Logistics software: jobs, dates and carriers on one screen

Where logistics loses time.

In logistics a large part of the work runs through phone, email and spreadsheet. So information depends on who remembered what. Here are five situations and what we would change.

• BeforeThe request comes by email or call and is retyped into the job. A change survives only in the last message.

  AfterThe job is a draft with required fields and a list of what is missing. The dispatcher confirms it.

• BeforeThe customer moves the date by phone. It is noted in one place, and the warehouse keeps the old time.

  AfterA change is a request with old and new value. The confirmed date is not overwritten until the warehouse answers.

• BeforeUnfinished cases live in the dispatcher’s memory. When he is away, nobody knows what is awaited.

  AfterEvery delivery has a next step, a deadline and an owner.

• BeforeCarrier quotes arrive in different conversations. A low price without the surcharges is not equal to another quote.

  AfterAll quotes sit in one table for the same job: currency, included services, surcharges, deadline. Incomplete ones are set apart and not declared cheapest.

• Before“We chose him”, “approved” and “the carrier confirmed” are the same tick.

  AfterProposed, approved, sent and confirmed are separate states with an owner and a time. A carrier is not assigned automatically just for the lowest price.