MercuryGate TMS Carrier Tendering and Freight Audit Training Course

Course overview

Carrier tendering and freight audit break down when transportation teams cannot see whether the right carriers are receiving the right loads, why tenders are rejected, or whether carrier invoices match contracted rates and completed shipments. In MercuryGate TMS, these issues often stem from poorly maintained carrier profiles, weak routing-guide logic, incomplete tender workflows, and audit rules that do not reflect accessorial agreements. The result is avoidable manual intervention, missed service commitments, invoice exceptions, and limited evidence for carrier-performance discussions.

This five-day intermediate course teaches participants to configure and operate MercuryGate TMS processes for carrier selection, tender execution, shipment communication, freight settlement, and invoice audit. Participants work with carrier master data, service lanes, routing guides, tender response statuses, EDI transaction flows, rate structures, accessorials, tolerance rules, and exception queues. They learn how to trace a shipment from planned movement through carrier acceptance, proof of delivery, invoice matching, discrepancy resolution, and payment-ready approval.

Instruction combines guided system demonstrations with realistic transportation scenarios, including capacity constraints, tender rejections, fuel surcharge changes, duplicate invoices, and disputed accessorial charges. Participants build a carrier tendering and freight-audit operating workbook containing a routing-guide design, tender escalation rules, carrier scorecard measures, audit tolerance matrix, exception-resolution workflow, and implementation actions for their own environment. They leave able to explain and improve the controls linking transportation procurement, operations, finance, and carrier management.

The course is suited to transport professionals who already work with shipment planning, carrier contracts, freight invoices, or MercuryGate TMS data and now need stronger control over execution and settlement.

Course objectives

By the end of this course, participants will be able to:

• Configure carrier master-data fields, service capabilities, and communication preferences for tender execution
• Build routing-guide logic using lanes, carrier priority, service levels, capacity assumptions, and fallback options
• Execute and monitor MercuryGate tender workflows from initial offer through acceptance, rejection, and escalation
• Interpret ANSI X12 204, 990, and 210 transaction data to diagnose tender and invoice communication failures
• Validate carrier rate structures, fuel schedules, accessorial charges, and effective dates against shipment attributes
• Set freight-audit tolerance rules and exception categories for contracted-rate, duplicate-charge, and accessorial discrepancies
• Reconcile shipment, delivery, and invoice records to produce a documented dispute-resolution decision
• Create a carrier tendering and freight-audit control workbook with scorecards, workflows, and improvement actions

Benefits of attending

Target competencies

Who should attend

• Transportation Managers — who need reliable tender acceptance, carrier compliance, and controlled freight spend
• Logistics Analysts — who investigate tender failures, shipment exceptions, and invoice variances in MercuryGate TMS
• Freight Audit Analysts — who validate carrier invoices against rates, shipment events, and accessorial agreements
• Carrier Procurement Specialists — who translate awarded carrier terms into usable routing-guide and rate controls
• TMS Administrators — who configure carrier, tender, rating, and settlement settings for operational users
• Distribution Centre Logistics Leads — who depend on carrier confirmations and accurate freight charges for outbound execution

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have working experience with transportation operations, carrier contracts, freight invoices, or shipment planning in a TMS. They should understand basic concepts including lanes, modes, carriers, rates, accessorial charges, pickup and delivery milestones, and tender acceptance or rejection. Familiarity with their organisation’s MercuryGate TMS screens, carrier file formats, and approval process is helpful because exercises use realistic configuration and transaction scenarios. Participants do not need programming, database administration, EDI mapping expertise, or advanced finance qualifications. A basic ability to review spreadsheets and compare shipment and invoice data is assumed.

Training methodology

The instructor uses MercuryGate TMS workflow demonstrations, annotated transaction records, and facilitated problem-solving rather than slide-led theory alone. Participants configure sample carrier and routing-guide data, work through tender responses and escalations, and audit invoices against shipment events and contracted charges. Small groups analyse a carrier-capacity and billing-dispute case, then defend their operational decisions using evidence from the records provided. Each day closes with a practical output that is incorporated into the final tendering and freight-audit control workbook and individual application plan.

Course outline

Day 1: Carrier data and tendering foundations

• MercuryGate TMS tendering process from load planning to carrier confirmation
• Carrier master-data governance and service-capability attributes
• Lane, mode, equipment, and service-level eligibility rules
• Routing-guide hierarchy and carrier priority sequencing
• Contracted-rate components, effective dates, and charge codes
• Tender statuses, response deadlines, and operational ownership
• Tender acceptance metrics and root-cause categories

Workshop: Participants assess a flawed carrier setup and produce a corrected carrier eligibility and routing-guide design for a multi-lane distribution network.

Day 2: Tender execution and carrier communication

• MercuryGate tender creation from planned shipment data
• Primary, secondary, and cascade tender strategies
• Tender expiry timers and automated escalation rules
• Carrier acceptance, rejection, counteroffer, and no-response handling
• ANSI X12 204 load tender message structure
• ANSI X12 990 response transaction interpretation
• Tender exception queues and intervention prioritisation

Workshop: Participants run a simulated capacity-constrained tender cycle and produce an escalation playbook for rejected and unanswered tenders.

Day 3: Rating, freight settlement, and invoice matching

• Shipment rating inputs and contracted-rate validation
• Base rates, minimum charges, fuel schedules, and accessorial logic
• MercuryGate settlement workflow and approval checkpoints
• ANSI X12 210 freight invoice transaction fields
• Shipment-to-invoice matching using reference numbers and milestones
• Duplicate invoice detection and charge-line validation
• Payment-ready status and accounts-payable handoff controls

Workshop: Participants audit a set of carrier invoices against shipment records and produce a payment, hold, or dispute decision log.

Day 4: Freight audit exceptions and carrier accountability

• Audit tolerance matrices for rates, quantities, dates, and accessorials
• Exception categorisation for overcharges, undercharges, and missing evidence
• Proof-of-delivery and delivery-event validation
• Accessorial dispute evidence and contract-clause referencing
• Claims, disputes, credits, and rebill workflow controls
• Carrier scorecards for acceptance, response time, service, and billing accuracy
• Root-cause analysis of recurring tender and invoice exceptions

Workshop: Participants investigate a carrier billing-dispute case and produce an audit evidence pack, dispute message, and corrective-action recommendation.

Day 5: Operational control design and workplace application

• End-to-end tender-to-payment control points in MercuryGate TMS
• Role-based responsibilities across procurement, transport, finance, and carriers
• Dashboard measures for tender compliance and freight-audit performance
• Data-quality checks for carrier records, rates, and shipment references
• Monthly carrier review agenda and performance evidence
• Control testing for routing-guide and audit-rule changes
• Ninety-day implementation planning and benefit tracking

Workshop: Participants complete and present a carrier tendering and freight-audit control workbook tailored to a selected lane, carrier group, or business unit.

Tools & standards covered

MercuryGate TMS, Microsoft Excel, ANSI X12 204, ANSI X12 210

A typical training day

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in the East Africa Time zone, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

How you can take this course

Certification

Participants who complete the full five days receive the Skillset Development Certificate of Completion, stating the course title, course code, dates and delivery format — suitable for professional-development records and employer reimbursement.

Frequently asked questions