Sterling TMS supportsthe following features for managing your locations:

Location Ownership

You define a location for each facility that you want to usein Sterling TMS. Theselocations might belong to your company or to another organization.

For example:

• You add a location for a plant that is owned by your organization.Outbound shipments depart from this location.
• You add a location for your customer's distribution center. Shipmentsare delivered to this location.
• You add a third-party location for a pool point facility. Shipmentsfrom your plant are routed through the pool point on the way to theirfinal destination.

Time Zones

Sterling TMS automaticallydetermines the time zone for each location based on the postal code. Sterling TMS also determineswhether the location observes Daylight Savings Time.

Calendars

You can define the work week schedule and holidays for eachlocation.

Location Notes

You can define notes that are assigned to every shipment thatis picked up or delivered at the location. For example you mightadd a note that explains how road construction affects access to thisfacility.

Dock Scheduling

For owned locations you can set up a dock scheduling profile:

• Assign the shipping and receiving docks at the location.
• Define dock calendar rules that control when pickup and deliveryappointments are made.
• Define which carriers and suppliers can make dock appointmentsat this location.
• Specify how long it takes to load and unload freight at the docks.
• Limit how many pickups and deliveries your carriers can make atthe docks.

For more information see the IBM? SterlingTransportation Management System Dock SchedulingGuide.

Pool Points and Cross-Docks

You can set up a location that is a pool point or cross-dockfacility:

• Define the areas of service which are the shipping regions thatare supported by a pool point location. You do not define an areaof service for a cross-dock location.
• Define the minimum and maximum dimensions of the orders that canbe processed at the pool point or cross-dock location.
• Define the loading and unloading time for shipments being routedthrough your pool point or cross-dock facility. Some transportationmanagers refer to the processing time as the dwell time.
• Define the transit time from a pool point location to the nextstop. You do not define the transit time for a cross-dock location.

Master and Alias Locations

You can define a master location which is a single identifieryou can use to link multiple alias location records which are actuallythe same facility.

For example you might receive orders fromvarious legacy ordering systems each of which uses its own locationidentifier. As a result Sterling TMS treats eachof these facilities as a separate location.

Assigning PRO Numbers

You can set up Sterling TMS to automaticallyassign Carrier PRO numbers to LTL shipments. This feature supportsthe common workflow in which LTL carriers provide a block of PRO numbersto assign to shipments that are picked up at a single location.