CrossDock procedures

As of TruckMate 2022.4, CrossDock is no longer available. Trimble still provides support for older versions.

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How do I Group my Freight onto Trips?

  1. Open the CrossDock program (CROSSDCK.EXE), click: Start > Programs > TruckMate > Dispatch > LTL > CrossDock

  2. You can use one of the following options to select Freight Bills that should be grouped together on a trip:

    • Hold down "CTRL and S" or use your context menu and select "Select/Unselect This Bill" to select/deselect the current Freight Bill.

    • Hold down "CTRL and A" or use your context menu and select "Select All" to select all Freight Bills currently in the Freight Bill grid.

    • Hold down "CTRL and R" or use your context menu and select "Select This Route Designation" to select all Freight Bills with the same route designation as the current Freight Bill.

    • Hold down the "CTRL" key and use your left mouse menu on the Freight Bills ONE at a time. You can use the scroll bar on the right hand side of the Freight Bill grid—​between selections—​if all the bills are not in the visible grid area when using the "CTRL and your left mouse menu " or "CTRL and S" option.

  3. If there is a trip currently created in the door grid, that the Freight Bills should be grouped together on, then use your left mouse menu and select any ONE of the selected Freight Bills and drag them over to the door grid (a forklift icon will appear) and drop them on the desired trip. Another option is to use your context menu on any of the selected Freight Bills and select "Move to Door…​" A message box will appear requesting the door number. Type the door number and click "OK" or press the "ENTER" key. If there is no trip currently in the door grid then first create the trip before attempting to move your selection of Freight Bills to the door grid.

How do I Plan a Trip?

Generally, trip planning in the CrossDock program is performed in the following order:

  1. Open the CrossDock program (CROSSDCK.EXE), click: Start > Programs > TruckMate > Dispatch > LTL > CrossDock

  2. Using the Terminal Setup button, select the terminal for which you wish to plan loads Create a trip by assigning a trailer to a terminal door, or use the right mouse "New Trip at this Door" menu option. To assign a trailer, click and drag it from the Yard (bottom part of the screen) to the desired Door.

  3. Set the destination for the trip (context menu in the Doors section of the screen).

  4. Filter the freight bills in the grid to find applicable bills. You can filter by Route Designation (context menu in the freight bill grid), or by Lane (right mouse click in the Lane Tree section).

  5. Assign a sequence to the freight bills that will be included on the trip (enter a value in the Route Sequence column of the freight bill grid).

  6. Assign freight bills to the trip by clicking and dragging from the freight bill grid to the desired door.

  7. Park the trailer in the yard (if you wish to additional freight before releasing the trip to the Dispatch program) or release the trip to the Dispatch program by flagging it as Loaded to Go. Both these options are available from the context menu in the Door section of the screen.

How do I Assign a Trailer to a Trip?

  1. Open the CrossDock program (CROSSDCK.EXE), click: Start > Programs > TruckMate > Dispatch > LTL > CrossDock

  2. Only Trailers, which are at the Terminal Zone of the current terminal selected for viewing in Crossdock, are shown in the "Trailer Pool" in the bottom grid of the Crossdock program. Use your left mouse menu and select and drag the desired trailer from the grid to the desired door and drop it there. As you are dragging the trailer, you’ll see a trailer shaped icon appear in place of your cursor.

  3. If there was not already a trip at this door then a new trip will be automatically created for you. If there was a trip at this door already then the trailer will be assigned to it.

How do I Release a Trailer from an Assigned Trip?

  1. Open the CrossDock program (CROSSDCK.EXE), click: Start > Programs > TruckMate > Dispatch > LTL > CrossDock

  2. The trailer must be in a door before it can be released from a trip. If the trailer is not in a door, you must use your left mouse menu to select, drag, and drop the trailer into an empty door before you can release it from the trip. Next, double click on the door or use your context menu to select "Show Door Summary" for the door where the trailer is located.

  3. In the Door Summary window that appears, use your left mouse menu to select the trailer you wish to release. Use your left mouse menu to select the Unmatch Trailer icon to release the trailer from the trip.

How do I Enable a Trip to be Dispatched when it will not let me set the trip to 'Loaded-To-Go' Status?

  1. Open the CrossDock program (CROSSDCK.EXE), click: Start > Programs > TruckMate > Dispatch > LTL > CrossDock

  2. Make sure that all the Freight Bills on the Trips are in 'DOCKED' status and not 'AVAIL' (available to be picked in Dispatch). A trip can only be set 'LOADEDTOGO' if all the freight bills have been previously picked and docked.

  3. De-assign the freight bills that are not docked.

  4. Once this step is done, you should then be able to set the trip’s status to 'LOADEDTOGO'.

  5. The trip can now be dispatched.

How do I Enable an LTL Trip to be Dispatched?

  1. Open the CrossDock program (CROSSDCK.EXE), click: Start > Programs > TruckMate > Dispatch > LTL > CrossDock

  2. Once a Trip has been created in Crossdock and is ready to be dispatched, you must follow these simple steps:

    1. Right click on that door/trip and select the "Optimize Trip" option. NOTE: Only required for trips with multiple legs, and if you wish to track the miles between each leg as this may have an impact on Driver Pay for example.

    2. If a trip has not been optimized, the next step would be to set a destination. This can be accessed via a right mouse click - "Set Destination".

      Note: This step can be skipped if a destination already appears for this trip.

    3. Once a trip/trailer has been loaded and is ready to be dispatched (providing a driver and power unit have also been assigned), you must select the "Loaded To Go" option (accessed via the right mouse menu). If the trip does not yet have a destination, the system will prompt you to enter one before setting the trip as Loaded To Go.

  3. The trip is now ready to have a driver and power unit assigned and be subsequently dispatched.

How do I Use the 'Route Designation' and 'Route Sequence' Fields?

  1. Open the CrossDock program (CROSSDCK.EXE), click: Start > Programs > TruckMate > Dispatch > LTL > CrossDock

  2. Generally, when creating a manifest trip in Crossdock, it is preferred that the freight bills are listed on the manifest in the same order they are loaded on the trailer. This is for the benefit of the destination terminals to see approximately where each piece of freight is on the trailer.

  3. By using the Route Designation field you can tell the system, before assigning the freight bills to a trailer, what bills are going onto each trailer and filter then by the trailer number using the filter field. Access the filter field at the top of the screen by selecting the route designation field so that the blue arrow will appear and enter the filter information in the filter field.

  4. Enter the trailer number or door number to be assigned to the freight bills in the route designation field and then create the filter.

  5. The route designation field usually defaults to the destination zone code of the freight bill. The filter can be created by clicking once in the field, then begin typing the new route designation. The "%" wild card can also be used in this filter field.

  6. Then in the Route Sequence column, enter 1 in the row of the freight bill that is in the nose of the trailer, 2 in the row of the freight bill that is loaded just behind it/beside it/on top of it, etc. That way the freight bill with the highest number is the freight bill closest to the back of the trailer.

  7. Once the bills are sorted and sequenced, select all the bills using your context menu, "Select All", (or press ctrl+A), and then drag them onto the trailer. By printing the manifest report the bills will display in the order they appear on the trailer.

How do I Filter by Route Code?

  1. Open the CrossDock program (CROSSDCK.EXE), click: Start > Programs > TruckMate > Dispatch > LTL > CrossDock

  2. Find a freight bill with the route code you wish to filter by and use your context menu and select the option "Filter By This Route Designation".

  3. The Route Designation Filter selection box appears. Enter the Route Designation to filter by or accept the default value. The default value is the Route Designation of the freight bill right clicked on in step 2 above.

  4. Click "OK" or press the "ENTER" key. Only freight bills with a matching value in their Route Designation field will be displayed.

How do I Setup and Use Traffic Lanes?

This section will assume that the user has setup the "Zone Tree".

  1. To open the Crossdock Traffic Lanes program (LANETREE.EXE), click Start Programs TruckMate Profiles Crossdock Traffic Lanes.

  2. View the Zone Tree on your left hand side of the screen. This is "read-only". You will be working on the right hand side of the screen building the Traffic Lane.

  3. Before you begin building the Traffic Lane, it is important to understand that we are not creating "Zones" or changing the way zones work in the rest of the program. We are simply going to be building some complex "Filters" that you will use to filter down the list of Freight Bills showing in the Crossdock screen. The Traffic Lane(s) that you will create should be based on some sort of organization method currently in use to organize freight out of your dock and onto trailers.

  4. To begin creating a "Traffic Lane", select the "World" heading on the right hand side of the screen. Then, use your context menu and select "Make a New Lane". Give your New Lane a name. It can be whatever you like, but should identify what this Lane is going to filter.

  5. Using your context menu, you should view four options. These are: Delete, New Lane, Rename Lane, and Rebuild Lane Tree.

  6. To build the Lane, we must select the "Zones" from the Zone Tree on the left hand side, and then click and drag it into the Lane on the right. You should note that the order of the zones placed into the Lane has no effect on the Lane. Any Zone you place in the Lane will be included in the Filter. You can even drag over a State or Province, and all of the Zones the next level down will be included as well. Or, if you have organized Cities into large metropolitan areas, or are using ZIP codes for Zones, and have organized these in like manner, the same rule applies.

  7. Create a couple of Lanes for practice. Then you can delete these practice lanes at any time, without consequence. Once you have mastered the process, then you should carefully consider how to structure your Lanes. Remember, you will be Filtering the Crossdock screen using the End Zone of the Freight Bill.

  8. Here’s an example: You are an LTL Carrier that ships freight from points in the Seattle area to points in Illinois, Texas, and Southern California. After bringing the freight to the Seattle terminal, you reorganize the freight onto trailers as per their destination. All Illinois area destined orders go onto the same trailer, all Texas bound orders go onto one trailer, and so on. So for this example, you would have 3 Traffic Lanes to help you filter and sort your Crossdock screen. The first Lane would be for Illinois.

    1. Use your context menu and select "World", and then select "New Lane", and give it a name, say, "Illinois Bound Freight".

    2. Now go to the Zone Tree on the left, and select the entire state of Illinois, IL, and drop it into your new Lane.

    3. Repeat those steps for Texas.

    4. Southern California will be a bit more difficult, as you will have to select individual Cities to drag over into the Lane, unless you already have the state of California organized the desired way in your Zone Tree. Then it would be as easy as dragging a state into the Lane.

    5. As noted above, it does not matter which order you place the Zones into the Lane. You could even place the same zone into the Lane twice. All you are doing is creating a filter more complex than could be accomplished solely in the Crossdock program.

    6. Now, we go to our next major step: using the Traffic Lane.

      1. To open the CrossDock program (CROSSDCK.EXE), click Start Programs TruckMate Dispatch CrossDock.

      2. On the right hand side of the screen you will see "World", with small folder-like icons just to the left. Double-click on one of the folder-like icons.

      3. Now you will have a list of Traffic Lane Filters to choose from. To select one, use your context menu to select the Lane you wish to use. You have three options but you’ll select "Filter by this Lane", which will make your Freight Bill list much smaller. Remember, you are Filtering based on the End Zone of the Freight Bill.

How do I Define Lanes that are used to filter Freight Bills in the Crossdock program using the Crossdock Traffic Lanes program?

The Crossdock Traffic Lanes program is used to define lanes that are used to filter freight bills in the Crossdock program. A lane consists of one or more zone codes. In the Crossdock program, you can select a lane for the purpose of filtering freight bills. When a lane is selected as a filter, only freight bills whose end zone matches one of the zone codes included in the lane are displayed. The lane tree hierarchy is similar to the zone code hierarchy; however, unlike the zone code tree, the same zone code can be included in multiple lanes in the lane tree.

In the Crossdock Traffic Lanes program, the left side of the screen displays the zone code hierarchy (ie, the zone tree). Zone codes and hierarchies are configured in the Codes Maintenance program. The right side of the screen displays the Lane Tree. Click the right mouse button in the Lane Tree area of the screen to invoke a menu of options. The "World" lane is created by default when you create your database, and cannot be deleted or renamed.

  1. Open the Crossdock Traffic Lanes program (LANETREE.EXE), click Start Programs TruckMate Profiles Crossdock Traffic Lanes.

  2. Click the right mouse button in the Lane Tree section of the screen to display the menu. A new lane will be created under the highlighted lane. Select the New Lane menu option. Enter a name for the new lane. This can be any combination of characters. Click the "Okay" button to create the lane.

  3. To move the lane into a different position in the lane tree, use the left mouse button to click and drag the new lane into the desired position in the hierarchy. The Lane Tree can be expanded and collapsed by clicking on the plus ("+") and minus ("-") symbols displayed to the left of the lane names.

  4. To add a zone to a lane, use the left mouse button to click and drag the zone from the Zone Tree area on the left side of screen to the lane name. You can also add zones to lanes by clicking and dragging zones already assigned to existing lanes.

This will not "move" the zone from the original lane to the new lane; it will copy the zone to the new lane, so that the zone will be assigned to both lanes.

Troubleshooting Tips

If your Freight Bills are not showing in the Grid, make sure the following criteria are met:

  • The Freight Bill’s current Status must have a 'Docked' behavior. To learn more about Codes and their behaviors, view the Codes Maintenance program documentation.

  • The Current Zone must be a 'Terminal' Zone. To learn more about terminal zones, view Codes Maintenance, Zone Codes.

  • CrossDock sites (i.e. Terminals) must be configured. To learn more about this item, read the Terminal Setup section of this page.

  • Ideally, the Lane Tree should also be configured to speed filtering. To learn more about the Lane Tree Program, go to CrossDock Traffic Lanes program documentation.

  • If applicable, a Routing Code could also be given to specific Customers. This code is determined by the client. View the Freight Bill Grid on this page for more information.