Use the following settings on the Load Planning tabof the Planning page to define your load planning strategy:

Load Plan Approval Required

Define whether you require users to approve load plans fortruckload shipments including truckloads created by consolidationor optimization. The load plan contains the shipment itinerary.

Selectone of the following options:

Yes

The Shipments tab in Execution displaysthe Approve Load Plan button. Users have toapprove the load plan before tendering a truckload shipment.

No

When you tender a shipment Sterling TMS automaticallyapproves the load and starts sending shipper updates. This is thedefault setting.

If you set Load Plan Approval Required to Yes Sterling TMS does not sendshipper updates until a user approves the load plan.

For example:

1. Your organization requires load plan approval.
2. A user submits orders for optimization and then approves the optimizedshipment in Load Builder.
3. Sterling TMS doesnot send a shipment update to your organization until the user approvesthe load plan for the optimized shipment.

Auto-Approve LTL

Define whether you want Sterling TMS to automaticallyapprove the load plan for LTL shipments. This field is only enabledif you set Load Plan Approval Required to No.

Youcan set Auto-Approve LTL to one of these options:

Yes

Sterling TMS willautomatically approve the load plan for LTL shipments.

No

Shipper users have to approve the load plan for each LTL shipmentbefore the shipment can be tendered. This is the default setting.

Allow Multi-Stop LTL

Specify whether Sterling TMS allows anLTL route to include stops other than the origin and destination.

Youcan select one of the following options:

Yes

An LTL shipment can have additional stops besides the originand destination.

No

An LTL shipment can only have two stops one for the originand one for the destination. This is the default setting.

Tip: As a best practice shippers set thisfield to Yes if they have duplicate locationsthat are the same facility. This workaround allows Sterling TMS to treat theduplicate locations as separate stops even though they are actuallythe same physical address.