Client name withheld by request. This summary describes a real engagement pattern; specific financial results are not published because we do not have permission to share audited metrics.
The Client
A privately held regional truckload carrier operating in the US Southeast and Midwest, running a mixed fleet of company drivers and owner-operators. The operation served recurring shipper contracts on dedicated lanes plus ad hoc spot freight. IT consisted of a small internal team supporting billing and telematics integrations.
The Challenge
Dispatch relied on a legacy desktop TMS supplemented by spreadsheets and email. Pain points included:
- Slow onboarding of new EDI shippers — each partner required manual re-keying when automated tender failed
- Owner-operator settlement calculations done outside the TMS, causing billing cycle delays and disputes
- No unified driver mobile workflow — status updates came by phone, delaying customer 214 notifications
- Limited visibility for customer service on in-transit loads
A packaged TMS evaluation stalled when quoted customization fees approached the cost of a scoped custom MVP, and per-load licensing was a concern at their volume.
Our Approach
Kode Builder delivered the platform in phases on AWS:
- Phase 1 (MVP): Load management, dispatch board, basic billing, EDI 204/990 for two primary shippers, admin roles
- Phase 2: Driver React Native app with ePOD and status events feeding 214 generation; owner-operator settlement module
- Phase 3: Customer portal for selected accounts, additional EDI partners, operational reporting
Architecture: Node.js APIs on ECS Fargate, PostgreSQL on RDS, Redis for job queues, dedicated EDI worker service with SQS dead-letter handling, S3 for documents, CloudWatch observability. Infrastructure defined in Terraform.
Outcomes
The client reported operational improvements after cutover — we share qualitative outcomes only:
- EDI tenders for onboarded partners process without manual re-entry under normal conditions
- Dispatch and billing teams work from one system of record for open loads
- Drivers submit status and POD through the mobile app; customer service accesses the same timeline
- Settlement runs export to their existing accounting workflow with fewer manual adjustments
Migration used parallel running for one billing cycle before legacy TMS decommission. Hypercare support covered the first weeks post-cutover.
Lessons for Similar Projects
- Invest in EDI idempotency and partner-specific mapping early — logistics EDI is never "standard"
- Align settlement rules with finance before UI work — edge cases surface in owner-operator deductions
- Phase driver app after core dispatch stabilizes, but design load status model upfront for 214 compatibility