Logistics and transportation
You move the freight, but you do not know what moving it costs
Orders come in through several channels, the route is built on the dispatcher’s experience, proof of delivery arrives days later, and the invoice waits for it. Meanwhile, the cost of serving each customer and each route is an estimate. We connect orders, operations, costing, and billing on Dynamics 365 Business Central, integrated with your transportation and warehouse systems, so every service has a known result.
Process map and common pain points
- Order and service request entry
- Orders arrive by email, by phone, and on customer spreadsheets, and someone retypes them. Every retype is a chance to get the address, the quantity, or the service terms wrong.
- Route planning and assignment
- The route is built from what is available that day and the dispatcher’s judgment, with no integrated view of commitments, capacity, and cost. Last-minute changes are recorded nowhere.
- Cost by service, route, and customer
- Fuel, tolls, maintenance, third parties, and staff hours are recorded in different systems and reach cost weeks later. The result by route or by contract is an estimate, not a number.
- Shipment traceability and proof of delivery
- Shipment status is checked by calling the driver. Proof of delivery travels on paper, gets lost or arrives late, and billing and claim resolution are delayed with it.
- Warehouse and distribution center operations
- Receiving, put-away, and picking are tracked on spreadsheets. The accuracy of customer inventory held in custody depends on manual counts, and discrepancies turn into claims.
- Rates, agreements, and billing
- Rates by customer, route, weight, or volume live in spreadsheets. Every invoice is built by hand, surcharges and accessorials are forgotten, and the gaps end up as credit memos.
- Fleet, maintenance, and assets
- Maintenance happens when the unit breaks down. There is no cost of ownership per vehicle and no preventive plan tied to real usage, so unplanned downtime throws off the operation.
- Integrations with customers and specialized systems
- Every large customer demands its own data exchange format, and every specialized system has its own database. The result is a fabric of files and manual uploads that is hard to sustain.
Recommended minimum solution
Start with cost to serve and billing, not with the map
The recommended minimum base is Business Central as the core for finance, purchasing, sales, and projects or services, with a cost structure by route, customer, or contract, rates configured in the system, and billing connected to what was actually delivered. With that, the result per service stops being an estimate. Integration with transportation systems, telemetry, and advanced warehouse management is added later, on top of a costing model that is already defined.
- Dynamics 365 Business Central: finance, purchasing, sales, inventory, and cost control by service, route, or contract
- Rate, customer agreement, surcharge, and accessorial service structure configured in the system
- Warehouse management with bins, receiving, picking, and shipping for your own distribution centers
- Recording of operating costs (fuel, tolls, third parties, maintenance) charged to the route or service that caused them
- Documented integration with the transportation management system and, where it exists, with telemetry and digital proof of delivery
- Power BI with cost to serve, service level, fleet utilization, and profitability by customer and route
Use cases by role
- Executive leadership (CEO)
- Knows which customers, routes, and service lines are profitable once every operating cost is included, and negotiates contract renewals with data instead of impressions.
- Finance (CFO)
- Gets actual cost per service broken into its components, tracks delivered work pending invoicing, and shortens the cycle between delivery and invoice, which is where cash flow gets stuck.
- Operations and distribution (COO)
- Plans with visibility of commitments, capacity, and cost, follows shipment status from one place, and sustains inventory accuracy in the distribution centers through cycle counts.
- Sales and customer service
- Quotes with cost to serve in view, answers shipment status questions with information from the system, and handles claims with the service traceability on record.
- Maintenance and fleet management
- Schedules preventive maintenance based on real usage, records cost per unit, and anticipates downtime instead of reacting to breakdowns.
- Information technology (IT)
- Replaces manual uploads and files between systems with documented integrations to the transportation system, telemetry, and customers, and manages identities, access, and backup in the Microsoft cloud.
Outcomes and KPIs
Cost to serve known by route and by customer
Charging every operating cost to the service that caused it turns profitability by customer, route, or contract into a number you can look up and into real input for renegotiating rates.
Suggested indicators
- Cost by service, by route, and by customer
- Margin by contract and by service line
- Operating cost as a share of revenue
- Share of third-party and subcontracting cost
Faster and cleaner billing
When the invoice is generated from what was delivered and approved in the system, the cycle shortens and the gaps that used to end in credit memos go down.
Suggested indicators
- Days between delivery and invoice issued
- Delivered services pending invoicing
- Credit memos as a share of total billing
- Accounts receivable days
Service level sustained
With shipment status and proof of delivery recorded in the system, performance is measured and claims are settled with evidence instead of phone calls.
Suggested indicators
- On-time in-full deliveries (OTIF)
- Incidents per thousand shipments
- Claim resolution time
- Proofs of delivery received within the defined window
Fleet and assets used with judgment
Measuring usage, cost, and maintenance per unit lets you decide on renewal, subcontracting, and capacity with evidence.
Suggested indicators
- Fleet utilization and capacity utilization per trip
- Unplanned downtime per unit
- Maintenance cost per unit and per mile driven
Conceptual architecture
How the Microsoft ecosystem is organized in a logistics operation
The ERP acts as the system of economic record for the operation: every relevant logistics event must be translatable into a cost, a revenue, or a commitment. The specialized systems keep doing their job, but connected through defined data contracts.
Business layer (ERP): Dynamics 365 Business Central holds finance, purchasing, sales, inventory, services, and costs by route, contract, or customer. It is the master record for customers, rates, suppliers, and results.
Specialized execution layer: transportation management systems (TMS) and warehouse management systems (WMS) for route planning, shipment tracking, and distribution center operations, connected to the ERP through documented interfaces.
Data and analytics layer: Power BI consolidates cost to serve, service level, utilization, and profitability into a governed model with single definitions per metric.
Field and mobility layer: apps on Power Platform and Microsoft 365 for capture on the route, digital proof of delivery, photo evidence, and service exceptions.
Telemetry and integration layer: position, odometer, temperature, and event signals from in-vehicle devices, received in Azure services and tied to the corresponding service to explain times and costs.
Security and governance layer: identity and conditional access in Microsoft Entra, permissions by role and by customer, an audit trail over rate and billing changes, and backup in the Microsoft cloud.
Phased methodology
Assess
A walkthrough of order entry, planning, execution, and billing for a typical service; a review of which costs are captured today, when, and at what level of detail. The result is a bounded scope and a metrics baseline.
Design
Definition of the cost model by service, route, and customer, the rate and surcharge structure, the scope of the integration with the transportation and warehouse systems, and the data and security architecture.
Implement
Configuration, migration of customers, rates, and balances, development of the agreed integrations, and testing with real services, including subcontracting and accessorial service scenarios.
Adopt
Role-based training for operations, sales, and administration, hands-on support through the first billing cycles, and tracking of real usage, with special attention to data capture on the route.
Optimize
Managed support, review of metrics against the baseline, and phased evolution: telemetry, advanced warehouse management, new customers with their own integration, or new sites.
Industry evidence
Case studies pending client authorization.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
- Which areas of Business Central add the most value in transportation and logistics?
- The ones that connect execution to the economic result: purchasing and sales for orders, rates, and billing; inventory and warehouse for the distribution centers; projects or services for cost control by route, contract, or customer; finance for bank reconciliation, multi-currency, and cost centers; and planning for the supply of consumables and spare parts.
- Does Business Central replace my transportation management system (TMS)?
- No. A TMS handles route planning, tracking, and transportation execution; Business Central handles the economic and administrative record of the operation. The usual approach is to integrate them, defining clearly which system owns each piece of data: orders, shipment statuses, and proofs of delivery in the TMS; rates, costs, billing, and results in the ERP.
- Can fleet telemetry or GPS be integrated?
- Yes. Position, odometer, temperature, and event signals can be received in Azure services and tied to the corresponding service or route to explain real times and costs. The scope depends on the telemetry provider your company uses and is defined during the design stage.
- Can I start small and scale?
- Yes, and that is the sensible route. A reasonable first phase covers the finance core, sales and purchasing, rates and billing, and the cost model by service. Later phases add advanced warehouse management, integration with the transportation system, telemetry, and finer analytics. That way each investment rests on data that is already reliable.
- How is proof of delivery handled?
- It can be captured digitally on the route, with signature and photo evidence, through apps built on Power Platform or through the transportation system you already use, and tied to the service in the ERP. That is the event that triggers billing, so shortening how long it takes to arrive is one of the most direct effects of the project.
- How do you bill customers with different rates and agreements?
- Rates by customer, route, weight, volume, or service unit, along with surcharges and accessorials, are configured in the system and applied to what was actually delivered. Mixed schemes are reviewed explicitly during design, because they are usually the source of discrepancies and credit memos.
- How long does an implementation take?
- It depends on the number of sites, service volume, rate complexity, and the integrations required. We do not publish generic timelines: the complimentary assessment delivers a phased schedule with explicit assumptions about scope and data availability.
Know what each route costs before you bill it
Tell us how you take orders, how you build routes, and how you bill today, and which systems coexist in your operation. We will propose a complimentary assessment and a minimum viable scope for the first phase.
Contact
Request a complimentary assessment
Tell us what your company needs and a BETABOX advisor will get in touch to schedule a call at your convenience. The initial assessment is 100% free of charge.
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