Prompt handling of new Common Locations and Mappings is essential to the proper operation of the TMS system. Please make certain your team knows how to handle this correctly.

  • All requests for a new port or railhead must be handled immediately upon receipt.
  • This must be done before any vehicles are assigned to a new location.
  • Failure to complete this on time may result inlost or delayed revenue and potential loss of OEM contracts.

Setting up a common location for any new port or railnead is a three step process, which is demonstrated in this document. All three steps are required. 

 

STEP 1: Set up the Common Location in the TMS

Common locations can be added under the Admin menu, Common Location:

Screen Shot 2015-10-23 at 2.31.27 PM

 

Click the Add Location button:

 

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The File Automation system takes care of receiving and sending many of the files that come and go from the OEMs. Not ALL imports and exports have been automated, and some must be done manually through the Admin/Data Import and Admin/Data Export menu items. We are continually improving the program to automate more of these functions so your job is easier. These functions have recently been automated, if you are still doing them manually you no longer need to do that:

 

The desktop app allows you to easily check driver mobile device and mobile app information.

On the Admin/Drivers window, there is a tab called “Mobile Device”.

vda-driver details screenshot

On there you will find:

  • “Login info” section
    • All of the driver’s login information — user code, PIN, and truck number
  • “Mobile app” section
    • The last date and time they logged in, and the app version number and build number
    • Latest released version of the mobile app
    • The earliest version of the mobile app that is compatible with the current desktop app
  • “Driver mobile device” section
    • Phone platform, make, model, OS version, device name (if any), and cell carrier

The “Login info” section is filled in for all drivers, and may help you when talking to drivers who have trouble logging in.

The “Mobile app” and “Driver mobile device” information is now being recorded by the new 1.2.0000 (421) version, so as your drivers download the new version and log in, you will be able to see their device and app information and the version of the app they are using.

NOTE: If the “Mobile app” login information and the “Driver mobile device” information are not filled in for a driver, that means they are not yet using the 1.2.000 (421) version.

There is also a Mobile Device summary window to see the status of all drivers at once and print a report, this is covered in a separate blog entry.

After a delivery is made with the mobile app, an email is sent to the dealer with a link to an online Bill of Lading (BOL). You can use the Vehicle Desktop Application to display this BOL in your browser by going to the Load Details window. Find the load you want, then click the new “Dealer Bill of Lading” button to open your browser and display just what was sent to the dealer. This way if a dealer calls in with a question, you can look at the exact document they have in front of them.

 

The load must be delivered using the mobile app to use this function, loads delivered using the desktop application do not generate online BOLs for the dealers.

Loads are identified in the desktop and mobile apps by their Load Number. The load numbers are 8-digit numbers like “15040555”, which breaks down like this:

about-load-numbers-year-month-count15040555

15: the last two digits of the year, so this load was created in 2015

04: the 2-digit month number, so this load was created in April

0555: load number this month, starting with 1, so this is the 555th load created in April 2015