ELD, EDI & Back-Office Integration

When people are the interface

Most freight companies didn't design their technology stack. It grew. The TMS came first. Then an ELD mandate brought telematics into every cab. A key customer required EDI. The accountant wanted a different general ledger package. Fuel cards, imaging, a customer portal and a maintenance system followed, each added when it was needed and each connected, or not, on its own terms.

The result is familiar on a lot of freight floors:

• Dispatchers copy arrival times from the telematics portal into the TMS by hand
• Load tenders arrive by email and get rekeyed, even from customers who could send EDI
• Status updates to shippers are phone calls and emails instead of automated 214s
• Invoices are printed, scanned and emailed to customers who would pay faster on a 210
• Billing, settlements and payables are summarized and retyped into accounting every week
• Fuel card statements are reconciled against advances and deductions in a spreadsheet
• PODs live in an inbox instead of attached to the load

Every manual hand-off adds labor, delay and errors. Worse, nobody can see the whole picture, because each system holds a different version of the truth.

What we integrate

Strong Tower Consulting focuses on the integrations that carry the most weight in a freight operation. As our original site said, "We work with various vendors and partners to provide whatever solution best fits the needs of our clients. We are well versed with integration and can help as needed."

ELD & telematics

Electronic logging devices and telematics platforms produce a constant stream of data: GPS positions, HOS duty status and available hours, arrival and departure events, odometer and engine data, and in-cab messages. Brought into the TMS, that data lets dispatch see available hours before assigning a load, automates check calls and stop events, supports detention capture with real arrival and departure times, and feeds IFTA mileage by jurisdiction. We help you decide which data matters, set up the feed, and make sure events land on the right load, driver and tractor.

EDI with shippers and partners

For many shippers, EDI isn't optional. We help carriers and brokers get compliant and get the most from it:

We review your customers' implementation guides, map fields between their requirements and your TMS, coordinate with your EDI provider or value-added network, run partner testing, and set up monitoring so failed transactions surface before a customer calls about them.

Accounting: GL, AR and AP

Revenue, settlements, carrier pay and payables have to reach the general ledger accurately, with the right GL accounts, divisions and periods. We review your chart of accounts mapping, posting rules for invoices and cash, settlement and payroll postings, and AP for vendors and carriers. Then we fix or rebuild the interface so month-end close becomes a review, not a retyping exercise.

Fuel cards

Fuel card transaction imports feed driver advances, settlement deductions, fuel cost analysis and fuel tax reporting. We set up the import, match transactions to drivers, units and trips, and build exception handling for the transactions that don't match.

Document imaging

BOLs, PODs, delivery receipts, lumper receipts and rate confirmations should attach to the load automatically, whether they arrive from driver apps, scanners, email or fax. That lets billing release invoices as soon as paperwork arrives and lets customer service answer questions without digging (see Business Process Optimization).

How an integration engagement runs

1. Inventory. We map every system, every interface and every manual hand-off: what data moves, in which direction, how often, and who touches it.
2. Prioritize. We rank integrations by business value: labor saved, billing speed, customer requirements, compliance and risk. Usually two or three stand out.
3. Design. Field mappings, business rules, timing, error handling and ownership, agreed with your team and every vendor involved.
4. Build & coordinate. We configure what's configurable, coordinate the vendors, and fill gaps with scripted imports or database work where the systems allow it.
5. Test. Real loads, real tenders, real fuel transactions and real postings, reconciled end to end.
6. Monitor. Alerts and exception reports so failed transactions get handled quickly, and documentation so your team knows how each interface works (see Reporting & Business Documents).

Integration principles we follow

• Enter once. Each piece of data has one system of record. Everything else reads from it.
• Exceptions, not reviews. Clean transactions flow through untouched. People only see the ones that need attention.
• Reconcile everything. Every interface has a way to prove it moved what it should have moved, such as counts, totals and acknowledgments.
• Document everything. Mappings and rules are written down so an upgrade or a staff change doesn't break the interface silently.
• Own your data. You should be able to get your data out of every system you pay for. We check that before you sign, and help you exercise it after.

One picture of the operation

Integration isn't only about saving keystrokes. When telematics, EDI, billing, settlements, fuel and accounting data land in one place, you can finally measure the business accurately: real arrival times for detention, real miles for revenue per mile and deadhead, fuel cost by unit and lane, and margin by customer that ties to the general ledger. That's the foundation for analytics and decision-making (see SQL Data Mining & Analytics).

Why integrations break, and how we prevent it

Most interfaces work on the day they're turned on. The trouble comes later, quietly. A few patterns cause most of the failures we're called in to fix:

• Upgrades on one side. The TMS, the ELD platform or the accounting package is upgraded, a field changes, and the interface keeps running while posting the wrong thing. We test interfaces as part of every upgrade plan.
• Master data drift. A new customer, terminal, tractor or GL account is added in one system but not the other, and transactions start failing or landing in suspense. We set up clear rules for who creates master data and where.
• Silent failures. An EDI tender is rejected or a fuel file doesn't arrive, and nobody notices until a customer or driver complains. Every interface we build has an exception report and an owner.
• Partner changes. A shipper updates its EDI implementation guide or changes providers. We document mappings so changes can be made quickly and tested properly.
• Knowledge in one head. The person who set up the interface leaves, and nobody knows how it works. Documentation and runbooks fix that.

Preventing these problems costs far less than cleaning up a month of bad postings or a lost customer.

What you get

Who this is for

Operations managers, controllers and IT managers at carriers, brokerages and 3PLs, intermodal and drayage operators, and private fleets who:

• Have a major customer requiring EDI, or EDI that keeps failing
• Pay for ELD and telematics data but still key check calls by hand
• Rekey billing, settlements or payables into accounting
• Reconcile fuel cards in spreadsheets
• Are implementing a new TMS and need every interface ready on day one (see TMS Implementation & Go-Live)

Want the bigger picture first? See how we work.

Frequently asked questions