Trucking driving: a great job for people who hate people

TORONTO, Ont. -- "Trucking driving: a great job for people who hate people." While you probably won't see this slogan included on the cover of a trucking company's recruitment brochure any time soon, this was the argument made in a recent article on a US-based online careers site, which provided a collection of the "perfect careers for misanthropes, introverts, and curmudgeons." Appearing on the list, nestled comfortably between Software Analyst and Zookeeper, was none other than Trucker. "Spend your days - and even your nights - alone in your truck," the article quips.

While a few of the occupations mentioned, and indeed the article itself, were obviously intended for laughs, (ie. Undertaker, because "dead people don't give boring PowerPoint presentations or talk loudly on their cell phones all day"), truckers seemed oddly out of place.

For a group that - allegedly - hates people, truckers can be a remarkably social bunch. Despite their longstanding fondness for the CB, truckers of late have been immersing themselves in what is, perhaps, a more unlikely social network: social media.

For the novice, the term "social media" refers to the use of Web-based technologies for social interaction. Some of the more familiar (and popular) examples include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube - though the list continues to grow and diversify by the day.

On the surface, the use of social media may seem like an activity more suited for techno-geeks and 14-year-olds, and truckers, for their part, may not seem likely followers of technological trends. But a quick search on Twitter provides ample evidence to the contrary. Trucking companies, manufacturers and truckers alike have all found their niche on the social networking site, which encourages its users to answer the question "What are you doing?" in 140 characters or less.

The Tailwind Search Function

One of the most powerful tools in Tailwind CMS is the Search Function.

It can be used from pretty much every module in the program. From Searching for orders based off of which border crossing a particular shipment went through, to dispatch numbers based off of whether they were inbound or outbound.

What if you want to open up an order or dispatch based off of the order number, or subsequently, the trip number?

It becomes a hassle to go from the driver pay screen to the dispatch screen and use the binoculars just to open a particular trip that you already know the number to.

That’s why Tailwind has the Open Order and Open Dispatch buttons.

Regardless of which portion of the program you’re currently working in, clicking on either of these buttons (Located at the top of the screen) will prompt you with either an Order# or Trip# entry box.

Entering the number of the record you’re looking for will automatically open it up for you, eliminating the cumbersome task of having to use the Search Function for just one record!

Tailwind CMS Tips – Load/ Equipment Posting

Tailwind load/equipment posting module is a very useful and easy to use tool that not a lot of Tailwind CMS users may be familiar with. Load/equipment posting module allows you to post loads/equipments to load posting sites with just one click. It’s a feature that can save you time and money and help you cover more loads faster and reach more carriers. It’s also programmed in a way that automatically removes you expired loads so you don’t need to do it manually.

In order to be able to use this module you first have to setup your load posting account(s). For this purpose go to menu View > System Configuration… > Tailwind Agent

Under “Posting Sites” select the website you want to use and fill in Account#, FTP Username and FTP Password.

After everything is entered click on Save and then Close.

Now that you have setup your load posting account(s) you can use Tailwind CMS to post your loads/equipments to the selected websites.

Load Posting

For load posting you must open your quote or order record and select menu Load Matching > Advertise Load.

Equipment Posting

For equipment posting you must navigate to “Load Board” and then click on the new form icon, and choose to create an Equipment advertisement.

The complete the form and click on Save & Close.

Finally check your load posting website to make sure that the load/equipment is posted.


For more information on load postings please visit
http://www.tailwindsys.com/wiki/index.php/Load_Posting

Windows 7 and Vista Client Installs

With users updating their computers to the newest windows operating system, we are receiving more questions regarding whether or not Tailwind CMS is compatible.  

Fortunately, with a few little tweaks of the system, we are able to run the software without any problems.  We have developed a wiki article to explain the steps so that you can quickly get up and running on your new system.

http://tailwindsys.com/wiki/index.php/Troubleshooting_Windows_7

Tailwind CMS Tips - Notes

Notes
Tailwind "Notes” feature is a versatile tool that can be used to manage the events for a specific record. It is ideal for internal communications between the departments such as Sales, Operations, Dispatch, and Finance. All the notes have the functionality of having attachments that can be used as references.
For adding a note to personnel, first open the personnel record and then click on "Add Note".
In the note window you can see many fields:

• Subject
• "Alerts" that if checked shows an alert with the note content when accessing a record associated with this record
• a bank text box that holds the body of the note
• "Add Attachment" that lets you add a file to the note for reference
• "Create Task" that lets you create tasks relating to your notes

After completing the form click on "Save & Close" to save the note.

For viewing notes of personnel, open the personnel record, and click on "View Notes". This brings up a list of all the notes on that record, and you can print all the notes by clicking on "Print Notes". You can also double click on a record to see it in the note view.
Adding a note to other records is very similar to personnel. You must open the record and choose the Notes tab. There you can see a list of all notes created by then and print them by clicking on "Print Notes" button.
You can also create a new one by clicking on "Create Note".

Tasks
Tasks are actually reminders that can be created within Tailwind to perform specific tasks. These records can be associated with any user in the system, and can reference almost any record within the system.

You can create a task in two ways:

Through the "Tasks" tab: Open the record and click on the "Tasks" tab. There you can create a new task by clicking on "Create Task" button which brings up the task window. There you can see the following fields:
   

• "Subject"
• "Assign To" that lets you assign the task to a user
• "Due Date"
• "Complete" option that shows whether a task is completed or not
• "Remind" option that lets you set a reminder relative to the due date 
• a blank text box that holds the body of the body of the task
• "Related Item" that can be any record within the system

After completing the form click on "Save & Close" to save the task.
In the Task tab you can also print the tasks by clicking on the "Print Tasks" button.

Through notes: You can use the "Create Task" option in notes to create a task with the subject and body of the note, and set a due date for it. You can also set a reminder relative to the due date to be sent to the user so that they don’t forget about it.

Mobile Technology

The transportation industry will be a big benefactor of the development of mobile technology. Mobile technology can be used by transportation companies to improve flow of information, provide its customers with end-to-end visibility to the supply chain, increase driver productivity, reduce management costs, and improve quality of information. Transportation solutions include fleet information management, GPS tracking, order management, two-way messaging, etc. Thanks to modern mobile based technology, this is achievable with minimal capital spending and without a large setup cost or lengthy integration. Modern tools can work independently on multiple networks using multiple communication providers. Technology is improving quite rapidly; however, it is most effective to leverage current technology while leaving some flexibility to allow for future upgrades as technology improves.

In the office, we will soon see the integration of mobile phones, desktop computers, and laptops into one mobile tablet device. We will see more and more people working with small tablet computers running their favorite operating system with office tools such as word processors and spreadsheet applications. These devices will run on private network as well as public networks. Users will be permanently connected to their corporate networks as they travel between their offices and homes. If you feel information overload now; just wait couple more years. The good news is that convergence of technologies will improve the flow of information, and reduce duplication.


There are important considerations when choosing the right mobile technology:

Network carrier and its coverage – Many carriers are offering cellular based tracking solutions. The most important aspects of any mobile solution are network coverage and network capacity.


Hardware versus Software - Hardware based solutions are obtained through the purchase of an appliance manufactured for the purpose of tracking. The communication software and tracking components are embedded inside the appliance. On the other hand, software based solutions utilize off-the-shelf devices. The software running on the devices governs the behavior of the application. A software based solution is generally more flexible and allows for future growth.


Ongoing costs - Aside from the basic purchase price, one must pay close attention to ongoing costs associated to any mobile technology. Your assessment should include a detailed review of ongoing fees including network usage time, messaging cost, integration to Transportation Management Systems (TMS), and reporting capabilities, as well as Add-on features.


Contract length - Technology is evolving rapidly making it critical to review mobile contracts regularly. Contract terms should be in line with the assessment time frame. Short term contracts are expensive and do not give us enough time to embrace technology to reap full benefits. On the other hand if you sign a long term contract, you may lose out on the opportunity to upgrade technology as it comes, as well the liberty to renegotiate terms of the contract. As a rule of thumb, a two to three year contract is sufficient.


Security – Mobile security will be a major concern as we move into the new decade. Handheld devices with greater capacity are allowing us to carry more company information in the form of emails, documents, and applications. This will become an even greater concern when we move towards tablet computers in the work environment. With distributed networks, IT departments will have to start considering a distributed security model

Tailwind Support Tip of the week

Adding Custom Text

A handy CMS tip/trick is the ability to add custom text to certain reports.
You can add extra information or advertisements into an existing report by going to the view menu > system configuration > report fields.

 From there you can then add extra texts to the listed items!

Stay tuned for more handy tips and tricks!