is cedula
Creating a web-based transport management solution from scratch
Client
CEDULA
Responsibilities
PM, Process design
Year
2018-2020
Overview
When you have several hundred shipments a day and you manage them with “pen and paper”, you can feel the increasing pressure to implement the right technology which should bring out the desired control.
The Story
Founded in 1996 as a family owned business, CEDULA is a well known national and international carrier in Slovakia. With over 100 trucks and 4 branches, the main operations are transport, logistics and warehousing.
Challenge
To create one web-based solution which helps with managing, planning, dispatching and controlling shipments.
The process
Starting with a few meetings with the owners, my assignment was to build a simple web-solution system for managing and tracking loading lists.
Loading lists are the documents which are created when a driver loads his truck with goods ready for a delivery. The initial idea was to have those available in a web-based solution where the user can view, create, edit and delete them without the need for lengthy evidence in paper folders.
After several more meetings, the assignment was changed and I was ready to deliver the full made-to-measure solution. Because, when you have a system which manages loading lists, wouldn’t it be a shame to have the other features (like order records or invoicing features) under one roof ?
At that time, I knew that my experience in the transport and warehousing industry would not be sufficient, therefore i invited my friend Richard to the team. With his help, we were able to deliver the functional and technical specification and propose our ideas to the client.
With the help of guys from Cassovia code, we made the team complete and started to build the MVP, and later on verified that we are on the right track.
As i’m writing this, the system is live and used by all 4 branches is Slovakia.
Results
One system with a centralized database that is used to run a company’s entire business.
Running on a virtual server, available 24/7 from any device with internet connection and browser installed – whether its a PC, mac, tablet or any smartphone.
Main features
- Order records (issued / received) including B2B portal where the business partners can create their orders or upload them in bulk from an .xls file and then track the shipments status
- Complete shipments records. Ability to create a new shipment directly from received order or vice versa – create an order from shipments
- Ability to create a loading list for the driver from created shipments
- Simple CRM with evidence of all business partners and ability to create a price list type (e.g. distanceXweight) and assign it to the selected partner. This results in hassle-free process on creating the received order where the final price is calculated automatically
- Employee records with ability to generate a .pdf employment contract after creating a new employee
- Territory management – when creating a shipment, the system knows to which of the 4 branches it belongs, what’s the total distance, what’s the weight/volume and what’s the price
- Vehicle and driver management
- Ability to manage all the invoices and to generate them from the orders / shipments
Here’s how it all works
Credits
Photography : Man Riding a forklift, Folders
System Architect : Richard Harvan
Dev : Cassoviacode