AbaLoad © Debtors and Load Management Software
The AbaLoad software system (online SaaS application) is designed to handle Full Truck Transport Loads and can also be used in a transportation brokering environment.
AbaLoad is the core system for the efficient management of transport loads and the control of debtors.
All relevant information relating to a load is captured into AbaLoad which then serves as the basic data source for comprehensive tracking, administration, management reporting and statistical information.
Our AbaFleet Workshop Maintenance and Fleet Management software application can also be integrated with AbaLoad.
AbaLoad – Core features
The base AbaLoad Core system provides you exceptional functionality
- Master and Lookup Files
- This section allows you to manage the master lookup tables for Customers, Suppliers (Sub-Contractors), Trucks, Drivers
- There are various other master tables such as Load Types, Towns, and Countries, etc.
- Loads - Complete details of every load. The system allows for the entry of all load information (what, when, where from, where to, etc.).
- Load pricing calculations by units e.g. Ton, pallet, full load, etc.
- The status of the load can be set to various options eg. Booked, Loaded, Delivered, Invoiced, Paid or Cancelled.
- The load screen views are colour-coded to show status a load e.g. invoiced
- Each load screen assists with cross-referencing between the Accounts department and Operations e.g. shows the invoice number.
- There is a full Proof of Delivery data capture entry process built into the system.
- See the Load Tracking add-on for advanced monitoring and tracking the progress of a load.
- Full search and data sorting capabilities on Load No., Customer, Sub-Contractor, Truck, etc.
- Invoices - The Accounts department controls the generation of all invoices after the POD process has been completed.
- Any completed load can be converted quickly to an invoice without any recapturing or duplication of data and eliminates errors in the process.
- All the load invoices, as they are generated, from the Load information, can be viewed at any time.
- The basic system allows for invoices to be marked as paid or outstanding. In order to have full control of the entire Debtors process, please see the Customer Financial Control Add-on.
- Public / Accounting documents:
- Include Quotations, Invoices, Credit Notes and Statements, Load Confirmations (also depends upon add-on installed).
- Branding: All public documents such as invoices, statements, etc. will be branded with your corporate logo and other company details.
- Emailing of documents - All emails that are generated via the system are sent either from the main company address or from the individual operator's company email address.
- Reports - The basic system comes with various sales and load accounting reports.
- Reports provides full history of all transactions for summary reporting purposes - irrespective of time period.
- Provides Load Histories for management reporting purposes. All the reports can be viewed on screen or exported to a .pdf file for printing or circulation.
- Standard reports include:
- Comprehensive Load Status report,
- Sales for period (summary and detailed) - primarily used as accounting source document/audit trails to easily transfer sales totals to your general ledger accounting system,
- Sales per Customer (summary and detailed),
- VAT Report,
- Gross Profit per Load,
- Paid and Unpaid Invoices,
- Purchases per Period (Sub Contractors),
- Purchases per Supplier.
- Further reports are added, depending on Add-on Modules selected.
- Multi-currency - AbaLoad has been developed to cater for a multi-currency environment.
- The system makes provision for a base currency e.g. ZAR. Each supplier and customer account will be assigned a trading currency e.g. USD. Every day the system will request the exchange rates to be used for transactions handled on that day.
- All the reports will show the transaction in both the account currency and in the base currency, for example, a Load is sold to Customer (A) in ZAR but the transporter (B) charges you in USD.
- On the gross profit report, the transporter cost will be converted to your base currency (ZAR) using the daily exchange rate.
- Ease-of-use: The application is easy to use and is designed in such a way that screen hints are available throughout the application modules, where appropriate.
Add-on Modules
These modules extend the functionality of the core application
Module: Load Expenses Financial Control
The Expenses Financial Control Add-on is essential to have if you require a complete, detailed overview of all the cost factors that influence the profitability of a load.
- The module adds an expense category to the purchases module and allows for the capture of all load-related expenses.
- Each expense is assigned to a load which allows for an accurate profit and loss analysis.
- The module adds a number of expense reports that can be utilised as source documents to update your general ledger, avoiding duplication of capture and effort.
- This module, together with the Suppliers Control Add-on, will allow you to have a much more detailed view of your expenses and will provide early warnings to ensure that your loads are profitable.
Module: Supplier Financial Control
As with the Customer Financial Control Add-on, this module adds full creditors capabilities for Sub-Contractors, as follows:
- The ability to link a supplier invoice to a load,
- Generate a remittance advice when you pay the Supplier.
- It also adds its own set of reports e.g. Creditors Age Analysis, Payment schedule, etc.
Module: Customer Financial Control
The Customer Financial Control Add-on is used as a full debtors system (GAAP) for all load customers. Included in this comprehensive module are the following:
- Receipts (with invoice allocation),
- Statements,
- Credit notes,
- Customer journals and,
- Reports for each transaction type.
An additional feature demanded by our customers is "Credit Control limits" which we have built into this module. Any customer, who has exceeded their credit limit, will be "flagged" by the Accounts department. The Operations department will not be able to book any further loads for that customer until the control has been lifted by the Accounts department.
This "Credit Control" feature is only made possible by utilizing the invoicing process in the AbaLoad core system together with this Add-on module.
This one feature alone avoids incurring more potential bad debt, by not allowing sales to delinquent customers. This will, in turn, also lighten the burden on the credit control department.
Another great feature is the "tolerance levels" which the Accounts department can set for when the system should warn all operators of a customer potentially exceeding their credit limit. E.g. if you set the limit to 10% - any customer whose balance is within 10% of their credit limit will be marked in orange as a "warning". Any customer who has exceeded their limit will be marked in red.
All statements will be printed using the balance forward method, however, the transactions will be handled on an open item basis.
The reports from this module serve as the source documents for the transferring of the monthly totals to the various general ledger accounts.
This add-on allows you to run your Load debtors completely separate from your general ledger. This largely eliminates time-consuming duplication of effort and substantially decreases the level of human errors throughout the load process.
Module: Quotations
The Quotation Add-on extends the AbaLoad system to include a fully-functional quotation management system.
- An operator can create a multi-load quotation and send the e-mail directly from the AbaLoad system.
- When the load is accepted, it is easily converted to a Load transaction, without having to recapture information.
- This module allows you to create a quotation status report which groups quotations by status. I.e. you can see, at a glance, your quotation conversion/rejection ratios. This information will allow management to predict and respond to trends much quicker.
Module: Load Tracking
The Load Tracking Add-on allows you to monitor the progress of any load from the collection point to the delivery point.
- The add-on integrates with the Load record so that every change can be monitored.
- The operator completes a tracking entry for every change.
- There is the option to email these notes to the customer directly from the system.
- The Load Tracking Add-On will add flexible reporting criteria. For example, the Customer Load tracking report generates a report of all active loads for any given client. This report can show only the last tracking entry for each load, i.e. provide a "last point" overview, or can include a complete tracking overview for every load.