Adding an automation rule

Updated 5 months ago by Ania

Who can use this function?

The function is available for forwarders (TFF - Trans for Forwarders) and for users of the CargoON product line.

From this article you will learn:

  • what is an automation rule
  • how to add an automation rule

What are the automation rules?

Automation rules are the best way to attract carriers to fulfill orders in an almost maintenance-free way. Thanks to the rules, you can decide who will receive freight offers from you and in what order.

Create an automation rule once, and it will be prompted each time you publish a freight with the given parameters.

Adding an automation rule

  1. From the menu on the left, select Automation rules, and then click the Add automation rule button.
  2. Complete the form for adding an automation rule.
  • Freight class name - this field is mandatory. Name your rule. Its name is only visible to you and your colleagues - make sure it can be easily identifiable.
  • Loading and unloading locations - if you have addresses entered in the address book, they will be displayed in the drop-down list. Remember that the rule will work correctly if route parameters match the parameters of the freight you want to publish using the rule.

Example
If in the form you indicate the exact address of loading and unloading (street, number) in the selected country, you will have to provide identical data in the freight. You have the option to skip loading and unloading places, this way the rule will work for a specific freight characteristic, ignoring locations.

  • Vehicle requirements - you can enter the size of the vehicle, body type, freight type and capacity.
  • Vehicle details - you can enter the type of loading, dimensions, additional requirements and ADR classes.
  • Load details - you can enter load type, quantity and dimensions.

If you decide to enter vehicle or load data in the rule, they will have to match the freight parameters that will be published using this rule.

Important!
You can specify the parameters of the automation rule, i.e. price, currency, payment date, each time in the freight form.

  1. Set the publication order. It is only up to you what this order will look like and whether you will use all or some of the publication possibilities:
  • First select the publishing type:

Exchanges:

  • Trans.eu freight exchange - set it if you want your offer to appear on the Trans.eu freight exchange.
  • Private Exchange - set if you want your offer to go to the private exchange.
  • Branded exchange - set if you want your offer to go to one of the branded exchanges.

The remaining:

  • Fixed routes - set if you have established terms of cooperation with contractors (on the given route) and such information has been saved in the module Fixed routes with carriers.
  • To selected - set it if your contractors include companies that can potentially deliver the freight. Contractors should be saved in the group in the Contractors module.

Set the publication time, payment date and currency.

At this stage, you can finish creating the rule by clicking the Save button.

You can specify the publication time by typing the value or increasing it using the arrows (by 1 for hours, by 5 for minutes).
The publication time for one step cannot be shorter than 5 minutes. It can last up to 99 hours.

When creating the first step of the rule, the Immediate publication checkbox will be checked automatically.

  1. If you want the rule to consist of more steps, click Add next step.

Let's add a third step of the rule. This time we choose the publication To selected - that is, to the recipients from the Contractors module.

  1. Next step of publication 2 - To selected, i.e. to recipients from the Contractors module.

If during creating a rule you would like to:

  • delete one of the steps - click on the cross icon,
  • change the order of publication - left-click on the 6 dots icon, drag and drop to the desired place.

After such a change, you will have to redefine the publication time.
The Until the end of freight publication option can only be selected in the last step of an automation rule. It means that the publication will be active for recipients from the last step until uploading.

  1. When you create an automation rule, click the Save button.

If you select the checkbox Apply the rule for matching freights automatically, such a rule will search for matches for freights published via API and CSV import.

An example of a ready-made rule

The following example shows what a freight publication will look like using an automation rule:

  • The proposal will first appear on the Trans.eu Exchange. Users will have 30 minutes to respond.
  • If no one responds to the offer, the freight will automatically go to the group called Spedycja Zachód. Users of this group will have 1 hour to respond, if none of them responds, the rule ends.

When will the rule end?

  • if the freight is accepted
  • if none of the addressees sends the offer or the offer is rejected by all

Publication of freight and searching for carriers using a rule - learn more.


How Did We Do?

UP!
Powered by HelpDocs (opens in a new tab)