Go Live With Your TMS in Days, not Months
A transportation management system (TMS) should not take months to implement. Yet many shippers are told by competitors to expect a six- to twelve-month implementation before they can fully use their TMS. Traditional implementations often require extensive configuration, data mapping, system testing, integrations, training, and professional services. Even basic tasks, such as loading addresses, commodities, and other transportation data, can become part of a lengthy implementation process or generate additional service fees.
ViewPoint TMS is built for a faster implementation. Most shippers can be live and quoting freight within days. TLI can also load your addresses, commodities, carriers, and other transportation data for you. Simply provide the information in a spreadsheet, and our team handles the setup. If you choose to integrate ViewPoint with your ERP or other business systems, our IT team works directly with your technical team to support the integration. We do not make shippers manage the heavy lifting or turn every implementation task into an additional charge. The objective is to get your transportation management system operational quickly so you can start improving freight costs, efficiency, visibility, and control.
There is a reason these implementations take so long. Many TMS platforms are designed to be configured for each individual shipper rather than deployed with a ready-to-use transportation framework. The shipper starts with the technology and then works through the configuration, integration, and implementation process required to make it fit the operation. The shippers are put into a que, and I have heard first hand how their teams come and go and response times vary. For companies that require extensive customization, that approach may be appropriate. For many enterprises and mid-market shippers, however, it can create unnecessary time, cost, and complexity.
ViewPoint takes a different approach. The platform is designed for rapid deployment, allowing shippers to be live and quoting freight within one to three days. Instead of spending months implementing a transportation system before realizing its value, shippers can begin using ViewPoint almost immediately.
A TMS Should Create Momentum—Not Become Another Project
Perhaps you have been tasked with deploying a TMS across your organization. Or perhaps you are a business owner or logistics leader who sees the opportunity to scale more intelligently, gain better visibility, and make truly data-driven transportation decisions. Either way, one of the biggest challenges with organizational change is introducing new technology without creating so much complexity that the initiative loses momentum before it ever gets off the ground. The last thing you need is a technology project that takes so long to deploy that everyone forgets why you started it in the first place.
Technology deployment is where TLI shines. Our ViewPoint TMS is designed for a swift, practical deployment so your team can begin realizing value quickly. We can integrate with your existing ERP and other systems through API, EDI, or flat-file connections, while still accommodating the custom workflows, accounting structures, reference mappings, and business rules that make your operation unique. Customization does not have to mean months of development. Our experienced IT and logistics teams move quickly, understand transportation, and know how to connect technology to the way freight actually moves.
The objective is simple: get you live, get your people using the transportation management system, and start producing measurable ROI, without turning implementation into a never-ending technology project.
Why some TMS implementations take so long
Customization is different from complexity
TLI can get highly customized when your operation requires it, but customization does not have to mean a long implementation. Our ViewPoint TMS is an off-the-shelf platform designed to get shippers operating quickly, while still giving us the flexibility to configure the system around your business. For example, reference mapping is a common and straightforward requirement. Give us your GL codes, cost-center codes, location codes, product-line codes, or other accounting references, and we can map the corresponding TMS fields to your accounting system. Some of our clients want GL codes separated by product line; others use location, division, department, key customer, or another internal structure. Purchasing will want PO#’s mapped, along with unique vendor codes. We can accommodate all these variations.
Where implementation sometimes slows down is not the technology capability, it is when the underlying business rule has never been clearly defined. A question such as, “How should prepaid freight be coded?” can suddenly uncover that different departments have been handling it differently for years. Before the system can automate that process, someone has to decide what the correct process actually is, document it, and communicate it downstream.
A few things typically stack up into that six-to-twelve-month window:
- Professional services queues. Many providers treat implementation as a separate paid engagement, a project plan, a services contract, and a queue behind every other customer signing that quarter.
- Configuration from zero. Generic platforms need every workflow, role, and permission built out before anyone can log in and do real work.
- Developers have no actual logistics experience. Many of the large players have not actually vetted carriers, filled out BOLs, and tendered loads so they do not approach the deployment from a operations execution perspective.
- Training that isn’t built for the job. One long onboarding session tries to teach a dispatcher, a warehouse clerk, and an accounting lead the same interface at the same time, and most of it doesn’t stick because most of it doesn’t apply to their day.
- Fees tied to complexity. The more the system needs to talk to – carriers, warehouses, accounting – the more it costs to go-live, and that cost usually shows up before any ROI value does.
None of that is a knock on any one provider. Rather I am critiquing the general feedback heard on ALL the other providers. Because it’s just what happens when setup is treated as a lengthy project instead of a product deployment.
The fastest implementations are a partnership
This is an important distinction for shippers evaluating TMS providers: implementation speed depends on both sides of the table. TLI’s technology and IT team move quickly, but we cannot make an accounting policy, GL structure, freight-payment rule, or organizational decision on your behalf. If your company needs to establish a new best practice, determine who owns a process, or decide how a transaction should ultimately be coded, that work naturally takes some time, and it is time well invested. Once those decisions are made, our team can configure the transportation management system around them quickly. The same applies to more complex requirements involving prepaid versus collect freight, accessorials, business units, locations, product lines, approval workflows, or other organizational rules. The goal isn’t simply to implement a TMS quickly; it is to implement it correctly, establish a process your organization can actually follow, and get you to ROI as quickly as possible.
This is also where TLI’s implementation model stands apart. ViewPoint is already built to operate within a broad logistics ecosystem, and our team has experience integrating with large volumes of carriers, services, carrier-vetting systems, accounting platforms, ERPs, and other technologies. We can support API, EDI, and flat-file integrations and move quickly because we are not starting from scratch every time a new integration is required. Rather than spending months building a technology environment before your team can use it, we focus on getting the core platform operational and then connecting the systems and workflows that matter to your business. TLI brings the speed of an off-the-shelf TMS with the flexibility to configure it custom around your operation and the logistics expertise to understand what actually needs to happen after the system goes live. The result is a faster path from implementation to adoption, measurable improvement, and ROI.
What that delay actually costs you
A six-to-twelve-month rollout isn’t just a scheduling annoyance. It’s a year of shipments still running through spreadsheets, phone calls, and email chains. This is the manual work a TMS is supposed to eliminate. It’s a purchasing team still calling carriers for tracking updates, a sales team still emailing “where’s my shipment” to operations, and a finance team still reconciling freight invoices by hand. Every month a rollout drags on is a month those costs keep compounding, on top of whatever the implementation itself cost to start.
What “easy to set up TMS” should actually mean
A fast TMS setup isn’t about a simpler interface. It’s about how the provider makes money.
Many TMS providers charge a setup or implementation fee up front, separate from what you pay to actually use the system. ViewPoint doesn’t. We deploy the TMS, we don’t charge to turn it on, and if your existing carrier contracts are solid, we load them in and get you moving on your own rates right away. Where it makes sense, we source carrier capacity ourselves and earn our margin on those contracts, not on a setup invoice. That alignment is why deployment speed is a feature, not a sales pitch: we only make money once you’re actually shipping.
If you want TLI to load your ship-to addresses, commodities, locations, carriers, and other transportation data into ViewPoint, simply send us a spreadsheet. Our team handles the data upload for you. We do not make your team do the heavy lifting. We manage the implementation so you can start using the system and generating ROI as quickly as possible.
ViewPoint also eliminates many of the costs that typically come with a TMS. There is no implementation fee, monthly TMS fee, software licensing fee, or per-user charge. You still gain access to freight invoice auditing, freight claims management, shipment tracking and visibility, transportation data management, contract management, and carrier pricing through TLI’s transportation RFP process. That combination can help you reduce freight costs while improving control and visibility across your transportation operation. With a fast implementation and a broad set of transportation services included, ViewPoint gives shippers a straightforward path to meaningful ROI.
What 1–3 days TMS implementation actually looks like
For most shippers, deployment breaks down to one hour of training per user, per day, spread over one to three days depending on team size and mode complexity. It’s role-based, not one-size-fits-all:
- Shipping learns to build a BOL and pull a quote across modes. They also get access to the claims management module to submit their freight claims timely and easily.
- Purchasing learns to track inbound freight and pull a dock manifest.
- Sales & Customer Service get outbound visibility so they can answer a customer’s “where’s my order” without picking up the phone.
- Accounting gets access to invoices and freight spend, without needing a separate report emailed to them.
- Executives use dashboards to drive accountability and track KPIs.
Everyone learns the piece of the system that’s actually theirs. No lengthy boring training sessions, and meetings with developers full of complicated non-applicable questions. That’s what keeps a TLI ViewPoint TMS rollout to days instead of quarters. Nobody is sitting through training for a workflow they’ll never touch.
| Variables | Typical TMS Rollout | ViewPoint |
|---|---|---|
| Time to go live | 6–12 months | 1–3 days |
| Setup or implementation fee | Often $10,000-$75,000+ | None |
| Training format | Generic, one-size-fits-all | Role-based, ~1 hour/user/day |
| Revenue model | License and subscription fee | Margin on sourced carrier contracts |
One transportation management system, every mode
ViewPoint is multi-modal from day one: parcel, LTL, FTL, and international shipments live in the same system, with the same visibility. A shipper running LTL domestically and container freight internationally isn’t logging into two platforms or reconciling two sets of tracking data, it’s one dashboard, one login tracking every mode and direction type. That matters for setup speed too. Adding a mode later, once a team already knows the system, is a training conversation, not a new implementation.
Where the timeline stretches: ERP integration
To be direct about the one thing that does add time: connecting ViewPoint to an ERP (SAP, Oracle, NetSuite, or similar) takes longer than deploying the TMS on its own. That’s true of any integration touching another system’s data model, and it’s worth planning for separately rather than assuming it happens in the same 1–3 day window as user rollout. The TMS itself doesn’t wait on that integration, teams can be live and shipping while the ERP connection is scoped and built in parallel.
Setup speed isn’t a UI trick. It comes down to whether a provider is trying to sell you an implementation or trying to get you shipping. A TMS that charges to deploy has an incentive to make deployment a project. One that makes its margin on the freight moving through it has every incentive to get you live as fast as possible, and to make sure the right person on your team knows exactly what to do with it on day one.
TLI can connect ViewPoint TMS to an ERP or other business system through APIs (Application Programming Interfaces). An API allows two systems to exchange data automatically, so information can move between the ERP and ViewPoint without requiring users to re-enter the same data in multiple systems.
For example, an ERP can send an order to ViewPoint through an API. ViewPoint can then rate the shipment, return the freight cost, create the BOL, tender the shipment to the selected carrier, and send shipment status information back to the ERP. The integration can also return tracking updates, delivery information, and POD documents to the shipper’s system. TLI works with the shipper’s IT team to determine which data the systems should exchange, how often they should exchange it, and how the integration should map that data.
Ready to Make Transportation Management Easier?
If your current TMS takes months to implement, requires extensive configuration, or adds another layer of software costs, it may be time to consider a different approach. ViewPoint TMS gives shippers a faster way to manage freight, improve transportation visibility, control costs, and automate key transportation processes.
Talk with TLI about your transportation operation, integration requirements, and opportunities to improve freight management. Our team can show you how ViewPoint works and determine whether it fits your operation.
Meet the Author
Written by Joseph McDevitt II, MBA, CTB. Joseph McDevitt is a transportation and logistics professional with 16+ years of industry experience and expertise in managed transportation, freight brokerage, transportation procurement, carrier sourcing, transportation technology, and freight optimization. He writes from practical experience working with shippers to evaluate and improve their transportation operations.
TMS Rollout FAQs
Most mid-market shippers can be live with ViewPoint in one to three days, with training delivered through focused, role-based sessions of approximately one hour per user each day. For larger enterprise shippers, implementation typically progresses by location, with each location generally fully operational within five to ten business days.
No. TLI deploys ViewPoint at no setup cost. Revenue comes from margin on sourced carrier contracts, not from onboarding fees.
Yes. If your current contracts are competitive, we load them into ViewPoint as-is. Where it helps, we can also source carrier capacity directly.
Yes. Parcel, LTL, FTL, and international shipments are all managed in a single system with unified tracking and visibility.
Yes. TLI integrates ViewPoint TMS with ERP systems and works directly with a shipper’s IT team throughout the integration process. ERP integrations require more planning than a standard TMS deployment, so TLI scopes the integration, connects the systems, and maps the required data to ensure the systems communicate properly.
Yes. ViewPoint TMS can integrate transportation functions directly into a shipper’s ERP, allowing users to manage key freight activities without leaving their existing system. Depending on the integration, users can quote orders through the TMS rating engine, create bills of lading (BOLs), automatically tender shipments to carriers, receive tracking updates, and access proof of delivery (POD) documents within the ERP. This can connect the transportation workflow from order entry and freight rating through carrier selection, tendering, shipment tracking, delivery, and documentation. The specific functions available depend on the shipper’s ERP, data structure, and integration requirements. TLI’s IT team works with the shipper to determine which transportation processes and data should move between the systems.
