What is a TMS?

A TMS in one paragraph

A transport management system is the operating record of a transport business. A customer's booking becomes a job; the job is split into legs and allocated to a vehicle or a subcontractor; the driver receives the run on a phone, captures signature and photos at each stop, and the office sees the status as it changes; the delivered job is priced from the customer's rate card and invoiced. A TMS is different from fleet telematics, which reports on vehicles, and from a warehouse management system, which runs the shed: the TMS runs the movement.

What a TMS does, step by step

The core of every TMS is the same sequence, whatever the freight.

1. 01Booking: the job is captured once, with freight details, addresses, references and time windows, from staff, a customer login or an imported file.
2. 02Planning and dispatch: jobs are split into legs, grouped onto manifests and allocated to vehicles, drivers or subcontractors, with the plan sent to the driver's phone.
3. 03Tracking: the vehicle's position and each status change sit on the job, and a tracking link gives the receiver an ETA without a phone call.
4. 04Proof of delivery: the driver records signature, photos, time, location and any waiting time at the stop, and the POD attaches to the job.
5. 05Pricing and invoicing: the customer's rate card, fuel levy and accessorial charges are applied to the job, and invoices are produced from completed jobs and sent to the accounts package.
6. 06Costing and reporting: subcontractor and fleet costs sit beside revenue, so margin is reported by job, customer and lane.

Who uses a TMS

Carriers use it to run their own trucks and subcontractors from one board. 3PLs use it to serve many customers from one operation while keeping each client's bookings, rates and reports separate. Freight brokers use it to put the customer rate and the carrier cost on the same job. Fleet operators use it to tie vehicles, drivers and compliance records to the work they are allocated. Shippers use it, through a customer login or a tracking link, to book freight and follow it.

The modules to expect

Beyond the core sequence, a TMS for road freight usually adds pricing engines with zones and charge units, a driver app with electronic POD, customer and subcontractor portals, notifications by email and SMS, fleet and compliance records, subcontractor costing and payment advices, and reporting. Specialised freight adds its own modules: container management for wharf cartage, with vessels, timeslots, cut-offs and dehire dates; pallet control for 3PLs; a VIN on every unit for car carriers; a required temperature on every job for refrigerated freight.

How a TMS is priced

Most cloud TMS products are subscriptions priced per user, per vehicle or per driver, often with a monthly minimum and a one-off onboarding fee for setup, data loading and training. Transynq is priced per active driver per month, in US dollars: an active driver is anyone who completed at least one job in the month through the driver app or WhatsApp, and office users, customer logins and subcontractor logins are not counted. The pricing page shows the plans, the volume steps and an estimator.

What to check before choosing one

The questions that separate a demo from a system that fits your operation.

• Does one job record carry through from booking to invoice, or is data re-keyed between modules?
• Can the driver record waiting time, futile deliveries and photos at the stop, and does that reach the invoice without a phone call?
• Does the pricing engine handle your rate cards: zones, cubic weight, charge units, surcharges, fuel levy and public holidays?
• Can subcontractors work in the same flow, with their own login and their cost beside your revenue?
• Is there a fallback for drivers who will not install an app?
• Where is the data hosted, is it isolated per company, and can you export it?
• Does it speak your freight: containers, pallets, VINs, temperatures, site deliveries?