Integrating your TMS and WMS, and your carriers too
Your warehouse and your transport run in two separate systems. We integrate your TMS and WMS and connect your WMS to your carriers, so shipments, planning, status updates and stock flow through automatically instead of via email and retyping.
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The warehouse is ready, but the TMS doesn’t know yet
In many logistics companies, the WMS sits next to the TMS with a person in between. An order is picked and packed, and then someone re-enters the packages, weights and delivery address in the transport system. Or an Excel list goes from the warehouse to the planners at around the same time every afternoon.
The other direction is no different. The planner knows which trip is at which dock and when, but the warehouse hears about it by phone. And once the shipment is on its way, the status updates and the signed consignment note end up in the TMS, while the customer is looking at their order in the WMS or in their portal.
Integrating your WMS and TMS takes that manual work out of the process. You keep working in the packages you know. We make sure they understand each other, and that your carriers and customers are connected to the same flow.
WMS integration with carriers: shipments booked automatically
A WMS integration with carriers means that when a shipment is signed off in the warehouse, it is automatically booked with the right carrier, including packages, weights, dimensions and delivery address. Labels and shipment numbers come back into the WMS, followed later by the status updates and the signed POD or e-CMR. Nobody has to log in to each carrier’s portal any more.
If you work with several carriers, we connect each carrier in the way it supports: EDI, an API, a portal or, if need be, email. In the WMS, it always looks the same to your staff. If you plan trips in a TMS and subcontract them, read more about integration with carriers and subcontractors from your TMS.
Packages we integrate with
TMS and WMS integration: which data goes back and forth
Integrating a TMS and a WMS is not a single connection but a handful of standard flows. Which ones you need depends on how your warehouse and your transport work together. These are the common ones:
Orders and shipments: WMS → TMS
As soon as an order is ready to ship, the shipment goes to the TMS automatically: packages, weights, dimensions, delivery address, loading and delivery windows, and special requirements such as ADR or a tail lift. The planner sees it on the planning board straight away.
Planning: TMS → WMS
The planning comes back to the warehouse: which trip, what time, which dock and in what loading sequence. That way the warehouse picks in the order in which the truck will be loaded, not in the order the orders came in.
Booking: WMS → carrier
If you don’t carry everything yourself, the WMS books the shipment directly with the carrier. Labels and shipment numbers come back into the WMS, without anyone having to log in to the carrier’s portal.
Status updates and POD: back to the WMS and the customer
In transit, loaded, delivered, refused: the status updates and the signed POD or e-CMR come back to the order automatically. Your customer sees the same status in their own system or portal.
Stock: WMS → customer, webshop or ERP
Stock levels and stock movements go to your customers’ systems automatically. For a logistics service provider, this is often the first flow customers ask for.
Inbound: customer → WMS
Advance shipping notices (ASN) for incoming goods are ready in the WMS before the truck reaches the dock, and the receipt confirmation goes back automatically.
One integrated WMS/TMS package, or integrate two systems?
For most companies that already have a working WMS and a working TMS, integrating them is the faster and cheaper route. Switching to a single integrated package means configuring everything again, retraining staff and often a period of running two systems side by side.
An integrated WMS/TMS package can make sense if you are looking for new software anyway, or if both systems are reaching the end of their life. If you are happy with your warehouse software and your planning software, a TMS-WMS integration removes the manual work in between without anyone having to change the way they work.
- Integrate if both packages work well and your people are used to them.
- Integrate if your customers or carriers also need to connect to the same flow.
- Consider a single package if you want to replace both systems anyway.
What a WMS-TMS integration looks like in practice
Boltrics 3PL Dynamics to your carrier’s TMS
A logistics service provider runs its warehouse in Boltrics 3PL Dynamics and subcontracts its transport. Integrations with 3PL Dynamics run through Boltrics’ own DataHub. We deliver messages to the DataHub, collect messages from it, and build the carrier side.
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An outbound order is marked as ready in 3PL Dynamics, and the DataHub prepares a transport message for it.
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We translate that message into the carrier’s format, for example an IFTMIN or an order in the API of its TMS, and pass it on.
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The carrier’s status updates come back and are translated for the DataHub, so the order in 3PL Dynamics is updated.
Read more on the Boltrics integration page.
Picqer to your TMS
A wholesaler picks in Picqer and delivers with its own fleet, which is planned in the TMS.
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As soon as a shipment is created in Picqer, Picqer reports it immediately via a webhook. Nothing needs to be polled.
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We retrieve the address and package details and create the shipment as an order in the TMS, with the correct number of packages and weight.
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The TMS plans the trip. The track-and-trace details go back to the shipment in Picqer, so customer service can see them there.
Read more on the Picqer integration page.
One flow at a time, starting where most time is lost
We don’t integrate everything at once. We start with the flow that currently involves the most manual work, usually the shipment from the WMS to the TMS. The flows after that go faster, because the foundation is already in place.
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Assessment
We map which systems you have, which flows you want to automate and which integration options each package offers: API, webhooks, file exchange or EDI.
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Mapping
We define which field in the WMS corresponds to which field in the TMS: packaging units, address codes, service types and references. If this isn’t done properly, it is where integrations break down later.
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Building and testing with real orders
We test with orders from your own environment, not with sample files. We resolve any discrepancies before anything goes live.
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Go-live and support
After go-live, we monitor the integration. If a message gets stuck, we usually spot it before your planner does.
How long it takes depends on the scope; a simple integration on a standard API can be done within a few weeks, while larger projects take 1 to 3 months on average. How quickly test data becomes available also plays a part. See also how we work.
What you can expect from us
- Standard interfaces per package
- Fast, predictable implementation
- Support & monitoring included
- Custom-built where needed
- EDI, API and file exchange
- One point of contact for all flows
You keep working in the software you know; we make sure it communicates flawlessly with the rest of the chain.
TMS & WMS integration in brief
Which TMS and WMS packages do you integrate?
Among others, Mendrix, Transpas and Qargo as TMS, Boltrics and Picqer as WMS, and Smartroute for route planning. We integrate other packages on request.
Do I have to switch to different software?
No. You keep working in your current systems; we only build the integrations around them.
My WMS has no API. Is it still possible?
Usually, yes. Many packages can export and import files, for example CSV or XML via SFTP. That is less direct than an API, but it works well for shipments and status updates.
Can you also connect my WMS to my carriers?
Yes, that is the WMS integration with carriers described above: shipments are booked automatically, and the status updates and PODs come back into the WMS automatically. If you plan in a TMS and subcontract trips, see integration with carriers and subcontractors.
How long does it take to integrate a TMS and WMS?
That depends on the scope; a simple integration on a standard API can be done within a few weeks, while larger projects take 1 to 3 months on average.
Can you also connect a webshop or ERP to the WMS or TMS?
Yes. Think of WooCommerce, Shopify, Magento, Lightspeed, Exact, AFAS, Odoo or SAP Business One. Almost any system with an API or an export can be integrated. If you deliver with your own fleet, see also connecting Smartroute to your webshop.
Do you integrate both EDI and API?
Yes, depending on what your package and your partners support. See EDI and API.
Who looks after the integration after go-live?
We do. We monitor the flows, resolve disruptions and adapt the integration when one of the packages is updated.
Wondering whether we can integrate your package?
Book an introductory call, without obligation. Together we’ll look at your systems and what an integration can do for you.