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Your First Login

Your company uses a Transportation Management System (TMS) to manage loads, carriers, customers, and payments. This guide walks you through what you will see the first time you log in and how to find your way around.

Overview

After logging in, you land on the home screen. This screen shows all the major sections of the system as icons. Each icon opens a different area of the TMS where you manage a specific part of your business -- loads, carriers, billing, and so on.

Getting There

  1. Open your web browser and go to the address your company gave you (for example, https://yourcompany.example.com).
  2. Enter your Email and Password.
  3. Click Log in.

You will land on the home screen with icons for each section.

How It Works

The Home Screen

The home screen is your starting point. Each icon represents a major section of the system. Click any icon to open that section. You can always return to the home screen by clicking the grid icon in the top-left corner of the navigation bar.

Here is what each section does, in the order they appear:

Section What It Is For
Loads Your daily hub. Contains legs, shipments, and available trucks.
Customers Shippers, brokers, and other companies you haul for.
Carriers Carrier companies, drivers, and equipment (trucks, trailers).
Settlements Paying carriers and drivers for completed work.
Invoices Billing your customers for completed shipments.
Documents All uploaded files -- BOLs, PODs, rate confirmations, and more.
Settings System configuration (invoicing, settlements, carrier activation, and more). Only visible to admins.

Loads

This is where you spend most of your day. When you open Loads, you will see sub-menus:

  • Legs -- The core of dispatch. Each leg is a single trip from origin to destination with a specific carrier and truck. You create legs, assign carriers, track stops, and monitor progress here.
  • Shipments -- Customer orders. A shipment is what your customer booked. One shipment can have one or more legs if the freight needs multiple carriers or relay moves.
  • Available Trucks -- A quick-look board showing trucks that are ready for their next load. Use this when you need to find a truck to cover a new shipment.

Customers

Your list of shippers, brokers, and freight contacts. Each customer record stores their name, contact info, addresses, and billing details. When you create a new shipment, you pick the customer from this list.

Carriers

Everything about the companies and people who move your freight:

  • Carriers -- The carrier companies you work with (their MC number, insurance, payment details).
  • Drivers -- Individual drivers, including their contact info and current availability.
  • Equipment -- Trucks and trailers, including their status and which carrier owns them.

Settlements

After a leg is completed, the carrier needs to get paid. The Settlements section handles that:

  • Settlements -- Finalized payment records for carriers. Each settlement shows the legs included, the pay amount, and any deductions.
  • Unsettled Legs -- A filtered view of completed legs that have not been paid yet. Use this to see what is owed and create new settlements.
  • Deductions -- Recurring charges that get subtracted from carrier pay (fuel advances, insurance, equipment leases, etc.).

Invoices

After a shipment is completed, you need to bill the customer:

  • Invoices -- All created invoices with their status and amounts.
  • Uninvoiced Shipments -- Completed shipments that have not been billed yet. Use this to find what needs invoicing and create invoices in bulk.

Documents

A central file library for everything attached to loads, shipments, and carriers. Bills of lading (BOLs), proof of delivery (PODs), rate confirmations, insurance certificates -- they all live here. You can search and filter to find any document across the system.

Settings

Only visible if you are an admin. This is where you configure system-wide options -- invoicing automation, settlement automation, carrier activation rules, expiration reminders, availability statuses, payment types, tags, and charge types. See Settings for a full walkthrough and User Roles for more on admin access.

Top Navigation Bar

The navigation bar at the top of the screen is always visible. It shows:

  • Home icon (grid icon, top-left) -- Click to go back to the home screen.
  • Current section name -- Shows which section you are in (for example, "Loads").
  • Sub-menu items -- When you are inside a section, the sub-menus appear in the navigation bar. Click any one to switch views.
  • Search bar -- In the top-right area, lets you quickly search across the system.

When you open a record, breadcrumbs appear below the navigation bar. They show the path you took to get to the current page. Click any breadcrumb to go back to that step.

For example: Legs > LEG-00042 tells you that you are viewing leg number 42, and clicking "Legs" takes you back to the full list.

List View vs. Form View

The system has two main ways to look at data:

  • List view -- A table showing many records at once. Each row is one record (one leg, one carrier, one invoice, etc.). You can sort columns, use filters, and search to narrow down what you see.
  • Form view -- The detail page for a single record. Click any row in a list to open its form view, where you can see all the details and make changes.

To get back to the list from a form, click the breadcrumb or use the browser's back button.

Search and Filters

At the top of every list view, there is a search bar. You can:

  • Type to search -- Enter a reference number, name, or keyword. Matching records appear instantly.
  • Use filters -- Click the search bar to see pre-built filters (for example, "Brokered" or "Direct" legs). Click one to apply it.
  • Group by -- Organize your list by carrier, date, status, or other fields. This is helpful for seeing totals or finding patterns.

Tips & Common Questions

How do I get back to the home screen? Click the grid icon (small squares) in the top-left corner of the navigation bar. This works from anywhere in the system.

I clicked something and now I am lost. How do I go back? Look at the breadcrumbs below the navigation bar. They show exactly where you are. Click any earlier breadcrumb to jump back. You can also use your browser's back button.

Can I have multiple tabs open? Yes. You can right-click any record or menu item and choose "Open in new tab." This is handy when you need to look at a leg and a carrier at the same time.

What does the number in the search bar mean? When you apply filters, the search bar shows tags for each active filter. The list only shows records that match all active filters. Click the "x" on any tag to remove that filter.

  • User Roles -- Learn about the TMS User and TMS Admin roles