Why is our settlement process unique?
It is our vision that strategic, long-term value will be created when the processing of freight bills is understood to be more than outsourcing the accounts payable function.
TBL has developed a comprehensive system to accurately process, audit, and pay freight invoices.
The enduring value is the creation of a powerful and accurate database of shipping activity which can be leveraged to manage your long term business goals.
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI): The majority of our invoices are received through our comprehensive EDI capabilities developed to streamline information flow and eliminate paperwork. We work closely with the carriers allowing immediate invoice status visibility to carriers and customers.
Carrier Bridge: TBL recognizes that some of the best service carriers are not EDI capable. To support our customers’ ability to use these carriers TBL has developed a custom carrier bridge. This bridge enables carriers to enter delivery status and information and to create invoices in our system and send for immediate processing.
Manual: TBL also receives paper invoices and bill of ladings/delivery receipts from some of our carriers for manual data entry and processing.
Upon receipt of invoices, the TBL process will validate that the bill received is suitable to process. The goal is to process a bill once and capture all the data needed to support future strategic and tactical decision making.
Match to BOL File: The best validation is when the customer can send an electronic Bill of Lading file from their ERP, WMS or TMS system. Shippers may also use the TBL portal (TMS) to create their BOLs and create the electronic file for matching.
Non Matches: In the case where there is no electronic match available the process will match the freight bill to hard copy bill of ladings or delivery receipts.
Duplicate Invoice Check: TBL system checks for any invoices that were processed with the same PRO # or BOL # in history and in the event that the invoice had already been paid, will force the invoice for audit to ensure no duplicate payments are made on any invoice.
Zip Code Validation: An additional data check all bills are processed through the USPS postal code zip file to assure that the zip and the state are valid. Tag shipper locations for ease of reporting.
Rates: Shippers will provide TBL a valid set of rates and contracts for each carrier they utilized. Valid freight bills subjected to a detailed audit of all charges presented.
Rate Now: Carrier invoices are rated against the client specific rates negotiated by TBL. If in the event that the rate billed does not match to the penny, the invoice will be flagged for audit.
Audit tolerances: Can be set based on dollar amount or percentage of total bill.
Rate expiration monitoring: TBL can also set up the rate monitoring service alerting the shipper of upcoming rate expirations.
Client Process Control Document (CPC): This document is a customized profile which our customers use to profile how we are to handle exceptions such as reweighs or accessorials. Any invoice that falls outside the guidelines specified in the CPC will be tagged and placed in the online error resolution system for shippers to provide instructions.
Liaison to Your Carriers – TBL becomes the source for answers to the carriers’ questions regarding remittance advances, open balance, etc.
Proactive Approach – Root cause analysis with your carrier partners to determine the basis of rate discrepancy. All carriers receive a detailed remittance along with checks that explains any reasoning for changes to the original invoices.
Remittance: Our detailed funding remittance will be sent to customers once a week and outlines all invoices included in the funding for that week and can be as detailed as our customer would like.
Float: TBL does not float the shipper’s money. All bills are paid to the carrier once the funding clears.
