How fireTMS reports support decisions in transport and freight forwarding

Reports in transport and freight forwarding companies are an essential tool for controlling the work and performance of the company. They not only help in making key business decisions, but also indicate areas for improvement. Thanks to automated reporting, we can save a lot of time by eliminating manual searching and later compiling data from different systems, spreadsheets or paper documents. Today, we will explain how transport and freight forwarding management can be simplified with automatically generated reports in fireTMS.

Problems with transport and freight management

Transport and freight forwarding companies often face issues with data dispersion, information timeliness and paper documents. The inability to quickly prepare a report or access current data can affect the speed and quality of decision-making, which in turn affects the company’s operations and finances.

Data scattered across multiple locations

One of the biggest challenges facing the transport and freight forwarding industry is the dispersion of information. Data is stored in various systems, spreadsheets, databases and even office files, making it difficult to obtain information quickly. The lack of consistency and integration between systems leads to chaos and a lack of coordination within the company. Ineffective information exchange within the company causes problems at every stage of order fulfilment, from acceptance, through planning and execution, to settlement.

Lack of detailed reports

Transport and forwarding companies often have problems with fast and effective reporting of work, as well as revenues and profits. Meanwhile, access to more data and reports helps to solve many problems that arise during the planning and subsequent execution of orders. The implementation of analytical tools allows you to control each stage of work and plan further activities more effectively, e.g. acquiring the most profitable orders, optimising operating costs or deciding how the company should develop.

The problem with data timeliness

Another problem in the transport and logistics industry is the time it takes for information about order fulfilment to be received. The nature of the work means that route statuses, operating cost summaries and profitability information are transmitted with a delay. This has a significant impact not only on customer relations, but also on the company’s decisions about accepting orders and planning work. Outdated data can also have significant financial consequences – delays in receiving information from the route, e.g. about fuel consumption or order completion dates, can destabilise financial liquidity.

Extended decision-making time

Making quick decisions based on data rather than gut feeling or past experience is an essential part of efficient company management. Setting an action plan based on outdated or estimated data is very risky, as it can lead to: taking on unprofitable orders, excessive or insufficient workload, delays in transport or unfavourable financial decisions. On the other hand, delaying decisions means missing out on new orders and business opportunities for the company’s development. 

Meanwhile, access to up-to-date, accurate information can minimise the risk of wrong decisions and reveal new business opportunities. Automated reporting is a key element of modern transport and freight forwarding management.

Automatically generated reports in fireTMS 

The fireTMS transport and freight forwarding management system is the answer to the need for access to automatically generated reports based on reliable and up-to-date data. Our solution collects all information about the company’s activities in one place: order data, vehicle and driver schedules, route information and up-to-date order statuses. In addition, financial data is collected – on planned and actual transport costs, as well as revenues. Based on this, fireTMS generates real-time reports on key company indicators, which can be viewed both in the system and exported to XLS files.

Reports in fireTMS can be divided into several types:

• general – containing information relevant to both transport and forwarding companies,
• for transport – devoted to areas relevant to transport companies,
• forwarding – devoted to areas of interest to forwarding companies.

Additionally, fireTMS also offers an accounting report, which is a summary of the company’s financial results based solely on accounting documents.

General reports in fireTMS

General reports are available for both transport and forwarding companies. They focus on basic indicators of the company’s activity, regardless of the nature of the business. They allow you to monitor the financial situation on an ongoing basis, primarily to have an overview of costs and revenues, and to make decisions based on the specific needs of the company.

General reports include:

• daily turnover report – contains information about the costs and revenues of the entire company in a selected period, broken down by day; it also allows you to check: commissions, margins and the number of orders and loads,
• turnover and commission report broken down by branch – contains the same data as the daily turnover report, but in the context of the company’s branches, 
• customer report – allows you to check the revenue, commission and margin for a given period, broken down by company customer, and also to see the number of orders and loads and the total number of kilometres travelled for a given customer (overall, with load, travel to route); all this helps to sort customers, e.g. from the most profitable or those generating the least costs,
• internal exchange report – allows you to check how many loads were handled by separate working groups within the company using the internal exchange and how much revenue they generated.

Reports for transport companies

This group of reports is intended exclusively for transport companies and is only available in the carrier view in the fireTMS system. It allows you to monitor the work of your drivers on an ongoing basis, check the costs generated by the fleet, as well as its profitability. This makes it easier to make the right decisions about selling or purchasing vehicles, hiring new employees or reducing costs.

Transport reports in fireTMS include:

• fleet cost report – shows the costs of order fulfilment in a selected period, broken down by vehicles, trailers and drivers,
• fleet profitability report – in addition to costs, it also includes revenue and income from orders in a given period, as well as additional data on kilometres travelled, so that these values can be checked broken down by vehicle, trailer and driver, 
• own fleet order report – shows the number of orders, kilometres travelled and travel kilometres, as well as revenues and costs, broken down by vehicle owned, 
• logbook reports – contain information from logbooks on: kilometres travelled, empty kilometres, fuel consumed, fuel consumption compared to the standard, average fuel consumption, costs, revenues and commissions; the reports refer separately to drivers and vehicles, and can be used to monitor the condition of the fleet and the driving style of drivers.

Reports for freight forwarders

Forwarding companies also need data that relates to the specifics of their work. That is why the forwarder’s view in fireTMS includes special reports presenting key aspects of a forwarding company’s work. This is especially important for the proper management of the forwarding team, better selection of carriers performing orders and optimisation of their costs.

Reports for freight forwarders in fireTMS:

• freight forwarder report – presents the financial results achieved and the number of orders and loads broken down by each freight forwarder in the company, allowing you to check the quality of work of the company’s employees,
• carrier report – shows financial results (including costs, revenues and commission), as well as the amount of work performed by external carriers carrying out freight forwarding orders,
• external vehicle report – allows you to check how carriers performed (number of orders and loads, kilometres travelled and commuting kilometres) when carrying out freight forwarding orders, broken down by specific vehicles.

Accounting report

The last of the reports that can be found in fireTMS is the accounting report. This tool is useful for both accounting and company management, as it contains financial data from accounting documents entered or issued in the system. Thus, it allows you to monitor the company’s financial results for a given period on an ongoing basis.

Efficient management and quick decision-making thanks to fireTMS

Thanks to the fireTMS system, transport and forwarding companies gain a tool that not only organises data, but also enables its effective use in daily operations.

The fireTMS system is integrated with dozens of GPS telematics systems, which enables accurate transport monitoring and the transfer of order execution data directly to the TMS system. In addition, drivers can also efficiently update statuses using the fireTMS Driver mobile application. As a result, information such as the route travelled, costs and activities performed (e.g. customs clearance, loading, unloading) is available to freight forwarders and dispatchers. fireTMS automatically includes the data obtained in this way in its reports. This makes access to verified data easier and faster. This translates into shorter decision-making times and improved management standards, which directly affects the organisation of work in the company, better customer service and, consequently, the possibility of increasing the company’s revenue.

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