Schedule smarter. Stay in control.
Alpha-TMS automatically allocates your orders to the right carriers based on personalised rules, such as lowest cost, fastest transit, preferred carrier or even emissions. Planners can always review, adjust or schedule manually when needed.
Rate management
The foundation for proper scheduling of your shipments is the correct pricing. Within alpha-TMS you can easily add and manage the quotations you receive from your carriers. Detailed rate tables, fuel surcharges and additional service costs allow full cost comparison during scheduling, which results in automatic invoice control or even self-billing later on.
Base rates
Transit times
Departure days
Additional services
Weekend driving
Fuel surcharges
Need help getting the right quotations from your carriers in the first place? Take a look at our tendering service.
Carrier allocation
With all your quotations in alpha-TMS, you get instant insight into the carrier options for each shipment. You can see what each carrier costs and allocate the right one to every shipment, using each carrier where they are strongest. That is how clients build the best carrier mix and cut freight costs by 10–30%. There are two ways to allocate: manually, by clicking an order and choosing the carrier yourself, or automatically, by running the Scheduler to allocate every order at once, based on your own rules.
Automatic Scheduling
All your orders that need scheduling are uploaded into the alpha-TMS Scheduler. Each is allocated a carrier automatically, and planners can review and adjust any order before confirming. Every order is set to one action:
Schedule
A carrier is allocated automatically, based on your own rules.
Rate request
No contract rate exists, so a rate request goes to carriers.
Internal
Collection orders scheduled for dock planning only, no carrier involved.
Skip
No action this run, for example, a rate request awaiting rates.
On hold
The order is held back and excluded from further scheduling.
When every order is set, the whole batch is scheduled in one go, creating all the transport orders and rate requests and forwarding these directly to the carriers.
Scheduler key functions
Everything planners need to allocate, compare and dispatch — in one workspace.
Capacity insight
Daily workload visible so planners can spread the workload if needed.
Automatic allocation
Carriers allocated automatically, based on your own planning rules.
Full-cost comparison
Base rate, fuel surcharge and additional services, compare on total cost.
Slot-hour detection
Surcharges recognised and applied automatically based on opening hours.
On-time feasibility
Orders clearly highlighted when scheduled later than requested.
Rate requests
When no contract rate exists, spot requests go to your carriers.
Saving potential
Shown per order, so planners can intervene where it counts.
Scheduling performance
Planners can log the reason why an order was scheduled late.
Last-mile and line-haul
Scheduling a last-mile order automatically creates the line-haul order.
Automated Scheduling Software
Alpha-TMS automated scheduling allocates every order to the right carrier and turns it into a transport order. Carrier rates, fuel surcharges and additional services are managed in one place, so carriers are compared on full cost rather than the headline rate, and selected by your own rules: lowest cost, fastest transit, preferred carrier or emissions.
The Scheduler allocates a whole batch at once, requests spot rates where no contract rate exists, and lets planners review and adjust before confirming. By building the best carrier mix automatically, shippers reduce planner workload and cut freight costs by 10–30%.
Frequently asked questions
Everything you need to know about alpha-TMS
How does automatic carrier allocation work?
The alpha-TMS Scheduler uploads all orders that need scheduling and allocates a carrier to each one automatically, based on your own planning rules. Rules can be based on lowest cost, fastest transit, preferred carrier, emissions, or any combination. Planners can review and adjust every allocation before confirming the batch. Where preferred, we can also route orders directly, outside the Scheduler and without intervention.
Can I still schedule orders manually?
Yes. You can always click on any order and choose the carrier yourself. Manual and automatic scheduling work side by side — you run the Scheduler to handle the bulk, then adjust individual orders where needed. Planners stay in full control at all times.
What is the difference between a transport order and a rate request?
A transport order is created when a contract rate exists for the chosen carrier and lane — the shipment is booked directly. A rate request is created when no contract rate exists: the request is sent to one or more carriers who can then respond with a spot rate. Once a rate is received and accepted, the order is confirmed.
How are fuel surcharges handled in scheduling?
Fuel surcharges are stored per carrier in alpha-TMS and applied automatically during scheduling. The Scheduler compares carriers on their full cost — base rate plus fuel surcharge plus any additional service costs — so you always choose the carrier with the best total price, not just the lowest headline rate.
Does the Scheduler support last-mile and line-haul in one step?
Yes. When you schedule a last-mile order, alpha-TMS automatically creates the corresponding line-haul order as well. This eliminates manual double entry and ensures the full transport chain is planned and communicated correctly in one go.
How does slot-hour surcharge detection work?
Alpha-TMS stores the opening hours of collection and delivery addresses. When a carrier's rates include slot-hour surcharges — charges that apply outside standard operating hours — the Scheduler detects this automatically based on the planned pick-up or delivery time and applies the correct surcharge, so your cost comparison is always accurate.