Case study 01 · SAP TM 2023
Air and Ocean Freight Tendering, Built into SAP TM 2023
Aitishtech extended SAP TM 2023 on SAP S/4HANA with an end-to-end RFQ tendering process for air and ocean freight — RFQ creation, carrier invitation, quotations, bid evaluation and carrier selection — connected to transportation execution, where standard TM did not cover the client’s process.
Sound familiar?
Carrier RFQs for Air and Ocean Freight Still Run on Email and Spreadsheets, Outside SAP TM
- Your team sends air and ocean RFQs by email and chases carriers for replies.
- Quotes arrive in different formats and someone rebuilds them in a spreadsheet to compare.
- Nobody can say afterwards why one carrier won over another.
- The winning rate is re-keyed into SAP TM by hand, if it gets there at all.
Published · Updated
At a glance
- Industry
- Logistics and supply chain
- Platform
- SAP S/4HANA, SAP TM 2023
- Transport modes
- Air and ocean
- Capability
- RFQ and freight tendering
- Approach
- Standard SAP plus a targeted extension
- Outcome
- Digital freight tendering, connected to TM execution
The challenge
What the Business Needed
The client buys air and ocean freight from many carriers and logistics providers. Tendering ran on manual coordination between business users, procurement and carriers.
- RFQs were prepared, sent and chased by hand.
- Carrier responses arrived through several channels and were hard to track.
- Quotations had to be consolidated manually before anyone could compare them.
- There was no structured way to weigh commercial and transport criteria before choosing a carrier.
- Tendering was not connected to transportation execution in SAP TM.
Our approach
How We Went About It
A separate tendering application was the obvious route, and it would have created one more place for freight data to live. We built inside SAP TM instead.
Standard First
Use SAP TM standard capability wherever it fits.
Extend Only Where Needed
Custom functionality only for the part standard does not cover.
Stay in the Lifecycle
Tendering connects to planning and execution rather than sitting beside them.
Build to Reuse
A framework that further tender scenarios can extend.
Keep Upgrades Clean
Minimal modification to standard SAP objects.
The solution
The Process, End to End
- 01 Transportation requirement
- 02 RFQ creation
- 03 Tender parameters and carrier selection
- 04 Carrier invitation
- 05 Carrier quotation
- 06 Quotation collection
- 07 Bid comparison and evaluation
- 08 Carrier selection
- 09 Transportation execution
What we built
The Capabilities That Made It Work
RFQ Creation from the Requirement
Business users start an RFQ from a transportation requirement and set the tender parameters, so every tender starts the same way.
Multi-Carrier Tendering
Several carriers and logistics providers take part in one tender, which creates real competition for the freight.
Quotations in One Place
Carrier responses are captured as part of the RFQ, replacing quotations scattered across email and other channels.
Structured Bid Evaluation
Quotations are compared against defined commercial and transport criteria, so carrier decisions are consistent.
Air and Ocean in One Framework
Each mode keeps its own requirements on a common tendering approach, leaving room to add further scenarios.
Connected to Execution
The winning bid flows into the SAP TM transportation process instead of ending as a procurement record.
Before and after
What Changed for the Business
Before
- Manual RFQ preparation
- Several communication channels
- Manual quotation consolidation
- Slow, inconsistent comparison
- Little process visibility
- Tendering disconnected from execution
After
- Structured RFQ creation
- Multi-carrier participation
- Central quotation management
- Structured bid evaluation
- A traceable RFQ lifecycle
- Tendering integrated with SAP TM execution
Outcome
What the Business Gained
Less Manual Effort
Across RFQ creation, carrier communication, quotation collection and evaluation.
More Carrier Competition
Structured participation from multiple carriers in each tender.
Better Carrier Decisions
Quotations are visible side by side and compared on the same criteria.
A Controlled, Traceable Process
One RFQ lifecycle shared by transport, procurement and carriers.
Do not customise SAP for the sake of it. Extend it where it creates real business value.
Questions buyers ask
Before You Ask
Can SAP TM handle RFQ tendering for air and ocean freight?
SAP TM has tendering features, but for this client standard SAP TM 2023 did not cover the air and ocean RFQ process they ran. We extended TM so RFQ creation, carrier invitation, quotations, bid evaluation and carrier selection all happen inside it.
How do you compare carrier quotations in SAP TM instead of Excel?
Quotations are captured against the RFQ in SAP TM and evaluated on defined commercial and transport criteria, so carriers are compared side by side on the same basis rather than in a spreadsheet rebuilt for each tender.
Does a freight tendering extension make SAP TM harder to upgrade?
It does not have to. We used standard SAP TM wherever it fitted, built only the missing part, and kept modification of standard SAP objects to a minimum so the extension stays upgrade-safe.
More delivered work
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Your requirement
Got a Process Standard SAP Does Not Cover?
Send the requirement. We will tell you what standard already does, where the real gap is, and what the smallest sound extension looks like.
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