SAP Transportation Management: planning and execution that settlement can build on

We know SAP TM from implementation projects both as a standalone system and as embedded TM in S/4HANA, and in a current client engagement we are working on planning and execution in SAP TM. We are glad to bring this experience to your programme.

We are currently advising a wholesale client on transportation planning and execution in SAP TM. Before that we supported several TM projects, first with standalone TM, today with embedded TM in S/4HANA. Christian Rettig has passed the SAP certification for SAP Transportation Management.

How you know you need this

SAP TM pays off as soon as transport is no longer a side process for you. Typical signs:

Transportation planning happens in Excel and on the phone, and the knowledge sits with a few people.
Freight costs can only be checked once the carrier’s invoice is already on the table.
Several carriers with different tariffs, lead times and capacities have to be coordinated.
Warehouse and transport processes drift apart: what has been picked is not yet planned – or the other way round.

Embedded or standalone – and what hangs on it

The first decision concerns the system variant. We know both from implementation projects:

Embedded TM in S/4HANA

Transportation management runs in the same system as order, delivery and billing. Master data and documents do not have to be replicated, there is one data model and one upgrade cycle. If you are on S/4HANA or heading there, this is the obvious route. SAP distinguishes between the basic scope and separately licensed advanced TM; we clarify before the concept which functions you really need.

Standalone TM

A separate system that can serve several ERP systems. This makes sense in landscapes with multiple ERP instances, or when TM is to go live before the S/4HANA conversion. If you still run SAP TM 9.x, it shares ECC’s end of maintenance – so the question belongs in your S/4HANA planning.

Functionally, both variants cover planning, execution and settlement. The decision therefore depends less on functionality than on your system landscape – and we look at that together with you.

What sets a TM project apart from other implementations

The survey revolves around your transport network: which carriers you hire, which tariffs are settled against, which lanes run regularly and which special cases exist.
Tariffs, lanes and resources are master data that take effort in their own right. They do not appear as a by-product of customizing and need their own line in the plan.
Testing runs from the sales order through delivery and transport to freight settlement – across sales, warehouse and finance, not only in transport planning.
The choice between embedded and standalone is made before the concept, because it determines the shape of the entire project.

How an implementation generally runs with us – from analysis to the supported start – is described on the SAP overview. How we work – the shared framework

For an embedded TM project at one site, 6 to 10 months is a realistic order of magnitude. Several countries or a standalone system with multiple connected ERP systems take correspondingly longer.

From your side we need the dispatchers as key users from the start rather than only in testing, a contact from finance for freight settlement, and the willingness of your carriers to exchange orders and status messages electronically.

Next door: the yard between gate and dock

SAP Yard Logistics

Between gate and dock lies a process that neither TM nor EWM maps completely: appointment, check-in, shunting, loading, check-out. SAP Yard Logistics is the add-on for S/4HANA that controls this yard – for trucks, containers and rail, integrated with TM and EWM, offered as a cloud service for the Private Edition. Whether it belongs in your programme depends on the volume at the gate: when trucks wait because nobody knows which dock is free, the yard is no longer a side process. Then we evaluate Yard Logistics with you against the yard scope of EWM and against the dock scheduling that the Business Network brings with Dock Appointment Scheduling.

What you end up with

A live transportation planning process from delivery to freight order
Documented interfaces to warehouse (WM/EWM) and finance (FI/CO)
Maintained tariff and carrier master data as the basis for freight cost calculation
Trained dispatchers and key users
Open points deliberately deferred until after go-live – with owner and date

What we do not do

SAP Basis tasks and our own developments are not something we take on. Our field is the TM standard and its customizing.
We do not run a freight exchange and do not broker carriers. We set up the process with which you manage your transport partners reliably.
We do not promise a savings rate up front. What TM delivers for you, we calculate honestly in the process assessment with your volumes.

Typical questions

Do we need embedded or standalone?: If you are on S/4HANA or on your way there, embedded is the obvious route. Standalone remains sensible when several ERP systems have to be connected or TM is to go live before the S/4HANA conversion. We know both from implementation projects and are happy to advise you on your situation.
How do we connect our carriers?: Via the SAP standard channels for exchanging freight orders, status messages and settlement data – electronically for the large partners, via a portal for smaller ones. What matters is less the technology than your carriers’ willingness to use it. We clarify that together in the process assessment.
Does it pay off at our volume?: We answer that question in the process assessment with your figures, not with a rule of thumb. In our experience the biggest levers are freight cost control before the invoice, consolidation of shipments and the end of manual reconciliation between warehouse, dispatch and accounting.
Can we start with planning and introduce settlement later?: Yes, very much so. Planning and execution first and settlement as a second stage is a proven split.
What changes for dispatch?: Planning moves from Excel into the system. The dispatcher sees open deliveries, capacities and costs in one place and decides there. That is the biggest change in the project, which is why we train dispatch on the project system rather than on slides.

Initial consultation on SAP Transportation Management

Where does your transportation planning stand today – Excel, a legacy system or a first TM? A short conversation is usually enough to place the next step. We look forward to hearing from you. If you are a consulting firm and need experienced support for a defined TM work package, simply describe the work package and the result you expect – the rest works the same way.