Transport Management System: What It Is and What Local Delivery Needs

Search for a transport management system and you will find software for very different jobs under the same name. Some of it plans container movements across continents. Some of it tracks trucks on a map. Some of it simply organises the morning's deliveries from a warehouse. Choosing well starts with knowing which job you actually have. This guide explains what a TMS is, how it differs from related tools, and where Tafsee Logistics fits and where it does not.

What a transport management system does

A transport management system, usually shortened to TMS, plans and executes the movement of goods. In its fullest form, TMS software helps a shipper or a freight company to:

• plan loads and choose carriers, sometimes by sending tenders and comparing quotes;
• rate freight and manage linehaul, meaning the long-distance leg between cities or countries;
• book, track and audit shipments and the carrier invoices that follow;
• manage documents and compliance for long-haul moves.

That is freight management. If you buy and sell transport capacity, a TMS in this sense is your tool. If you ask for TMS Saudi Arabia options, check first whether the vendor means this heavier kind of system.

Related tools people mix up with a TMS

• A logistics management system is a loose name. It can mean warehouse software, a TMS, or both.
• A warehouse management system (WMS) controls what is inside the building: receiving, storage, picking and dispatch. See what is a WMS.
• A dispatch management system assigns jobs to drivers and vehicles and follows them to completion.
• A delivery management platform covers local delivery: planning trips, giving drivers their stops, and collecting proof. We compare the options in choosing delivery management software.
• A vehicle tracking system is hardware and software that reports where a vehicle is, using a device installed in it. Searches for a vehicle tracking system in Saudi Arabia usually mean this.
• A driver tracking app shows where a driver is while using an app on the driver's phone.

What Tafsee Logistics is, and is not

Tafsee Logistics is warehouse-to-door software. It covers goods arriving into your warehouse, lots, package barcodes, racks, holds and approvals, and then local delivery: dispatch, trips, drivers, vehicles and proof of delivery. It is built for Saudi businesses that deliver goods from their own warehouse in their own cities.

So it is not a long-haul or freight TMS. There is no carrier tendering, no freight rating and no linehaul planning. If your business is buying space on trucks and ships from many carriers, a freight TMS is the right category, and Tafsee is not trying to be it.

And it is not a vehicle GPS tracking system. It does not use trackers installed in vehicles. The driver's location comes only from the driver app while a trip is running, and only if the driver's phone allows it. If you need to follow a fleet around the clock on a map, you need a dedicated tracking product. Tafsee is not that product.

What local delivery software does cover

Within that scope, there is a real set of tools for running a day of deliveries:

1. Dispatch. Ready for Dispatch lists only approved lots with no open hold. Suggested trips group lots by district so one driver covers one area.
2. Trips. A trip has a date, a driver, a vehicle and stops, one per customer address. Capacity is checked against the vehicle's packages, kilograms and cubic metres, with a warning above 90 percent and a block above full unless a reason is given.

1. Route optimization. Delivery route optimization here means a practical one: Optimise order sorts the stops into the shortest order starting from the warehouse and shows about how many kilometres it saves, with Express and urgent stops kept first. Stops with no map pin are not counted. It is a time-saver, not a promise of the perfect route.
2. Drivers and vehicles. Licence expiry and vehicle documents such as registration, insurance, operating card and periodic inspection are tracked, and an expired one blocks new trips.
3. The driver app. Drivers open it in the phone browser at /driver, see today's stops, call or message the customer, navigate in their own maps app, scan packages and collect proof of delivery.

1. Proof and cash. Delivery code or signature, optional photo, and cash on delivery counted per driver and trip.

About driver tracking

Because the driver app reports location only during a trip, Tafsee uses it for what it can honestly support: the office sees status, and the place where a stop was finished is compared with the customer's map pin; more than 300 metres away is flagged for the office. It is not a continuous trail of every vehicle, and we do not describe it as one.

Questions to ask before you choose

• Do we buy transport from carriers, or do we deliver with our own drivers?
• Is our need long distance, or deliveries within cities from one or more warehouses?
• Do we need hardware trackers, or is a driver phone enough?
• Do we need proof of delivery and cash handover to be part of the same system as stock?

Where to go next

If your answers describe local delivery from your own warehouse, see delivery trips, the driver app and the help article on planning a trip. Start from the Tafsee Logistics page and the 14-day trial.