TMS problems 2011

From UG

Revision as of 18:13, 16 March 2011

Intro

Unsolved problems

Duplicate Addresses

Descr:

2 or more addresses in Addressbook are identical except Company Name. They are duplicates and cause numerous problems.

This is not exclusively TMS problem. This is a general problem. But:

• TMS solution helped create duplicates (famous NPA feature)

• It is a serious problem for TMS because:
  • duplicates "create" Extra “dummy” stop which leads to no updates on one of the CT in such load in CT2 DB
  • anybody selecting location must select all duplicate items that relate to same address

Solution and Notes:

• a) Eliminate address duplicates in CT2 that already exist (Sasha's idea)
• b) Prevent forming duplicates in the future (to be discussed)

Note: Descartes quick fix

Note From Denise:

1. Due to CT address book issues IE – multiple addresses for the same company – when a user selects 2 or more shipments that have the same street address, yet has a variation in the company name, the TM creates 2 separate delivery stops for the load. When that happens, the TM does not set an estimated delivery time for the 2nd stop and leave that xml attribute blank, therefore these xml files are incomplete/corrupt and CT does not accept the update of pickup trucker, delivery trucker & est. pickup & delivery dates. Descartes feels this is a design bug on their end and will correct it, but in the interim as we clean up our address book, they have mapped the 1st stops estimated delivery date to the 2nd stops estimated delivery date, making their xml files complete & when we receive them, they will continue to update each CT record the same.

CT2 to TMS transfer fails sometimes

Descr:

Not all approved shipments have Shipment Import file sent to TM.

Reason is unknown

Solution and Notes:

0002750 Bug: Not all approved shipments have Shipment Import file sent to TM

0002835	new	mihail 	a. Dev 	[EDI TMS ph2] Add "fail" status to the list of TMS statuses

tmsp1 Problems related to Earliest and Latest Pick Up Dates

Descr:

CT2 to TMS mapping is incorrect, also the whole way we use these dates is not well thought through.

This leads to several sub-problems:

A] no overlap in pick up windows for shipments in the load so load can’t be created

B] Corrupt XML files were sending multiple e-mails to shipper users every 5 mins (FIXED? good fix?)

C] status messages info is not updating

Solution and Notes:

Workaround#1 (through UI, very time consuming): To set up Appointment on the load before tendering

Quick programming fix: 0002797: [EDI to TMS] (Shipment_Import) Change Mapping of the Earliest & Latest Available Date

Notes from Denise:

1. Earliest & Latest Pickup Date is set in the shipment, which is currently mapped to the created on date &/or the date that the planner put on hold for approval with a 9am to 5pm window. Mantis 2797 was created to allow for CT admin users to set the amount of time between the Earliest & Latest Pickup dates that will pass on our shipment import into the TM. This solution was provided to cut down on current manually workarounds for dates.

2. Corrupt XML files were sending multiple e-mails to shipper users every 5 mins, this was due to users creating a load with 1 shipment, then selecting other shipment records, adding them to this already created load but these shipments have a variation of earliest & latest pickup dates. Then the TM takes all of the dates into consideration, automatically sets the earliest and latest available date for the load and being the dates were so out of range, their system was unable to understand how to handle.

Therefore Descartes provided a workaround for this and for the users to:

a. No longer use the create load option & select to select the consolidate option

b. Set a pickup appointment to the date of when the load will be picked up

c. Use the resequence option, which will have the TM re-order the dates for the TM to suggest a better window for the loads earliest and latest available date

tmsp2 FSC problems

Descr:

“Allocated shipment costs”/”Load costs” report is incorrect/FSC problems.

This is because Fuel surcharge (FSC) on Loads calculates incorrectly due to using wrong week on “Fuel price” weekly table.

Because it is a function of “Latest Available Date(LAD)” which is set incorrectly by Portal (to created on date)

Solution and Notes:

Quick fix: 0002797: [EDI to TMS] (Shipment_Import) Change Mapping of the Earliest & Latest Available Date

Note from Denise:

1. As there are issues with the dates, the TM currently applies the FSC incorrectly for every load, as it is based upon the Earliest & Latest Available dates set by the TM’s logic it is not an accurate way of rating the FSC as not all loads are picked up according the latest available date set by the TM. Therefore the following workaround was set: a. Change every shipment records earliest & latest pickup date to the date in which the load will be picked up and this is to ensure proper application of that weeks FSC

tmsp5 Different types of mileage calculators converters

Descr:

Solution and Notes:

Denise: Mileage calculations are off in the TM as Descartes uses PC Miler WW v23 with upgrading to the latest version 24 within the next month. The reason for mileage being off is due to different carriers/ truckers using different types of mileage calculators/converters. This is affecting rates for a few different carriers – namely Lawrence Transportation, Landstar, Harris & Albert Farms. We’ve asked Descartes about the ability to apply a different mileage converter per trucking company basis, but have no feedback. Yet after further discussion with Descartes about the mileage calc they use, it would appear that there are settings within a carrier’s contract that will take into consideration other settings to be able to get a more accurate mileage count.

Solved Problems

Weight discrepancy btwn KGS & LBS

Descr:

Solution and Notes:

Denise: Weight discrepancy was mentioned, btwn KGS & LBS and I was able to confirm the following:

a. Record created by shipper in portal as LBS, it is saved in the portal as LBS, upon approval it is recorded in the CT record as LBS, the client role lists the weight in LBS & it is passed to TMS on the shipments line item as LBS, as well as it is recorded in LBS under shipments Total Calculated Weight

b. Record created by shipper in portal as KGS, it is saved in the portal as LBS, upon approval it is recorded in the CT record as KGS, the client role lists the weight in LBS & it is passed to TMS on the shipments line item as KGS, but it is recorded in LBS under the shipments Total Calculated Weight  this is used for rating purposes, but am not 100% sure if it also used for reporting purposes in the TM

There is 1 report that is used for the dom project, it is being effected with this weight discrepancy’s and it is the In Transit report. It’s for both the client & int apps, as this report has hard coding for MOT Truck to list weight in KGS, even though it is mostly recorded/entered in LBS, but to confirm all calculations done by the system are correct