Service Offerings
Service Offerings is an enhancement to the C-TMS application that allows C-TMS users to provide a different level of service to different customers and to charge those customers according to the level of service that is being provided.
A service type defines the level of service that an C-TMS User is going to provide to the end customer. Currently the only options available for configuration within a service type are whether customer service is being provided and whether the orders should be automatically assigned to a default carrier. Further options could be added in the future. The options can be defined as follows
Customer service
If customer service is being provided then the planning centre will be able to provide the customer with any information they require about the order. If customer service is not provided they should not provide such information, a message will be displayed in the Trip Summary and Orders form if a particular order does not have customer service.
Default carrier
If orders are being assigned to a default carrier then C-TMS is being used purely as a mean of entering orders, the default carrier will then assume all responsibility for delivering those orders.
Service Type Maintenance
The following screen is used to maintain service types:
Charge Types
Within a service type there are 5 different types of charge that have been introduced, they are: -
Transactional charging
A transactional charge is a charge that would be applied to all orders that are placed within C-TMS, the cost will cover all work that the planning team need to undertake relating to that order.
Manual Orders
A manual order is an Order that is entered into C-TMS by a member of the planning team on behalf of the customer. The customer should be able to enter the majority of their orders themselves so it is possible to charge customers who ask the planning centre to place orders on their behalf.
Late Orders
A later order is an order that is placed outside the agreed time window and can result in additional work for the planning team as the majority of the scheduling may already have been completed. Service offerings give C-TMS Users the ability to charge for any such orders.
Urgent Orders
An urgent order is an order that requires special attention, an urgent order can be placed at any time, or an existing order can be amended to be urgent. The planning centre would then treat this order separately from standard orders as per the agreement they have with that customer. A charge can be applied to urgent orders to cover the additional work that the planning centre would need to undertake.
Cancelled Orders
A cancelled order is an order that is not scheduled onto a Trip and has been set to a status of ‘Cancelled’. An order can be cancelled for any number of reasons. Service offerings gives C-TMS Users the opportunity to charge for such orders to take account of any time that was spent attempting to plan that order.
Service Levels
Service levels and the appropriate charges should be agreed between the C-TMS User and their customers. It is then possible to configure the service type and charges at Lane, Customer or Customer Group level. This provides flexibility as it is possible to configure a default service type at customer or customer group level and then override it for specific lanes.
Notes
The service Offerings functionality is currently reliant on Lanes being used, although it can be enhanced in the future so that it will work without lanes.
