Digital technology is drastically simplifying the freight planning process for supply chain managers. This is a fact that has been embraced industry-wide, with the global freight procurement technology solutions market expected to reach a value of $1,392.2 million by 2028 (up from $812.5 million in 2021).
There’s no reason for any warehouse manager or supply chain director to be left behind, especially not with so many digital solutions being easy to use at all levels of freight planning. For example, look no further than ShipperGuide TMS.
In this post, we’re going to present a beginner-friendly, step-by-step guide on how ShipperGuide TMS can be utilized to streamline the freight planning process at all levels. Our goal is to make it clear how freight planning software offers business owners numerous benefits worth taking advantage of.
ShipperGuide is designed to take out all the guesswork, double-checking, and frenzied comparisons required in manual quoting—preventing issues like unexpected re-weigh charges, misclassified freight, or missed accessorials that can drive up costs and delay service. This software compiles all the data on your behalf, so long as you come prepared to fill out a simple checklist for your freight data:
In addition to these required inputs, you have optional information you can include, such as specifying your commodity, designating shipment weight, or filling out accessorials, such as a requirement to protect the shipment from freezing or requesting Saturday service.
Once this information is provided, ShipperGuide will generate a quote that includes a market benchmark. This automatically calculated information pulls from historical data and includes an average rate, lower bound, and upper bound rate.
Once the rate is created, you can either use LoadSmart’s instant bookable rate or invite your own carrier network to bid.
ShipperGuide’s usefulness doesn’t start and end with its streamlined quote creation process. You can use this TMS to overhaul your entire planning and optimization cycle.
ShipperGuide consolidates all shipping information into one easy-to-follow interface that provides a comprehensive overview at a glance. For shipments that occurred outside of ShipperGuide’s platform, you can easily import them into the software to gather all your information in one place.
Once a shipment is in ShipperGuide, you can view individual details such as freight information, saved documentation, and tracking progress. By utilizing these quick overviews, you can use the historical information saved for each shipment to forecast future expectations for on-time delivery, travel routes, available facilities, and more.
When planning new shipments, ShipperGuide offers two easy-to-use features to ensure proper service for freight. The first is the optional forms included with every quote, where you can define required parameters such as after-hours charges, holiday service, paper invoices, and more.
The second is the notes option, which allows you to specify any requirements not covered in ShipperGuide’s checklist. By clearly capturing all service requirements upfront, you reduce the risk of miscommunications that can lead to delays, unexpected accessorials, or costly rebookings, keeping shipments on schedule and operations running smoothly.
ShipperGuide allows users to input real data such as commodities, weight, number of pallets and more to analyze how delivery scenarios might play out. This includes planning routes on an interactive map and viewing expected ETAs based on tracking data.
This level of scenario analysis was actually one of the main selling points for shippers such as Red Gold. As their Supply Chain Manager James Posipanka put it:
“When someone from our team asks us a What-If scenario, we can use real data to make informed decisions. [...] In a highly volatile world, it helps us predict costs, and it builds trust in our department and others.”
ShipperGuide can import and store data from carriers and routes, making it easy to compare everything side-by-side. You can evaluate benchmark variance, tender acceptance rates, dwell time, and facility scores to understand how each carrier performs on a lane. Monitor lanes to plan the most optimal routes, and review rates, on-time delivery percentages, and transportation methods to find the best fit for every shipment.
Note: ShipperGuide even lets carriers suggest alternative modes of transportation on their end, allowing you to consider alternative ways to best handle each delivery.
Even after you’ve created a quote and imported your carrier network, ShipperGuide keeps the choice in your hands. You can invite all carriers to bid, select only those best suited for the lane, or follow hybrid routing-guide logic that blends primary and backup carriers for reliable coverage. ShipperGuide also supports dynamic decisioning rules—so allocations can adjust based on price, capacity, or performance thresholds.
To help you choose confidently, historical data is always at your fingertips, including bidding patterns, tender acceptance, and compliance records. This gives you a clear, performance-based view of your network before awarding the load.
Once you’re satisfied with quotes, parameters, and carrier bids, you can schedule shipments directly in ShipperGuide. The platform automatically sends confirmation emails to selected carriers—no carrier account required—reducing manual back-and-forth and cutting down on rework. Each confirmation includes verified details such as transportation mode, equipment, and any other shipment requirements, and all documentation is automatically organized and accessible for future reference.
You can also lock in rates and create reusable templates, ensuring consistent service expectations and making repeat shipping plans faster and more accurate.
ShipperGuide empowers logistics teams to track their shipments at every stage of the process, from creation to progress in-transit to delivery, and even after. You can also view a shipment’s lifecycle, which is a comprehensive breakdown of everything that occurred with a shipment. This includes delivery addresses, temporary stops, handling unit type, and more.
This level of transparency empowers business owners to make informed, data-backed decisions to optimize their supply chain management for the future.
ShipperGuide is a powerful tool for freight planning and scheduling, but we understand a little hesitation. Adopting new software always involves a learning curve, even though ShipperGuide’s design is meant to be intuitive and simple. Below are a few FAQs we hope might illuminate how easy it is to get started with this software.
A typical freight planning cycle looks like gathering logistics, setting quotes, coordinating carrier bids, sending out shipments, and monitoring routes and final delivery. Because this process is repeated, making use of digital automation and tracking data helps improve efficiency as well as profitability.
Yes, smaller shippers can benefit from structured optimization because it directly improves profit margins, time management, and even carrier relationships. While ShipperGuide is built for mid-market to enterprise operations, its scalability makes it just as valuable for smaller teams that need to do more with less.
Optimizing each stage of their workflow helps them stretch limited resources—whether that means smaller facilities, lean staffing, or a tighter carrier network. By reducing time spent comparing rates or coordinating shipments, they can redirect that energy toward higher-value work like contract negotiations. And with clearer, more transparent communication baked into the process, smaller shippers can build stronger, more consistent relationships with their carriers.
ShipperGuide makes this process simpler by presenting data in an easily understood visual manner as well as offering automation features. ShipperGuide uses automatic calculations to reduce human error, pulls from market data to compare rates and carrier performance side-by-side, and can store documents as well as easily communicate with your network. In other words, ShipperGuide takes over much of the heavy lifting involved in freight planning and optimization.
The Descartes Systems Group study found that implementing new technologies is the top strategy being considered by 55% of shippers and brokers. As more organizations embrace automation and AI to streamline planning and execution, the ROI becomes clear: faster workflows, fewer manual steps, and more efficient use of carrier capacity. Those gains compound over time, turning technology adoption into a core driver of operational performance—not just a competitive advantage.
The easiest way to see how software could improve your operations is to get a close look. Book a demo today and see how effective ShipperGuide can be!