Frequently Asked Questions
How does Expedock work?
Expedock AI can extract and reconcile any unstructured data and post data directly onto any TMS (Transportation Management System).
All you have to do is forward your documents to Expedock and we will take care of the rest!
What makes Expedock different from other similar products?
Expedock enables
1. Consistent accuracy of 99.7%
2. High flexibility when exceptions occur
3. Labor savings of 30-80% because your staff can be reallocated completely to higher-value tasks such as customer service and sales
How do you ensure 99.97% accuracy?
Our human-in-the-loop service can verify AI outputs to ensure 99.97% accuracy from Day 1.
Our team trains the AI, not yours.
What are your automation products?
Here are all the workflows that we can automate:
- Accounts Payable Automation
• FCL AP Invoices
• LCL AP Invoices
• Monthly Statements (SOA)
• Customs Files - Shipment and Consol Creation and Amendment
• For import documents
• For export documents - Commercial Invoices and Packing Lists Entry
- eDocs Classification and Uploading
How long will it take our team to learn to use the AI tool?
Unlike other SaaS only solutions that require your team to train the AI and learn the tool, there's no learning curve for you to use Expedock. We help you save time so that your team can focus on higher priority tasks such as customer service and sales.
What is the turnaround time?
It depends on the volume of documents processed. But generally, our service level agreement looks like this for the following document or transaction types for invoice processing:
- Carrier Invoices: 1 hour (Maximum of 10 per batch)
- Broker Invoices: 4 hours
- Trucker Invoices: 6-8 hours
- Urgent Invoices: 30 mins (Maximum of 5 per batch)
Do you support E-Documents?
Yes. We support all the Shipment, Consol, Brokerage, and Payables Modules.
How do we know what supplier docs Expedock received? Is there a feedback loop for us to check the processing steps?
There are multiple ways for us to receive files from our clients. Many of them prefer to forward the PDF or scanned copy of the document to an email address - customername@expedock.com.
You will receive email and dashboard notifications when we’ve received your files.
How frequently is the data updated?
It depends on the integration method.
- For outbound e-adapter and middleware: The data is updated as close as real-time.
- For SQL database: The standard is 30 minutes, but can be adjusted to be faster depending on your needs as there is an associated marginal cost for every update.
How does the filtering feature work?
You can filter the data by:
- Routes
- Customers (local clients, shippers, etc.)
- Operators
- Branches
- Transport Mode (Air / SEA)
- Container Mode (FCL / LCL)
What happens when there is no shipment found?
We notify your team via email that no shipment was found based on the reference keys available on the invoice. For most of our customers, we usually create the shipment for you as long as we have access to the pre-alert document packet.
What happens when there are no accruals?
We flag that there was no accrual upon reconciliation for a particular shipment under a particular operator. Depending on the SOP, we can automatically post the invoice, enter it as a WIP, or hold off.
What happens when some departments implement accruals but some don’t?
We set up SOPs per department and per branch as we understand that different forwarders will have different standardization maturity levels.
How do you handle multiple reference numbers for one invoice?
If there are multiple shipment numbers for an invoice, we follow the breakdown of amounts to post on which shipment number.
Otherwise, we do confirm with the customer if we will just split it equally.
Can you reconcile against invoices that have been posted for end of month statements?
Yes. We can process a 15-page statement and flag discrepancies to save your accounting team half a working day to 3 days.
How do you handle multiple currency invoices and exchange rates?
If there are multiple line items with different currencies on an invoice, Expedock will look for a converted value (i.e., USD converted into EUR) and we will use the currency and converted value that corresponds to the currency on the total.
If there is no converted value, we will look for an exchange rate and apply the conversion.
Where do you get the accruals from to do your reconciliation?
We’ll get it from your TMS if your team has put them in. If it's not in your TMS, your team would be notified via email and dashboard to approve the invoice before we post it onto your TMS.
How do you know what shipment to attach to a consol?
MBL and HBL are sent together in the pre-alert from the origin forwarder. We use the MBL to create the consol, and the HBLs in the pre-alert are usually the shipments associated with the MBL. They should share the same route, container number, etc.
When HBL is sent separately, the body of the e-mail usually contains reference numbers such as the MBL number or Container number that enable us to do the association.
Can you link a shipment to a consol? How does that work?
Yes. We usually receive document packets from agents with all the related house bills and master bills. From there, our AI can make the inference around relationships.
What is your turnaround time for air and ocean freight?
- 2 - 4 hours for air freight
- 6 - 8 hours for ocean freight
What is required from us to integrate with Expedock?
We need to be able to receive data from your TMS so that we can flag discrepancies, check for existing shipments, and generally find the right records to modify or upload attachments to.
- For Cargowise users: we either need your e-adaptor to send XMLs to our server, or you could provide us with access to your Cargowise read-only database.
- For non-Cargowise users (custom TMS, Shipthis, Magaya, etc.): we need a test environment so that we can send test data and modify as necessary. We may need documentation and/or resources to answer our questions about the technical details of the system we’re integrating.
- Middleware Example: Same as outbound costing + middleware cost around $100 subscription. We need to be able to send data to your TMS via an API.
- We need a test user account so that we can replicate how an end user would see the effect of our integrations as closely as possible.
What if my team uses a TMS that is not listed on the website?
Our API enables your team to integrate Expedock with any TMS. Contact us for support and get more details.
How much would it cost us to integrate Cargowise with Expedock?
Our customers usually cover the cost of integration. They pay Cargowise or their middleware provider.
- Outbound Example: For our customers with around 1000 shipments a month, they would do around 17000 XML messages that are sent over to us. That would be around an additional $340 a month to Cargowise.
- Database Example: The database would usually cost $687 subscription to CW + X amount of dollars per MB of Data. (we usually stay within the 800 and share this cost among other vendors).
- Middleware Example: Same as outbound costing + middleware cost around $100 subscription.
Curious to Find Out More?
Talk to an Expedock Consultant
Let us help you optimize business processes and deliver unrivaled customer experience to your clients.