Transport Management in SAP: Processes, Challenges & Best Practices

Transport logistics faces major challenges: supply chains are becoming more complex, customers expect ever-shorter delivery times, and companies must manage rising transport costs. At the same time, the number of available transport service providers is growing.

To ensure they do not lose track of the big picture, companies need integrated solutions that ensure transparent transport processes, simplify collaboration with transport service providers and enable efficient management of the transport chain.

In this article, you will learn what modern transport management in SAP looks like, what role SAP systems play in managing transport processes, and how companies benefit from integrating their transport service providers.

Transport management encompasses all processes relating to

• planning,
• control,
• execution and
• monitoring

of goods transport.

The aim is to transport goods efficiently, cost-effectively and on time.

Key components of transport management are:

• Selection of transport service providers 
• Transport cost control
• Shipment tracking
• Continuous optimisation of logistics processes

In a modern SAP environment, specialised solutions for transport management, carrier integration, shipment tracking and freight cost management assist with implementation.

The following areas of work are typically central to transport management:

• Transport planning:
  Preparing transports, planning resources, determining transport routes, with a focus on efficiency and cost-effectiveness
   
• Transport control:
  Operational control, monitoring status, taking action in the event of deviations
   
• Carrier management:
  Coordination, technical integration and regular evaluation of various parcel services, freight forwarders and specialist service providers.
  Mercoline’s M.TransportCommunicator and Multi-Carrier-Sphere help to integrate shipping service providers centrally into existing SAP processes and automate data exchange. 
  Find out more about Carrier Management in SAP
   
• Freight Cost Management:
  Transparent management and control of freight rates, transport costs and invoicing
  Find out more about Freight cost management in SAP
   
• Parcel tracking & transparency:
  Transparency regarding ongoing logistics processes, tracking and monitoring of shipment status, and early response to deviations

The demands placed on transport management have increased significantly in recent years. 

Today, companies must not only transport goods reliably and on time, but also optimise costs, coordinate various transport service providers and provide their customers with transparency regarding ongoing deliveries at all times.

• The challenges at a glance:
• Rising transport costs
• Complex carrier landscapes
• Lack of transparency regarding shipments
• High level of manual effort
• Growing demands on delivery performance

Transport costs are among the largest logistics costs for many companies.

Fluctuating freight rates, a variety of transport providers and increasing demands on delivery speed further exacerbate cost pressures. 

This makes the systematic planning, monitoring and optimisation of transport costs all the more important.

A wide variety of parcel services, freight forwarders and specialist carriers need to be integrated into and coordinated with existing processes. The greater the number of transport partners, the more important centralised management becomes.

To reduce this workload, many companies rely on centralised multi-carrier solutions that integrate different transport service providers into SAP via a standardised interface.

Find out more about Multi-carrier management in SAP here

Customers and other supply chain partners expect information on the current status of deliveries at all times. Without centralised tracking and monitoring capabilities, transport management becomes significantly more difficult and response times are prolonged.

Modern tracking and monitoring solutions enable shipment information to be made available centrally directly within the SAP system, thereby laying the foundation for end-to-end transparency along the transport chain – fully integrated into the flow of SAP sales documents.

Read more about Track & Trace data in B2B business

In many companies, dispatch and transport processes are still managed manually, for example using Excel spreadsheets.

Duplicate data entry, media breaks and ad hoc processes create additional work and increase the likelihood of errors.

Many companies use SAP Transportation Management (SAP TM) as a centralised solution for planning, managing and monitoring their transport processes. The application helps companies to handle transport efficiently and to make all relevant information centrally available within the SAP system landscape.

In practice, SAP TM is often supplemented by specialised solutions to integrate transport service providers, track shipments or analyse transport costs with even greater transparency.

Efficient transport logistics depends not only on transport planning, but also on collaboration with the transport service providers used.

The more carriers you use, the more important it is to have centralised integration into your existing SAP processes.
 

The exchange of dispatch data, tracking information and documents often takes place directly between companies and transport service providers. 

Without integrated processes, this can quickly lead to data silos and manual tasks.

Many companies work simultaneously with parcel services, freight forwarders and specialised logistics partners.

Different interfaces, data formats and processes increase the administrative burden and make centralised management more difficult.

Centralised management of transport service providers enables processes to be standardised, transparency to be created and manual tasks to be reduced.

At the same time, it lays the foundation for more efficient collaboration with all partners involved.

More and more companies are turning to multi-carrier approaches to increase flexibility and reliability. This involves connecting and managing different transport service providers via centralised processes. This makes it easier to select the right carrier and provides greater transparency across the entire transport landscape.

Multi-carrier concepts also enable flexible switching between transport service providers and help companies to optimise costs, delivery times and service quality in a targeted manner.

Find out more about Multi-carrier management in SAP

Up-to-date information on ongoing shipments makes it possible to identify delays at an early stage and proactively inform customers. Real-time information is therefore increasingly becoming the norm in modern transport logistics.

This requires up-to-date information from the connected transport service providers, as well as its centralised provision within SAP processes.

A transparent overview of costs helps companies identify trends at an early stage and optimise transport costs in a targeted manner. This aspect is becoming increasingly important, particularly as freight rates rise.

Specialised solutions for freight cost management help companies to manage freight rates, ancillary costs and invoicing transparently.

In this article, you can find out more about Freight cost management in SAP.

Not every carrier delivers the same level of service. A systematic evaluation allows you to identify the strengths and weaknesses of individual service providers and make informed decisions.

The systematic evaluation of carriers using defined key performance indicators helps companies to select their transport service providers on a data-driven basis and to continuously improve delivery performance.

Various key performance indicators are used to evaluate transport processes.

• Delivery performance: Delivery performance indicates how reliably deliveries are made within the agreed timeframes.
   
• On-time delivery: This metric measures the proportion of shipments delivered on time and is one of the most important performance indicators in transport logistics.
   
• Transport costs per consignment: This provides an important basis for analysing cost trends and identifying opportunities for optimisation.
   
• Carrier performance: By evaluating transport service providers against defined key performance indicators, companies can continuously improve their logistics processes.

Modern transport logistics is based not only on high-performance systems, but also on clearly defined processes and high data quality.

• Standardising processes: 
  Standardised procedures create transparency, reduce sources of error and facilitate collaboration between the departments involved.
   
• Leveraging automation: 
  Automated processes reduce manual effort and ensure greater efficiency in day-to- operations.
   
• Manage transport data centrally:
  A centralised database provides the foundation for transparent processes and well-informed decisions. Many companies rely on integrated platforms for this purpose, which make transport data, carrier information and tracking data available centrally within SAP.
   
• Regularly evaluate carriers: 
  The continuous evaluation of transport service providers helps to ensure the long-term quality of transport processes.
   
• Creating transparency throughout the supply chain:
  The more readily available information is, the faster companies can respond to changes and optimise their processes.

Modern transport management in SAP is complex: companies must optimise freight costs, coordinate transport service providers and create transparency, whilst simultaneously meeting increasing demands on service and delivery performance.

Companies that take a holistic view of these areas and consistently digitise their transport logistics lay the foundations for more efficient processes and a supply chain that remains competitive in the long term.

For many companies, SAP forms the basis of their transport management. However, additional solutions are often required for the efficient integration of transport service providers, the implementation of multi-carrier strategies, shipment tracking and transparent freight cost management.

With the solutions in the M.SmartLogistics Suite, Mercoline helps companies make their transport logistics in SAP more efficient, transparent and future-proof.

Would you like to find out more and optimise transport management within your organisation?
Request a demo now or arrange a consultation.