When you set up a dedicated fleet you define the billingcycle. Sterling TMS usesthis cycle to organize the trucks in the fleet and track the costsof the fleet. When users manage trucks in Execution they are viewingeach truck for a specific billing cycle.

Use the Tour BillingCycles Based On section of the Add Fleet page to select a billingcycle. You have these options:

Weekly Billing Cycles

Most shippers useweekly billing cycles in Sterling TMS. The systemtracks the shipments and costs for each truck in the fleet over a7-day period.

To define a weekly billing cycle follow thesesteps:

1. On the Add Fleet page select Weekly Cycles inthe Tour Billing Cycles Based On section.
2. Select the Cycle Start Day. By defaulta weekly billing cycle starts on Sunday and ends on Saturday.
3. Define other billing cycle options.

Billing Cycles Tied to Purchase Orders

Youcan set up your dedicated fleet so that each billing cycle consistsof the shipments and non-shipment legs that are tied to a specificpurchase order. This approach supports a specialized workflow thatis only used by certain shippers.

For example:

• The billing cycle starts when the truck departs the origin witha shipment that is tied to a purchase order.
• The billing cycle includes the shipment and the deadhead leg thatis used to move the truck to the origin of the next shipment.
• The billing cycle ends when the truck picks up another shipmentwith a different purchase order number.

To define billing cycles that are tied to purchase ordersfollow these steps:

1. On the Add Fleet page select SID Reference Change inthe Tour Billing Cycles Based On section.
2. Set the Reference Type to PurchaseOrder. This is the only reference type that is currentlysupported.
3. Define other billing cycle options.

Additional Billing Cycle Settings

The AddFleet page contains these additional settings that you use to organizeyour billing cycles. You define these fields for all billing cyclesin this fleet:

Assign Deadhead Between Cycles

Specifyhow to assign the cost of a deadhead leg that spans two billing cycles:

Previous

Sterling TMS assignsthe deadhead cost to the previous billing cycle.

Next

Sterling TMS assignsthe deadhead cost to the next billing cycle. This is the default value.

Cycle Assignment Based On

Specify how Sterling TMS determineswhich shipments to include in each billing cycle:

Departure Date

Sterling TMS includesa shipment in a billing cycle if the departure date falls within thecycle.

Arrival Date

Sterling TMS includesa shipment in a billing cycle if the arrival date falls within thecycle. This is the default value.

The following example shows a billing cycle thatis based on Arrival Date:

• The first billing cycle runs from Sunday 1 June through Saturday7 June.
• The second billing cycle runs from Sunday 8 June through Saturday14 June.
• A shipment departs Saturday 7 June and is scheduled to arriveon Monday 9 June.
• Sterling TMS includesthe shipment in the second billing cycle because the arrival datefalls within that billing cycle.

Billing Cycle Generation Lag (Days)

Specifyhow soon after the end of a billing cycle that Sterling TMS processesthe costs for that cycle. By postponing the billing cycle generationyou can give your carriers additional time to submit arrival and departurestatus entries.

The default is 7 days. Sterling TMS processesthe costs for each billing cycle one week after the end of the billingcycle.

The following example shows how Sterling TMS processesthe costs when you set Billing Cycle Generation Lag to 1 day:

• The shipper configures the billing cycles to run from midnightSunday through 11:59 p.m. Saturday.
• The carrier picks up a load and departs from the origin at 11:45p.m. Saturday.
• The carrier submits the departure status at 1 a.m. Sunday andspecifies that the actual departure was 11:45 p.m. Saturday.
• Sterling TMS processes the billing cycle at 11:59 p.m. Sunday(one day after the end of the billing cycle). The system includesthe shipment in the billing cycle even though the departure statuswas submitted after the end of the billing cycle.