FAQ

Expand all or click on specific questions to see answers.

Q: I can't decide if I want a hosted (a.k.a. ASP or SaaS) solution or if I want to install it on my own servers at my location. Which do you support?

A: Both. You can license the application and install it on your servers or subscribe to the application that's hosted at MercuryGate's SAS-70 certified hosting facility. Most of our customers choose to start out with the hosted model knowing they can bring the application in-house later if necessary.

Q: I have multiple businesses that plan their transportation independently. Can I look across those businesses for opportunities to consolidate freight?

A: Yes. The application supports a hierarchy of companies with the "parents" having the ability to view and consolidate loads with the "children" companies. Furthermore, you can allocate the transportation costs back to the businesses based on your choice of variables (mileage, weight, etc).

Q: Can my suppliers use the TMS to book shipments themselves with carriers I approve?

A: Yes. The MercuryGate TMS includes portal access for suppliers who only need to book and track their shipments. Portal configuration is quick and secure. These users will only have access to the information where you have authorized their access.

Q: Can the TMS make sure my hazardous shipments don't get combined with food items when it consolidates shipments onto loads?

A: Yes. Your items will have classifications assigned that aid in the determination of what can be loaded together and what can't. The optimizer will use these classifications with a set of rules when it analyzes all your shipments for optimization.

Q: Not all of my carriers are EDI capable. How will I send booking requests and receive status messages and invoices from these carriers?

A: Using the application's web portals, carriers can bid on loads, accept tenders, send tracking information, and invoices. You can also use emails to send and receive messages with carriers and clients. They'll just open an email and click on a link to send a response back.

Q: I ship products all over the world. Can you support global transportation requirements?

A: Yes. MercuryGate's TMS is an end-to-end transportation planning & execution system. With it, you can coordinate complex multi-modal shipments as easily as local short hauls. It supports all modes, including ocean, air, intermodal, rail and parcel as well as LTL and truckload. The TMS also interfaces to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and supports form submission including rule 10+2. TMS users can take advantage of multi-currency, inter-geography shipments (U.S. to Europe, Europe to Asia, etc).

Q: I have contract carriers and a small local fleet. We'd prefer to use our fleet whenever possible. Can the load optimizer prioritize our fleet in the selection process?

A: Yes. You can give preference to certain carriers, including your own fleet. You can make sure they get a certain percentage of the shipments or you can make sure they always show up as the first choice when that fleet has trucks available.

Q: I currently use an outside company to audit my carrier invoices. Can I use the TMS to do that in house?

A: Yes. When a carrier sends in invoice, it is automatically matched against the original load in the TMS. If it matches, it can be cleared for payment. The system will tell you why those that don't match up are different. You can then either dispute the charge with the carrier or agree to pay the invoice and enter a reason code so you'll have a record of why it was paid. You can configure the tolerance level for matching invoices. You can tell the TMS, for example, that if the invoice is with $5 of the contracted amount you will go ahead and pay that invoice. The flexible TMS also allows you to keep your existing audit company to handle the exceptions or continue to use U.S. Bank for freight bill payment if this is your current method. The MercuryGate TMS can integrate directly to audit company systems.

Q: I have an accounting application and a warehouse management system that will need to share information with the TMS. Can you integrate my systems?

A: Yes. Most of our customers have applications that exchange data with the TMS. Our Implementation Specialists will work with you to map the data in and out of the TMS so your applications will work seamlessly together or you can use our robust XML data structure and map the data yourself. We have experience with all of the popular accounting and WMS applications, including SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft Dynamics.

Q: What other software or hardware products will I need to operate the TMS?

A: The MercuryGate TMS is a complete end-to-end transportation management system and doesn't require any 3rd party products to work if you subscribe with the SaaS model. However, MercuryGate has enabled many third party products that many of our customers have found to be useful. If you use LTL carriers, you might subscribe to SMC3's Rate Ware product for tariffs. Other common products used by our customers are ALK PC*Miler and Rand McNally Mile Maker to determine distances and travel times between stops. Google Earth is another tool that's available via the TMS to show street level maps. The MercuryGate TMS is also enabled to support connection to and use of products from Internet Truckstop, GPS411, TransCore, and many others.

Q: Most of my employees use Microsoft's Internet Explorer as their browser. Some, however, have selected other browsers. I have no control over what my carriers and customers use. Will this be an issue?

A: No. The MercuryGate TMS is ‘browser neutral'. Your employers, carriers and customers are free to use their preferred browser. The MercuryGate TMS has been tested with the popular browsers – Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, Chrome and Opera.

Q: Does MercuryGate provide education on the TMS?

A: MercuryGate offers public classes at its headquarters near Raleigh, North Carolina or if desired at the client site. The curriculum includes:

3 day, Fundamentals (setup, administration, usage fundamentals)
2 day, Advanced (more detailed administration, reporting functions, and custom portals)
2 day, Edge (report writing)
2 day, Mojo (optimizer)
2 day, User Conference (product enhancement information, customer usage presentations)

Q: Do you have a user group?

A: MercuryGate holds its international user conference once each year. This conference provides an opportunity for MercuryGate users to learn about the latest MercuryGate product improvements, update their industry knowledge in sessions with industry leaders and industry analysts, network with other MercuryGate users to share ideas and approaches and an opportunity to discuss needs in an open forum

Q: How do I get access to customer support?

A: MercuryGate provides 24x7 customer support. Customers can access support via toll-free phone call or via Internet access to our "ACE" system. Ace is an automated problem reporting and tracking system that also allows users to log product enhancement requests. Ace also provides access to the latest MercuryGate documentation and a database of corrected issues.

Q: How long has MercuryGate been serving the transportation industry?

A: MercuryGate was founded in October 2000 with the introduction of the MercuryGate TMS. MercuryGate is a privately held company that has funded its growth without the use of venture funding. MercuryGate reinvests its profits into product development, which explains MercuryGate's technology leadership. A testament to MercuryGate's TMS leadership is the awesome list of delighted users.

Q: How much freight is shipped through the MercuryGate TMS?

A: MercuryGate users move between 60,000 and 70,000 shipments per day, which equals about 10 billion dollars in freight spend per year.