What is a TMS?
A Transport Management System (TMS) is software that helps companies plan, execute and report on the movement of goods — from order intake to invoice. A TMS sits between the commercial side of a logistics business (quotes, orders, customers) and the operational side (vehicles, drivers, shipments, costs).
In short: a TMS is the system of record for everything that moves.
What does a TMS do?
A modern TMS covers the full transport lifecycle:
- Order intake – accept transport orders from customers, e-mail, PDF, EDI or an API.
- Quotation – calculate a price using tariffs, zones and surcharges.
- Planning and dispatch – assign stops and shipments to vehicles, trailers and drivers.
- Execution – track the trip, capture status updates and proof of delivery.
- Cost & revenue – record everything earned and spent per trip, stop or shipment.
- Invoicing – turn approved revenue lines into outgoing invoices.
- Reporting – margin per shipment, vehicle utilisation, CO₂ emissions, customer KPIs.
In Routix this maps to Orders, Quotations, Dispatch, Shipments, Cost & Revenue, Invoices and Emissions.
Who uses a TMS?
| Role | What they get out of a TMS |
|---|---|
| Dispatcher / planner | One view of open orders, shipments and resources |
| Operations manager | Vehicle utilisation, on-time performance, exception alerts |
| Sales / customer service | Quote turnaround, order status, customer communication |
| Finance | Cost-per-trip, margin per shipment, invoicing |
| Sustainability / compliance | CO₂ per shipment, CSRD-ready reports |
TMS vs ERP vs WMS
These three are often confused.
- ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) manages the whole company: finance, HR, procurement, sales.
- TMS manages transport specifically: orders, planning, fleet, freight cost.
- WMS (Warehouse Management System) manages inventory and picking inside a warehouse.
See TMS vs ERP for a deeper comparison.
Types of TMS
- Carrier TMS – built for asset-based carriers running their own fleet.
- Forwarder TMS – built for freight forwarders coordinating third-party carriers.
- Shipper TMS – built for the cargo owner buying transport from multiple providers.
- Hybrid TMS – supports own fleet and subcontracted carriers in one platform.
Routix is a hybrid TMS: an operator can run their own trucks, subcontract to carriers, or both — without switching systems.
Signs you need a TMS
- Orders live in spreadsheets and inboxes.
- Planning is on paper, a whiteboard or a spreadsheet.
- You don’t know the margin of a trip until the invoice is paid.
- Customers ask for shipment status and nobody can answer.
- CO₂ reporting is a yearly Excel exercise.
- Subcontractor cost lines are reconciled by hand.
A TMS replaces that with one connected workflow.
Related concepts
- What is dispatch management?
- What is freight forwarding?
- What are empty miles?
- How CO₂ reporting works
See this in Routix
If you want to see how a TMS works in practice, start on www.routix.com and then continue into the docs for Orders, Dispatch, Shipments and Invoices. That flow shows how Routix connects commercial intake, planning, execution and invoicing in one system.
