Applicable Module: Manage
Applicable SKU:
All accounts that have the manage module enabled will be able to access the Data Manager and add/maintain the SLAs.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

A service-level agreement (SLA) is a contract between a Shipper and a Carrier. As a part of the SLA, the shipper and carrier commit to timelines on various milestones of a shipment. The SLA terms pertains to the following aspects of a shipment:

  • Acceptance of a shipment by the carrier 
  • Assignment of a truck to the shipment by the carrier 
  • Arrival of the truck at the warehouse 
  • Rejection of a shipment by the carrier 

 

What are SLA charges? How or when does an SLA charge apply? 

As discussed above, SLA terms are part of the contract between shipper and the carrier. These terms are decided either for the warehouse or for the movement. Every SLA term carries with it an SLA charge— a penalty. Whenever the SLA terms are not met, the carrier is said to be in ‘breach’ of the SLA, and subsequently, the SLA charges will be in effect. These SLA charges will be applied at the time of generation of invoice where the carrier is liable for deduction of the SLA penalties/charges from his receivables. 


How to configure SLA ‘breach’ for every warehouse? 

 

To configure the SLA settings for your warehouses, go to > Admin Settings and select SLA. This brings up the SLA settings page. You can define SLA settings for either a single warehouse or for all warehouses. 

 

Here’s how you can set up SLAs for a warehouse: 

  1. Choose the warehouse you want to define SLA settings for and set the movement for which the SLA setting will apply. Depending on the warehouse and the contract, you may want to set SLA settings. 
  2. Define the SLA settings for the warehouse by assigning parameters for the following: 

    Field 

    Purpose 

     

    warehouse working hours: Configure the working hours of the warehouse. These are the operational hours during which the warehouse is open for business and available to facilitate the in-take and handling of trucks.

    Relevance— For ascertaining breach of Acceptance SLA: 

    The SLA is calculated based on the working hours of a warehouse. For example, let us assume that the working hours for a warehouse is set as 9 AM to 5 PM. Let us also assume that as a part of the SLA, the acceptance time for the warehouse has been set as 3 hours. This means, if an shipment is created at 4 PM, the carrier has 3 working hours, i.e 4PM-5PM on the same day + 9AM-11AM the next morning to accept the shipment. Only after 11 AM, will the carrier be considered in breach of Acceptance SLA. 

     

    Shipment Cutoff: For shipments created within the shipment cut-off time, carriers are expected to dispatch a truck to arrive at the warehouse within the same day. For shipments assigned post the shipment cut-off time, the truck can arrive at the gate the next day.  


    For example, if a warehouse has a cut-off time set as 12 PM, the truck will have to be dispatched by the carrier and report at the warehouse gate within the working day. For shipments assigned after 12 PM, the trucks can report at the gate the next working day. 

     

    Shipment Acceptance: 

    The time limit that is provided to the carrier by which they are expected to either accept or reject the shipment.  

     

    Relevance— For ascertaining breach of Acceptance SLA: The carrier is expected to accept or reject the shipment within the time limit defined under shipment - Acceptance. The time calculation is based on the working hours of the warehouse. / 

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    Arrival Cutoff: For shipments accepted by the carrier before the shipment cut-off time, the trucks are expected to arrive within the arrival cut-off time on the same day, failing which they are said to be in breach of Arrival SLA.

    For example, if a warehouse has an arrival cut-off time set as 3 PM, the truck will have to be dispatched by the carrier and report at the warehouse gate by 3 PM, failing which they are considered to be in breach of Arrival SLA. For shipments assigned after 12 PM, the trucks can report at the gate the next working day. 

     

    Shipment Auto Cancellation: 

    Shipment Auto Cancellation refers to the time by which the shipment will be automatically canceled if the truck has failed to arrive at the location. This can be set up as days and time on a given day. For example, if you set shipment auto cancellation as 5 Days, then for any given shipment, if the truck has not reported at the gate within 5 days, then the shipment will be automatically canceled.   

     

     

 

What happens once the carrier has breached the SLA? 

Once the carrier is in breach of an SLA, here’s what happens: 

  • Breach of Acceptance SLA: Once the carrier fails to accept a shipment in time, i.e breach of acceptance SLA, the shipper can assign the shipment to another carrier. If auto-switch has been configured in the Pando account, then Pando will automatically identify the next best carrier for the same lane and assign the shipment to them. 

  • Breach of Assignment SLA: Once the carrier fails to assign a truck in time, i.e breach of assignment SLA, the shipper can assign the shipment to another carrier. If auto-switch has been configured in the Pando account, then Pando will automatically identify the next best carrier for the same lane and assign the shipment to them. 

  • Breach of Arrival SLA: Once the carrier fails to accept a shipment in time, i.e breach of arrival SLA, the shipper can cancel the shipment and reissue a fresh tender for a shipment to another carrier. 

Where to maintain the SLA charges for all the warehouses or movements?