Zones
The system now has the ability to create and store Zone information within the application. A Zone is a collection of locations that can be used to group multiple locations together for easier management within the TMS. For example, if a carrier provides a single rate per mile for all of the Midwest states, a Midwest zone can be created made up of all the states within the Zone.
To create a Zone, go to: Manage → Company → Lane Management → Zones. Here you will see a list screen of all existing zones, as well as the options to manually create a new Zone, or import Zone data.
Clicking on a Zone or creating a new Zone takes you to the Zone Detail screen. The Reference value must be unique, and is used when including a Zone when importing a Contract, or used in conjunction with the RFP process.
From this screen locations can be added or removed from the Zone. Valid locations include:
Full location address
City
State / Province
Country
3 digit postal code
5 or 6 digit postal code
In this example, you can see that the Midwest Zone is made up of a collection of states.
The Zone importer allows you to easily create or update existing Zones in the system. Here you can see the multiple types of locations that can be included in Zone.
Once a Zone is created, it can be used in conjunction with the Contract Import and RFP Automation processes.
Contract Importer
The contract importer now includes an Origin Zone and Destination Zone column. If a valid Zone Reference ID is located in these columns, import process will reference the Zone and create a contract lane for each location within the Zone.
For example, if my carrier contract has a single rate of $2.35 per mile to all locations in the Midwest Zone, the contract will appear as depicted below, creating a lane for all the locations within the Zone. This process allows me to avoid creating contracts that contain many locations that are all served under the same rate.
RFP Process
Similar to the contract importer, the RFP Automation process can leverage pre-existing Zones to simplify the process. Origin and Destination Zone columns have been added to the RFP Importer, where again a valid Zone Reference ID can be added.
When imported via the RFP process, the Zone Name is displayed as an RFP lane. Hovering over the Zone Name will display all the locations within the Zone. In this example, when the carrier receives the RFP spreadsheet, they will be able to enter a rate for the Midwest zone and a rate for the Chicago zone.
When the carrier uploads the RFP response that includes their rates, the contract that is automatically created will break apart the zone data and create all of the associated lanes within the contract. This process mirrors the logic used when importing contracts that contain zones. In the example below, you can see the 2 Zones included in the RFP have created all the associated lanes within the contract.
