MacroPoint provides shippers, carriers and brokers with real-time freight visibility, allowing them to track the status of freight being moved by their drivers or third-party carriers without proprietary hardware. By having the driver sign in via a smartphone application, MacroPoint can provide tracking information, alerts and notifications, and POD capture.

At Tailwind, we understand the value of tracking services like MacroPoint. As a result, we will continue developing integrations with leading providers of trucking technologies to be the intersection — the true all-in-one transportation management system — where trucking companies and freight brokerages can run their entire business.

Before you can use MacroPoint to track your Dispatches, you need to configure both Tailwind and your MacroPoint account so that the two systems can exchange the necessary information. To begin the configuration process, click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen and click on ‘Configuration.’

Then, click on the ‘Integration’ menu from the Configuration page and select the ‘MacroPoint’ link.

This will bring up the MacroPoint configuration. MacroPoint will provide you with both a MacroPoint ID and an API Password, entered here. Once you have done so, click the ‘Enable Macropoint’ button.

You should now see a list of four URLs labelled ‘Location Updates,’ ‘Order Status Change,’ ‘Trip Event Updates,’ and ‘Form Submits.’ To complete the configuration, you will need to copy and paste these URLs into your Macro point configuration on the Macro point site.

Click here to open the MacroPoint site in a new tab. To do so, log in to the site using your username and password, as normal.

Once you log in to your MacroPoint account, click on the ‘Update Company Preferences’ link. This will bring up the page to enter the integration URLs that appeared in the Tailwind configuration. (This will be easiest if you have Tailwind and Macro point open in two tabs in your browser or separate windows on your desktop.)

Copy the URLs from the Tailwind configuration page to the matching fields in MacroPoint. Once you have done so, click on the ‘Save’ button at the bottom of the page. This will return you to the main menu of the MacroPoint site – your MacroPoint integration should now be successfully configured.

Once you have the MacroPoint integration enabled and configured, you can choose to track individual dispatches from inside of Tailwind. Open the Dispatch you want to track: a ‘Track With MacroPoint’ button should now appear at the top of the Dispatch record.

Clicking on the button will prompt you to supply a phone number for the driver, updating/supplying the tracking information. You can also set the interval you want to pull tracking information. Macropoint’s price structure changes depending on the frequency of updates and the overall length of the trip, so we encourage you to be aware of those costs when choosing an interval. Tailwind will default to the interval that results in the lowest cost.

Once you have entered the phone number and selected the tracking interval, click ‘Send.’ The Dispatch is now being tracked: the button at the top of the Dispatch should change to read ‘View MacroPoint tracking.’

Clicking on this button will display the current tracking information, as provided by MacroPoint. This will include a map showing the most recent location of the shipment and the complete tracking history for the trip.

MacroPoint also provides the ability for drivers/carriers to upload a capture of the Proof of Delivery via their smartphone app. If you use this functionality in MacroPoint, Tailwind can automatically pull the POD across and attach it as a note to your completed Order. The trigger point for transferring the POD will be set up through MacroPoint: whenever it arrives there, it will also be pushed across to Tailwind and appear on the Order as a ‘POD Attachment’ note.