Service Provider Manager (2024)

This page is accessed via Contract and Rate Management > Service Provider Manager.

The Service Provider Manager provides all the necessary tools to define and manage the carriers that provide transportation services, and the geographies that they service. Create service providers, edit their information, and send that information to outside sources. You can also view all changes that have been made to a service provider record.

Service providers, or companies that move freight from the source to the destination, are used throughout Oracle Transportation Management. They can be created separately and then associated with a location to provide maximum flexibility in planning, or they can be created while working in another manager by clicking the New icon button next to the Service Provider ID field.

Service providers are associated with rate offerings and, once a rate has been selected, with shipments. They are also attached to corporations.

Use the Service Provider Manager to record and store information about service providers that have not been predefined. Service providers are required when you:

Create locations
Establish rates for a shipment
Define itineraries
Create orders

Create a service provider and attach it to a physical location. Each service provider can only be associated with one location and one corporation. Corporations can be created here or in Power Data, but the location is defined here along with other information about the provider. Locations independent of service providers are created within the Location Manager.

Withdraw Tender/Tender Timeout

Service provider level withdraw tender/tender timeout can be setup via Contacts Notification Manager

Adding Service Providers

Service Provider/Location ID uniquely identifies the service provider. You may want to include the name of the service provider in the Service Provider ID so that it can be identified elsewhere.
Service Provider/Location Name describes this service provider.
The Corporation ID links the service provider to a corporation. Corporations are created in Power Data, and used when searching for service providers and identifying those providers that may be affiliated with a particular company.
Domain Name: Select in which Domain you want to create the service provider. You may store this service provider record within your own domain, or any domain you have access to. All available domains appear in the drop-down list.
Enter a SCAC in the SCAC field.
Temporary: You can set up a temporary service provider to use for a short time. Select the check box to have all subsequent result pages display the service provider as temporary. This field is currently used for information only, for example letting others who may access this record know that this service provider may not be available in the future.
Active: If the flag is set to false, then any of the Rate Offering/Rate Record of the Service Provider will not be considered for rating. By default, the flag is set to true for all the existing, and the new service providers. The optional feature FIND RATES OF ACTIVE SERVPROV ONLY is used to enable or disable the changes made for using the rates of ACTIVE/ not using the rates of INACTIVE service providers. If the feature is enabled, the application will fetch the rate records of active service provider onlyinstead of fetching all the rate records. By default this optional feature is disabledfor the existing users andit will be enabled for the new users.

Default SERVPROV User

By default when you save a new service provider, Oracle Transportation Management automatically adds a new user to the SERVPROV domain if the glog.servprov.autoCreateUser property is set to true (which is the default setting for this property). Oracle Transportation Management creates this new user in such a way that the service provider can immediately log on and use online booking and tendering and other logistics functions, once the Service Provider Admin User assigns them a password.

A user-to-service provider association is also made for the default user. The user name for the new user follows this syntax: SERVPROV.DOMAIN-SERVICEPROVIDERXID, where DOMAIN is the name of the domain in which the service provider was created and SERVICEPROVIDERXID is the value entered in the Service Provider/Location ID field. Note the period and the dash. The new user's password is documented in the Oracle Transportation Management Administration Guide.

Reference Numbers

Note: Setting up a service provider’s tender timeout requirements is done via the Contact Manager Notification Tab.

Use this section of the page to assign reference numbers to the service provider.
Select a Mode Profile. Mode Profiles identifies the transportation modes associated with a particular service provider to clarify exactly what services are available. Mode Profiles contain one or more types of transportation that have been grouped together for convenience.
The Rate Service ID re-drives a shipment when there is no rate record associated with a shipment that the service provider was awarded during the tender process. If no rate service is associated with the service provider and the service provider does not provide a rate offering for the shipment, the shipment will not be re-driven for any reason during execution.
Enter an equipment mark list.
The Allows Spot Rating check box indicates that the service provider is disabled for Spot Rating shipment actions. If this is not selected, the following actions will fail: "Edit Service Provider and Cost", "Create Spot Rate", "Spot Cost".
The Broadcast Spot Contact ID field can be used to override the service provider's primary contact when determining the communication preferences for this service provider.
Select the Accept Spot Bids check box to configure this service provider to receive spot bids. Spot Bid tenders can be automatically sent to any service provider. The tender is sent to the primary contact on the service provider unless you identify an alternate contact in the Broadcast Spot Contact ID field.
Note: Since a Spot Bid Tender eventually becomes an ordinary tender at some point in the process, also select the Allow Tender check box if you configure the service provider for Spot Bids.
Mark the Accept Broadcast Tenders check box to configure this service provider for broadcast tenders. Broadcast tenders can be automatically sent to any service provider that accepts them via integration. Alternatively, you can manually submit a broadcast tender from the Shipment Manager. The tender is sent to the primary contact on the service provider unless you identify an alternate contact in the Broadcast Spot Contact ID field.
Allow Tender determines whether Oracle Transportation Management can automatically tender (ordinary tender as opposed to Broadcast or Spot Bid tenders mentioned below) shipments to this service provider. Clear the check box to prevent Oracle Transportation Management from automatically tendering shipments to this service provider. If you have not loaded any rates into Oracle Transportation Management but still want to be able to create shipments, you may want to set up a dummy service provider with this check box cleared. You must mark this check box if you also plan to configure Broadcast/Spot Bid tendering for the service provider.
However, you can mark the Localize Broadcast/Spot Contact check box and use the localization settings of each service provider primary contact or the override contact if one is specified in the Broadcast/Spot Contact ID field mentioned below.
Spot Rate Adjustment Factor is the percentage factor to be applied to the spot rate for a service provider to adjust the spot rate for service provider performance. For example, 10% means a spot rate of $100 will be adjusted to 100 + 0.1 * 100 = $110.
Perform Conditional Accepts allows this service provider to send back modified information as part of the booking acceptance process.
Mark the Allow Accept By Ship Unit check box to let a service provider partially accept a tender by its shipment's Transport Handling Units. Allowing a service provider to partially accept a tender gives service providers a role on the planning process. A new shipment and tender are created based off the amount the Service provider accepts. The original tender (minus the partially accepted units) is still available for future tendering.
The Internal NVOCC check box identifies whether the service provider acts as an NVOCC (Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier). If this check box is marked, you can use the Book with Internal NVOCC action from a sell shipment (that is assigned a service provider with this setting) on a job to create buy shipments and link them to a new job. The NVOCC Domain field determines the domain in which the buy shipments and new job are created.
Dispatch By Region allows shipments to be tendered by region rather than to a specific contact. If selected, Oracle Transportation Management will look at the source location of the shipment, and based on where it is, send a tender to the dispatch location servicing that region.
Select the Fleet check box if this service provider is Fleet related. Only shipments created for fleet service providers can perform fleet related actions. A fleet service provider is more powerful than a regular (non-fleet) service provider. It can do everything a non-fleet service provider can do. In addition, you can run assign driver or equipment type to a shipment and many other fleet actions if and only if the service provider on the shipment is fleet service provider.
By assigning an Out XML Profile ID, you can exclude specific portions of XML from your outbound shipment messages sent for tendering. Select the Out XML Profile ID that contains the appropriate exclusions.
Online Booking/Tendering Profile ID is an Out XML Profile ID that helps to exclude specific portions of outbound tender offer XML while you edit/view a tender transaction. Online Booking/Tendering Profile ID is considered only when the glog.tender.UseOBTProfileID property is set to TRUE. Default Online Booking/Tendering Profile ID is GLOG_OBT_XML.

Note: To use Online Booking/Tendering Profile ID, you must select MAX as Default Mode on Out XML Profiles.

Settlement

Allocation Rule Profile governs how your shipping costs are allocated.
Enter an Invoice Approve Rule Profile ID to have Oracle Transportation Management match new invoices to existing shipments, and then automatically approve invoices for payment if they are within a certain tolerance level. For instance, you may want to approve payment of all invoices for XYZ company if they fall within +/-10% of $200.
Line Approval Tolerance Rule Profile ID field associates rules and profiles so you can identify tolerance for line approvals.
The Invoicing Process drop-down list box determines what type of invoice will be generated for shipments from this carrier. If it is set to Standard, then regular invoices will be generated. If you set it to BOL Back, then a BOL Back will be generated. BOL backs are often used for ocean shipments.
Match Rule Profile Invoices are matched with existing shipments using an ordered list of rules. The Match Rule Profile is a group of service providers that follow the same rules for matching invoices to shipments.
Select a validation rule from the Match Valid Rule Profile if you want.
The Copy Invoice Delta to Shipment check box indicates whether differences between the approved amount and the amount on the actual invoice should be copied to the shipment. So for example, the shipment was $100, and the invoice was $100, but only $80 was approved and this check box was selected. Then the change, or delta, of $20 will be added to the shipment as an extra adjustment charge. This is not supported when the parent/consolidated invoice is approved by total.
Mark Autopay to have Oracle Transportation Management automatically create an invoice with every shipment for this service provider. Clear the check box, if you want to generate invoices manually in Settlement instead.

Service Provider Alias

Alias provides an alternate way of identifying service providers. For example, you may want to set up an alias that identifies the SCAC of a service provider. Alternatively, you may want to set up an alias for XY-Z company with a Qualifier ID of SCAC and an alias of ZXY.
Servprov Alias Qual ID is a category for the Alias. Before entering a service provider Alias Qualifier ID here, you need to define it in Power Data.
Note: Oracle Transportation Management also generates a qualifier and alias for system use, and stores them along with whatever values you enter yourself. These values are generated automatically when you save the service provider record.
Click Save for each Servprov Alias Qual ID you enter.

Conditional Booking Profiles

When tendering, the system uses the conditional booking profile specified on the service provider that is associated with the transport mode set on the shipment. If you do not specify the conditional booking profile here, the system uses the one on the transport mode specified on the shipment. If a transport mode is not on the shipment, then the system uses the conditional booking profile specified on the domain.

Enter a Conditional Booking Profile ID. Entering the conditional booking profile associates the conditional booking profile with a transport mode for the service provider. It allows you to be able to accept shipments with conditional booking.
Enter a Transport Mode ID.
Click Save for each conditional booking profile ID you enter.

Address

Enter specific location information for this service provider including Address Lines, City and Province Code.
The Postal Code field contains the postal code of the location. In the United Sates, this would be the 5 or 5+ zip code of the location. Oracle Transportation Management will only read the number of digits defined in the Postal Code Length field in the Country Codes screen in Power Data.
County Qualifier is used when calling an external distance engine and using an address type of city instead of postal code. Often, there are two cities or towns with the same name in one state. For example, in Pennsylvania there is more than one town with the name "Newtown". If you do not combine the town with a postal code or a county, you may not get the result you want.
You can manually add values; however, you probably want to import them from the external distance engine that you are using. The county qualifier needs to correspond with the distance engine that you are using.
The Country Code is the standard three-letter abbreviation used by the United Nations to identify countries. The Country Code is required to ensure that rate offerings and web tendering functions work correctly.
Time Zone: If you leave the Time Zone blank, Oracle Transportation Management determines what time zone a location is in and auto-populates it based on the address (country, state/province, city, postal code). Oracle Transportation Management has a database of worldwide time zones and the geography they cover. This includes differences in how some locales handle daylight savings time (like how Arizona and part of Indiana do not honor it).
You can also select a time zone to ensure that all time restrictions are met. From the Time Zone drop-down menu, first find the region associated with the location you are trying to establish. For example, you know that Atlanta, Georgia is part of America. In this example, America would be your region and Atlanta would be your city. Alternatively, you may select a general time zone instead of a specific city, or leave the Time Zone field blank and allow Oracle Transportation Management to select the time zone automatically when you save the record.
Note: The difference between a general time zone such as EST and a specific city such as New York is that the New York time zone takes into account daylight savings time. To ensure accuracy, a location's time zone should be set to a nearby city.
In the United States, you can enter the full state name in the Province field and the abbreviated state name in the Province Code field.
Zone: You can also define zones that are specific to a location and help to qualify rates. For instance, a service provider may offer one rate for transport from the location to any of the southwestern states, and another rate for transport to the northeastern states. For the location, you could define Zone 1 to include all southwestern states. Alternatively, you could define Zone 1 to include specific SPLC (Standard Location Code) codes that may be used for rail transportation.
Note: To use the zone information, the same zone must be assigned in a rate record. If a match is found between a source or destination location and a rate lane (and other factors also match), the rate would qualify for a shipment.
Assign Latitude and Longitude (in degrees) for the location. Once assigned, these values are used to estimate distance from or to the location. If these values aren't entered, Oracle Transportation Management uses latitude and longitude positions assigned to the specific US postal code, city, state, province or country entered when calculating distances to and from the location.
Note: For international locations, latitude and longitude are required to calculate distance.

Sourcing Attributes

Use these optional fields to record information to assist with the sourcing task. If you use these fields, it will be easier for sourcing buyers to search for service providers based on these attribute values.

Select the Minority check box if the business is minority-owned.
Select the Incumbent check box to indicate that this service provider has been used previously.
Enter a value in the Tier field to assign a numerical value to a service provider. The tier value is used to signify which service providers are more important than others.
If you use a scorecard to organize your bids, enter a value in the Scorecard Value field.
If the provider participates in the EPA Smartway program, record it's SIF in the EPA Smartway SIF field.