Glossary

A service, other than driving, which may be billed to the customer and/or for which drivers may be paid. Examples are packing, unpacking, storage, tarping, and cleaning.

This pay rate does not contain any actual pay amounts; instead, it is used as a flag within TMWSuite to determine when the pay rates in the Rate Schedules application should be applied. When the system computes pay automatically, it will reference the rate tables in Rate Schedules for any resources assigned to the "Activity Tables" rate.

Funds given to a driver to cover trip expenses prior to settlement for a trip.

The date/time resource(s) have reached a stop location.

A driver, tractor, trailer and/or carrier assigned to move freight. Also known as a resource.

A formal contract prepared by the shipper or supplier, which describes the goods to be shipped and the terms for their carriage.

Company that is to pay charges billed for a move and/or accessorial labor.

Usually, just the loaded miles between pickup and delivery stops on a trip; however, sometimes empty legs of a trip also are billed to the customer (applicable if the user adds billable empty leg(s) to the trip).

An in-house trucking division or company that transports goods for a "mother" trucking company. Such a carrier is called a board carrier, because drivers, tractors and/or trailers used by that carrier are listed on the Planning Worksheet (also sometimes called the Dispatch Board) in Dispatch.

The move of a tractor with no trailer attached.

A trucking company.

For every billing rate you set up, you must identify the charge type on which it is based. A charge type is an item for which a customer may be billed. It identifies the unit of measure used to calculate the charge. For example, if you charge by the mile, the rate is mileage-based. If you charge according to the weight of a load, the rate is weight-based.

A driver call-in to a carrier, usually at a pre-determined time, to report current status and location.

The final step of the settlement process in TMWSuite. At this point, the system considers the driver’s pay period final. Therefore, the status of pay details in the pay period is changed to Closed, making them ineligible for change.

For a team of drivers, the co-driver is the secondary or backup driver.

TMWSuite’s automatic application of pay-related items that are not tied to a trip, such as deductions and adjustments. These items are applied according to a pre-established schedule for each individual resource.

A driver employed by a carrier (i.e., a direct employee of the trucking company).

Process by which TMWSuite verifies whether a resource assignment is valid. To do so, it compares stop dates/times and locations on a trip with the locations and prior/future assignments of the resources dispatched on the trip. If a conflict exists, the dispatcher receives a warning. Depending on the type of conflict and on INI settings, the assignment may or may not be allowed.

The company that is the recipient of a shipment.

There may be times when a change must be made to an invoice that has already been transferred to accounting. When an invoice has a status of Transferred, a credit memo must be used to back out the charges. In most cases, a credit memo completely reverses all charges on the original invoice.

The move of a tractor and an empty trailer.

Refers to when a resource(s) have left a stop.

Delay of a driver and equipment at a freight stop. A dollar amount for the delay may be billed to the customer and/or paid to the driver.

The delivery of a shipment.

The action of detaching a loaded trailer, which will not be unloaded immediately. This event can occur at any location and may be referred to as a park, to be followed by a hook (i.e., the reattachment of the trailer to the same or a different trailer).

Number of miles a driver travels without cargo (i.e., deadhead and/or bobtail miles).

The transport an empty trailer and/or a tractor from one location to another. Because it involves only empty miles, the movement is not associated with any order.

The time at which resources are expected to reach a stop location.

An event is an activity that occurs at a stop location. Multiple events may occur at the same stop. There are two types of events:

TMWSuite allows you to schedule key activities for your resources (drivers, tractors, trailer, carriers), as well as dates and reasons they will be unavailable for service in the future. Key activities and out-of-service reasons can be custom defined by your company in the label file within System Administration.

The attributes of the cargo, including such items as commodity description, quantity and weight.

A stop made by a truck at a location to pick up or deliver freight or equipment. A freight stop typically occurs at the location of a shipper or a consignee. All shipments involve at least two freight stops: one to pick up the freight and one to deliver it.

A fee charged by a state agency for fuel purchased or consumed while inside that state.

A window that displays a listing of records in a spreadsheet-style arrangement of rows.

Several windows within TMWSuite allow you to look up lists of records. These lists are shown in grid form. Among the most used lookup windows are the scroll windows accessed from the Tools menu, and the Available Trips and Available Resources grids on the Planning Worksheet in Dispatch. In most cases, if a window displays data in a grid form, you can customize that grid by:

The action of attaching a loaded or unloaded trailer to a power unit (tractor). This event will occur if a trailer previously was dropped at a location and is now ready to be pulled.

An inbound trip segment is viewed in terms of its destination; i.e., a group of trip segments listed by destination city is said to be inbound.

In the Invoicing application, this is the line item for a charge to be billed to a customer. There are two types of invoice details:

In the Invoicing application, the portion of the invoice displayed in the top of the Edit Invoice Folder. It includes the following invoice information:

In the case of team drivers, the lead driver is the primary driver.

The movement of resources between two consecutive stops on a trip.

Another term for trip segment. (This term is used exclusively by TMWSuite developers. It generally does not appear on screens, so users may not be familiar with it. However, it is used in database tables and columns, so those who write reports should be familiar with it.)

The dollar amount billed to a customer or paid to a resource for movement of freight.

Billing or pay rates used for accessorials that are applied on an "as needed" basis

A type of billing rate that is a hybrid of secondary and line item rates because it has properties of both:

The action of placing freight onto a trailer

Number of miles, minus deadhead and/or bobtail miles, traveled by a driver during a movement or a trip segment. In other words, loaded miles are the number of miles a driver travels with cargo loaded on the trailer that is currently attached to their tractor.

The transport of goods from one location to another. Such a movement occurs when a driver hooks their tractor to a loaded trailer and hauls it to the load’s final destination. For this type of movement, TMWSuite "follows" the loaded trailer. In other words, the movement is a record which documents the activity associated with the load from its pickup point to its destination. A loaded movement may consist of a single order or multiple orders.

A group of profiles of the same type. Profiles are set up in the File Maintenance application for companies, tractors, drivers, trailers, carriers, Pay To’s, and cities.

There may be times when you need to bill a customer for a service that is not directly related to an order. Such "stand-alone" invoices are called miscellaneous invoices. A miscellaneous invoice can be used to bill for storage charges, trailer wash charges and other service fees.

The term "movement" represents a concept central to the dispatch process. A movement is the record of the activities performed by the resources assigned to execute a trip. All loaded and empty legs of a trip are encompassed within a movement. In most cases, the same primary trailer is used on all loaded legs of a movement. There can, however, be multiple tractors and drivers on a movement.

An outside trucking company to which transport of goods is brokered. Such a carrier is called a non-board carrier, because drivers, tractors and/or trailers used by that carrier are not listed on the Planning Worksheet (also called the Dispatch Board) in Dispatch.

A pay status assigned to pay details that have been calculated but which are not approved as ready to be issued.

An order is a customer request for the movement of goods or materials. Such a request must be recorded before resources can be dispatched to move the load. Each order is assigned a unique ID number.

Consists of all fields in the upper portion of the Order Entry Folder.

An outbound trip segment is viewed in terms of its origin, i.e., a group of trip segments listed by origin city is said to be outbound.

An independent contractor who owns one or more tractors and contracts services to one or more carriers. An owner-operator may also be a driver.

An individual line item to be paid or deducted on a resource’s settlement.

The person or company that is to receive payment for work done by an outside resource belonging to an owner operator or third-party carrier.

Item for which a resource can be paid, or for which a deduction may be issued. The pay type identifies the rate basis (i.e., how pay for a particular kind of labor/deduction is to be calculated). Also known as settlement type.

The tractor assigned to a trip. Also called a power unit.

A pay rate set up in the Rate Schedules application that is used to calculate driver payment for the movement of freight from one location to another. Also known as a driver’s freight rate, or line haul rate.

A file pertaining to a particular company or resource (i.e., driver, tractor, trailer, carrier, Pay To) that contains all information specific to that customer or resource. Profiles are set up in the File Maintenance application.

A window that provides you with a listing of records. Some queues allow you to initiate mass processing of all records listed.

That part of the rate definition that contains the identifying name and ID of the rate, along with the designation of the unit in effect for the rate (i.e., whether it is mileage-based, hourly, percent of revenue, flat). In addition, the rate header may contain a minimum quantity, a minimum charge, and a single unit rate figure or row/column definitions for a rate table.

The application used to establish, look up and maintain billing rates and/or pay rates, as well as the restrictions, which determine when specific rates are to be used. Also called Automatic Rating or Tariffs.

A matrix of dollar amounts defined for a billing rate or a pay rate.

Rating by detail means that the charge for each freight detail (or stop) on an order is determined separately from the others. Usually, each commodity on an order has its own unique rate.

Rating by total means that the charge for an order is not determined by individual freight details/stops. The rate is based on a total, such as weight or mileage, for all stops.

A replacement invoice created because the original invoice sent to the Bill To company was not correct.

A number supplied by a Bill To, shipper, consignee, or manufacturer that can be used to trace a shipment. Examples are:

A pay status assigned to pay details that have been approved for issue. Once pay details have a Released status, they are ready to undergo the Collect and Close processes in Final Settlements.

A driver, tractor, trailer and/or carrier assigned to move freight. Also known as an asset.

A type of travel stop recorded for a trip. A route point is not necessarily an actual stop but is used to indicate a location through which the driver passed on a trip. The driver gets paid for route points, but the miles to and from such points are not billed.

A billing or pay rate set up in the Rate Schedules application for accessorial labor. A secondary rate cannot be used independently to calculate pay; it is referenced only when the primary rate to which it is linked is used to calculate line haul pay.

Total payment owed to a driver or an independent contractor for trips and accessorial labor performed during a particular pay period. A settlement consists of all pay details released for a resource during a particular pay period.

A printed listing of the payment a driver or an independent contractor received for trips and accessorial labor performed during a particular pay period.

Item for which a driver can be paid, or for which a deduction may be issued. The settlement type identifies the rate basis (i.e., how pay is to be calculated). Also known as pay type.

The point at which the first freight pickup is made. The shipper may or may not be the customer who placed the order.

There may be times when the resources used to start a trip are unable to or not intended to complete it. In some cases, you will know this in advance and can plan for it. Other times, a resource change is required unexpectedly, as when a driver becomes ill or when a tractor breaks down.

A regularly scheduled debit taken when a resource’s pay is processed.

A stop represents an occurrence at a particular site during a driver’s route. A stop is defined by:

Once an invoice is created for an order, you subsequently may find out that additional charges need to be billed for that order. Therefore, you must create an additional invoice for the order.

The distance traveled by both a lead driver and a co-driver during a trip.

A type of travel stop recorded for a trip. A track point is not necessarily an actual stop but is used to indicate a location through which the driver passed on a trip. The driver does not get paid for track points and the miles to and from such points are not billable.

The portion of a movement for which the driver and tractor remain unchanged.

A view is established on the Define Views window in Dispatch. It is a set of restrictions that serves as a filter to narrow down the number of records listed on the Planning Worksheet. Typically, a specific view is defined for each dispatcher or dispatch group. When a dispatcher looks up available trips and available resources, the system automatically displays the records that match the views assigned to them.