Development of a personal client account for a logistics company
About the client
“Transatlantic” is a company that has been engaged in international container transportation of cargo of any complexity for more than 7 years. Transportation is carried out by all types of transport. The company's head office is located in Yekaterinburg, one of the largest transport hubs in Russia.
The principle of Transatlantic is “comprehensive service for clients and control over each stage of cargo transportation.” And when providing services remotely, one of the indicators of good service is convenient and understandable interfaces of the company's Internet resources.
This is why Transatlantic management approached us to develop and implement a personal client account.
The first stage of our work was the study of modern multimodal transportation processes, the specifics of cargo transportation and legal requirements, including identifying the needs of future users of the personal account.
Problems
At the time of contacting us, the company's processes were not automated: requests for cargo transportation were received by managers via instant messengers and mail, then processed manually. Calculations were made using a set of files (in excel tables). Several employees were involved for this, and the calculations themselves took a long time – during this time, prices could change, and the client could choose another carrier.
The main tasks that we faced were to create a calculator for calculating the cost of transporting goods along routes and to ensure the ability to work with an application from the status “Accepted for work” to “Completed”.
And also provide the possibility of ordering additional options/services (transportation of dangerous goods, return of empty containers, transfer of VGM data).
Cost calculator
The calculator is needed to calculate the cost of delivery of cargo from point A to point B.
The route may include sections of different transport: sea, road, rail. The route also depends on the type of container (20, 40 feet, refrigerator), type of cargo (general, hazardous, oversized)
The calculator was supposed to be able to select the optimal route and calculate the cost based on current tariffs and data on the cargo being transported and the type of container.
The problem was that the data we were looking for was in different Excel tables and was not standardized.
We developed a unified standard for recording route and fare data. All disparate records were brought to this standard.
Now the data is kept up-to-date with less effort. The current data is loaded into a calculator that calculates the cost of cargo delivery.
The modern and convenient calculator we have created helps you get information instantly and, if necessary, leave a request for transportation.
Based on the calculated cost, the user has the ability to create a request and monitor its progress from the “Accepted” status to the “Completed” status.
The user can choose where he wants to receive notifications – by email or in Telegram.
Bilateral integration
The project implements two-way integration via a message broker.
This approach allows data exchange with any information systems on the enterprise side. Data from the personal account on the queue server is available for both CRM and ERP systems.
Implementation of document flow
All documents on the client's transportation are transferred to the personal account from the enterprise's information system: contract, acts, consignment notes, invoices, reconciliation acts
Due to the fact that the account is equipped with billing functions, the user can view all transportation documents in one account and conclude a new contract.
Managing users, organizations and rights
In the Transatlantic personal account, a permanent accounting problem has been solved, in which it was unclear who was working with the account on behalf of the client company, because one legal entity owned one account.
In the personal account, users register as individuals and are then associated with legal entities with the necessary rights.
Approximately as it is implemented in the Unified Identification and Authentication System (ESIA).
Thus, one user under one account has the ability to work with the service on behalf of several organizations, acting as a transport agent for them.
And within one organization, several employees can work under different accounts. Each with their own set of rights and freedoms).
All user actions are recorded in logs accessible to administrators.
Results
The client's personal account is a powerful tool for increasing customer loyalty of service companies!
Investments in developing a personal account return in the form of growing LTV, if everything is done correctly)
Useful links:
1. Original article on sumteh.ru
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