Rating Method 2 - Creating Lane Cards In VIA®

Lane rating in VIA can be used to assign saved rates to orders, segments and quotes based on a number of criteria. These names can hold rates related to specific carriers, bill to customers or general book rates specific to your company. You can use lane cards in conjunction with the carrier API rating connection or independent of any API integrations you have setup. Your rates will be defined in a board of type Lane; however, they can apply to quote, Order and segment type boards. You can import lane cards using a csv flat file once you have created your lane board. Click Here in order to see lane card import documentation.

Creating a Lane Board

From the main VIA® screen, click on the add board at the top right section of the screen.

Once you have created the board you can create lists to organize your lanes. Each lane card will represent a from/to combination these combinations can represent any level of detail; for example:

• Ohio to Georgia
• Toledo, OH to Alpharetta, GA
• 43601 zip code to 30022 zip code
• Bob's Manufacturing Facility in Toledo, OH to Sam's Distribution Center in Alpharetta, GA
• You can also default the lane from and too locations using a * in the from and too zip code fields. If you default your lane card using the * in the zip code fields then the rate will apply regardless of the start and end locations

Much of the card is similar to other card types in VIA®. Across the top you can see the card name, and the list that the card currently resides in. Under the card header is the members, labels and conversations as well as an additional description field.  The last three tabs on the card are found in most other cards. The attachments tab where you can add any emails, or copies of the rates provided. The Linked cards tab if you choose to attach another card to your lane and the activities tab where you can see all the changes that have been made to your lane card.

The tabs on a lane card include the Lane Details where you will outline the from and to locations of the lane. The lane rates tab where you can define the carrier specific, customer specific or internal rates for this particular lane. The Lane Preferences Tab where you can define preferred carriers, customers and drivers.

Creating a Lane Card

Let's create a lane card to explore how lane rating in VIA® works. For this example we will create a rate card using the lane combination from Ohio to Georgia. To Start, open your lane board and click the + button on the top right side of the list to add yourr lane card to (or the Add a card button on the bottom of the list). When the new card appears, give it a meaningful name. For this example we will call the card Ohio to Georgia. When you are done, press the enter button. To edit the card you just created click on the card in the list.  When the card is open, you can add any labels, or descriptions from within the card header. 

In this example, I want the rate to apply anytime a load goes anywhere in Ohio to anywhere in Georgia; so from within my lane details tab I will define that combination:

If, you wanted to narrow this rate sheet down to a specific city within either of these states you can define that as well. You can define a shipper city, destination city, or both if you like. In the screenshot below the lane is defined as the city of Toledo, OH to the city of Alpharetta, GA.

We can also narrow down to specific zip codes for either or both sides of the lane. In the screen shot below the shipper is still defined as Toledo, OH; however, for this lane rate card to take effect the destination must have the zip code of 30022.

You can also leave the from and too wide open using the * character

Finally, the lane card can be configured right down to the company. In the below example, the lane rate will apple when the load originate at Bob's Manufacturing in Toledo 

If the lane rate applies both exiting OH for GA and exiting GA for OH you can set the reversible field at the bottom of the screen labelled Reversible to Yes to allow this.

At the bottom of the tab you can also stipulate the expiration date of the lane card. If the scheduled stop date occurs after this expiry date then the lane card will not apply.

Setting the Rates for the Lane  - Carrier Rating

To assign rates to our new lane click on the lane rates tab on the rate card. Within this tab there are three additional tabs. The first lists all carrier rates (not including any API configured carriers). The second tab lists and rates that you want to apply to a specific customer. The final tab will hold any internal rates for movements where your equipment handles the shipment. 

Let's set the rate for our carrier ABC Trucking. Click on the + button on the top left side of the lane rates tab and select Carrier (Pay Rate) option:

The following screen will appear:

Fill in the title for the specific rate. This title will be one of three fields the are displayed in the carrier summary list so ideally include the carrier's name. Click on the search button beside the carrier field and find the carrier that you want to attach the rate to. Under rate, enter in the rate that you want to apply and then in flat/per select an option from the drop down box. If you select flat then the rate you defined will apply to the orders/quotes or segments. If you choose per you will also have to define the unit. If you choose per then you want to set the rate to the price per unit. Enter in any service days that you want to include for this specific rate and any description. If this rate is for an accessorial charge you can select it from the rate type drop down field. If you have any rules that you want to apple to this specific rate then you can define them in the add rules section. For example, if this rate will only apply to orders that are more than 500 lbs you can enter that in as a rule and then press the + button to apply it:

If your carrier has multiple rates for the same lane you will have to enter them in one at a time. For example, if our carrier charges a rate of $3.50 per lb when the weight is under 500 lb but a rate of $2.50 per lb when the weight is over 500 lb you will have to define two rates for the carrier. Your screen should look similar to below:

This card will work for any carrier rates so you are not limited to one carrier per card. For example, I could add another Trucking Company to the same card  as long as the rate if for the same lane:

To test our rates we can enter a quote/order or segment with the lane information that matches our card:

Setting the Rates for the Lane  - Location Rating

You can store the per customer rate in VIA® as well if you have customer specific rate sheets. For the following example, we will use our existing lane card and create a truckload rate for our customer "Food Distribution Services" going from Ohio to Georgia. Please see instructions above if you are looking to create a new lane rate card. To start navigate to your lane card and click on the second tab on the card titles Lane Rates. Click on the + button and when prompted select Location (Bill Rates).  In the screen that pops up fill in the requested information:

The title field will be rate summary section so ideally include the customer's name and any other pertinent information to make it easy to identify. Click on the search button beside the Location field and find the bill to customer that you want to attach the rate to (If you don't see the customer in the search screen make sure that you location has been created as a bill to) . Under rate, enter in the rate that you want to apply and then in flat/per select an option from the drop down box. If you select flat then the rate you defined will apply to the orders/quotes or segments. If you choose 'per' you will also have to define the unit. If you choose per then you want to set the rate to the price per unit. Enter in any service days that you want to include for this specific rate and any description. If this rate is for an accessorial charge you can select it from the rate type drop down field. If you have any rules that you want to apply to this specific rate then you can define them in the add rules section. For example, if this rate will only apply to orders that are more than 100 lbs you can enter that in as a rule and then press the + button to apply it.

To test this rate let's create a quote using the conditions set out in the lane card. Our test quote has a start zip in Ohio and a destination in Georgia along with a freight line of more than 100 pounds. The rate will show up in the pricing tab with any other rates that can be applied to the quote. 

To use the rate you can click on the word standard and the rate will apply.

Setting the Rates for the Lane  - My Rates (Bill Rate)

Creating a rate that you want to use as a standard rate can be done in the last tab of the lane rates section. These rates are entered the same as the carrier or bill to rates; however, because they are not linked to a customer or carrier you do not need to define that with the rate. To enter in an internal rate open you lane card and ensure you are on the Lane Rates tab. Press the + button on the top right side of the tab and select My Rate (Bill rates) from the selection options.  

For this example, we will set the rate so that it will apply 3.50 per 100 pounds.  When we enter a quote card, the rate of 3.50 will apply to our card of 500.00 pounds.

Different types of Rating - Flat, Per and Matrix

Flat Rate - If your rate is a set rate ($500.00 per load) you can set your rate type to Flat:

Setting up your lane card as shown above means that if all the rules are met for this lane, a flat 500.00 charge will be applied to the linehaul

Per Rate - If you rate by multiplying a quantity by rate, then  you would want to choose the per rate type.  

In the above example, you would be charging 1.2 per mile. If your trip was 150 miles then the linehaul charge applied would be 150 x $1.2 = $180.00. If you choose to rate on a per item basis there are a number of multiplier options:

• Freight Line (the count of how many freight lines are entered)
• Gallon
• Handling Piece
• Hour - this is manually entered
• Hundred LBS
• LBS
• LBS/FT3 (cube)
• Miles (calculated using the miles field in the service details tab) 
• Piece
• Stop (based on the count of the amount of stops)
• Thousand LBS
• Ton (2000LBS)

Matrix Type Rating - Matrix Rating will use rate breaks based on a break unit specified to calculate the rate. When you choose Matrix type from the list the Rate field will change to rate calculation and a new field called break unit will appear to the right of the type field. Additionally, the Matrix Table will display below the definition section of the tab. 

Rate Calculation - There are 3 options in this dropdown field:

• Standard - the system will choose the rate based on whatever you have entered in as the break point.
• Best Rate - when rating, if the customer would benefit from using the next rate up as it is cheaper then the system will charge the higher rate until it reaches the break amount (this amount is a calculation that would be different for each matrix) then it will charge the remainder at the lower rate.  Using the screen shot below to help explain the best rate for the first bucket (44.82 per hundred pounds). We know that the minimum amount to be charged in the next bucket up would be $1,633.50 (32.67 * 50) this means that there will be a weight in the lower bucket that will surpass that minimum amount. You can find that number by dividing the rate of the lower bucket in the min amount we calculated previously (1663.50 / 44.82 = 37.12) When using best rate, anything above this weight would rate at the higher bucket up. Let's look at an example: we know that the rate break for that bucket it 37.12 CWT or 3,712.00 LBS. If we had a load that weighed 4,000 LB or 40 CWT, then it would rate as follows: charge up to the rate break  → 37.12 CWT * 44.82 = 1663.72  the system would find the number of lbs remaining after the rate break → 4000-3712 = 288 LB then the 28.8 cwt would be billed at the rate for the next bucket →28.8 * 32.67 = 940.90. Then the two amounts would be added together: 1663.72 + 940.90 = 2,604.62
• Maximum Rate - The system will charge only up to the maximum amount per bucket. Using the screen shot below to help explain the maximum rate for the first bucket (44.82 per hundred pounds). We know that the minimum amount to be charged in the next bucket up would be $1,633.50 (32.67 * 50) this means that there will be a weight in the lower bucket that will surpass that minimum amount. You can find that number by dividing the rate of the lower bucket in the min amount we calculated previously (1663.50 / 44.82 = 37.12) this means that anything weighing more than 37.12 CWT (or 3,712.00 LBS) will be over the maximum amount of the bucket. For example: 4000 lbs (40 CWT) if we calculated that using the original bucket amount it would equal 1,792.8 which is higher than the max amount of 1,663.50. If our lane card was setup for max then any weights between 3,712 lbs would rate at 1,663.50. Once the weight passed into the next bucket (over 50 CWT or 5,000 LB) the rates would calculate at the newer rate.

Let's look at some rating examples using the different types of matrix. Below is an example of a matrix based on 100 lb breaks

For the first line, if the calculation of the 100 lbs multiplied by the rate is less than 127.45 then the minimum line would apply. For example 200 lbs = 44.82 x (200/100) = 89.64 Since 89.64 is less than the  minimum, the 127.45 would apply

The remaining lines are buckets. There is one for anything over 0.01, greater than 50 and greater than 100. Let's use an example to see how the rate would apply when a break is reached. For this example we will say the freight is 3,700 lbs. For this example, the rate breaks for each of the buckets would be as follows

Bucket #1 .01 - 5,000 lbs = break point 3,644.78 lb

Bucket #2 5,000 - 10,000 lbs = break point 8,145.09 lb

The break points above mean that shipping any freight higher than those break points would be more expensive than moving up to the next bucket. For example

If you shipped 5,000 lb you would be in the 32.67 bucket and would be charges 50 * $32.67 = $1,633.5

If you shipped 4,000 lb it is less than the break of 5,000 lb but would cost you more than if you shipped 5,0000:  $44.82 * 40 = $1,792.8

Using the example of shipping 4,000 lb we will look at the different Rate Calculations:

Standard Rate= $44.82 * 40 = $1,792.80 - just a standard multiplication

Best Rate = The rate break for this bucket is 3,645 lb so if we shipped 4,000 then the first 3,645 would be charged at the $44.82 amount and the remaining 355 lbs would be charged at the cheaper $32.67 rate

(44.82 * 36.45 ) + (32.67 * 3.55) = $1,749.67 the customer would save $46.13 when choosing this option over the standard rate

Maximum Rate = If you ship over the rate break you will pay the maximum for the movement. For example, if you shipped 4,000 LB then you would charge 46 * $42.82 = $2061.48

How Rating Appears on the Card

When your order, segment or quote pulls a rate the system will show you what lane card matched, the title of the rate line and an explanation of the rate. For example:

In the example above you can see that the lane card that applied was the Flat Rating - Commodity Storage card. The title of the rate is STORAGE Flat Rate Linehaul and the amount that applied was 500 to the linehaul. In the example above you can also see that 121.50 was added as a Fuel Surcharge Accessorial. You can use lane cards to assign rates to apply as accessorial charges as well as Linehaul charges.

Setting up Accessorial Charges in Lane Cards

When you are defining your rates in the Lane Rates tab of the Lane card, you can also choose the rate type of either Linehaul or Accessorial

If you select accessorial than the system will add two additional fields to the tab: The accessorial Type and the Auto Add Accessorial option

The accessorial Type is a drop down list of the available accessorial charges that exist in the system. You can add new accessorial charges in the administration screen under Drop Down Options. This is the accessorial charge that will apply when the lane card triggers. The auto add accessorial is an option to have the accessorial charge apply automatically. If you choose no for this option, the rate will still apply if you choose the accessorial type code from the list on the order or segment. For example, if you created a lane rate for XDROP for 50.00 but did not set the accessorial to auto add, then if you manually added the accessorial XDROP to an order, quote or segment, the rate of 50.00 would apply.

Fuel Surcharge Calculations in VIA

If you have access to the FCA (username and password) you can leverage that information within VIA to automatically calculate FSC. To begin, you will have to add the Integration for FCA and you will need to have the FCA integration enabled. To do this go to the administration section of VIA and click on Integrations. From There select Add integration from the right side of the screen. You can choose Integration type FCA from the list and then enter in your email and password provided to you by FCA

When you are done press Add Integration. Now you can use the FCA fuel rates in your lane cards. In order to achieve this lets go back to a lane card and set the type to Accessorial from Linehaul. Once you have set accessorial, the charge type at the top of the screen expands. Now you have options to apply the different amounts available in the FCA. You can also add a percentage to the the rate: