Efficiency gains, supply chain transparency, and reduced transportation expenses can all be yours with the right software system for your company. A piece of software that falls under the umbrella of supply chain management that specifically addresses transportation operations is the transportation management system (TMS) (Mei & Eliot, 2017). The transportation industry is becoming more complicated and competitive, and TMS has become an essential tool in this environment. A TMS can improve performance, lower transportation costs, and increase customer satisfaction, regardless of whether the manufacturer or a 3PL like DHL or Kuehne + Nagel is using it.

In order to help you choose the best transportation management system, this post will go over the five most important criteria.

Top Features to Look for in a TMS Software

1. Highly effective optimization system

While there are plenty of transportation management systems (TMS) available today, not all of them include optimization engines that can help you find the best possible routes to take in order to meet all of your delivery limitations, whether that's minimizing expenses or making the most efficient use of your vehicles' capacity. Ensure that the TMS you choose has a robust optimization engine, preferably more than one:

Load Optimization: To optimize the load, you must arrange the pallets or packages on the vehicle according to certain requirements, such as stackability.

Route Optimization: The goal of route optimization is to maximize the use of available vehicles and routes by carefully planning shipments.

Strategic Freight Management: Arrange carrier bids for long-term contracts according to risk, capacity, and cost; this is strategic freight management.

Selection of Carrier: Make arrangements for shipments' carriers taking allocations, company shares, and expenses into account.

2. Monitoring in Real-Time

Products can be more easily managed if TMS allows them to be tracked as they travel through the network and provide a complete picture of each step of transportation. You should make sure that the TMS you choose has a high rate of accurate tracking and monitoring, good administration, and automatic alerts for road occurrences.

As an example, KOSPA Logistics uses the TMS Abivin vRoute, which aggregates GPS data in real-time and allows users to see where their products are in transit from carriers and fleet.

3. Management of carrier contracts

Contracts are the backbone of TMSs. By centralizing contracts in an e-database with the capability to provide access and cutting-edge decision-support tools for the transportation management team, the prospective TMS should help the organization make the most of the favorable terms and negotiated lanes set up for the business.

Abivin and another Canadian multinational technology business have created a TMS that is easy to set up, provides role-based access, and can handle multimodal contracts with a lot of flexibility. Thousands of agreements can be supported in real-time on the platform. Carriers' profiles can be enhanced with customizable geographic descriptions of effective dates, transit times, zones, lanes, and expiration notices.

4. Integration with leading ERP, WMS or OMS system

The linked supply chain is at war with information silos. Businesses can improve their insight into items from purchase to inventory and transportation by integrating TMS data with ERP and WMS or OMS, two internal data sources. A centralized hub that aggregates data from various sources and presents it in an easily navigable dashboard serves as a single point of reference for monitoring product visibility across the entire supply chain, allowing for a holistic view of the products at every stage.

The goal of manufacturers and distributors integrating ERP with WMS or OMS with TMS is to improve planning and coordination by providing a more comprehensive view of processes. This will allow for stronger end-to-end visibility across shipping and warehouse functions, including order processing, record access, and general ledger information (Stackpole, 2014).

5. Data Analysis and Reports

One of the easiest ways to understand and communicate crucial information is through reports. Hence, a TMS worth considering should come with both traditional reporting tools like dashboards and charts and more modern ones like specific shipping patterns and visualization maps. Quick and easy reporting allows for the sharing of critical data and analysis that might shed light on patterns. Additionally, a transportation management system must provide functionality for reporting logistical KPIs. If you want to get TMS Software development services, you can get in touch with us.

For instance, Transwide Analytics's TMS system provides a holistic picture of performance, scorecards for specific carriers, and freight prices through the use of graphic reports that cover critical transport indicators. Better, quicker, data-driven business decisions are possible as a result of this practical insight.

Must have: Security

Not only does a TMS system provide reporting, but it also safeguards the company from data breaches, has adequate backup procedures, and can adapt to changing performance expectations. A solid TMS, say the experts, will keep customers safe at all times. External users should require an invitation before they can access the system, and only authorized users should have access to critical statistics. In addition, an integrated access logging procedure should record all user logins, and the events log records all major events in the progress of a shipment or cargo.

Security management kit software, which may identify unauthorized changes to hardware or software through profile management, should also be installed on TMS platforms. Its stated goal is to prevent unauthorized users from accessing Windows, prevent unauthorized USB mass storage devices from being used, and aid administrators in securely managing BIOS passwords (TMD Security GMBH, 2018).

The use of TMS has the potential to facilitate the smooth operation of supply chains both domestically and internationally. So, to simplify the supply chain, a TMS should include capabilities like a robust route optimization engine, real-time tracking, carrier contract management, reporting, and the ability to connect with top ERP, WMS, or OMS systems.