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Full Circle TMS is moving closer to completing their vision of a “No Touch” Transportation Management System with the aid of Artificial Intelligence.
The definition of a “No Touch” TMS is for a carrier or broker to create an order, source the capacity, dispatch the order, update the order throughout the various order milestones (arrive, load, empty, check calls), keep the shipper informed of all milestones (visibility), invoice the customer and pay the driver and/or carrier, all this, without a keystroke or mouse click. At Full Circle TMS, they have it down to about 30 keystrokes.
The biggest challenge for the “No Touch” TMS is “order entry” since it requires the greatest number of keystrokes to create a new order. EDI and API interfaces have helped to automatically create orders, but the predominant way carriers/brokers get new order data is from a PDF rate confirmation document from their shipper. Then a user must manually enter the order from the PDF document. Not only does the manual order entry take a lot of time, but a user can also mistype information, thereby introducing errors into the process.
“Our latest innovation involves the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate the order from a PDF rate confirmation document.” says Stuart Sutton, Founder of Full Circle TMS. “Normally, this would be simple if all shipper rate confirmation documents were the same. But unfortunately, they are all different. Not only that, but a rate con can also contain errors like misspelling of address data or mistyped date/time formats.”
To train the AI bot, Full Circle TMS amassed a wide variety of shipper rate confirmation documents and then iteratively built the bot algorithm. With good accuracy, the bot can extract pickup and delivery data, pieces, weight, dimensions, pay amount, truck class, special instructions, contact data, reference numbers and much more.To eliminate keystrokes for the TMS user, Full Circle provides a special email address where the shipper can send the rate confirmation document as an attached PDF. The TMS intercepts the email, sends the PDF to the bot, and then the bot extracts the data and creates the order. The bot also uploads the PDF document into the order and tags the document as a “Rate Con”. The bot also uploads the entire email thread to the order. Finally, the bot sends the shipper a confirmation email that the order is created and includes a link to “track” the order.
“Without lifting a finger, the TMS user has the order created, the PDF image attached to the order and the entire email thread attached to the order.” Says Sutton. “With just a few mouse clicks, the order can then be dispatched, and all the information is in the hands of the driver or carrier doing the work.”
“We have been using Full Circle TMS as our operating system for 5 years now.” says David Harrison, owner of Little Truck Solutions of Concord, NC. “Over the years, I have used many TMS systems, and I can easily say that Full Circle TMS is the most progressive, forward-thinking technology partner I have dealt with. They are tirelessly working to make our lives easier and more efficient. We are one of the first subscribers of Full Circle TMS to try this new AI technology and it is exciting to see how well it works and how quickly it learns.”
Full Circle TMS has already automated many of the other TMS functions to eliminate keystrokes. This includes: sourcing capacity (“offer load to multiple drivers”, “build your own load board” and “book it now” functions); visibility (the built in “Circle Mobile” app that works both for company drivers and outside carriers); shipper portal (shipper can enter orders, track active orders, see and upload paperwork, etc.); carrier portal for brokered loads (carrier can see and sign rate cons, see all active and historical loads, update orders, upload paperwork including their invoice, and more), auto email of shipper invoices with attached paperwork; driver “Self-Serve” advances (from the Circle Mobile app, the driver can get their own advances based on four different milestones and the advances automatically create a deduction for the next pay period); driver portal (to see all their loads and pay data online); and much more.
“As we continue to build and deploy our vision of a No Touch TMS, our customers realize they are using the most advanced TMS when it comes to automation and reducing manual effort.” says Sutton. “This allows their dispatchers to do more with less and give our customers a strategic competitive advantage.”
The definition of a “No Touch” TMS is for a carrier or broker to create an order, source the capacity, dispatch the order, update the order throughout the various order milestones (arrive, load, empty, check calls), keep the shipper informed of all milestones (visibility), invoice the customer and pay the driver and/or carrier, all this, without a keystroke or mouse click. At Full Circle TMS, they have it down to about 30 keystrokes.
The biggest challenge for the “No Touch” TMS is “order entry” since it requires the greatest number of keystrokes to create a new order. EDI and API interfaces have helped to automatically create orders, but the predominant way carriers/brokers get new order data is from a PDF rate confirmation document from their shipper. Then a user must manually enter the order from the PDF document. Not only does the manual order entry take a lot of time, but a user can also mistype information, thereby introducing errors into the process.
“Our latest innovation involves the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to generate the order from a PDF rate confirmation document.” says Stuart Sutton, Founder of Full Circle TMS. “Normally, this would be simple if all shipper rate confirmation documents were the same. But unfortunately, they are all different. Not only that, but a rate con can also contain errors like misspelling of address data or mistyped date/time formats.”
To train the AI bot, Full Circle TMS amassed a wide variety of shipper rate confirmation documents and then iteratively built the bot algorithm. With good accuracy, the bot can extract pickup and delivery data, pieces, weight, dimensions, pay amount, truck class, special instructions, contact data, reference numbers and much more.To eliminate keystrokes for the TMS user, Full Circle provides a special email address where the shipper can send the rate confirmation document as an attached PDF. The TMS intercepts the email, sends the PDF to the bot, and then the bot extracts the data and creates the order. The bot also uploads the PDF document into the order and tags the document as a “Rate Con”. The bot also uploads the entire email thread to the order. Finally, the bot sends the shipper a confirmation email that the order is created and includes a link to “track” the order.
“Without lifting a finger, the TMS user has the order created, the PDF image attached to the order and the entire email thread attached to the order.” Says Sutton. “With just a few mouse clicks, the order can then be dispatched, and all the information is in the hands of the driver or carrier doing the work.”
“We have been using Full Circle TMS as our operating system for 5 years now.” says David Harrison, owner of Little Truck Solutions of Concord, NC. “Over the years, I have used many TMS systems, and I can easily say that Full Circle TMS is the most progressive, forward-thinking technology partner I have dealt with. They are tirelessly working to make our lives easier and more efficient. We are one of the first subscribers of Full Circle TMS to try this new AI technology and it is exciting to see how well it works and how quickly it learns.”
Full Circle TMS has already automated many of the other TMS functions to eliminate keystrokes. This includes: sourcing capacity (“offer load to multiple drivers”, “build your own load board” and “book it now” functions); visibility (the built in “Circle Mobile” app that works both for company drivers and outside carriers); shipper portal (shipper can enter orders, track active orders, see and upload paperwork, etc.); carrier portal for brokered loads (carrier can see and sign rate cons, see all active and historical loads, update orders, upload paperwork including their invoice, and more), auto email of shipper invoices with attached paperwork; driver “Self-Serve” advances (from the Circle Mobile app, the driver can get their own advances based on four different milestones and the advances automatically create a deduction for the next pay period); driver portal (to see all their loads and pay data online); and much more.
“As we continue to build and deploy our vision of a No Touch TMS, our customers realize they are using the most advanced TMS when it comes to automation and reducing manual effort.” says Sutton. “This allows their dispatchers to do more with less and give our customers a strategic competitive advantage.”
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The articles from these contributors are based on their personal expertise and viewpoints, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of their employers or affiliated organizations.
