The run is done. The paperwork is still on the road.
Transport companies lose time between the run and the invoice: waybills trickling in, shipper portals that each want something slightly different, and a post-calculation that can only happen weeks later.
How it works today
The order comes in through a portal, by email or over EDI, each shipper in their own format. Someone enters it into the TMS. The run happens, the driver brings back a signed CMR, and it goes into a folder.
Invoicing waits for the paperwork. Waiting time, extra stops and refusals are on the docket somewhere but not in the system, so they are either invoiced late or not at all.
- Hauliers with 10 to 100 staff
- Runs for several shippers with their own portals
- Waybills on paper, as a scan or digital
- Post-calculation currently done afterwards and by hand
What happens, step by step
- 1Collect the order
Transport orders from email, portal or EDI are read out and matched to the right customer and run.
- 2Process the waybill
Signed CMRs and waybills are read out — including as a photo — and matched to the run.
- 3Flag deviations
Waiting hours, extra stops, refusals and damage are recognised and set aside rather than invoiced along or forgotten.
- 4Queue the invoice
The invoice is prepared with the rate, surcharges and extra work, ready for checking.
- 5Fill the shipper portal
Where a shipper insists on their own portal or format, we fill it with data that is already recorded.
- 6Post-calculation
Planned against actual run side by side, so you can see which runs and which customers actually pay.
Where it goes wrong when it is built too simply
These are the questions we ask in the quick scan. If a supplier does not ask them, they surface later anyway — usually once there is already an invoice.
- A CMR photographed in the cab, at an angle and half in shadow.
- Waiting time the driver noted on paper and nobody entered.
- A shipper whose portal requires a field your TMS does not hold.
- A refused delivery: who bears the return trip, and on what basis?
- Fuel surcharges that change monthly and are applied per contract.
- A subcontracted run where the charter invoices before you have invoiced the shipper.
What it delivers
Invoicing moves closer to the run, and the deviations get invoiced because they are recorded rather than remembered. In this trade that is usually where the margin is.
The post-calculation is the part most hauliers cannot do weekly today. Once planned and actual sit next to each other automatically, the conversation about which customers pay becomes a fact rather than a feeling.
How much this delivers depends on the number of runs and how many shipper portals you have to serve. The portals are usually the deciding factor.
Build: €4,500 – €8,500
Category: Extensive automation
Build time: 40 to 78 hours
Lead time: 4 to 6 weeks
Maintenance: Business, from €695 per month
A range, not a quote. What it becomes for you follows from the Automation Check. All prices →
See all prices →Start with one process
Tell us which work gets retyped most often at your company. If automating it turns out to be a bad idea, you will hear that in the first conversation — before there is an invoice.
The first conversation is free and without obligation. Want it substantiated? The Automation Check is €295 — deducted if you have us build within 30 days.