Import transport orders automatically, even without EDI
Your customers send orders by email, Excel or PDF, and your planner retypes them. We import those orders into your TMS automatically, without your customer needing EDI or having to change anything.
Without obligation · reply within one working day
No EDI, so orders get retyped
EDI is the standard between large shippers and carriers. But many customers of a transport company do not have EDI, and are not going to buy it for a single carrier. They send their orders the way they always have: an email with an Excel list, a PDF order form from their own system, or just a few lines of text in the email.
That email lands with you, and someone copies the details into the TMS: loading address, delivery address, date, number of pallets, weight, reference. Order by order. That takes time every day, and every retyped order is a chance of a typo in a postcode or a wrong date, which you only notice when the driver is standing in front of a closed door.
The good news: you do not need EDI for automatic order entry. If a customer's orders always arrive in roughly the same way, they can also be imported automatically.
Which orders we import automatically
- Email with an Excel or CSV attachment: the order list the customer exports from their own system
- PDF order form with a fixed layout, for example from the customer's ERP
- Orders in the body of the email, if the customer always uses the same structure
- Files in a folder: exports that a customer places on an SFTP or FTP server
- Customer portal or web form: orders that customers enter themselves
- Your customer's API, if they have one
Your customer keeps sending orders the way they are used to. The order appears in your TMS automatically, without anyone retyping it.
From email to order in your TMS, in four steps
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01
Receiving
Orders arrive at a fixed address, for example orders@yourcompany.com, or in a fixed folder. Your customer sends them there instead of to the planner.
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02
Extracting and translating
For each customer we record where each piece of data sits and where it belongs in your TMS: which column is the delivery address, how the date is written, which reference goes in which field. This is called mapping.
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03
Checking
Every order is checked before it goes through: is the postcode valid, is the date not in the past, is the customer known? If something is wrong, the order goes onto an exceptions list and you receive a notification. A faulty order does not quietly disappear into the planning.
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04
Loading into your TMS
The approved order goes straight into your TMS via the API or the import function, ready to be planned. If you wish, your customer automatically receives a confirmation.
What retyping costs you
A worked example: a planner who enters 40 orders a day and spends an average of 3 minutes per order on it is busy with this for 2 hours a day. Over a month of 21 working days, that is more than 40 hours: a full working week every month spent retyping.
On top of that come the costs of errors: a forgotten tail lift, a wrong delivery date, an invoice correction afterwards. How much it saves in your case depends on your volumes. We are happy to work that out with you during the introductory call.
When do you choose which approach?
Automatic import without EDI
- Your customer has no EDI and is not going to set it up
- Orders arrive by email, Excel, CSV or PDF
- You want quick results, without a project on the customer's side
A proper EDI integration
- Your customer or shipper already works with EDIFACT or XML
- Large numbers of messages go back and forth
- Statuses and invoices also need to go back automatically
Often it is both: EDI with the large shippers, automatic import for the rest. You do not have to choose; we build and support both. You can read more about the standard under EDI integrations and what is EDI.
What we need from you to get started
You do not need to write a project plan or inform your customers in advance. To assess what can be automated, all we need is:
- A handful of sample orders from the customer who sends the most orders, exactly as they arrive: the email, the Excel file or the PDF.
- Which TMS you use and whether it has an API or import function enabled. If you do not know, we will find out.
- A rough estimate of the volumes: how many orders per day or week, and from how many different customers.
With that, we show you which orders can be fully automated, which need a check and how much time that saves you per month. Only then do you decide whether to go ahead. Once the first customer is up and running, the next ones go faster: the checks and the integration with your TMS are already in place.
Importing orders automatically, answered briefly
Does my customer have to change anything?
No. Your customer keeps sending their orders the way they are used to. The only thing that sometimes changes is the email address the orders are sent to.
Does it also work with PDF order forms?
Yes, as long as the PDF always has the same structure, such as an order form from the customer's system. If the layout varies a lot from order to order, or it is a scan of a handwritten form, that order goes to the exceptions list rather than being guessed at.
What happens if an order is incorrect?
Then it does not go through automatically. It goes onto an exceptions list and you receive a notification, so that someone can take a quick look. That way, no incomplete or faulty order ends up in the planning.
Which TMS does this work with?
With Mendrix, Transpas, Qargo and other packages with an API or import function. See also our TMS and WMS integrations.
How quickly is it up and running?
That depends on the number of customers and formats. We usually start with the customer who sends the most orders; that one is typically live within a few weeks. How we set up an integration is explained under how we work.
What does it cost?
That depends on the number of customers, the formats and your TMS. We map it out for you in advance, so you know where you stand before you decide anything.
Are orders still being retyped at your company?
Send us a few sample orders from your busiest customer. We will show you, without obligation, how they can flow into your TMS automatically.