Logistics Management - October 2011

that the TMS is “broken” and no longermaking sense.“In most cases, it’s not the TMS that’sbroken,” says Gonzalez. “The problem isthat you set it up two years ago, and thesame conditions no longer apply.” So,how does a company avoid this trap andensure that its TMS is optimized notonly today, but in the future?Squeezing the lemonOne of the easiest ways to determineif your new or existing TMS is runningon all cylinders is to simply pick up theproduct brochure to see exactly whatfeatures are included with your specificsetup. “Look at all of the piecesand parts, and see if you’re using all ofthem,” Aimi suggests. It sounds simpleenough, but how often do you really goback and review product guides afterthe systems are up, running, and managingthe basics functions as promised?If the brochure turns up interestingfeatures that you haven’t seen used inyour own operations, it’s time to talk toyour software vendor or systems integratorto find out why those featuresweren’t mobilized. A shipper that hiresa third-party provider to pay its freightbills, for example, would benefit financiallyby folding that function into itsTMS and using the system’s auto-payfeature. “That’s a pretty simple examplethat could lead to some significant savings,”says Aimi.Jim Davis, senior manager at theconsulting firm Capgemini, saysshippers should also ask themselveswhether their installed or hosted TMShas lived up to its initial vision. Is it performingthe functions that you thoughtit would? Has it automated tasks thatwere previously handled manually? Hasit helped reduce paper, phone calls, andfaxes? Is it saving the company money,time, and hassle?If the answer to any of those questionsis “no,” then Davis says it’s timeto revisit the scope of the project—that initial vision—and whether ornot you’re leveraging the toolset to itsfullest capacity. Davis states that thelatter is often to blame, and the problemis fairly easy to solve. “It’s reallyjust a matter of learning what yourTMS really has to offer, including newreleases and versions,” says Davis, “andadding the missing functionalities toyour own lineup.”Take dashboards, for example. Usedto retrieve and review metrics and analyticson the fly, TMS dashboards areoften left by the wayside when theOctober 2011 | WWW.LOGISTICSMGMT.COM Logistics Management 33