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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release
Freight Services Office now Available
Dateline 5 April 1999 NWD ENTERPRISES, INC. announced
today its Freight Services Office software suite, the most
comprehensive set of fully integrated database applications to address the
business needs of the Freight Auditing and Logistics Industry. This initial release of Freight
Services Office (FSO) includes modules for: — Pre Audit and Payment, — Overcharge Claims Processing, and — Off Site Freight Bill Data Entry. Add-On
optional features are available to support: — receipt of EDI formatted Motor Carrier
Freight Bills, — Zip Code Mileage
maintenance and inquiry, —
Routing Guide Compliance analysis and reporting, and — Zip Mileage maintenance and Look-Up. Feature Highlights Some of the productivity features
of the FSO suite that will be of key interest to auditing firms include: — Profiles to control the volume of data
entry requirements and data validations on a Client by Client basis, — automatic look-up and entry of address
information and mileage data by postal code to reduce data entry time and
errors, — single
key-stroke data entry for repeating data between freight bills, — Client assigned account code validations
and restrictions, — full maintenance
and control of all reference tables including postal codes and "zip
mileage" data, — selective
printing of freight bills received via EDI, — unlimited historical protection against
duplicate PRO numbers without the need to retain full freight bill detail
data, — freight bill
inquiry and look-up without disrupting current data entry activity, — a unique archive and retrieval process to
manage on-line database storage requirements and availability of historical
freight bill details, —
support for multiple service price schedules assignable individually to
Clients and Carriers, —
aging of outstanding invoices and Overcharge Claims, and — tabulation of auditor claims activity. The Funds Management
features of FSO, as it relates to payments made to Carriers,
addresses concerns Shippers have had in the past with using outside audit
service companies. Within FSO, all "pass-through funds" are managed
as segregated funds, by Client, when a single bank account is used for
issuing freight bill payment checks to Carriers. In addition, the FSO
programs support the use of individual bank accounts for each Client where
the need arises. The pre audit and payment module
is called the Freight Analysis and Audit System (FAAS). The Reporting
capabilities of FAAS include an extensive set of data analysis reports
needed to support Freight Logistics analysis and planning. Client
specific reports address average costs, year-to-year cost comparisons,
inbound and outbound location activity, and weight distribution analysis.
Because FSO uses a fully integrated database, it has the ability to, and
includes reports for cross-client analysis of Carrier traffic. The
information provided in these reports will facilitate negotiations of special
Carrier contracts to further reduce your Client’s freight costs. Graphs are
included to show freight cost trends and distribution by Carrier. FAAS also provides the ability to
extract Client freight bill data into spreadsheet files or external
"Access" databases for further analysis by you or your clients. As a part of the EDI interface
support, users can print or review individual incoming EDI invoices or
ranges of freight bills received for each client. With the on-screen preview
of EDI invoices, users can perform pre-payment audits without the need to
regenerate the paper volume that would otherwise be saved through the use of
EDI transactions. The EDI interface accepts Y2K compliant dates formatted
in the current standards format (CCYYMMDD), yet retains the ability to accept
data from Carriers that are still transmitting in the older format (YYMMDD). The Off Site Data Entry
module is a companion to FAAS. The Off Site Data Entry module provides all of
the freight bill data entry functionality of FAAS to the "computer
commuters" or for contract labor that might be used for un-seasonal
overload data entry demands. There are export and merge functions within FAAS
to manage the exchange of data with each off site user. The Service Invoicing
functions within the FSO modules are extremely flexible. Users can establish
any number of Price Schedules that can be applicable to one or more clients
with their own individual terms and conditions. Monthly minimum billing
requirements can be set by Price Schedule and Client. Charges for services
that are subject to volume discounts or contribute to monthly minimum
requirements can be set individually by Price Schedule. Invoice and check creation are automatic for activity generated through
program operations for both pre audit and post audit overcharge claims
activity. After automatic generation of service invoices, users can easily
edit the invoices prior to printing to include additional charges for other items
that were not captured as a part of the FSO program activities. Additional
charges might include postage or shipping charges, special consulting service
charges, etc. The Cash Receipts processing allows the user to manage
payments against invoices that have been generated by any of the FSO modules,
including receipt of payments from Carriers against Overcharge Claims that
have been filed. As a part of the Overcharge Claims
processing module, FSO includes automatic Commission and Fee Management
for Auditors and Account Representatives that may have incentives based on
service activities with a Client. Payment checks or Check Advice Documents
are generated based on posted cash receipts, including partial payments where
portions of claim amounts or invoices may have been disputed. Balance Due
Claim documents can be generated automatically. Demonstration Program
Available NWD Enterprises has a fully
functional demonstration version of the program available for evaluation. The
program ships on CD-ROM and requires either Windows 95/98 or Windows NT. This
initial release is designed around several Access databases (Access is a
product of Microsoft Corporation) and will work with local area networks running
Novell NetWare, Microsoft Windows NT Server, or any other central server
based network that is compatible with the Windows (95/98 and NT Workstation)
client operating systems. They can also be used in peer-to-peer Windows
network configurations. Users rights to add/edit
data are controlled through a complete set of form editing rights, including
the ability to fully restrict from view information that would be shown in
certain forms or reports. The programs are Year 2000
compliant in that they support full 4-digit year input for dates and
record full century dates in all database tables. Absolute Y2K compliance can
be assured by requiring that all users input dates with 4-digit years in data
entry and process forms that affect data written to the database tables.
There is a system wide policy option that allows the FSO application
administrator to relax this requirement so that dates can be entered with
2-digit years (accepting the operating system’s and development language’s
interpretation with respect to century). Pricing and Availability The Company offers pricing for the
FSO suite for Single User, 2, 5, 10 and Unlimited User installations.
Licensed user counts are managed through the use of a network wide, shareable
hardware key that is attached to one of the workstations. Individual
workstation keys may be ordered as an option. The FSO programs are available
for shipment now. Pre-payment is required before shipment, or the programs
may be charged against American Express © credit cards. For more information or to request
a demonstration copy of the Freight Services Office programs, contact NWD
Enterprises at: Voice:
(310) 791-5615 Future Direction The Company has indicated that
additional Freight Services Office modules will continue to be added in the
future. Look for announcements of these new modules to address administration
of referral agreements with Carriers, integrated Carrier Rate tables, on-line
freight bill auditing, Internet inquiry against Freight Bill payment status
and Overcharge Claim status. A little further out, expect to see Dispatch and
Shipping modules that are fully integrated with the other FSO database
operations. Company Background NWD Enterprises, Inc. has been
providing custom software development for clients in business and industry
since the early 1980s. These applications have all been local area network
based for multi-user operations with a focus on the business financial management
and transaction processing requirements of its clients. #
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For More Information Contact:
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