TMS Data
TMS data is an extremely flexible and useful source of insight into any company’s transportation
activities. Depending on the tool the data is sourced from, reporting can usually be done ad-hoc,
encompassing multiple levels of transportation records (orders, shipments, loads, etc.) Unfortunately,
the level of investment can be too high for many companies to adopt. TMS implementations can incur
significant costs, both in human and financial capital. However, the investment allows for complete
ownership and control over your companies transportation data.
There are many ways to take advantage of well-maintained TMS data. It is an excellent data source for
creating unbiased key performance indicator (KPI) metrics. This is because the TMS is generally owned
and operated by the company itself and contains data on all carriers, transportation modes, and
business units. Many times relying on carriers to provide on-time performance metrics on themselves
results in well overstated figures. Only data from your own planning tool can objectively capture and
standardize performance metrics across your transportation network. Additionally, TMS data is usually a
requirement anytime a network analysis or restructuring is considered. Unlike other data types, TMS
data is the most likely to contain planning characteristics and item/order level characteristics. These
data elements are critical in building modelling scenarios to evaluate the impacts of any network
change.
3PL / Carrier Data
Carrier sourced data comes in a very wide variety of formats. In many cases this data is sourced via an
intermediary (carrier rep, broker, etc.), but there are also a significant amount of carriers that have
online portals that allow for limited TMS like data extraction. 3PL’s often include limited levels of TMS
access and data availability. If your company does business with several carriers, then standardizing
each carrier’s data format will likely be required to drive any value. Additionally, companies are exposed
anytime they rely on a transportation partner as a data source in several alarming ways. First, the data
attained may be limited in completeness and/or relatability to internally held company data. Second,
the data has the potential to be inaccurate or presented in a way that positively reflects carrier
performance, while hiding service failures. And finally, in the event a carrier relationship is strained or
severed, there is no guarantee of retaining access to this data source.
As mentioned above, the ability to capitalize on carrier-provided data often hinges on the level of
completeness and depth. Carrier data containing complete lane, cost, and shipment or package
characteristics is invaluable during sourcing engagements. By aggregating and standardizing data from
all carrier partners, companies can be successful in structuring RFPs that target key impact areas. In the
absence of a TMS or execution platform, carrier data can also be used internally to better understand
things like inbound vendor management and carrier compliance, service level and mode utilization, and
average shipment characteristics.
