Best in Class shippers possess an understanding of the following subjects.

 Modal options and trade-offs (e.g. Air, Road, Rail, Marine)

 Carrier selection and management in each mode of transport

 Routing guide preparation and compliance tracking

Best in Class shippers have high quality, granular, historical freight data. They capture clean, accurate, complete data on all of their inbound, outbound and inter-branch transfers, across all modes. The most fundamental building blocks are the individual boxes, parcels, envelopes, cartons, drums or pallets.

Capturing this data correctly and completely allows a shipper to address such fundamental issues as the type of container to be used, space occupied, loading plan etc. This data is also critical when conducting an RFP as a means of selecting the appropriate modes and carriers. The data that each shipper maintains must contain certain data elements in order to be useful for analysis and planning purposes. The following data fields are essential.

 Shipment number

 Pick up date