what trucking software(TMS) do you use ?

Discussion in 'Ask An Owner Operator' started by :)123, Dec 27, 2013.

  1. :)123

    :)123 Bobtail Member

    11
    0
    Dec 1, 2013
    Livingston CA
    0
    the pros and cons
     
  2. Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.

  3. JPenn

    JPenn Road Train Member

    1,828
    1,868
    Mar 5, 2008
    Northern Tier PA
    0
    DDL. And your favorite spreadsheet. Though lately I've been tinkering with a SQL database schema in a possibly-futile attempt to regain the IT chops I had when I started driving.
     
  4. cabwrecker

    cabwrecker The clutch wrecker

    1,612
    1,398
    Mar 23, 2012
    0
    What exactly are you trying to alter on the DB?
     
  5. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

    20,662
    100,416
    Dec 18, 2011
    Michigan
    0
    So why?

    DDL is a text delimited format, pretty easy to deal with if you want to put a mySql or a MSSql db behind it, I've done it and should update it a bit for the new version of ddl. I was using it for a while to to store data and put it together with engine and qualcomm data in one package. I could pull reports I needed or create files for taxes when I was on the road.
     
  6. JPenn

    JPenn Road Train Member

    1,828
    1,868
    Mar 5, 2008
    Northern Tier PA
    0
    Why? Because I can. I'm not altering anything related to DDL, just rolling my own database (Postgres, if anyone cares). It's therapeutic, really. I enjoy the process of parsing a data file into several tables and setting up queries and procedures to visualize data points or automate tedious tasks.

    Ridgeline, I'd love to hear what you used to retrieve and parse engine data.
     
    Joetro Thanks this.
  7. Semi Crazy

    Semi Crazy Road Train Member

    3,033
    2,042
    May 13, 2011
    Middle Tennessee
    0
    Windows, Firefox and Open Office. That's pretty much it.

    May it be noted I was a successful sole proprietor with pencil, paper, calculator, and payphones. Software is just a different route to an end goal.
     
    TruckDuo Thanks this.
  8. BigBadBill

    BigBadBill Bullishly Optimistic

    4,599
    4,438
    Oct 2, 2010
    Chattanooga, TN
    0
    Hey folks, those aren't considered TMS software.

    We use two different systems. Our main one is Sylectus. Mostly because the alliance and expediting business. I would only recommend this to someone I don't like or someone that really has the business model that works with Expedite. It is expensive and not user friendly.

    Other software we use is TMW. We are on the enterprise side because it is what Covenant uses and we use it for brokering and managing our expedite trucks. Not experience with payroll side. But like the software over all other than being slow. But that is an issue with these systems in general based on what they are doing.
     
  9. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

    20,662
    100,416
    Dec 18, 2011
    Michigan
    0
    I used autoitscript scripting language. I wrote a couple small files that were setup to go off every few minutes to read the files, parse them and then trigger a stored procedure to pull the data in. Using a scripting language was easy to decide because DDL is a window program. I did a lot of windows scripting at my jobs and explored Autoit for other things so it was natural I use it. I wrote a bunch of Java and PHP stuff to do the same thing when I was going to move it to linux and use virtual box for DDL but never got around to it because of hardware issues. I just got three min-iatx boards for free and a number of 12 volt power supplies so that idea will be revived soon.

    The good thing about DDL, the guys who wrote the software are easy to ask questions and they have structural info on their website. They mentioned that the program does five minute updates but I found out that when you made changes, it also changed the cycle time with updates being unpredictable.
     
  10. JPenn

    JPenn Road Train Member

    1,828
    1,868
    Mar 5, 2008
    Northern Tier PA
    0
    Think I may have misspoke. How are you getting the engine data out of the ECM? Or are you somehow accessing it via the Qualcomm?
     
  11. Ridgeline

    Ridgeline Road Train Member

    20,662
    100,416
    Dec 18, 2011
    Michigan
    0
    Custom built interface for the J1708 and the J1939 data. I used for the longest time Silverleaf's free program and had someone write up the program that runs in the background of the silverleaf's program to capture data I need. It gets dumped into a txt delimited file and then pulled into the DB every 10 minutes.
     
    JPenn Thanks this.
  • Truckers Report Jobs

    Trucking Jobs in 30 seconds

    Every month 400 people find a job with the help of TruckersReport.