Porter, the CIS routine to read-in shipment data from any PC text file, gives users the ability to automatically process and then cost files of freight from sources other than your own historic freight data. Thus, a file of shipments from a prospective customer, such as provided in various bid packages, can be read in, via Porter, for costing.
That file should contain one record for each shipment with fields for:
Weight
Pieces (handling unit is preferred)
Destination ZIP Code (for and outbound customer); and/or
Origin ZIP Code (for an inbound customer)
Pickup and/or Delivery Date
Fields for other data such as class, multiple articles, and revenue can be used, if provided in the file.
When such a file is obtained from a prospective customer, containing their historic freight on which your bid analysis is to be based, copy that file into the folder specified in your path settings for Porter. If the data is supplied in a spreadsheet file, such as Excel, the user must first open it with that software and use the “save as” option to save the data as a text file, either in a fixed layout, or with tab or comma separated fields.
Activate Porter and select the text file. Porter will display the data in the selected file and prompt for the number of header records, if any, and then display the Record Layout screen. Then, using either the record layout that the prospective customer provides, or the header records displayed at the top of the screen, complete the fields on the Record Layout screen to identify to Porter where to find the shipment data needed for cost analysis. Any unavailable fields should be left at zero.
Porter contains additional options to allow the user to filter out points not served direct (if desired), to specify if the ZIP Codes (or Postal Codes) in the file are full or just three digits, and to calculate the stop weight.
The Stop Weight routine will automatically accumulate the pickup weight (if an outbound account) or delivery weight (if inbound), which is critical to accurate costing. After the stop weights have been calculated, the standard CIS Template screen will appear to allow the user to specify any global characteristics, other service requirements or cost codes to apply for this freight. Porter will then process the shipment file. When completed, this file of prospective shipments can be costed with CIS to allow a full and comprehensive analysis of the prospective customer’s traffic to aid in the bid-making process.