Road freight, international trade, security… update on DDS Logistics’ new tms products
Geolocation, incoterms, electronic data interchange between carriers and shippers… To be in line with current practices and anticipate tomorrow’s regulations, French TMS leader DDS Logistics has made its transport and international software evolve. DDS Logistics’ new products will be presented at the SITL trade show from the 29th to the 31st of March 2011 in Paris, Porte de Versailles, booth J40.
DDS Truck: FROM EXTENDED FUNCTIONS TO GEOLOCATION
DDS Logistics takes a step further in the field of transport traceability. From March, the French leader of TMS will make it possible to bundle its software for road transport operators, DDS Truck, with the embedded geolocation solution of CTS part of GSI group.
In addition to its extended functions (quotation, operational management, invoicing…), DDS Logistics’s software is interfaced with CTS’ embedded solution which now makes it possible to locate the vehicles of a transport fleet in real time and with high accuracy and to report any incident that occurs on route.
Vehicle positions are indicated by means of online cartography.
A “Fleet tracking” feature lets users visualize on one map the routes of all vehicles on the scale of a city, a region or a country.
In addition to position data, users have access to time data (date and time of the day), the vehicle’s name/number, driver name, current course and link number.
Users can also check the trucks’ speed on given sections of route thanks to a speed curve and manage diesel oil consumption.
These new geolocation features come in addition to DDS Truck’s native functions which are flow management, scheduling, fill rate management, transport cost optimization (selection of best operator) and activity monitoring.
DDS Logistics MAKES ITS SOLUTIONS EVOLVE
WITH NEW INTERNATIONAL TRADE AND Security REGULATIONS
• INCOTERM MANAGEMENT
Who pays for conveying the goods? The buyer? The purchaser? What terms apply? Who is responsible? Incoterms are there to answer these questions. They define liability and obligations of sellers and buyers in international trade contracts. To better reflect current practices these terms have been streamlined and updated in January 2011. Their number has been cut from 13 to 11.
In order to go along with this change, DDS Logistics is making the respective “Invoice and Sales” and “Costing” modules of DDS Shipper (TMS for shippers) and DDS Sourcing (solution for the identification of the best supply sources) evolve. In version 6, these software solutions will include a new interface allowing users to comply with the new regulations. One of the new features will also be the upgrading of maritime transport incoterms for a multimodal application.
• ICS (Import Control System) management
Security regulations too are undergoing evolutions. On January 1st, 2011, a new electronic security declaration management system for the declaration of goods imported into the European territory called ICS (Import Control System) was introduced. Before goods can enter or leave the European Union, an electronic declaration proving that they are safe must now be provided to customs. An Entry Summary Declaration (ENS) must reach the customs of the relevant member state 24 hours before the cargo enters the European Union. This applies to all types of freight: road, rail, air, maritime, inland waterways… Shippers, shipping agents, forwarding agents, forwarders… All parties involved in international trade who operate with or within the EU must bring their business in line with the new ICS regulations.
In version 6 of its DDS Shipper solution’s import/export TMS module and DDS Freight Enterprise solution, DDS Logistics has included standard interfaces that address what constitutes a major issue in terms of international trade flow security.
DDS Freight Enterprise is a complete international transit solution that covers the management of a whole export or import file, every aspect related to transport and customs, selling and purchasing operations and financial control. It allows forwarders’ customers to follow their files’ progress online.
NEW PLATFORMS OPTIMIZE
INTERCHANGES BETWEEN TRANSPORT STAKEHOLDERS
• A NEW EDI PLATFORM BETWEEN SHIPPERS AND CARRIERS
As a result of a partnership with an EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) flow processing specialist, from the second term of 2011, users of the DDS Shipper TMS Solution in SaaS mode (Software as a Service) will have access to a new EDI Platform dedicated to data interchange between shippers and carriers.
Not only will the new DDS Shipper-backed platform provide robust data processing capacity, it will also make data interchange between shippers and carriers easier and faster by converting and rendering data from different formats into a language that is accessible for all. It supports EDIFACT (EDI For Administration, Commerce and Transport), INOVERT (transport standard), XML and more if necessary. The data are routed and transferred over FTP or VAN Atlas 400 (carrier-dependent).
Full electronic interchange coverage
EDI flow management and tracking – from DDS Shipper to carriers – work seamlessly throughout 24/7.
The platform will allow quicker dispatch and availability of transport orders, tracing data, parcel SSCCs (international traceability code). The user will be notified in real time thanks to an alert management module if an exception occurs in processing (non-compliant EDI file, unknown credentials, standards not complied with, transfer failure and so on).
Every customer has access to a secure extranet that gives them full traceability for all their EDI flows. The platform will be updated constantly to ensure the latest EDI standards are in force.
• A NEW IAT (Interface Administration Tool) INTERFACE PLATFORM
DDS Logistics’ EAI (Enterprise Application Integration) module, whose purpose is to make heterogeneous applications communicate with one another, is evolving too. The module, which is now known as IAT interface platform, has seen its data processing capacities and administrative functions expanded. It is now capable of processing large volumes as concurring tasks. It can be implemented with all DDS Logistics’ solutions.
Thanks to this platform, the applications of all stakeholders involved in a transport operation (a company, its customers, partners and providers) can communicate and share large amounts of information. Data are converted into a format that is readable and understandable by all. Old applications can even communicate with recent ones, making investments on new hardware unnecessary.
Pre-configured for DDS Logistics applications, the IAT platform provides simplicity of deployment and administration (deployment on Microsoft systems).
