 WE WIN / YOU WIN!"Thank You" to Michelle Kooy of John H. Kooy Trucking, Inc., Lynnwood, Washington, who just earned three months of free coverage under Keystone's Management Package! This includes unlimited phone support on our toll-free support line and free updates. And it only took a few minutes of
her time. When Mike Daniels of Mike Daniels Motor Freight, Montesano, WA, asked her if she knew of a good trucking software package, she did not even hesitate. (Clue: the company she recommended has the initials KSI!)
Mike and his wife, Ingrid, had been using a package out of South Carolina for three years, and were very frustrated. They wanted software with strong data integrity, audit trails and useful lookup and history features, that would also be easy to learn and use. Coincidentally, Kooy had been using the same package for four years before purchasing Keystone's software in early 1999. Today, Michelle is very happy with her Keystone software and plans to add some addition options in the next year or so. Mike and Ingrid are just getting started with our software and we look forward to many years of a strong working relationship. |
We want to give a special thanks to all our clients who have sent prospective new clients our way. Also, many of you are on our reference list and have graciously spent time on the phone or in your offices, talking with prospective clients. As you may remember from when you were considering the software, it often helps to talk with actual users about their day-to-day experiences. The more clients we have using Keystone Truck Software, the more new features coming down the line in your future updates. So keep up the good work!
And remember, if we close a new sale to a company you referred, your company will get three months under Keystone's Management Package for free. (We have a small thank-you gift for you, but don't tell the boss!)
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This is the latest set of management tools we have added to Keystone Truck Software. It is a series of four reports that are designed to give management a picture of which areas of the business are most profitable and least profitable. Since your data is kept for several years on our system, it is also something that you can print at any time, for any time frame you want to look at.
All these reports are based on revenue accounting date. So if the invoice has an accounting date (which for most companies is the same as the invoice date) in May, 2000, the revenue will be reported in May, 2000.
As you read the descriptions for these four management reports, you will see they are powerful tools for managing your business.
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CUSTOMER REVENUE BY REVENUE AMOUNT
This report will give management an idea of which customers are providing the revenue. Who are the top 10 customers? Do we have more that 30% of our business coming from one customer? Do we need to get more customers? This report also has some very informative totals. Average Invoice Amount can give you an idea if invoice amounts are getting larger or smaller. Average Revenue per Tractor can give you an idea how much you are billing for each tractor in your fleet. Is your average going up? Is it too high and you need more tractors? Looking at these totals each month can give you an idea where your business is heading. |
.gif) CUSTOMER REVENUE BY MOST REVENUE PER MILE
This report shows your billed customers listed from most revenue per mile to least revenue per mile. Who are your least profitable customers? Can you replace them or raise their percentage? What percentage of your business is below your costs?
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REVENUE BY COMMODITY
Which commodity do you haul the most? What percentage of your business does this represent? From which commodity do you make the most money? Are there unprofitable commodities you are hauling? Get an analysis of the commodities and their profitability to your firm from this report.
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STATE REVENUE BY PICKUP STATE
This reports shows you which states you are doing business in, and how profitable each traffic lane is. Do you do more business Washington State to California or California to Washington? Which way gives you more revenue? Are there states you should not go to? This is all available from this report.
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As clients get settled into using their Keystone Truck Software, they sometimes wonder, "This works so well, what other options are available to help me save even more time and money?" Keystone has a variety of add-on software to help your dispatchers and office staff be even more productive. We will briefly highlight some of them in this article, starting this newsletter and wrapping up next quarter.
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Additional Users: Waiting for access to the computer? Let everyone get back to work and make your office more productive! Call to find out costs and hardware requirements.
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Dispatch Central: Take control of your loads! Innovative split screen allows you to track the current status of all outstanding loads and the current status/avail-ability of your equipment and drivers. Easily match up loads with equipment/drivers available near the point of origination. Seamlessly track driver call-in's and status from load assignment to delivery. |
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Sample Dispatch Central screen |
Maintenance & Shop Inventory: Get a handle on maintenance scheduling and history and on shop inventory and profitability! Establish the types of service you want to track, the miles or days between service for each category (with exceptions by truck). Establish up to five selling prices per part in inventory. Now let the system go to work. You will be reminded when each truck needs service. Charge out parts and labor to your own or outside equipment. A permanent history is kept for service done to each truck and each time an inventory part was bought and sold! Reports include Low Stock, Physical Inventory, Profit (by part and invoice), Scheduled Maintenance, and Maintenance History.
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Fuel Service Interface: Save hours of labor and improve accuracy! Two mouse clicks are all it takes to record all your fuel purchases and cash advances to the fuel tax calculations for every truck, charge driver settlements, create an invoice in Accounts Payable and post company expenses to the General Ledger by truck. Never worry about getting out of balance again. Vendors supported at the time of this writing include Comdata, T-Chek, EFS, Transplatinum and TCH/Flying J.
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Advanced Rating: Have trouble remembering what you quoted to whom? Your customers expect you to be professional and accurate. Keystone's Advanced Rating option will remember rates by any combination of customer, shipper (company or location), consignee (company or location), commodity or commodity group. If there is any overlap, the program will automatically find the most specific match. |
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Sample Rate Maintenance Screen |
Intermodal: It is all in the details! You need to track containers by number, seals and customers. Automatically calculate free time for each class of container and schedule pickup through dispatch so you do not get caught in the middle between the steamship line or railroad and your customer.
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In our next newsletter, we will cover Mileage Database Interfaces, KSI Mileage History Database, Payroll ACH Direct Deposit, Drivers Log Auditor, Bulk Commodity (Chip), and Less-Than-Truckload Interline Billing (LTL).
Remember, to get more information on any of these options, give Chris a call on his direct sale line at 1-888-863-9833, send him an e-mail at chrisb@KeystoneTruckSoftware.com, or visit our web site at www.KeystoneTruckSoftware.com. We have a demo CD and printed materials available.
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MORE OPTIONS FOR FUEL TAX REPORTS |
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Does your state require you to include "toll miles" in the calculation for IFTA taxes. Now you have the option to include those miles as taxable miles on your fuel tax reports simply by marking a check box on the general tab of the fuel tax report.
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The fuel tax reports, as always, can be run at any time, for any period of time and you can choose to include the toll miles as taxable or not. This will allow you to enter your toll miles as such, have the correct calculations for IFTA reporting and have a total of toll miles for individual refund reports. If you choose the option, the reports you run will also state that the toll miles are taxable so you can run the reports both ways and tell which report is which.
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THIRD QUARTER 2000 HOLIDAYS |
Keystone will be closed:
July 4 - Independence Day
September 4 - Labor Day |
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