To help bring additional collaboration to the LTL carrier base, Turvo provides the ability to create, rate, book/assign, track, and capture documentation using integrations with the following Less-than-truckload (LTL) platform partners:
- project44 (P44)
- SMC3 CzarLite (referred to as “SMC3” for the rest of this article)
These LTL platforms integrate with Turvo so that our customers and their customers have a unified, seamless experience.
Note: While LTL shipments can be created in Turvo without an integration, you must have at least one integration in order to retrieve carrier rates on your LTL shipments.
This guide will cover aspects of LTL shipment management to consider before and after LTL shipment creation, including:
- LTL integration capabilities
- Requesting LTL platform integrations
- Creating an LTL shipment
- Verify LTL integration connectivity
- Retrieving LTL carrier rates
- Assigning/Booking carriers as a logistics service provider or shipper
- After carrier assignment/booking confirmation
Requesting configuration and carrier setup for LTL platform integrations
While the configuration processes for Turvo’s integrations with its LTL platform partners may vary, the following items are true for all three integrations:
- Integration requires enablement by Turvo Support at the tenant-level.
- You will need existing accounts with each LTL platform partner in order to utilize the integration.
- You will need to provide credentials for those accounts to Turvo Support so that the integration(s) can be configured for your tenant.
- All carriers in your Turvo tenant that you wish to utilize for the integration(s) must be set to appear in LTL results.
- P44 also requires configuration of carrier accounts within the P44 Visibility Operations Center (VOC) dashboard.
- Integrations can be enabled in the same tenant concurrently. However, this may lead to some overlap where the same shipment appears with rates from different LTL partner platforms.
See our articles on Turvo’s P44 integration and Turvo’s SMC3 integration to learn more about requesting the LTL platform integration configurations and how to configure carriers for the integration.
Creating an LTL shipment
The Turvo user interface offers two versions of LTL shipment creation.
The default workflow is enabled on all tenants by default and uses a single page Create shipment modal that is used for shipments of all modes.
The alternate workflow provides a different Create shipment modal that has been tailored to the needs of LTL shipping to provide a more streamlined experience. To use the alternate workflow, contact your Turvo representative to have it enabled on your tenant.
See our article, Creating an LTL shipment, for detailed information on the different workflows and how they are used for LTL shipment creation.
Verify LTL integration connectivity
Upon completion of your LTL platform integration, you may wish to test the integration to confirm that it is working properly.
Important note: The P44 integration is not compatible for testing in the Sandbox environment at this time. Any testing will need to be done in your production environment. Due to the potential for mistakes in your production environment, proceed with any testing carefully and consider the Important reminders for testing LTL platform connectivity outlined in the subsection below.
Testing the integration
Begin the testing by creating an LTL shipment using whichever LTL creation workflow is enabled for your tenant. Be sure to include item attributes like dimensions, quantity, and weight (net or gross will depend on the carrier), as well as the Requested pickup/delivery dates for the shipment.
Note: If these details are not included, Turvo will not be able to retrieve quotes from the rating partner.
In the shipment, open the Carriers tab. If the integration is configured correctly, you should receive rates from the LTL platform integration partner that match the criteria input in the tab’s filter. The Source column will display the name of the LTL platform integration that retrieved the rate.
Note: If you have multiple integrations for your tenant, you may see multiple rates for the same carrier from different sources.
Important reminders for testing LTL platform connectivity
Do not click BOOK or ASSIGN
For testing purposes, do not click the BOOK or ASSIGN button on rates shown in the test shipment’s Carriers tab. The booked/assigned shipment cannot be canceled from the Turvo user interface. If you book/assign your test shipment to a carrier by mistake, the account owner will need to contact the carrier directly to cancel.
Configure a phone number in your profile
You may encounter the following error message when using the integration: Your profile phone number is not set, it is required for LTL quoting.
If you encounter this message, add a phone number to your user profile. See our User profile overview: Understanding all the tabs article to learn more about updating your user profile.
No ability to test tracking
Turvo cannot receive tracking/status updates for shipments that are not picked up. You will be unable to test tracking through the integration until you have a real shipment that is booked/assigned via the integration.
Retrieving LTL carrier rates
Once the shipment has been created and details have been adjusted, click on the Carriers tab to select an LTL carrier. Only carriers that were previously configured to show in LTL results will appear, and rates can only be retrieved via an LTL platform integration.
When you click on the Carriers tab, Turvo makes a call to LTL rating platform integrations. Turvo will then show any carrier and lane rate information from those integrations which match the details entered on the shipment (as long as the carrier has been configured to show in LTL results).
Note: If you’re a shipper with access to your logistic service provider’s list of carriers/carrier rates and/or are able to book those carriers, you’ll see the logistic service provider as the Source for that carrier. If the brokers in your Turvo network also have accounts with that logistics service provider, you may see multiple rates for the same carrier. To better identify the account associated with each rate, the tenant associated with the received rate is displayed as a subtext in the Source column.
How to trigger a manual re-rate
When returning to the Carriers tab after an initial rating, the previous rates will remain unless the shipments are updated, the previous rating session has expired, or the manual rate refresh button is clicked.
To trigger a re-rate request, click refresh here in the last refresh timestamp at the bottom of the carrier rates list.
Note: After 12 hours, the previous rates will expire and new rates automatically populate.
Filtering the list of available carriers
At the top of the list in the dark blue band, you can select various filters to show only carriers that match specific criteria. For instance, in the screenshot below, the user has selected a Pickup services filter to only view carriers with a liftgate:
You can also filter based on Delivery services, Shipment services, Transit time, and Price.
Use customer pricing
At the bottom right side of the window, there is a toggle to view customer pricing. If turned on, this will refresh the carrier list and only show carriers that the customer on the shipment has rates with.
Use this to toggle customer pricing ON if the customer may have better rates.
Note: This is only available in the logistics service provider view. If you’re a shipper booking LTL shipments using your logistic service provider’s carriers, this toggle will not be available.
Utilizing Freight of Any Kind class rates for rating
If you contract with carriers that offer Freight of Any Kind (FAK) freight class rates, you can use Turvo to create FAK groups to create normalized freight classes for your LTL shipments. This will provide more accurate rates that reflect your contract with the carrier.
Once FAK groups are created and associated with a carrier, Turvo will apply the FAK group’s normalized freight class when calling your LTL rating integrations to retrieve rates for your shipments. The rates you receive will accurately reflect the carrier’s price for LTL shipments for the normalized freight class.
See our article, Creating and assigning Freight of Any Kind groups for LTL shipment rating, to learn more.
Assigning/Booking carriers as a logistics service provider or shipper
Allowing customers to view rates, book directly, or select preferred carriers
Using your customer’s account settings in your Turvo tenant, you can set preferences on how each of your customers can interact with your tenant’s LTL shipment rating features. Customers can either be locked out entirely, allowed to select a preferred carrier, or even book a carrier directly without your intervention.
See our article, Managing carrier information sharing, rating, and booking preferences for your customers, to learn more about how to configure a customer’s settings and how these features will work for you and your customers.
Directly assigning/booking a carrier through an LTL platform integration
The process for directly choosing a carrier will differ slightly depending on the integration you receive the carrier rate from.
Note: This process is the same if you are a shipper that is directly assigning/booking through your logistics service provider, or if you are a logistics service provider that is assigning/booking with a carrier on behalf of your customer.
- In the LTL shipment’s Carriers tab, once you’ve decided on the carrier you'd like to assign/book, hover over the carrier's row.
- Note: The Source column will display the name of the LTL platform integration that retrieved the rate. If you have multiple integrations for your tenant, you may see multiple rates for the same carrier from different sources.
- Depending on the source, you will see either an ASSIGN button or a BOOK button on the right of the row.
- If the rate is provided from SMC3, click the ASSIGN button.
- If the rate is provided from P44, click the BOOK button.
- If the rate is provided from SMC3, click the ASSIGN button.
Note: If you have forgotten to enter any required information, an error message will pop up with the information needed to continue. You will not be able to proceed with booking the carrier without fixing the necessary information, so be sure to go back to the shipment Details tab to fix it.
- If all shipment details have been entered correctly, the Assign carrier modal or Book carrier modal will appear with a detailed pricing quote for that carrier and the ASSIGN button or the BOOK button will appear blue.
- Click ASSIGN or BOOK to complete the booking.
- If the carrier is assigned through rates provided by SMC3, Turvo will assign the carrier within its own system. No communication will be sent to SMC3.
- If the booking is through P44, this will send the request to the carrier. A pop-up message will indicate that the request is processing.
- As a logistics service provider, customers that are rating LTL shipments using your P44 integration will see prices that already include the markup configured in the Details tab > Settings section > Costs markup segment of their customer account profile in Turvo. See our article on Viewing and editing customer details to learn more about configuring the Costs markup segment.
- Once the carrier has accepted the offer, Turvo will send a booking request to the specified LTL platform partner, which will then send updates to Turvo throughout the shipment process.
- Shipments booked via P44 will send the Turvo Shipment ID when syncing the shipment to your P44 account. This will allow you to more easily link shipments between the two platforms when utilizing resellers.
After carrier assignment/booking confirmation
Finding carrier information
As a logistics service provider
Once the carrier has confirmed assignment/booking, navigate back to the shipment’s Details tab. The selected carrier should appear at the bottom of the page under the Carriers section, as shown below:
As a shipper/customer
Once the carrier has confirmed assignment/booking, navigate back to the shipment’s Details tab. The logistics service provider from the Source column of the carrier should appear at the bottom of the page under the Carriers section.
Syncing location or equipment services as accessorials to your LTL platform integration
For LTL shipments that are rated via the P44 integration, location or equipment services added to the Services fields, found in the Equipment needed and Route sections of the shipment’s Details tab > Shipment block, are mapped to the matching shipment in P44 as an accessorial. Turvo will retrieve the accessorial’s price from P44 and add the service as a cost item for the customer/carrier in the shipment’s Customers/Carriers block > Costs segment.
LTL shipment summary Overview card
The Overview card in the shipment’s Summary tab features a field for the Freight class of the item(s) in the shipment, if the information has been provided in the Details tab > Items section or during shipment creation. Hover over the i icon to the left of the field to see the National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) # for the item(s) as well.
LTL shipment tracking
LTL shipment progress can be tracked in your Turvo tenant, removing the need to call the carrier or visit their website for tracking updates.
When a shipment is booked in Turvo and picked up by the carrier, any carrier updates (e.g., location of the shipment, transfer into a different trailer, departing from a sorting facility, etc.) will update the shipment status in Turvo and share the detailed information in the Timeline tab.
When the carrier marks the shipment delivered, the Turvo status will also change to reflect this update.
Note: The P44 integration will send tracking information from the carrier to Turvo, if available. The SMC3 integration does not provide tracking information. The frequency of the updates may vary based on the LTL carrier.
Protip: On occasion, the actual pickup of a shipment can occur before the scheduled pickup. To ensure Turvo receives accurate tracking information from P44, Turvo will send a tracking initialization request to P44 seven days prior to a shipment’s scheduled pickup date. If you would like to change the number of days prior to the scheduled pickup that Turvo sends this request, reach out to your Turvo representative to update the setting for your tenant.
LTL ETA
To remove the guesswork and need to contact the carrier for a shipment’s estimated time of arrival (ETA), the ETA can be captured straight from the carrier, if booked through P44.
Once tracking is generated and an estimated delivery date is determined by the carrier, the ETA is available in the shipment details under Delivery date (destination).
This feature is not automatically available in all tenants, and must be configured. Contact your Turvo representative to discuss adding this feature for your company.
Note: Most carriers only provide delivery dates, not estimated timestamps. Not all carriers have the capacity to provide this information. If an ETA is not provided by the carrier, Delivery date (destination) will remain blank.
LTL document capture
Document capture as part of the LTL platform partner integrations is available through P44.
Documents added to shipments via these integrations can transfer into the shipment in Turvo, as long as the carrier has the ability to upload and share documents configured in their instance of P44 (not every carrier will have this ability).
Documents captured from P44 will appear on the shipment Documents tab and will have the appropriate integration partner in the name to clearly indicate how the documents were added (for example, files from P44 will have “P44-” at the beginning of the filename).
All document types from the integrations can be captured and will have the corresponding document type listed. For document types that do not match Turvo document types, they will be listed as Other.
If documents change after the initial capture, they will need to be added to the Turvo shipment manually by clicking + Add document and uploading or generating the document. P44 will not share multiple copies of the same document to Turvo -- only the first version will be shared.
Note: When P44 auto-submits Proof of deliveries for LTL shipments, Turvo auto-associates the pickup and delivery stops on PODs for shipments with only one route segment with one pickup and one delivery stop. For shipments with more than one route segment, or more than one pickup/one delivery, stops will still need to be manually associated with the document.
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