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Transport Management — Overview & module guide

Module: Transport Management v1.4.0

Transport Management System (TMS) for BIXCRM — fleet, drivers, carriers, and logistics operations

Screen-by-screen guides (each tab explained)

Click a menu item below for step-by-step instructions on that Transport Management screen:

How to use in BIXCRM (daily operations)

  1. Sign in to the admin area with a role that includes Transport Management permissions.
  2. Open Transport Management (sidebar) or search for Transport Management in the admin menu.
  3. Start on the Dashboard (if available) to see open tasks, pending approvals, and KPIs.
  4. Review Settings after upgrades — new options may need defaults for your company.
  5. Create or import master data first; most modules block transactions until masters exist.
  6. Run the main business flow (create → submit → approve → post/complete) using the screens listed in Admin menu below.
  7. Use Reports / Analytics screens to reconcile stock, finance, compliance, or SLA metrics.
  8. For integrations (API, EDI, gateways, tax), confirm credentials in Settings and monitor logs or webhook delivery screens.
  9. Train staff with role-based access — give approvers approve permissions only, operators create/edit on their area.
  10. If something fails overnight, check BIXCRM cron ran and open the module log / failed queue screen if present.

Admin menu — where to work

Open the Transport Management section in the admin sidebar. Screens your staff may use (depending on role):

  • Carrier Rates
  • Carriers
  • Dispatch
  • Dispatch Board
  • Drivers
  • Fuel Surcharges
  • Locations
  • My Shipments
  • Reports
  • Routes
  • Schedule Calendar
  • Settings
  • Shipments
  • TMS Dashboard
  • Transport
  • Vehicles

Detailed guide — features, workflows, API & FAQ

Features by Phase

PhaseScope
---------------
1Vehicles, drivers, carriers, locations, dashboard, settings
2Shipments, items, stops, workflow
3Route templates, dispatch board, schedule calendar
4WMS/invoice integration, carrier rates, client tracking, multi-plant
5POD (signature + photo), GPS tracking timeline, reports, REST API, fuel surcharge

REST API

Enable in TMS Settings, create keys under Manage API Keys.

Base: /transport_management/tms_api/

Auth header: Authorization: Bearer {token} or X-TMS-API-Key: {token}

Hooks

  • tms_after_shipment_dispatched
  • tms_after_pod_captured
  • tms_after_wms_shipment_created
  • tms_webhook_sent

Roadmap

See [docs/ROADMAP.md](docs/ROADMAP.md).

Design Principles

  1. Zero core changes — all code in modules/transport_management/
  2. Hook-based integration — WMS, invoices, webhooks
  3. Incremental migrations — DB v100 → v104 auto-upgrade

Features

Transport Management System (TMS) for BIXCRM — fleet, drivers, carriers, and logistics operations

  • `tms_after_shipment_dispatched`
  • `tms_after_pod_captured`
  • `tms_after_wms_shipment_created`
  • `tms_webhook_sent`

Permissions

Granular staff capabilities are registered on activation. Assign them under Setup → Staff → Roles for the Transport Management capability group.

Typical capabilities include view, create, edit, delete, plus module-specific actions (approve, export, settings, API access).

Cron Jobs

Background tasks (if enabled) run through BIXCRM's main cron. Example crontab (every 5 minutes):

* * * * * php /path/to/bixcrm/index.php cron/index > /dev/null 2>&1

Check module settings for scheduled jobs (alerts, sync, reports, retention).

After activation — configuration checklist

  1. Go to Setup → Modules and activate Transport Management.
  2. If prompted, click Upgrade Database or reload admin — migrations run automatically.
  3. Assign permissions under Setup → Staff → Roles.
  4. Open the module menu and configure settings.
  5. BIXCRM 3.0+
  6. PHP 7.4+ (8.1+ recommended)
  7. MySQL 5.7+ / MariaDB 10.3+ (InnoDB)
  8. PHP extensions: mysqli, json, mbstring, curl, fileinfo

Staff permissions (from module)

Assign under Setup → Staff → Roles. Each feature can expose different actions:

FeatureActions
TMS Dashboard
tms_dashboard		view
Vehicles
tms_vehicles		view, create, edit, delete
Drivers
tms_drivers		view, create, edit, delete
Carriers
tms_carriers		view, create, edit, delete
Locations
tms_locations		view, create, edit, delete
Shipments
tms_shipments		view, create, edit, delete, approve, dispatch
Routes
tms_routes		view, create, edit, delete
Dispatch
tms_dispatch		view
Carrier Rates
tms_carrier_rates		view, create, edit, delete
Reports
tms_reports		view, export
Settings
tms_settings		view, edit

One-time setup (first time only)

  1. Setup → Modules → activate Transport Management.
  2. Setup → Staff → Roles → assign Transport Management permissions (view, create, edit, delete, approve, export, settings as needed).
  3. Open Transport Management → Settings and complete company defaults, prefixes, integrations, and notification options.
  4. Create master data (warehouses, products, templates, accounts, routes, etc.) before processing live transactions.
  5. Enable BIXCRM cron (php /path/to/bixcrm/index.php cron/index) for sync, retries, alerts, and scheduled jobs.
  6. Optionally enable REST API / webhooks in module settings if you integrate external systems.

BIXCRM Knowledge Base — usage guide generated from module README and documentation.

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