Commitment Count

This page is accessed via Contract and Rate Management > Contract Management > Commitment Count.

A commitment count represents a shipper promising to supply a service provider with a certain number of shipments. Commitments can be used in planning. Configure the Plan Shipments with Carrier Commitment parameter to enable this functionality. If you set this parameter to TRUE, then the planning engine considers commitments when making service provider selections, provided you set the Commitment Lane Object Type and Primary Count Type fields to both be SHIPMENT (see below).

Commitment usage information is independent of capacity limit information and does not affect how Oracle Transportation Management plans shipments. However, Oracle Transportation Management can perform counts, upon the trigger of an agent action, that let you compare these counts against contractual agreements.

You can define commitment by:

• Count: defines a number that must be met. For example, the carrier must receive at least 20 of all shipments on a specific lane.
• Allocation: a lane-level percentage. For example, the carrier must receive 50% of all shipments on a specific lane.

After you define commitment counts, Oracle Transportation Management automatically creates corresponding commitment count usage records so you can measure planned versus finalized commitments.

1. The Capacity Commitment ID can either be entered at this field or assigned through the Business Number Generator (BNG). The default ID format is YYYYMMDD-0001.
2. Enter a Capacity Group ID. This associates a Capacity Group with a capacity commitment for a service provider and must be specified on a rate offering as well.
3. You can base the commitments on shipment information or order information using the Commitment Lane Object Type field. If this field is set to SHIPMENT, then the commitment count is considered by the planning engine if the Plan Shipments with Carrier Commitment parameter is TRUE. Also, the planning engine will only consider this commitment count if the Primary Count Type field is set to Shipment.

   Note: If the shipment is a primary shipment, Oracle Transportation Management loops through Capacity Commitment records with commitment lane object type of ORDER, and with lanes matching the order source and destination locations (ignoring plan-from and plan-to locations) of the order. It then updates the commitment count on those records.

4. The Lane ID defines the geography covered by this commitment.
5. The Effective Date and Expiration Date represent the period of committed capacity for the service provider. Effective/expiration dates for the same capacity group and lane cannot overlap.
6. If the Recurring check box is selected, you must choose one of the time period types from the Per drop-down list.
7. If you select an option from the Per drop-down list, you can define the time period to create a recurring commitment. If you leave this list blank, then you have defined a non-recurring commitment and must not select the Recurring check box. If it recurring and you select "DAY OF WEEK", more fields appear at the bottom of the page.
8. Selecting the Primary Count Type enforces that the Record check box next to the appropriate field is selected. For example, if you select MONETARY from the Primary Count Type drop-down, the Record check box next to the Monetary field must be selected. If this field is set to SHIPMENT, then the commitment count is considered by the planning engine if the Plan Shipments with Carrier Commitment parameter is TRUE. Also, the planning engine will only consider this commitment count if the Commitment Lane Object Type field is set to SHIPMENT.

Contract

You can define commitment counts for a lane based on:

• Number of Shipments that the service provider can handle for the equipment type and capacity group. If commitment counts are being considered by the planning engine, Oracle Transportation Management selects the carrier that has the greatest discrepancy from the allocated orders to the number of shipments that you indicate here.
• Total Weight
• Total Volume
• Mileage is total miles for the lane.
• Monetary is how much money should be spent on that lane.
• FEU Equivalents (Forty foot equivalent units)
• TEU Equivalents (Twenty foot equivalent units)
• On the Equipment Group Profiles, define TEUs and FEUs. A shipment with one piece of equipment may actually count for more than one. For example, if the Equipment Group is 40-foot, this equates to:

1 FEU
2 TEUs

When Oracle Transportation Management performs the count and the 40-foot equipment is used, two TEUs are counted.

• Equipment Group Profile count

Click Record next to any parameter if you want Oracle Transportation Management to perform a count for the parameter. You can also enter values for each parameter if you have specific planned values that you want to compare to actuals. You must select an Equipment Group Profile to count equipment on the shipment if it falls in the profile.

Note: Once there is a Day of Week override, you cannot change the value of the Record check box.

Oracle Transportation Management only counts the shipment when:

• The capacity group is assigned to the rate offering used on the shipment.
• The lane of the commitment matches the lane of the shipment.
• The shipment start date falls within the effective date and expiration date.

Day of Week Override

If you have selected "DAY OF WEEK" from the Per drop-down list, this section appears.

1. Specify a day of the week to which the override applies. If you do not specify a day, the override applies to all days.
2. Enter the number of shipments.
3. Specify a total weight, total volume, mileage, monetary, and their respective UOMs.
4. Enter FEU and TEU Equivalents, if appropriate.
5. Enter an equipment group profile count.
6. Click Save for each day override you create.

Triggering Oracle Transportation Management to Calculate the Counts

There is an agent action called UPDATE ACTUAL COMMITMENT AND ALLOCATION, which triggers Oracle Transportation Management to calculate the counts. There are also two public automation agents to perform the capacity counts:

• INVOICE - POST APPROVAL: this agent listens for an invoice status change of approved, and then raises the SHIPMENT - BILL BACK event for each shipment. When the invoice status changes to APPROVED_AUTO or APPROVED_MANUAL, the event SHIPMENT-BILL BACK is raised.
• UPDATE CAPACITY ALLOCATION: this agent listens for SHIPMENT - BILL BACK and performs the Agent Action UPDATE ACTUAL COMMITMENT AND ALLOCATION. When the SHIPMENT-BILL BACK event is raised, Oracle Transportation Management performs the Agent Action UPDATE ACTUAL COMMITMENT AND ALLOCATION.

Using the public automation agents are one way to trigger the agent action. However, you may set up a new agent to trigger the agent action that conforms more to your business process. For example, you may create a new automation agent listening for the shipment status to change to ENROUTE_COMPLETE. Then Oracle Transportation Management would perform the counts.