Parcel - January/February 2009 - (Page 11)

I’d like to give speciﬁc examples of software features and metrics that will help you in three areas — strategic planning, contract negotiations and opportunities for improvement. Strategic Planning Whether it’s creating a budget for your shipping spend or more complicated sales and operations planning, shipping and invoice data at your ﬁngertips is critical. Many freight audit companies provide shipping dashboards of your historical data. Some of the better ones allow you to enter your budget data to track and compare budget vs. actual performance on the dashboard. Budgeting and planning is easier when you have interactive dashboards with at least 24 months of historical shipping volume/spend. If it’s dashboards or reports from a data warehouse, the beneﬁts of data go beyond transportation planning and budgeting. Contract Negotiations Using software for creating metrics provides a basis for negotiating supplier contracts and agreements. Data is king. Have you ever been in a negotiation when you run circles around the supplier because you know the data better than they do? It’s exhilarating! Building a “parcel proﬁle” is the best way to accomplish this for the negotiation process. Building your proﬁle consists of: weight and zone distribution, service level utilizations, remote areas and ground transit times — just to name a few. Improvement Opportunities Software can be used to standardize the carrier invoice data. UPS, for example, is notorious for inconsistencies in the data. Once standardized, you can view the true cost of a shipment, drill down on accessorial charges and compare carrier bids easier. Software also allows opportunities to automate accounting functions like GL coding, freight accruals and much more. So how do you access tools like this when your company is scaling back? If you’re using a freight payment service or parcel audit company, ask them for these types of tools. Many will be happy to customize something for you. If they don’t have the ability, shop around; there are several out there that do, and many of them don’t require upfront costs. Software can help you build metrics to better manage your transportation and reduce your costs. In times like these, it’s desperately needed. Remember, there’s no end to the possibilities! “This concludes our broadcast day. Click.” Rob Nelson is the founder and President of Logica. He can be reached at rnelson@logicacorp.com or at 801-878-8480. p www.PARCELindustry.com / JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2009 11 http://www.PARCELindustry.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Parcel - January/February 2009

Parcel - January/February 2009 Contents Editor’s Note Going Global Transportation ABCs Mastering Management Regional Alternatives Practical IT Best Practices Packaging 12th Annual UPS Rate Analysis Navigating Dim Weight Charges More than Just a Postscript Understanding RFID PARCEL Counsel New Products Reality Check

Parcel - January/February 2009

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