The Requirements
In addition to arranging the importing and exporting of goods, UK-based freight forwarding and logistics company Allport Cargo Services provides a parcel courier service to give their customers a more convenient and extensive offering. But the courier division needed to streamline their services – too much time and resources were being wasted on their existing process which involved using various couriers’ individual sites to book the couriers, and doing their invoicing manually.
Allport Cargo Services wanted a web portal which customers could use themselves to book parcel collection and delivery services. They needed the system to integrate various courier partners’ public APIs and allow Allport to set pricing for each customer, as well as produce reports and invoicing.
Our Solution
Blueberry took on the complicated task of developing a system which could cope with the various different characteristics of several courier APIs and roll it into one Allport-branded web portal which:
- Enables Allport to configure pricing on a per-customer basis for each possible courier service.
- Calculates the cost to Allport and the cost to the customer of each order.
- Outputs reports that allow invoicing to customers on a weekly basis.
- Imports courier invoices and outputs reconciliation reports when courier invoices do not match previously computed costs.
- Creates extensive reporting to enable Allport to monitor the whole business.
The Results
The new web portal has had a great impact on streamlining Allport’s courier services. The sophisticated system enables them to offer an improved, convenient service to their customers while making their reporting and invoicing processes much more effective and efficient.