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Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about Isometric Technologies (ISO). Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Please
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How does ISO work?
ISO maps your internal and customer SLAs, then uploads and aggregates data from your TMS, ERP, and other sources. We then surface data discrepancies as exceptions and generate carrier scorecards. Preliminary scores and exceptions are sent to carriers for rebuttal. Finally, with a validated performance data set, ISO surfaces actionable insights to help your team optimize your supply chain network.
Does ISO work for all modes of shipping?
ISO is primarily focused on FTL freight, but the software is mode agnostic. We would start by onboarding your FTL shipment data but can expand to other modes shortly thereafter.
Does ISO work for Canada/Mexico/other country freight?
We currently support North American freight data, and will be expanding internationally within the year.
How is ISO different from the scorecards that our TMS generates for us?
TMSs treat transportation as a silo – but transportation affects many parts of your business. We’re mirroring part of the carrier scorecarding that your TMS does, but changing the medium and adding more contextual data. By adding this TMS scorecarding data to ISO, it becomes available to everyone in your company AND to your carrier partners, bridging the gap between transportation, sales, finance, and customer service.
We take scorecarding a step further than a TMS report by giving carriers a grace period to review and audit the data in the tool. We’ve found that 30-40% of TMS data is incomplete or inaccurate, and by giving carriers better tools to audit, their engagement skyrockets. This gives you cleaner data and the ability to proactively mitigate retailer deductions before the invoice arrives.
We also map your order and shipment data to customer SLAs, so you can measure performance from the lens of the customer. ISO allows for a deeper root causing and scorecarding analysis than TMS systems can provide, and allows users to attribute exception costs back to the responsible party.
What does carrier adoption of the product look like?
We have seen an extremely high carrier adoption rate. Scorecarding is a universally understood process and carriers are already doing this today in a much more manual way. Carriers grow their businesses by maintaining high service levels, so not only are they incentivized to use this tool, but we’ve seen carrier engagement in the scorecarding process increase by 3-4x after onboarding to ISO.
Are you a real-time visibility tool?
No. We are an after-the-fact workflow and analytics solution, not an operations company. However, we can ingest data from real-time visibility tools to use as an input for performance measurement.
How much do you charge?
We follow a SaaS subscription model. Please contact us to learn more.
Where does the data come from?
We can ingest data from your TMS and ERP, as well as track and trace tools like FourKites and P44, and data analytics tools like Power BI. During the onboarding process, we hold a data mapping exercise with relevant parties. ISO accepts the data via a flat file, data lake, direct CSV upload, Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), or API connection.
Have you worked with a 3PL/4PL before?
Absolutely. We are already working with several 3PL and 4PL service providers today. If you work with a 3PL/4PL, they would likely be the primary users of the tool, and you would be the benefactors of the data. They can operate on your behalf and any data can be surfaced back to your team to use however you like.
Can you incorporate track and trace data into the platform?
Yes. We are currently incorporating tracking data for customers today.
Can you include dynamic time slots?
We can. KPI configurations in the tool are completely customizable and this is something we can set up during our implementation process.
Can I upload my own reason codes into the system?
Yes. During onboarding we will upload your company’s reason codes into the system. We may recommend additional reason codes as well based on best practices we’ve seen. We also associate reason codes with responsible parties during onboarding, to help customers conduct root-cause analysis and understand who was at fault for an exception.
Can you track load attributes? If so, which ones?
If you can get us the data, we can track it. Typical attributes that we track today are:
- Tender strategy – was the load spot/contract/expedited?
- Loading type – wa the load live/drop?
- Delivery type – was the load an internal transfer, customer delivery or DTS (direct to store)?
How do you get the customer SLAs into ISO?
We sit down with your analysts to map and record your individual customer SLAs. Our implementation managers then build these into our tool.
Does anyone use ISO to overturn fines that have already been incurred?
Yes, many do. Customers export ISO data and reports and use them in conversations with their customers to discuss deductions, supply chain bottlenecks, and other network inefficiencies or areas of opportunity.
Is there ever a point in time in the future where ISO would connect directly with the retailer?
Yes, that is something we’re exploring but we don’t have a set timeline for this integration.
How up-to-date is the data in our analytics portal?
The data in the analytics portal has a 1-day latency period, and soon this will be even shorter.
Does ISO support LTL freight?
Yes, but with some limitations. Reach out to us to learn more about how we can support LTL shipments.
I already have a BI tool that tracks all of this.
A BI tool is only as good at the data being pulled into it. Bad data is just another dashboard that isn’t actionable if the data is wrong. We find that carriers who rebut exceptions in ISO are right ~84% of the time, which means that unvalidated exceptions in your TMS are often incorrect.