Order to proof of delivery
Plan and group shipments, pick a carrier, tender, book, print labels and manifests, then track to proof of delivery.
TMS owns the movement record
Transport - transportation management (TMS)
Movement system of record
One controlled record
for how goods move.
TMS defines one transportation record for what was planned, who accepted it, where it is, why it is late, whether it was delivered and what the freight cost.
TMS / TransportOrderDesigned
TO-4821source: wms.package.ready
WH-01 / Dock-3HUB-NDEL / 560102
designed lifecycle
plannedtenderingbookedin_transitdelivered
CX-Freight
carrier
LTL / 2-day
service
3
packages
evidence the record holds
booking response . label . manifest . tracking id . tracking events . POD . freight cost evidence
Transport capabilities
What one movement record needs to hold.
Connect transport planning, carrier handoff, tracking, proof of delivery and freight evidence in one governed record.
Order
Transport orders
Turn each request to move goods into one controlled order with its source, promise, mode and lifecycle.
Movement
Shipments & loads
Hold packages, stops, service level, carrier and tracking identity on one shipment record.
Carrier
Carriers & tendering
Tender to carriers, capture acceptance and confirm bookings against contract and serviceability rules.
Tracking
Tracking events
Normalize carrier, telematics, manual and system milestones into one append-only timeline.
Delivery
Proof of delivery
Capture signature, photo, OTP or document as delivery evidence that is never silently edited.
Finance
Freight-cost evidence
Reconcile quoted, booked and invoiced freight, then send the variance to finance with evidence.
Exceptions
Exceptions & claims
Classify delays, missed pickups, damage and overcharges, then recommend the safest approved next action.
The movement sequence
Track the journey from plan to delivery.
Every movement follows one ordered sequence, with a control on each transition - no booking without carrier acceptance and no delivery without proof.
01
Planned
Order becomes a shipment plan
02
Tendering
Offered to carriers
03
Booked
Carrier accepts
04
In transit
Tracking events land
05
Delivered
Proof of delivery captured
The problem
Logistics truth scatters the moment goods leave the dock.
Transport is the seam where commerce, warehousing, procurement and production hand goods to a carrier - and where the truth usually scatters. Those upstream systems should not all become transport systems. Logistics needs one controlled record of movement.
- Every upstream system grows its own shadow copy of shipment status
- Bookings, tracking and proof of delivery stay locked in carrier portals
- Exceptions and freight overcharges reach the team as surprises
The approach
Keep the movement record with the shipment.
Outbound, inbound, returns, carriers, 3PLs and your own fleet, all on one record. What you planned, who accepted it, where it is now, why it is late, whether it arrived, and what the freight cost.
- Plan, tender and book carriers from one order
- Normalize every tracking event into one timeline
- Reconcile quoted, booked and invoiced freight for finance
Freight in three directions
Goods move both ways. So does the record.
Carrier rules, tenders, bookings, labels and manifests work the same way in all three directions. A supplier collection and a customer return use the tools that already plan your outbound freight.
Supplier freight you control
When you pay the freight, you plan the collection. Pick the carrier, book it, and track it against the purchase order.
Procurement owns the PO. The warehouse owns the dock
Six kinds of return
Customer returns, exchanges, failed deliveries, vendor returns, repairs and reusable packaging. Each gets its own return leg.
TMS moves it. It does not issue the refund
Exceptions, claims and recovery
When freight goes wrong, the evidence is ready.
You cannot raise an exception on a hunch. It needs the shipment, a category, a severity, an owner, a deadline, what you recommend doing, a reason, and the supporting documents.
Opening a claim freezes those documents. What the carrier sees is exactly what was on file when the claim was approved. Nothing closes until every request, approval and claim is settled.
A person sorts these, not a rule we guessed at. We do not assume your SLAs or your carrier agreements. Someone decides, and the record says who.
Nine categories
Missed pickup
Delay
Stuck transit
Failed delivery
Damage
Shortage
Lost package
Compliance hold
Overcharge
What we share onward leaves out reasons, private references and claim data. Another system learns a shipment is late. It does not learn what your dispute says.
Fleet, milk runs and cross-docking
Your own vehicles, planned like carrier freight.
Regular multi-stop runs get proper support. A reusable template, a trip sheet, a handover recorded at each stop, and vehicle time booked against the trip that ran.
Reusable route templates
A template holds the vehicle, driver, carrier, calendar and cargo type. You cannot edit one. Changing a regular run creates a new template, so the old trips still make sense.
Trip sheets and stop custody
Stops have real addresses and time windows counted from departure, limited by your service days and holidays. Each handover is recorded.
Reviewed route changes
Route changes go through review instead of being edited in place. The trip that ran is still the trip that was planned.
Clear fleet boundaries
The warehouse owns cross-dock transfers. Asset management owns whether a vehicle is roadworthy. TMS owns the trip and the stops.
Freight audit
Check the invoice against what you agreed.
Capture the carrier invoice next to the quote you are checking it against. Base, fuel and extras go in as separate lines, then spread across packages by weight, declared value or an even split. When something is off, you know which charge it was.
- A person enters the invoice, and the currency has to match the booking
- Every line has its own reference, so a dispute names the exact charge
- Packages, orders, zones and transport mode come from the booking itself
TMS in the logistics stack
One movement record from plan to proof.
TMS connects planning, carrier handoff, tracking, proof of delivery and freight reconciliation while preserving clear ownership between systems.
Architecture
How the movement record holds together.
The architecture combines a controlled transport lifecycle, a governed agent surface and clear ownership boundaries across the Splenta family.
The transport lifecycle
One coherent record carries a movement from plan to proof of delivery. Each transition has a control - no booking without carrier acceptance, no delivery without proof - and corrections remain append-only.
draftplannedtenderingbookedready_for_pickuppicked_upin_transitout_for_deliverydeliveredclosed
Reference flow - outbound parcel
- 1RMS captures the customer shipping option and delivery promise at checkout.
- 2WMS picks and packs the order, then emits package-ready evidence.
- 3TMS creates the shipment plan from WMS package evidence and the RMS promise.
- 4TMS selects or confirms carrier and service using contract and serviceability rules.
- 5TMS books the carrier and stores the booking response, label, manifest and tracking id.
- 6TMS consumes pickup, in-transit, out-for-delivery, delay and POD events.
- 7TMS classifies exceptions and recommends the safest approved next action.
- 8RMS receives a customer-visible status projection; FMS receives freight cost evidence.
The Arin-over-MCP surface
Arin reads transport facts, classifies exceptions and prepares approval-bound actions. TMS validates policy and human approval before booking a carrier or resolving an exception.
arin -> tms :: governed actionscope: tms:exception:write
POST /mcp/tools/call
{
"tool": "delivery.exception.resolve",
"args": { "shipment": "SHP-4821", "action": "reschedule" },
"reason": "carrier missed pickup window",
"idempotency_key": "a1f9..."
}
// TMS checks scope, policy and approval state, then:
proposal: awaiting_approval → approved → executed with audit
MCP read resources
tms.transport-orderstms.shipment-detailtms.tracking-timelinetms.delivery-exceptionstms.carrier-performancetms.freight-cost-evidencetms.return-pickupstms.route-plan
action tools (approval-gated)
shipment.planshipment.tendershipment.bookshipment.cancelshipment.retenderpickup.scheduleroute.assigndelivery.exception.resolveclaim.preparefreight.dispute.prepare
Every mutating tool declares a required tms:* scope and an idempotency key. Booking, cancellation, retender, claim and freight-dispute actions need an approval state and a reason. Proposals stay proposals until TMS validates policy and a human approves.
The family boundary
TMS owns transport truth without taking ownership of orders, stock, procurement, accounting or fleet maintenance. Systems exchange information through REST, MCP and events.
Shape the concept
Help shape the transport system of record.
If your team works in the gap between the warehouse and the carrier, tell us how goods move and where visibility or accountability breaks down. Your operating priorities will help shape the first TMS implementation.