Rate management

The Rate Management page keeps your company’s rates in rate cards: what you sell at, and what vendors charge you. From those rates, TrakIT prices a shipment for you, and fills in the lines of quotations and job estimates with Get Rates.

To open it, select Finance > Rate Management. The page has four tabs: Rate cards, Find rates, Margin rules and Reports. Selecting a card opens it on its own page: see Rate card.

How rate management works

A rate card is one price list. Each card has a type:

Type	Side	What it holds
Selling tariff	Sell	Your standard selling prices, for every customer without a contract.
Customer contract	Sell	Prices agreed with one customer or a customer group.
Vendor rates	Buy	What a carrier, airline, transporter or agent charges you.
Spot rate	Sell or buy	A one-off price with a short validity.
Surcharges	Sell or buy	Fuel, currency, security and other surcharges added on top of base rates.

A card belongs to one company, or to all companies. A card for all companies is offered in every company, and its charges are matched by name in each one.

A card’s prices are kept in versions. You change the rates in the card’s draft, then publish it from a date. A published version is in use from that date until a newer version replaces it, or until its end date, and it never changes, so you can always see what a quotation or job was priced at. See Versions.

Each version has lines. A line prices one charge on one leg of a shipment, between two places, on a basis such as per container or per chargeable kg:

Leg	Prices
Pre-carriage	Pickup to origin, for example trucking from the shipper’s door to the port.
Origin	Charges at the origin port, airport or terminal.
Freight	The main freight, from origin to destination.
Destination	Charges at the destination.
On-carriage	Destination to delivery.

A line’s places can be at any level, from a country down to a port or terminal. A line for a country covers every place in it, and a blank place means anywhere.

You use the rates in three ways:

Find rates prices a shipment for you to look at. Nothing is saved.
Get Rates, on a quotation or a job’s estimates, prices it and writes the lines you choose.
Some actions on quotations and jobs apply rates automatically.

Rate cards tab

The Rate cards tab lists the cards you can see: those of the companies you have access to, and those for all companies. Buy-side cards appear only if your role can view buy rates.

At the top, boxes count the cards by status. Select a box to list only those cards, and select it again to go back to the default list.

Box	Counts the cards
Live	With a version in use today, expiring ones included.
Expiring	Whose version in use ends within 30 days, with no newer version scheduled.
Scheduled	Whose next version starts later, with none in use today.
Draft only	With no published version.
Expired	Whose published versions have all ended.

To narrow the list, select Filters:

Search: part of a card’s code, name or reference, or of the name of its customer, vendor or customer group.
Type and Mode.
Company: Every company, Cards for all companies, or one company.
Status: In use, scheduled or draft (the default), Live, Expiring within 30 days, Scheduled, Draft only, Expired, Inactive or All.

Select Apply, or Clear to remove the filters. TrakIT remembers your filters in this browser.

The list shows expiring cards first, then draft-only, live, scheduled, expired and inactive cards, each by name, 50 to a page.

Column	Shows
Code, Name	The card, with its reference under the name. Select either to open the card.
Type	The card type, with Sell or Buy.
With	The customer, customer group or vendor.
Mode	Sea FCL, Sea LCL, Air, Road, Rail or Other.
Company	The company, or All companies.
Version in use	The version in use and its dates, and the next version if one is scheduled. Draft vn means a draft is open.
Status	Live, Expiring, Scheduled, Draft only, Expired or Inactive.
Lines	The number of lines of the version in use.
Changed	When the card’s details were last changed, and by whom.

Create a rate card

Select New rate card.
Choose the kind of card: Selling tariff, Customer contract, Vendor rates, Spot rate or Surcharges.
Fill in the card’s details (below). ◄ Back returns to the choice of type.
Select Create.

TrakIT creates the card with an empty draft, version 1, and opens it. Add its lines there, then publish it: see Rate card.

Field	Notes
Name	Required, up to 150 characters.
Code	2 to 20 letters, digits, `-` or `_`, unique. Leave it blank for a code made from the type and a number, such as `CC-0012`. The code cannot change later: emails and files that bring in rates name the card by it.
Buy or sell	For a spot rate or a surcharge card: Sell (to customers) or Buy (from vendors).
Company	The company the card belongs to, or All companies.
Customer or Vendor	Who the card is with. A customer contract needs a customer or a customer group, and vendor rates need a vendor. A selling tariff has neither, and for a spot rate or a surcharge card it is optional.
Customer group	For selling cards other than a tariff: the prices apply to every customer of the group, instead of one customer. Choose a customer or a group, not both.
Mode	The mode of transport. It sets the usual layout, price columns and chargeable weight (table below).
Prices laid out	Per equipment type (a price per container or truck type), Per weight break (a price per weight band) or One price per line.
Equipment types or Weight breaks (kg)	The price columns, separated by commas, up to 12. Equipment types are codes such as `20DV,40DV,40HC`; `20`, `40` and `45` price any type of that size. Weight breaks are the lower bound of each band in kg, starting at 0 and rising, such as `0,45,100,300`.
Currency	Required. Lines are in this currency unless they say otherwise. It starts as the company’s currency.
First version starts	The date the first version starts.
Reference	The vendor’s or customer’s contract or quotation number, up to 50 characters.

Select More settings for:

Field	Notes
Volume ratio (kg per CBM)	For chargeable weight: the kg charged per CBM when the volumetric weight is more than the actual weight, from 1 to 10,000.
Round chargeable weight up to (kg)	The step chargeable weight is rounded up to, up to 100 kg.
All-in	Prices include surcharges: on the legs this card prices, surcharges from other cards are not added.
Priority	0 normally. When two cards of the same kind price the same thing, the higher number wins.
Workflow	Only for jobs and quotations of this workflow.
Tell	A user group told 30 and 7 days before the rates run out, and when rates come in by email, SFTP or the API. With none, whoever published the version is told when it runs out.
Volume commitment	What the contract commits to, as a number of Shipments (jobs), Containers, TEU, Tonnes or CBM, with the Commitment period, up to 5 years. The Commitments report follows it.

Each mode starts with these settings, which you can change:

Mode	Prices laid out	Price columns	Basis of new lines	Volume ratio
Sea FCL	Per equipment type	20DV, 40DV, 40HC	Per container	None
Sea LCL	One price	None	Per W/M	1,000 kg per CBM
Air	Per weight break	0, 45, 100, 300, 500 and 1,000 kg	Per chargeable kg	166.67 kg per CBM (1:6000), rounded up to 0.5 kg
Road	Per equipment type	20DV, 40DV	Per trip	333 kg per CBM
Rail	Per equipment type	20DV, 40DV	Per container	None
Other	One price	None	Per shipment	None

Find rates tab

Find rates prices a shipment from the published rates, so that you can compare vendors, costs and margins before you quote. Nothing is saved.

Choose the Company whose rates to use.
Choose the Customer to price their contract and spot rates first, or leave it blank for the tariffs alone.
Choose the Workflow if the shipment is for one, and the currency to Show prices in.
Describe the shipment (below).
Select Find rates. After you change the shipment, select Price again.

Field	Notes
Mode	Or Not known. Choosing Sea FCL, Sea LCL or Air also sets the cargo type that goes with it.
Cargo type	Or Not known.
Prices valid on	The date the rates must be valid on.
Units	For charges per unit: pallets, hours, km and the like.
Pickup	The door the goods are collected from, for pre-carriage.
Origin	The port, airport or terminal of loading. A city or a country works too.
Destination	The port, airport or terminal of discharge, a city or a country.
Delivery	The door the goods are delivered to, for on-carriage.
Carrier	Whose rates price the origin, freight and destination costs. Blank: the vendor with the best rates.
Transporter	Whose rates price the pre-carriage and on-carriage costs. Blank: the vendor with the best rates.
Legs to price	The legs to look up. A leg in grey cannot be priced yet: pre-carriage needs a pickup and an origin, and on-carriage a destination and a delivery.
Cargo lines	For containers or trucks, the Equipment and Quantity. For loose cargo, air and LCL, the total Weight (kg) and Volume (CBM). Add cargo line adds a line, and the cross removes one.

The form has no services or job type, so lines limited to services or job types are not used here.

The prices

The Sell box totals what the customer pays: the selling lines and the disbursements. If your role can view buy rates, Cost totals the costs and disbursements, and Margin the difference, in red when it is negative. Notes below the boxes say what was left out or chosen, for example a vendor picked because no carrier was named.

Column	Shows
Leg, Charge	The leg and the charge, with its detail. A red warning means the selling price is below its cost, or below the least margin of its margin rule.
Side	Sell, Cost or Disb. (a disbursement, charged to the customer at cost).
Quantity × rate	The quantity charged and the rate, in the rate’s currency.
Amount	The amount, in the currency you chose.
Rate	The card and version that priced it, or Cost plus for a price made by a margin rule; the vendor; the transit days and the last day the rate is valid.

Select the information icon on a row to see how the price was worked out.

If your role can view buy rates, Vendors with rates lists, for each leg, the vendors whose rates price it: the number of Charges, their Total, the Transit days, the date their rates are Valid until and the Cards. Each leg is priced with one vendor, marked Used. Select Use to price the leg with another vendor.

To quote these prices, create a quotation for the shipment and use Get Rates there.

How rates are chosen

Find rates and Get Rates price a shipment in the same way.

Lines that fit. A line can price the shipment when:

its card is active, belongs to the shipment’s company or to all companies, and is for the shipment’s workflow or for any workflow;
its version is published and valid on the pricing date, and so is the line, if it has its own dates;
its leg is being priced, and its places are the leg’s places or above them: a line for a country fits a port in that country, and a blank place fits anywhere;
on the origin, freight and destination legs, its card is of the shipment’s mode, or of mode Other. Pre-carriage and on-carriage lines fit any mode. If the shipment’s mode is not known, only Other cards price those three legs;
the shipment meets the line’s conditions: cargo type, services, job type and weight;
for a selling card, the card is for the shipment’s customer, for the customer’s group, or for anyone;
its charge exists in the company. A card for all companies names its charges: a name that no charge, or more than one charge, has in the company is left out, and a note says so.

Which line wins. For each charge on each leg, one line sets the selling price and one the cost:

Selling: a spot rate for the customer comes first, then the customer’s other cards (such as their contract), then cards for their customer group, then the company’s cards for everyone (such as the selling tariff), then cards for all companies.
Buying: each leg is bought from one vendor: the carrier for the origin, freight and destination legs, and the transporter for pre-carriage and on-carriage, as named on the quotation or job, or as you picked under Vendors with rates. With none named, TrakIT takes the vendor whose rates price the most charges of the leg, then the cheapest, and a note says so. Buying cards with no vendor, such as surcharges for every vendor, come after the vendor’s own cards.
Disbursements: buying cards come first, and the customer is charged at cost.
Then the line for the nearer place wins, then the line for the exact equipment type over one for its size, then the card with the higher priority, then the later version.

When an all-in card wins a leg, the other cards’ charges on that leg and side are left out.

Quantities. The line’s basis decides what its price is multiplied by:

Basis	Quantity
Shipment	1.
Container, TEU, Trip	The containers, TEU or loads. On a card priced per equipment type, each type is priced at its own column.
Kg	The gross weight.
Chg kg	The chargeable weight: the larger of the gross weight and the volume times the volume ratio, rounded up to the card’s step. The ratio is the line’s, else the card’s, else the mode’s.
Ton	The gross weight in tonnes.
CBM	The volume.
W/M	The larger of the weight in tonnes and the volume, counted at 1,000 kg per CBM unless the line, card or mode has another volume ratio.
%	A percentage of another charge (below).
Unit	The shipment’s Units.

Equipment: a price column for the equipment type is used first, then the same type under another common name (GP and DC are DV, HQ is HC), then the column for its size, such as 40. A charge for the whole shipment on a card priced per equipment type takes the price of the largest equipment.
Weight breaks: the price of the band the weight falls in. If a higher band costs less in total, the weight is charged as that band’s lower bound, at its price.
Weight range: a line’s weight range is checked against the weight per container or load for the Container, TEU and Trip bases, the chargeable weight for Chg kg, and the shipment’s gross weight otherwise.
Nothing to charge: a line whose quantity is 0 is not used, for example a per-kg line for a shipment with no weight.
Minimum and maximum: the line’s minimum and maximum charges apply to its total.
Percentages: a percentage line is worked out last, on the winning lines of the charge it is a percentage of, on the same side. If those have no price, it is left out.

Currency. Prices are converted to the currency of the quotation or job with your company’s exchange rates. A line with no exchange rate is left out, and a note says so. A margin rule can add a buffer to the exchange rate of selling prices.

Cost plus. A cost with no selling rate is sold at cost plus its margin rule, under the income charge of the same name, or else the only income charge with the same finance code. Without a rule, or without such an income charge, the cost is not sold on, and a note says so.

Flags. A selling price that is less than its cost, or that makes less than its margin rule’s least margin, is flagged in red.

Margin rules tab

A margin rule says how a selling price is made from a cost when no selling rate exists, and the least margin a line must make. For each charge, the most specific rule applies. Without a rule, a cost with no selling rate is not sold on.

The tab lists the rules of your companies and those for all companies, active rules first. Type in Search rules to narrow it. Inactive rules are faded.

Column	Shows
Rule	The rule’s name, Inactive if it is not in use, and its notes. Select the name to open the rule.
For	Who and what it is for: the customer or group, the charge, the mode, the workflow and the company.
Price	How the price is made, for example Markup 15% on cost, at least 50 USD a line.
Valid	The dates it is valid, or Always.
Priority, Updated	Its priority, and when it was last changed and by whom.
Trash icon	Deletes the rule, after you confirm. Lines already priced with it keep their prices.

To add or change a rule:

Select New margin rule, or a rule’s name.
Enter the Name, and choose the Company or All companies.
Under Applies to, choose what the rule is for: the Cost charge, the Customer (or a group of customers, in or customer group), the Workflow and the Mode. Leave a field blank for any.
Under Selling price, fill in the fields below. The blue box shows what the rule does to a cost of 1,000 a unit.
Enter Valid from, Valid to and Priority if needed. To stop using the rule, clear Active.
Enter Notes if needed, up to 300 characters.
Select Save.

Field	Notes
Made by	Markup on cost: the cost plus a percentage of it. Margin of the selling price: the margin is a percentage of the selling price. Fixed amount per unit: the cost plus an amount.
Markup on cost (%), Margin of the selling price (%) or Amount added per unit	The value. A markup can be up to 1,000%, and a margin must be below 100%.
Currency	The currency of the fixed amount and of the least margin. Required with either.
Least margin per line	A cost-plus price is raised to make at least this. A selling rate that makes less is flagged.
Round the price up to	A cost-plus unit price is rounded up to this step, for example 5 or 0.5.
Exchange rate buffer (%)	Up to 50%. Added to the exchange rate when a selling price is converted to another currency.

The Cost charge names the cost the rule sells on, so a rule covers the charges of that name in every company.

Which rule applies. TrakIT considers the active rules valid on the pricing date that fit the shipment’s company, workflow, customer, customer group and mode, or that are for any. For a charge, a rule for the customer comes first, then one for the customer’s group, then one for the workflow, then one for the company, then one for everyone. Among those, a rule for the charge comes before one for any charge, a rule for the mode before one for any mode, then the higher priority wins, then the later start.

A rule for all companies can be added, changed and deleted only with the Global Cards permission. Without it, such a rule opens without Save and cannot be deleted.

Reports tab

Choose the report in Report.
Set the filters.
Select Show. Excel downloads the report as an Excel file.

The period starts as the last 90 days, and can be up to two years. A report shows up to 2,000 rows: for more, choose a shorter period or one company. Reports cover the companies and workflows you have access to.

Missing rates

Missing rates lists the lines of quotations and job estimates priced by hand rather than from rates, by lane and charge: where rate cards are missing. Quotations count by their date, and jobs by the day they were created. Jobs made from a quotation are left out, because the quotation counts.

Filters: Company, Quotations and jobs dated, Lines (Selling and cost, Selling, or Cost if your role can view buy rates) and Places by (Country, City or As recorded).

A quotation’s lane is the shipment it was priced for with Get Rates, else its workflow’s origin and destination. A job’s lane comes from its first work order with locations, else from its workflow.

Column	Shows
From, To	The lane, rolled up to the country or city if you chose so. Anywhere when there is no place.
Charge, Side	The charge, and Sell, Cost or Disbursement.
Priced by hand	The lines not priced from rates.
Lines	All the lines of the charge on the lane.
From rates %	The share of the lines priced from rates.
Quotations, Jobs	How many quotations and jobs the lines are on.
Last	The latest quotation or job date.

Lanes with the most lines priced by hand come first. The boxes count the lanes and charges, and the lines priced by hand.

Cost variance

Cost variance compares vendor bill lines with the buy rates their estimates were priced at: what vendors billed above or below their rates. It appears if your role can view buy rates. Only bill lines whose estimate was priced from a rate card are compared, and rejected bills are left out.

Filters: Company, Bills dated, Vendor, and Differences over (%) to leave out differences within that percentage of the rate.

Column	Shows
Job	The job. Select it to open its finance job.
Bill, Bill date, Vendor	The bill.
Charge	The charge and its detail.
Rate card	The card and version the estimate was priced at.
Curr	The currency compared in.
Contracted	The amount at the rate.
Billed	The amount billed.
Difference, %	Billed minus contracted, in red when the vendor billed more, and as a percentage of the contracted amount.

Amounts are compared in the bill line’s currency when it is the rate’s currency or the job’s. A line billed in another currency shows no difference. The boxes show, for each currency, how much was billed over the rates, on how many lines.

Commitments

Commitments lists the cards with a volume commitment, and what the jobs they priced have used of it. A job counts when the card priced any of its lines, by the job’s revenue recognition date, or else the day it was created. This report has no company or period filter.

Column	Shows
Rate card	The card. Select it to open the card.
With	The customer, group or vendor.
Period, Committed, Unit	The commitment.
Used, Used %	What the jobs have used so far.
Time gone %	How much of the period has gone.
At this pace	What the period would end with if use goes on at the same pace.
Status	Met, On track, Behind, Short or Not started (below).
Jobs	The number of jobs counted.

Status	Meaning
Met	The commitment is used up.
On track	The share used is at least 90% of the share of time gone.
Behind	Less is used than that.
Short	The period has ended without the commitment being met.
Not started	The period has not started.

Shipments count the jobs; containers, the work orders with a container size; TEU, 2 for each container of 40 feet or more and 1 for a smaller one; tonnes and CBM, the work orders’ weight and volume. The boxes count the contracts, and those behind or short.

Get Rates

Get Rates prices a quotation or a job’s estimates from the published rates, shows what that would do to each line, and writes the lines you tick. The button is:

on a quotation’s Accounts tab, while the quotation is a draft or needs revision. Quotation templates have no Get Rates;
on a finance job’s Estimates tab, while the estimates are a draft. It prices the estimates of the company you are viewing.

Select Get Rates. TrakIT prices the shipment and lists the charges.
Check the shipment. To change it, select Shipment, change the fields and select Price again. The fields are those of Find rates.
To price a leg with another vendor, select Use next to the vendor under Vendors with rates.
Tick the charges to apply. TrakIT ticks those it would add, fill or update.
Select Apply.

The page then shows its new lines. After you change the shipment, price it again before you apply. If the rates or the lines changed after the popup priced them, TrakIT asks you to review them again and apply.

The shipment

Quotation: the shipment the quotation was last priced for, else its workflow’s origin and destination. The carrier and the transporter are those named on the quotation. When you apply rates, TrakIT saves the shipment with the quotation for next time.
Job: the places come from the job’s first work order with locations: its first and last locations. With a single location, it is the destination for an import workflow and the origin otherwise, and the workflow gives the other place. Without locations, the workflow’s origin and destination are used. The mode follows the job’s cargo type (FCL, LCL or air), the cargo is its work orders’ equipment, weights and volumes, and the carrier and transporter are those most of its work orders have. Changes you make in the popup are used for that pricing only.
Prices valid on is the quotation’s date, or the job’s revenue recognition date (else the day the job was created), unless you choose another date.

The charges

Column	Shows
Tick box	Whether to apply the charge.
Leg, Charge	The leg and the charge, with its detail. On a job, a charge priced per work order shows how many work orders it is for, and which. A red warning means the selling price is below its cost or below its margin rule’s least margin.
Side	Sell, Cost or Disb.
Quantity × price	What would be written, in the quotation’s or job’s currency. For a job line in another currency, also its price in that currency. varies when the work orders’ prices differ.
Amount	The total.
Then	What applying does (below), and under now, the line’s current quantity and price.
Rate	The card and version, or Cost plus; the vendor; the transit days and the last day the rate is valid.
Information icon	How the price was worked out.

Then	Meaning
Add	There is no line of that charge and detail yet: a line is added. Ticked.
Fill	A line of that charge has no amount yet, as the workflow’s default charges do. Ticked.
Update	The line was priced from rates before and not changed by hand since. Ticked.
Keep	The line was priced by hand, or agreed in the quotation the job was made from. It is left alone unless you tick it.
Same	The line is already at this price. It cannot be ticked.
Skip	The line is on an invoice or a bill. It cannot be ticked.

The Sell box totals the selling lines and disbursements listed. If your role can view buy rates, Cost and Margin show too. Notes say what was left out or chosen. If the quotation is valid for longer than some of the rates it uses, a warning names the rates that end sooner.

On a job made from a quotation, a note says the job’s prices were agreed in that quotation, and Costs only is ticked, so that only the costs are priced. Clear it to price the selling lines too. Lines from the quotation are kept unless you tick them.

If the lines cannot be changed, a note says why, for example because the quotation is no longer a draft, it has no currency yet, or the estimates are no longer a draft. The prices are shown, but nothing can be applied.

What applying writes

Each line gets the quantity and the price, or a quantity of 1 and the total when the total cannot be split exactly. The workings go into the line’s internal remarks, unless it has other remarks.
On a job, a charge goes where the job already has it, at job level or per work order. A new charge priced per container, TEU or trip goes on each work order, priced for that work order’s own load. A job with more than 300 work orders gets such charges at job level.
On a job, a line priced in another currency keeps its price in that currency, with the equivalent in the job’s currency. On a quotation, every line is in the quotation’s currency.
A line with no customer or vendor gets one, if its charge allows that type of entity: the vendor on costs and disbursements, and on a job, the customer on selling lines and disbursements.
Lines with no taxes get the workflow’s default taxes, and a job gets its default entities.
On a quotation, the terms of the cards used are added to the quotation’s terms, once.
The change is recorded as Rates Applied on the quotation’s or job’s Audit Log tab, and in the cards’ history.

Rates applied automatically

When you initialize a job’s estimates with Initialize From Workflow Default Accounts, and your role can use Get Rates, TrakIT prices them from the rates and applies what Get Rates would tick: it fills the default charges and adds rated ones, and never changes a line priced by hand. See Initialize accounts.
When a job’s estimates are initialized from a quotation, its lines keep how they were priced in the quotation, as agreed in the quotation (Keep).
When you duplicate a quotation, the copy keeps the shipment and how its lines were priced.
When you initialize the accounts of a quotation from its workflow, and it already has a shipment saved by Get Rates, TrakIT prices them in the same way.

Who can use this page

Your role needs these permissions in the Rate Management section:

Permission	Allows you to
Read	Open the page, and see the Rate cards and Reports tabs.
Create	Create rate cards.
View Buy Rates	See buy-side cards, see costs and vendors in Find rates and Get Rates, and see the Cost variance report and cost lines in Missing rates.
Global Cards	Create cards for all companies, and add, change and delete margin rules for all companies.
Margin Rules	See the Margin rules tab, and add, change and delete margin rules.
Get Rates	See the Find rates tab, and use Get Rates on quotations and finance jobs.

The role editor turns on what a permission needs: for example, Get Rates turns on Read. For changing, publishing, uploading and downloading a card’s rates, see Rate card.

Get Rates also needs:

Section	Permission	Allows you to
Quotations	Create or Revise	Apply rates to a quotation.
Job Finance	Add Account	Apply rates to a job’s estimates.
Job Finance	Access Income Accounts	See and apply selling lines in Get Rates and Find rates, and see selling lines in Missing rates.