Data exchange and smart collaboration between supply chain partners

Supply Chain

All process participants must be integrated into the system network. The path from transport management to active transport control is therefore no longer a gray theory, but has long been a reality that can be mapped with an integrative platform solution.

Changed general conditions on the transport market

The need for intelligent, easy-to-use TMSs has never been greater, because the transport market has changed and hardly any logistics discipline involves such a division of labor as transport logistics. Freight space is scarce and carriers can pick and choose who they work with. As a result, companies today need to create an experience that makes freight forwarders happy to drive for them. 

Processes such as the delivery of customer orders should be actively controlled. Holistic information supply is essential for good cooperation and satisfactory customer service. Today, this also includes digital transport ordering. Younger generations of users today demand intuitive apps that can be integrated with minimal effort. In this context, it is important to relieve the burden on freight forwarders and to use their interfaces. At the same time, internal IT resources must be conserved, as they are currently busy with the SAP S/4HANA transformation. Accordingly, the demands on software providers have increased - today, they have to connect SAP systems out of the box, parameterize software, and integrate external process partners in order to offer their customers added value.

The sticking point: connecting partners

These tasks can be solved in the form of a process-as-a-service platform with a user-centric approach such as leogistics' myleo / dsc. All users, including freight forwarders and suppliers, must be able to work with the platform. But many SaaS solutions on the market only look at sub-areas of transport logistics and create more barriers than they break down: We have found that forwarders have to operate the interfaces of the SaaS providers or cannot operate various data transfer channels (API, EDI, FTP, etc.). At the same time, shippers usually do not have free capacities to provide IT support for the connection of the forwarders. 

In the field of real-time transportation visibility (RTTV), telematics data is used to the full. But what good is the best database if it is not integrated into the process and used? From our point of view, the combination of status messages via interface, telematics and proactive messages in particular creates an advantage for process stability and enables efficient collaboration.

A pragmatic approach to this is our "Connectivity on Demand" service: i.e., connecting the interfaces of the forwarders in a customized manner, for example, via API, EDI, or FTP. If there is no technical possibility for data exchange between supply chain partners, a web portal can provide a remedy. The great advantage of this is that the electronic data exchange (for which they do not have to change anything) relieves forwarders of additional work in the form of telephone calls and faxes.

Future-proof architecture models in the SAP context

With our platform-as-a-service approach, we offer various usage options in a system network. The goal should always be to map collaborative processes as simply as possible and to optimally integrate upstream and downstream systems. In this way, myleo / dsc manages to combine logistical objects with process and business data and to create maximum transparency in the supply chain.

Option 1: SAP LE-TRA and SAP S/4HANA TM Basic + myleo / dsc

This variant is suitable for companies that currently use SAP LE-TRA, have already converted to SAP S/4HANA Basic Transportation Management, or are in the process of transformation and would like to generate initial added value now. The scenario focuses on the rapid integration of SAP documents using predefined content.

In this scenario, the transport creation or bundling and the selection of the carrier still take place in the SAP system. However, the order is placed via API, EDI, FTP or web UI in myleo / dsc. The connection of the carriers is handled by our onboarding team. The forwarder can accept or reject the order, book a time slot as well as transmit RTTV data if required to make the inflow transparent for the yard or warehouse management system.

After successful clearance, delivery to the consignee is also tracked and processed up to proof of delivery (PoD). The resulting processes, such as clarification case management in freight cost accounting or container management, take place in a highly integrated manner in combination between the SAP system and myleo / dsc as well as the freight forwarder.

Option 2: SAP S/4HANA TM Advanced + myleo / dsc

This option is perfect for shippers who have SAP S/4HANA TM in use or want to introduce it. Here, too, the SAP freight order is integrated quickly and easily. Transport planning can be greatly optimized on the SAP side, the loading space optimally calculated and the carrier selected based on various criteria. The order is again placed via API, EDI, FTP or web UI on our process platform. The rest of the process is analogous to option 1.

Option 3: SAP Core + myleo / dsc

This option is aimed at companies that do not use or do not wish to introduce an SAP transport component. In this scenario, SAP documents such as purchase orders, sales orders or deliveries are also integrated. Based on the information from the previous system, transportation bundling and transportation assignment can already take place in myleo / dsc. It is possible to combine several documents into one shipment. Everything else - from order acceptance by the freight forwarder to the PoD - proceeds in the same way as for options 1 and 2 with the help of myleo / dsc.