News Articles

Crown X Routing Now in Production

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 19:35:31 +0000

Crown’s new Route Planning system has been released. This new addition to Crown's suite of products allows dispatchers to build, auto-route, and dispatch routes all from the new Crown X mapping system. Dispatchers can watch drivers work through their routes, monitor performance, anticipate problems, and avoid service failures. Route Planning also generates PD Manifests in CFM directly from the routes built.

Contact your sales representative today at crownsales@crowndatasystems.com to learn how Crown X Routing can help your operations team.

Dimensional Surcharges: Get All of the Revenue You've Earned

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 19:32:26 +0000

Are you aware of Crown's built-in dims factor calculator? If not, you may be leaving money on the table.

We have found that too many customers are missing revenue opportunities by not capturing dimensional weight. The Crown system is designed to calculate dim weight automatically, using your customer's dim factor, and rate shipments using scaled weight or dim weight--whichever is higher. Crown Dock Manager and Crown's integration with FreightSnap offer easy on-the-dock ways to record dimensional weight. Customers who put these solutions to use consistently see increased revenue and improved profit margins. Small, consistent efforts add up!

Contact your sales representative today at crownsales@crowndatasystems.com to find out more about Crown Dock Manager and Crown's integration with FreightSnap.

Did You Know: How to Add a Fuel Surcharge

Tue, 19 Jul 2022 19:30:49 +0000

With the recent surge in fuel prices, Crown customers have been inquiring about how to add a fuel surcharge by creating a fuel profile. Here are the steps:

1) In CFM, go to file/Rating/Fuel Profiles.

2) Select New.

3) Name Your Profile.

4) Select New Tariff.

5) Enter the required effective and expiration dates.
(Note: Expiration dates can be set to any time in the future and then changed later.)

6) Enter the percentage, per mile, per piece or flat rate rating info. If you would like to Apply Fuel to the Special, select that option.

7) Click Save.

Crown Maps is Now Live!

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 15:02:39 +0000

We are pleased to announce that Crown's new generation of Maps is now live. Customers are now getting the benefit of a more modern, more robust, and more responsive new Maps system. Tracking trucks on driver routes and stops has never been easier. The new Maps software has been completely rewritten using new GIS technologies that operate as the platform for upcoming operational tools like Route Optimization (coming Q2 2022).

The new live Maps offers better ways to monitor operations, including the ability to create customized views and to filter shipments with attributes like surcharges.

Contact your sales representative today to move your company to the new Maps and to get on the Route Optimization early-user list.

Pacific Logistics™ (PLC) Seeking Crown Agents with Superior Technology

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 14:54:50 +0000

A partner of Crown, PLC is a tech savvy company. PLC’s technological innovations were developed around the specific needs and requests of their customers. “Working with agents on the new Crown Connect 3 (CC3) platform is very efficient,” says Linda Witt, Director of National Service for PLC. “With a single login we can toggle between our Crown agents anywhere in the U.S. to view shipment status/PODs, Images, notes, and more. Adding the EDI 214’s, 211’s and 210’s makes it even better!"

"Given two agents in the same market, I will go with an agent offering CC3 and EDI every time,” adds Linda. “This is a new initiative to only partner with agents utilizing Crown software. We recently integrated with Crown via EDI and will be seeking these agents a lot more.”

Headquartered in Pico Rivera, California, Pacific Logistics Corp offers shippers Air Freight, Ground Transport, Warehousing, and other customized freight services. Founded in 1999, Pacific Logistics™ was built from the ground up by seasoned industry veterans with one simple goal of building logistics services around the customer’s needs: To deliver superior, finely tailored services that help shippers stay agile, competitive, high-achieving, and profitable.

Ted Dennis joins Crown as V.P. Of Customer Experience

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 14:50:12 +0000

Ted Dennis has joined the Crown Data Systems team as Vice President of Customer Experience. Ted has an extensive background leading technical service organizations, most recently as the Vice President of Operations for design DATA -- a managed service provider in the Washington, D.C. metro area.

As V.P. of Customer Experience at Crown, Ted will be responsible for developing and executing service strategies to enhance the quality of service and communication with Crown's customers. His initial focus will be on identifying and implementing structured processes and reporting in support of onboarding and technical support activities.

Crown Freight Manager: Understanding Dates and Managing Accounting Periods

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 16:01:18 +0000

The Crown Freight Manager system utilizes three main date values for AR reporting: Shipment Date, Invoice Date and Payment Date. These values correspond with billing and management based reports and are used to calculate revenue for periods.

While Payment Date is generally siloed, Shipment Date and Invoice Date can sometimes conflict. An example of this would be when processing invoices with shipments crossing two periods.

A CFM user moves shipments on 11/28 from the Review Screen to the Billing Screen: The CFM system creates an invoice with the date [11/28]
Additional shipments are moved over the subsequent four days: 11/29, 11/30, 12/1, 12/2
When printing invoices on the following day, the CFM user sets the invoice date to 12/3

In this scenario, shipments with November service dates would be on a December invoice. Since some CFM reports use Shipment Date and others use Invoice Date, revenue could be reflected in either period.

If the user did not change the invoice date to 12/3 and retained the original invoice date of 11/28, shipments in December could reflect as revenue in November’s period.

In order to prevent these problems, it’s best practice to ensure that service and invoice dates line up for revenue periods. Within the [Batch Print Invoices] screen, users can move shipments completed beyond {x} date to new invoices and re-date invoices before processing.

Once a revenue period is locked into place, administrative users in CFM can set a Billing Closeout Date. This field is available under the Company Setup menu and prevents changes to billing or payments prior to the date set.

Crown to Exhibit at AirCargo 2022 Conference

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 16:05:36 +0000

As a member of the Air & Expedited Motor Carrier Association (AEMCA), Crown will be exhibiting at the upcoming AirCargo Conference 2022 in New Orleans, January 17-19.

Each year the AirCargo Conference brings together all players in the air cargo supply chain in one location to discuss trends, challenges, opportunities and the future of air cargo industry. Airlines, airport authorities, freight forwarders, truckers and expediting companies, along with the vendors who support them, are all in one place.

Crown is proud to exhibit with this dynamic group. We hope to see you there!

For more information about the conference, click here: AirCargo Conference 2022

Crown's Kevin Hady is Promoted to Business Development Manager

Sun, 12 Dec 2021 23:32:11 +0000

We are pleased to announce Kevin Hady’s promotion to Business Development Manager. Kevin has been an integral part of the Crown team for over 5 years. During his tenure, Kevin has been highly successful in his role as a Regional Sales Manager, proving himself to be a loyal advocate for the company.

Kevin first came to Crown Data Systems after graduating from Wofford College where he studied business and played Division 1 soccer. He was recently engaged and will be married in December of this year. Kevin's extensive experience with Crown gives him the insight into how to maximize customer satisfaction--and the knowledge on how to increase partnerships, to help improve our users’ experience while helping our customers continue to automate processes.

Please join us in congratulating Kevin on his new position

Did You Know?

Crown Mobile Online can be installed as a progressive web application on Apple iPhones, which allows the program to function outside of a web browser. When installed, drivers can view and modify cached shipment data while offline. Changes are transmitted automatically when cellular coverage is restored.

Batch email reports can be tied to customer accounts for bulk processing of account aging statements and dunning notices. Dunning notice text can be customized and saved in templates for later use.

Crown E-services Platform Built to Expand Electronic Communications

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 17:20:54 +0000

In today’s competitive environment sending and receiving shipment data electronically to and from your customers, and other 3rd party systems, has never been more important. Crown E-services is a platform that connects Crown products to other third-party systems for real-time data exchange, with the goal of eliminating manual entry and reducing error. The platform has been created to address the many different types of electronic communications taking place today and to adapt to new opportunities in the future. In the past, all electronic communication between Crown users and their shipping customers was limited to EDI communications. The E-services platform now includes API communications, which we expect to grow within the industry, and possibly replace EDI as the foundation of data communications with Crown's software. Today’s E-services platform includes shipment data communications with freight forwarder partners, Crown-to-Crown communications between Crown users and usage of our Crown Connect 3 online Quoting, Booking and Tracking Portal.

E-Services continues to rely more and more on our Dataflow technology (announced last year), for more rapid and reliable exchanges of data between your Crown software and other systems. It is all about connectivity!

To receive the complete PDF of the Crown E-Services Platform, please click here and request your copy from a member of our sales team: Crown Sales Team

Fastrucking and Air Support Expand Service Footprint through Crown-to-Crown E-services

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 15:43:22 +0000

How can you expand your service territory without taking on the costs of a new facility, new vehicles, and added personnel? A couple of Crown customers show the way.

Air Support, Inc. (PHX, TUS, OLS) and Fastrucking (SAN, LAX, IPL, YUM, PHX, TUS, OLS, ABQ, ELP, LRD) have partnered, under the name Straightline, to do just that. Leveraging Crown-to-Crown E-services, Straightline efficiently joins their service areas of Southern California and Arizona via electronic shipment and status communications. Their customers benefit from the larger service geography and single point of contact Straightline is able to provide.

With Crown-to-Crown E-service, Fastrucking and Air Support are sending electronic pick-up and delivery electronic alerts to each other and receive electronic acceptances back. While each company's freight is in transit, their partner receives statuses like Recovered and Transferred on pick-ups and On-Hand and Out for Delivery and POD on deliveries, automatically and in real time. Electronic document images--including signatures--are sent between the companies through Crown-to-Crown E-services as well.

“Partnering with Air Support has enabled us to better service our shipping customers' requirements,”
says Jeff Rhodes, President, Fastrucking.

"In essence, we have nearly doubled the size of our coverage leveraging our partnership with Air Support.”

In business since 2000, Fastrucking has decades of experience in understanding the demands of the transportation and logistics industry and has processed and delivered more than 2 million orders for their valued customers.

Founded in 1970, Air Support is the largest cartage operation in the state of Arizona. Through the leadership of founder Brent Brewer and his son Brent, Air Support embraced technology early on, with a clear vision for the future and its important role in the company's success.

To receive more information about Crown-to-Crown E-services, please click here to contact our sales team: Crown Sales Team

Crown + FreightSnap: The Measurable Benefits of Dimensioning

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 17:21:19 +0000

SOFTWARE INTEGRATION

FreightSnap's full line of freight dimensioning products now seamlessly integrates with Crown's offerings. Out-of-the-box communication between the two systems ensures a quick and painless process when adding a Dimensioner to your operation.

Automating the dimensioning process with a FreightSnap Dimensioner and floor scale, integrated with Crown, saves time and money. No more time-consuming and error-prone manual data entry of DIM weights. You will also have access to high-resolution images of every piece of freight that will prove to be highly valuable when disputes arise.

Start seeing the benefits from the first day! Please contact crownsales@crowndatasystems.com for more information.

Crown Connect 3 Successfully Deployed

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 15:43:46 +0000

If you have not already migrated to Crown's new shipment tracking and customer service portal, you will want to do so as soon as possible. Crown Connect 3 is built using the latest web technologies and is on our secure Microsoft Azure platform for reliability and security. It is a significant improvement compared to Crown Connect 2 and will give your customers a friendlier, better experience.

Crown Connect 3 aims to lighten your customer service workload, including taking care of shipment quotes. Put CC3 to use today and let us know how we can improve it and help your company at the same time.

Crown Connect 3 includes a Quick Track Widget as a standard and a Quick Quote Widget for CC3 Quoting and Booking subscribers. These widgets get embedded in your website and allow any visitor to get live shipment and quote information. The widgets can be styled to match your site exactly. You can add to your company's service offerings and let Crown update and maintain the features you offer.

As we have mentioned in previous communications, Crown Connect 2 will be disabled in the coming months. Why wait? Move to Crown Connect 3 today! To receive more information about CC3 please click here to contact our sales team: Crown Sales Team

Crown Data Systems to Exhibit at AirCargo 2019

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 18:12:14 +0000

As a member of the Air & Expedited Motor Carrier Association, Crown will be exhibiting at the upcoming AirCargo Conference 2019 in Las Vegas, NV.

Crown is proud to exhibit with this dynamic group. We hope to see you there!

For more information about the AirCargo Conference 2019, click here: https://www.aircargoconference.com

Customers from Across the Country Attend Crown's 2018 Users Conference in Atlanta

Wed, 20 Oct 2021 17:07:33 +0000

Crown hosted its third Users Conference in September. Customers from across the country attended the event held in Atlanta and exchanged ideas, expanded their Crown-system knowledge base and networked with industry peers. The two-day conference, designed around the theme Knowledge = Power, provided attendees with a multitude of business-strengthening sessions such as “How to Get Paid” through the billing process, “Industry Trends” and their impact, and “How to Generate New Business Opportunities through Crown (C2C)”.

Attendee feedback indicated that this is a must-attend Crown event for most, with comments ranging from “Great conference with so much information that is helpful” to “Overall, great year. I have come the last 3 years and I feel this year was the best year.”

Thank you to all attendees who joined us, many for the third consecutive conference!

New EDI Partners & Connections

New Forwarder EDI Partners:

CEVA - EDI 204/211 Alerts
EA Logistics - EDI 214 Statuses/PODs
Kintinsu - EDI 214 Statuses/PODs
Non Stop - EDI 204/211 Alerts
Non Stop - EDI 214 Statuses/PODs
Perimeter Global (PGL) - EDI 204/211 Alerts
Perimeter Global (PGL) - EDI 214 Statuses/PODs

EDI new Additions with Existing Partners :

Steven Global - EDI 210 Invoices
Estes - EDI Images

Crown Mobile 2: Performance Enhancements

Since the release of Crown Mobile 2 , drivers are equipped with more functionality to meet the challenges of both Crown users and their freight forwarding/3PL customers. Simply put, Crown Mobile 2 continues to provide more timely, accurate and reliable shipment information to and from the drivers in the field.

Key Feature Enhancements Include:

New shipments now display on Crown Mobile in the same order they were manifested in Crown
Ability for on-site driver to email consignee copy of signature via e-Doc
Ability to POD multiple shipments arriving at the same destination
Recording GPS Points when multi-PODing Shipments at destination
Added customer name to shipment listing and ability to sort by customer
Added support for associating a signature capture image to multiple shipments via multi-POD

If you are a Crown customer and your company has not updated to Crown Mobile 2, please contact the support team at crownsupport@crowndatasystems.comfor assistance.

Soon To Be Released: Crown Connect 3 and Online Quoting

Built on 21st-century web technology, Crown Connect 3 is intended to be a modern platform for managing transportation business. As part of Crown Connect 3, Online Quoting and Booking will be available to all CFM Crown users. Forwarders and shippers will have live shipment quoting, direct booking, and BOL-printing available to them on the web. With the new online platform, users will see enhancements to status information, document sharing, shipment search and visibility.

Online quoting and the Crown Connect system help shippers/forwarders and truckers/service providers get business done much quicker and with greater ease. Crown Connect is tied directly into service providers' Crown Freight Manager system, giving users/forwarders/shippers real-time, accurate information. Crown Connect 3 is currently in beta testing and is scheduled to be released by the end of the first quarter, 2019.

Crown Moves Corporate HQ to New Offices in Cheektowaga, NY

After 10 years in Amherst, Crown is relocating its corporate headquarters to a new building designed with its growing team in mind. The 5,000 square foot building filled with natural light with an open layout was designed to create an environment of solution-driven collaboration and ongoing ideation. According to Crown’s founder and CEO, Mike King, “Crown’s new home office will provide our valued team members with a fresh and dynamic environment, as well as offer a workspace which will attract the best talent in our industry.”

Crown’s new address was sent to all customers earlier this year. Please update your records if still needed: 3795 Broadway, Cheektowaga, NY 14227

Did You Know?

With Crown Mobile 2 your drivers can capture signatures on phones or tablets by:

Capturing the raw signature using a stylus to then be transposed to your customers' shipment BOL or send to Crown Connect for viewing
Sending an image of an unsigned BOL for the consignee to sign via stylus and send to your shipping customers via EDI
Capturing the photo of the signed BOL to send via EDI

2017 Crown Data Systems Users Conference Recap

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 18:10:56 +0000

Customers from all over the country joined us in Atlanta for another successful Conference!

Crown held its second Users Conference last month in Atlanta. Long-term and new customers attended from all over the country to learn how to maximize their Crown systems and network with their peers.

The highly successful two-day event centered around the theme of "Optimizing Performance," specifically addressing topics such as KPI (Key Performance Indicators) Monitoring, Getting the Most out of your System, EDI/API New Trends, Dock Manager, Leveraging Crown to Crown for New Business Opportunities, and Future Outlook.

In addition to the all-day and half-day sessions held at the hotel venue, attendees enjoyed a kick-off cocktail reception on Sunday night and a Monday night group dinner where old industry friends reunited and new friends were made.

According to attendee feedback, Crown customers find the Crown Users Conference to be a must-attend event!

You're Invited To The 2017 Crown Data Systems User's Conference

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 18:09:53 +0000

The Crown Data Systems User’s Conference is centered around your business – how to save you money and time while improving communication and metrics. Informative and solutions-based sessions will help you find ways to increase your company’s workflow, speed and accuracy – the most important factors driving revenue in today’s technology minded market.

Here you will find many opportunities to expand your business and network with a system of forwarders and business owners from across the country. We will create an environment that encourages conversation, problem solving and productivity.

We have revamped the sessions for this year’s event, aiming for shorter presentations with more time for attendee input and inquiries. We will also have a separate technology space available to access during breaks and sessions where attendees can try out the latest Crown products, from the Dock Manager to Crown Mobile.

In addition to the business opportunities abound at the User’s Conference, attendees will enjoy top-notch food and beverage services. The Conference will kick off with an opening reception on Sunday evening, where attendees will enjoy a variety of heavy hors o’dourves, a full bar and the opportunity to mingle with fellow attendees and the Crown Team.

Beginning with a full hot breakfast on Monday, the sessions will break for a delicious lunch. Monday evening’s event will be hosted across the street at Del Frisco’s restaurant, featuring a cocktail hour with appetizers and your choice of salad, entrees and dessert. Attendees thoroughly enjoyed the event at Del Frisco’s last year, with a beautifully designed interior and spacious outdoor patio.

Traveling with your significant other? They will be pleased with the convenient location of the Westin, which is located in the heart of downtown Buckhead. World-renowned shopping centers, dining and entertainment options are all available within a short stroll of the hotel.

Crown Data Systems

2017 Users Conference

February 26 - 28

Optimizing Performance
Metrics | Communication | Best Practices

Registration Now Available!

Westin Buckhead – Atlanta, Georgia
3391 Peachtree Road
(404) 365-0065

Five Reasons to Choose Crown Data Systems

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 18:09:22 +0000

There are dozens of important items and details to consider when looking to purchase a software package for your air freight trucking company. Measuring the pros and cons of each software option can be overwhelming, leaving you up in the air as to which air freight software is going to be best for your business.

So why should you choose Crown Data Systems? Having been in business for almost 20 years, Crown knows the ins and outs of the industry. In fact, our software package was initially designed for our owner’s own air freight trucking company – meaning we know exactly how your business works and what software solutions we can provide to help it run more efficiently.

Need more convincing? Check out the top five reasons why you should trust your air freight trucking business to the software solutions provided by Crown Data Systems.

1. Innovative Solutions

We don’t wait for the issues to arise – we seek out the trends and begin developing solutions before products become outdated or redundant. By conducting regular check in’s with our customers, we can predict the direction our software developers should be heading.

2. Customer Support

Our highly trained technical support team is equipped to handle your questions and issues with ongoing Crown customer support. After a thorough initial training and set up, Crown’s support staff is on hand to help you utilize our software to the fullest extent. From informative webinars to YouTube training videos, annual user’s conferences and more, Crown strives to offer the highest level of customer support.

3. Customizable Features

Your Crown system is built to suit your business. Customize everything from rate tables to the logo on your login screen – Crown also offers custom programming to accommodate even the toughest of requests.

We also accommodate systems of all sizes - whether you’re a large operation running one hundred trucks per day, or a smaller, one to two driver operation. Crown features software packages to suit your business, from web based systems to robust in-house programs, Crown can simplify and expedite your day to day business.

4. Closing The Loop

With the new Dock Manager application tying in to our dispatch software and Crown Mobile drive application, Crown closes the loop in the shipment process. Now you can have up to the minute updates, full visibility from pickup to delivery and real time feedback to tell you where your freight is.

5. EDI Partners

The key to our communications is our extensive list of EDI partners. With Crown you can send and receive shipment status updates, including signatures and signed POD’s, from the biggest forwarders in the industry. Our EDI partners are the backbone of our communication network, and we are working to constantly add and expand our list of available forwarders.

A Tale of Two Air Freight Companies (And Why Disaster Recovery Is Important)

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 18:08:58 +0000

In this story, we’re going to look at two Air Freight trucking companies: ABC Logistics, and XYZ Cartage. Both companies use the Crown Freight Manager and Crown Document Manager systems. Both companies have been running the Crown software for 5 years and use Quickbooks server edition for their accounting software.

ABC Logistics and XYZ Cartage run their systems on individual Windows Servers, which are maintained and updated by local IT contractors. Their networks are protected by firewalls and antivirus software and their CFM6 and Quickbooks databases are regularly backed up on the server.

The difference between ABC Logistics and XYZ Cartage lies in their disaster recovery plans.

1. The IT contractor working for ABC Logistics has experience in enterprise systems and designed the company’s disaster recovery plan to eliminate a single point of failure:

Locally, ABC logistics backs up their databases and images to a separate hard drive within the server. This $50 upgrade creates redundancy and allows critical files to be recovered in the common event of a hard drive failure. ABC Logistics also uses a third party vendor to backup data over the Internet on a nightly basis. This service costs approximately $10 per month, but protects the company in the event of a total server failure or localized disaster.

2. The IT contractor for XYZ Cartage does not have a good disaster recovery plan. He has setup local backups and monitors them diligently. The contractor didn’t however, address the potential single point of failure and has left the company vulnerable to losing all of their data.

While hard disk drive technology has improved over the years, the majority of the drives are still susceptible to mechanical failure and data corruption. Because of their moving parts and high utilization, hard drives tend to fail more frequently than other server components. Since they contain the entire Operating System and company files, hard drives are also the one component where if damaged can lead to total data loss.

One afternoon, both ABC Logistics and XYZ Cartage suffered complete failures of their primary hard disk drives.
Both companies called on their IT contractors who rushed into the office to address the issues.

In both cases, new hard drives had to be purchased and installed. The server Operating Systems had to be rebuilt and business software had to be setup.

1. After two hours of rebuilding the system, the IT contractor from ABC Logistics mounted his backup hard disk drive to the server. He then called Crown Data Systems.

The technical support representatives at Crown were able to reinstall the Crown Freight Manager software and using the data from ABC Logistics backup hard drive, restore the database and all of the scanned images.

ABC Logistics did lose some data. They reverted back to the prior night’s backup and re-entered shipments from that morning and afternoon.

Afterwards, the owner of ABC Logistics and their IT contractor met to discuss a high availability backup system. While it would require maintenance and monitoring, it would allow them to have less downtime and little-to-no data loss in the event of a server or hard drive failure.

Once the systems were back online, the IT contactor updated and secured the new Operating System. He restored the Quickbooks database from the backup hard drive and by the following day, all systems had been fully restored.

2. XYZ Cartage, who suffered the same hard disk drive failure did not have the same experience.

Despite having regular backups, all data was being stored on a single disk. When it failed, the company lost:

Their entire Crown Freight Manager 6 database
All of their scanned images
Their Quickbooks database
All of the files saved on their server

In this case a simple, inexpensive solution was the difference between 6 hours of data loss, and complete data loss. If there had been a localized disaster (fire, flood) or complete server failure, ABC Logistics would have still been protected because of their third party online backup system.

The point is simple:

With electronic systems, companies need to ensure that they have logical disaster recovery systems in place with built-in redundancies to protect against a single point of failure.

While high availability systems can be expensive (cost increases and projected downtime decreases), a solid redundant disaster recovery system can be implemented for very little investment.

Crown Data Systems does not maintain or monitor backup systems for CFM6 customers. We can however work with your IT contractor to develop a redundant solution. If you or your contractor has any questions about backups or disaster recovery, feel free to call or email our technical support professionals.

How EDI Can Boost Your Business in Today’s Air Freight Industry

Tue, 05 Oct 2021 17:20:04 +0000

The usage of EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) in the air freight industry has dramatically increased over the past several years. Why? An impressive reduction in data entry, streamlined communication and reduced costs in the day to day activities of your business.

A simple definition of EDI is a method of providing a common “language” for a company’s computer system to “talk” to another company’s computer system. The primary type of messages that are taking place in the industry include EDI 204/211 (electronic inbound alerts), EDI 214 (shipment event status updates and proof of delivery) and EDI 210 (electronic invoicing).

Shippers are wanting to send and receive scanned images of the paperwork via EDI. Receiving the airbills into Crown via EDI opens the door for sending an image of the paperwork to the driver application, Crown Mobile, for a consignee’s signature using a stylus. While EDI evolved around rigid standards, today most of the EDI messages are tweaked to meet the needs of the industry. The primary framework for communicating between a freight forwarders system and a ground trucking agent are FTP, Web API or XML.

Without the implementation of EDI, a typical freight delivery order is processed in the following manner:

An email is sent from the freight forwarder via email to the cartage company handling the delivery.
The cartage company finds the email, prints the airbill and other supporting paperwork and manually enters into their computer system.
Their forwarding customer calls to confirm receipt.
The shipment is then assigned to a delivery driver at which time the cartage company calls their freight forwarding customer to let them know the shipment is out for delivery.
Once the delivery is made, the driver calls dispatch to let them know who signed for the freight.
Dispatch then calls the forwarding customer to provide the proof of delivery information.
Once the paperwork is returned to the office the original paperwork with the signature is manually scanned and an image is emailed to their customer.
The freight forwarder then takes this scan and rescans into their scanning system.

With EDI and Crown Mobile all of these manual step can be eliminated.

The rise of EDI has been driven by the need for the air freight forwarding community to be able to compete with FedEx and UPS and their ability to offer their shipping customers real-time tracking of freight. As air freight forwarders continue to expand their business with online retailers and home delivery, they must provide similar capabilities as FedEx and UPS. In addition to ensuring the industry stays competitive, EDI also creates a significant increase in productivity by automating data entry and reducing errors, phone calls, manual emails, faxes, paper and costs. Many of Crown Data System’s customers see an increase in business by offering EDI communications to their shipping customers.

Why You Should be Excited about the Crown Data Systems Users Conference

Mon, 27 Sep 2021 18:07:59 +0000

For many years customers of Crown Data Systems have asked us for a User’s Conference style event. What did they want? An informative meeting spanning a couple of days that paints a vivid picture of Crown Data Systems, including past, present and future. A valuable networking opportunity to meet other professionals in the business that use our powerful software systems while being immersed in all things Crown. Training, tips, tricks and hints that will make better business owners, managers and operators.

Now, the time is right! Our customer base is ever growing, our products line is increasing, and our dedicated staff is prepared to host the most valuable event for your business this year. Years of generating ideas have boiled down to months of planning and preparation, all leading up to the very first Crown Data Systems Users Conference, hosted February 28 through March 1, 2016.

The User’s Conference will be hosted on the outskirts of Atlanta, Georgia at the beautiful Intercontinental Buckhead. Kicking off on Sunday night with a fabulous opening cocktail reception, guests will have the chance to meet and mingle over delicious food and drinks before getting down to business first thing on Monday morning.

Monday will be a day full of informative sessions and a collaborative panel discussing the topic of EDI (electronic data interchange.) One of the most important pieces in your business puzzle, the EDI panel will consist of the best professionals in the industry, including Crown employees, business owners and partners who all use EDI to maximize their business. to meet and mingle over delicious food and drinks before getting down to business first thing on Monday morning.

Monday will also include Closing the Loop – a session dedicated to creating a complete line of visibility from pick up to delivery, as well as Opportunities for the Future – a vision of where Crown is headed in the years to come and a realistic picture of the products that will be released in the next twelve months. Monday will wrap up with a dinner a Del Frisco’s Grille, just a short walk from the Intercontinental. Enjoy a four course meal while we unwind and rehash the day’s information.

On Tuesday, grab breakfast and a cup of coffee before settling in to Crown Hall. This town hall style meeting is your opportunity to voice your opinion, ask questions and generate discussion based around topics that are important to your business. This is also the time to resolve any burning questions you have from Monday’s events. The final session on Tuesday will be dedicated to Getting More out of your System – demonstrations and ways to increase productivity when it comes to optimizing your dispatch board and fully utilizing your Crown Freight Manager system.

The Users Conference will wrap up at noon on Tuesday and will offer an optional lunch for guests who aren’t rushing to catch their flights (and ones who just can’t get enough of Crown Data Systems!) Attendees of the first Crown Data Systems Users Conference will have an invaluable opportunity to direct the future of Crown, our array of products, and our Users Conferences to come. We hope to see you there!

We have reached maximum capacity for the 2016 Conference!

Thank you to all of our customers for your continued support.

We hope to see you at the next Crown Data Systems Users Conference!

News Articles

Crown X Routing Now in Production

Dimensional Surcharges: Get All of the Revenue You've Earned

Did You Know: How to Add a Fuel Surcharge

Crown Maps is Now Live!

Pacific Logistics™ (PLC) Seeking Crown Agents with Superior Technology

Ted Dennis joins Crown as V.P. Of Customer Experience

Crown Freight Manager: Understanding Dates and Managing Accounting Periods

Crown to Exhibit at AirCargo 2022 Conference

Crown's Kevin Hady is Promoted to Business Development Manager

Did You Know?

Crown E-services Platform Built to Expand Electronic Communications

Fastrucking and Air Support Expand Service Footprint through Crown-to-Crown E-services

“Partnering with Air Support has enabled us to better service our shipping customers' requirements,” says Jeff Rhodes, President, Fastrucking.

"In essence, we have nearly doubled the size of our coverage leveraging our partnership with Air Support.”

Crown + FreightSnap: The Measurable Benefits of Dimensioning

SOFTWARE INTEGRATION

Crown Connect 3 Successfully Deployed

Crown Data Systems to Exhibit at AirCargo 2019

Customers from Across the Country Attend Crown's 2018 Users Conference in Atlanta

New EDI Partners & Connections

Crown Mobile 2: Performance Enhancements

Soon To Be Released: Crown Connect 3 and Online Quoting

Crown Moves Corporate HQ to New Offices in Cheektowaga, NY

Did You Know?

2017 Crown Data Systems Users Conference Recap

Customers from all over the country joined us in Atlanta for another successful Conference!

According to attendee feedback, Crown customers find the Crown Users Conference to be a must-attend event!

You're Invited To The 2017 Crown Data Systems User's Conference

Registration Now Available!

Five Reasons to Choose Crown Data Systems

A Tale of Two Air Freight Companies (And Why Disaster Recovery Is Important)

How EDI Can Boost Your Business in Today’s Air Freight Industry

Why You Should be Excited about the Crown Data Systems Users Conference

We have reached maximum capacity for the 2016 Conference!

“Partnering with Air Support has enabled us to better service our shipping customers' requirements,”
says Jeff Rhodes, President, Fastrucking.