Client Service Area
 

President's Memo

Atlas Traffic
Consultants Corp.
18-42 College Point Blvd.
Flushing, NY 11356-2221

©2005 Atlas Traffic
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Procedures for Post-Auditing EDI
Freight Bills

Freight companies that bill via EDI are obligated to use the appropriate standard EDI format as follows:

•Standard #110 for AIR FREIGHT bills

•Standard #210 for TRUCKING bills

•Standard #310 for OCEAN FREIGHT bills

•Standard #410 for RAIL FREIGHT bills.

Each of these standard formats should include all data elements (Pro, P/U date, Shipper, Consignee, Charges, freight description, etc.) allowing the client to remit payment and to have the bill verified for accuracy.

Clients who choose to receive freight bills in an EDI format can process the bills in their own organization, or they can utilize the services of an outside payment firm. Once the bills have been reviewed/pre-audited and paid, they should be available, at client request, to be post-audited.
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Atlas requires the following information to perform post-audits of EDI-generated freight bills:

1. If the shipper (client) uses a pre-audit/payment/logistics firm, which one?

2. The name and phone number of the account representative at the payment firm;

3. The approximate percentage and volume of bills rendered in an EDI format;

4. The type of carriers (rail, truck, air, ocean) involved.

IMPORTANT: Atlas requires the original EDI data from the client or the payment firm in order to perform an accurate, comprehensive post-audit. Incomplete data or manipulated data selected from the original EDI can be missing vital information required to verify a charge and enter a claim.

In any case where the client or an outside payment firm cannot send Atlas the original data for some valid, technical reason, Atlas will provide a list of freight bill fields in a flat file record layout. Each field will be marked “required” or “optional.”

The client or the payment firm cannot compromise the list of required fields in the record layout. If any one of the required fields is unavailable, an accurate, comprehensive post-audit cannot be performed by anyone.

In addition to the freight bill data, Atlas also requires a complete payment file. Atlas auditors need to know if full payment was made on the bills being audited.

Atlas will email or fax a copy of our payment file record layout to the client and/or the outside payment firm.

The Atlas Information Technology Group will arrange with the client or the payment service the frequency and method of data transmission. The client or payment service normally will determine the frequency and Atlas is, within reason, flexible on this decision.
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Among the most popular data transmission methods Atlas handles are:

1. FTP (File Transfer Protocol): The firm sending the files to Atlas will set up an FTP site on their computer system. They assign Atlas a user ID and password to allow access to the site. At the specified interval, (weekly, monthly, etc.) Atlas retrieves/downloads the data from the FTP site.

2. Email: Some clients prefer to send data via email. This works equally as well as FTP, but has file size limitations. Large files are easier to deal with using an FTP site.

3. CD and tape cartridge: These methods are used but are not as efficient as FTP or email.
Click here about Atlas Traffic’s Client Reporting Procedures.