Dispatch Today.”
These Filtered Tracking pages will sort all loads within that status/section and per your selection. For example, the “Dispatch Today” page, lists all loads currently needing to be dispatched with a pick up date of today or before. Primary and Filtered pages can be differentiated by the indentation on the home page.
Updating Shipment Status
Tracking pages can be used to update statuses for multiple loads at once. The listed shipments are initially collapsed on the tracking page screen, with an expand button on the far right to expand the listed shipment. When a load is expanded you can add shipment notes, change the pickup and delivery date, and even push the load into the next status. These options may change based on the status of the individual shipment.
Edit Commodity or Edit Pricing
On the tracking pages some shipment details are listed and underlined. This line indicates that an action is followed by selecting that value, such as shipment weight and price. By selecting either of the two the appropriate pop up window will be displayed (edit commodity or edit pricing) for that shipment. You can also select the Load Number that is underlined which will direct you to the individual load’s shipment profile.
Sorting
All tracking pages give you the option to sort information based on section headers. All underlined headers allow one to sort results based on that section. Note: when sorting based off of shipper or consignee location, the page will sort based off of the state acronym, and not the address. This is useful for your operational staff that monitors loads delivering to a state in a different time zone.
Filter List
Entering text into this field causes the page to refresh and display all loads with matching criteria. For example, if you enter a carrier SCAC code you will be left with all loads with that SCAC displayed as the assigned carrier.
Legends
Each load listed on a tracking page has a color coded indicator. The meanings of these colors change depending on the page you are on. The legend explaining the meaning of each color can be displayed by selecting the “Show Legend” link on the tracking page you are on.
More Options
When selected, the “More Options” link will expand and list all other filtered pages in that section. For example, if you are on the Dispatch Tracking page, the “More Options” link will display filtered pages from the home page, such as “Orders to be Dispatched Today”, “View by Carrier” and “Customer entered order”.
Check Boxes
The Check Boxes allow you to select and update multiple loads at once. Once making a few selections, click the “Save Selected” button at the bottom of the page. This will direct you to a page which allows the confirmation and status updates of all loads selected.