Carrier selection, tendering and execution

Once a freight order exists, someone has to move it. TM separates three steps: carrier selection (which carriers could and should take it), tendering (asking a carrier to accept it, and handling rejections) and execution (loading, departure, delivery and the events in between). In LE-TRA, Derek's team typed the carrier into the shipment and phoned it; in TM each step is visible and testable.

Carrier selection

Carrier selection finds the carriers that serve the lane and means of transport, then ranks them by a strategy defined in the carrier selection settings: for example by priority, by cost from the freight agreements, or by allocation. The result is a ranked list on the freight order. At Contoso, Midwest Freightways has priority on Detroit–Grand Rapids and Detroit–Flint, Keystone Carriers on Chicago–Toledo, and each covers the other as backup (illustrative course data).

Tendering types

Tenders can go to carriers by email, through a carrier collaboration portal, or by EDI. Midwest Freightways asked for EDI: a load tender (X12 204) out, a response (990) back, and shipment status messages (214) during execution. Theo's team builds these on SAP Integration Suite, which is the target for all B2B traffic after Contoso's move from Process Orchestration.

Execution

During execution, TM records events on the freight order: loading start and end, departure, arrival at stop, proof of delivery. Some come from Contoso's own staff (Marcus's warehouse team in Detroit confirms loading end), some from the carrier's 214 messages. Goods issue for the deliveries is still posted on the delivery in S/4HANA, often triggered or checked against the loading event. Testers must check both sides: the TM event and the inventory posting.

Step by step: setting up a carrier for tendering

1. Create or extend the carrier as a business partner in the carrier role, with address, purchasing data and bank details (needed later for payment).
2. Assign the carrier to the transportation lanes it serves, with priority and means of transport.
3. Create the freight agreement with the rates, so carrier selection by cost and charge calculation both work.
4. Define the tendering profile: tendering type, response time limit (Contoso: two hours on the day before shipping), and what happens on timeout.
5. Set the communication: EDI through Integration Suite for Midwest; email for spot carriers.
6. Test with the carrier's test system: one accept, one reject, one timeout, one duplicate response, and one change after acceptance.

Changes after acceptance deserve their own tests. If Maria, the O2C key user, adds ten pieces to a Great Lakes order after Midwest accepted the truck, the delivery grows, the freight unit grows, and the freight order may exceed capacity or need a new tender. Contoso's design re-tenders only if weight or stops change beyond a threshold; testers check both sides of that threshold, and that the carrier receives a change rather than a second tender.