Varsity introduces analytics modules for IBM i-based Shipping Software/TMS

27 Mar '09

3 min read

Varsity Logistics Inc announced that it is offering ground-breaking Shipping Analytics modules that integrate with its core shipping software/TMS product modules ShipSoft-Parcel and ShipSoft-Freight). These Analytics modules provide Varsity customers with unprecedented access to and visibility into detailed, historical shipping data. The modules enable the development of valuable decision-support information that can significantly reduce transportation carrier costs and improve shipping performance.

The first level of Shipping Analytics is Varsity's TransData shipping/transportation datamart, which maintains historical values of approximately 100 different data fields crucial to analyzing shipping patterns and transport carrier costs. TransData extracts and transforms transactional shipping data from the Varsity shipping software, maintaining a consistent history of data elements down to the level of individual shipments.

TransData resides on the reliable, secure IBM i (AS/400) platform and can be accessed using any tool capable of ODBC/JDBC access (iSeries Query or DB2 Web Query, even Microsoft Access or Business Objects Crystal, and many others). With TransData installed, Varsity customers can get critical, cost-savings data (without having to allocate many person weeks of expensive programming time to get the data needed for each specific report requested).

The second level of Shipping Analytics is ShipView Plus, a complete package of specialized analysis and presentation tools that comes fully integrated with TransData. Developed by Varsity in collaboration with the IBM i, business-intelligence specialist, New Generation Software (NGS), ShipView Plus takes shipping analytics to a whole other level. Accessible via a web browser, the ShipView Plus toolset includes shipping and transportation-specific dashboards, GIS data visualizations, and slice-and-dice/drill-down information views.

ShipView Plus also allows for more traditional reporting outputs as well output into almost any user-preferred file format (including Microsoft Excel and Access and most universal delimited formats). With ShipView Plus, shipping logistics and transportation managers can have cost-saving, performance-enhancing information at their fingertips, without ever having to call-in the IT department (support which is always costly and sometimes not readily available).

Shipping Analytics enable Varsity customers to gain an information advantage in carrier negotiations (a position that can translate into significant cost reductions). In addition, metrics can be tracked and trends and patterns can be analyzed to uncover opportunities to change operations to further reduce costs and improve shipping performance.

According to Varsity's Sr. Director of Marketing, Andrew Karpie, "The majority of our customers have not been able to individually make the very large investments necessary to transform transactional shipping data into consistent and usable historical data or to further transform the data into relevant decision-support information that can have major positive impact on shipping costs and performance.

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