Freight Management Solution is one of the 50+ custom made applications we serve our customers with. We have this solution now available in the latest version of Odoo which is V15 and that too both in Enterprise & Community with no or little differences. This solution has been implemented at various freight management & freight forwarder companies across the globe. Every solution needs to be configurable when it comes to its system settings & master data. This is also the beauty of Odoo based systems that everything is not hardcoded but we allow customers to set-up their systems the way they want to use.
So we certainly need to know how one will be able to use this solution in the most efficient way by getting it configured well. Also when it comes to the configurations there are two aspects of any such solutions. A : It should be allowing its users to get things running smoothly with its master data. B : It should allow its users to have the complete freedom to create re-usable data as a part of the one-time configurations we perform prior to we start using it.
This article will explain to you with the step-by-step guide of configuring our Freight Management Software. We assume that you already have the solution and then following these steps will surely get the solution working.
Configuring our Freight Solution
One can smartly use this solution if it has been smartly implemented with the right configurations. So by going inside our Freight Management Software, there will be a separate menu for Configuration. In Configuration, we will be able to get our Locations, Vessels, Airlines, Containers & Pricing List configured. What every menu does, how we can get them configured & what impact it will have in the other parts of the solution are the points we are going to cover here further.
Locations
When we are working with the Freight Software, everything starts by creating the shipment. Shipment which is being transported from one location to another. Also in case of global shipments, there will be one location to export something to another importing location. We will need to select both of the locations while working with the shipments in our system and there should be some quick ways to get both the locations selected. In order to make it faster, our Shipment Management Software will not ask you to manually enter the locations. That would be a bad idea for many reasons. Also it will be slower and error-prone compared to having something which is pre-configured. So we have this configuration available at Freight >> Configuration >> Locations. There will always be three types of commute and those are Air, Ocean & Land. Every location can be configured along with the applicable ways of transportation as well. This configuration will help users to only see the locations based on the transportation type selected while creating the shipping order. Also, location mentioned in Source station will not be visible in the list while the user selects the Destination, which is preventing users from entering false data. You can create as many locations as you need and use it quickly when it comes to selecting both source and destination for the shipment being transported.
Vessels
Vessels are mostly referred to as actual Ship. But here in our Freight Application, we have the freedom to get any vehicle configured which transports goods. However, we have an option available to get the Airlines configured in case it's going to be by air but Vessels are going to be the list items when a user would have selected the shipment to go either by Sea or by Land. This here as well allows us to directly get configured and get listed when selecting the vehicle/vessel we have for the freight/transportation.
Airlines
As we are working with the Vessels & other vehicles, we have an option to configure the Airlines too. This really helps when you are already working frequently with some airlines and also when you need to keep entering new airlines you work with for any specific shipment. If the transportation type is By Air, then there will be the field to select the Airline you already have configured in Freight >> Configuration >> Airlines.
Containers
What goes with the Air option for Airlines, same goes with Containers in case shipment is going to be transported through Sea. Every shipping company or freight forwarding firm will have different types of containers. These containers come in many different sizes and categories. Hence it's not possible to get everything pre-defined in a static way but configurable containers will help you smoothly access the system when it comes to selecting the container. The best part here is that when you are to select a container, it will only show you the available containers. On the other hand, occupied containers will not be listed which prevents you from making mistakes and using your shipping software with smooth operations.
Pricing List
Pricing List is nothing but the way you want to invoice your customers. It offers two major options either to charge any customer based on the Weight or based on the Volume. You are allowed to have multiple Pricing List configured along with the amount you would charge based on weight or volume of goods. At the time of entering the shipping information, you need to select the Pricing List. This will allow you to change and edit the pricing option associated with that pricing list (Weight / Volume). Defined pricing rules in that Pricing List will automatically count the total amount and accordingly you can invoice your customers. Since this is something which is pertaining to how we charge our customer, it's very much important to configure the prior one to start using the solution. You can get your pricing list configured at Freight >> Configuration >> Pricing Lists
Master Data Configuration
Its not always about what we configure in Configurations. Master Data Configuration is equally important when one wants to use this Freight Management Solution with the highest possible ease. Let's go and check which are the menus we have to get our master data configured.
Services
Let's not confuse the services provided by you as a Shipping Company or as a Freight Forwarding Company & services we are configuring as a master data. This here is the list of services that are possibly taken by the people associated with your shipping or Freight. For instance, let's assume there is a ship and there are 200+ containers on it, and it is on its way to it’s destination. If it takes 2 to 3 weeks and in a meantime people on the deck would need to make some expenses like Food, Temporary Stay or anything other like that, would be considered Service Taken by your staff members. This definitely means that you need to have the record of which services so far have been taken and accordingly you need to invoice your customer. In simpler words, the amount that you have paid from your pockets during the time of community service should be added to the invoice you send to your customer. These services can be configured in Freight >> Master Data >> Services.
Customers
As the word suggests, you can enter the details of your customers. This will prevent the users from entering the customer details on Shipping Orders manually if you are serving the same customer frequently. So in short, this will just be like the directory of your customer that you are serving to.
Vendors
If customers can be configured, Vendors list should also be there to manage them. There would be many things in your business which you are getting from your vendors and hence the solution is smart enough to manage all your vendors here at Freight >> Master Data >> Vendors
Agents
Agents can directly be related to the Freight Forwarding Partners. This will be the case with you if you are purely a shipping company. You will have agents to manage who bring to you the shipping orders from the people who want to Import / Export something. So there would be the chain of people and companies associated with the Freight being processed and to take care of that, we have an option in Freight >> Master Data >> Agents.
We have a detailed Freight Management Software covering many other requirements and hence we need to get it configured to apply the highest possible automation. Configuration helps users to be quick & prevent manual entries of data. We focus much on the configurations as configuring it with the right way will further help users to utilize the complete capabilities of the solution and that will surely make the business efficient, rather profitable.
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