Offer Entry Tutorial

5 minute to read

An Offer is defined as the possibility to move freight from one location to another location. The Offered Loads process allows users to quickly create, and post offers to load boards without creating an actual order. This reduces the need to void order numbers. Once an offer is confirmed, it can easily be turned into an order.

In this tutorial you will learn how to enter an offer and search for an offer.

A. Offer Entry

The Offer Entry screen allows you to enter offered loads quickly with very minimal information.

1. Go to the Operations menu and select the Offer Entry option.

2. The cursor will start out in the Offer field, do not enter a number, Keypoint will assign an offer number after the offer is updated. Press Tab to move to the Initials field.

3. Enter your initials into the Initials field and press Tab.

4. Select the offer type using the dropdown box in the Type field and press Tab.

5. Enter a pickup abbreviation into the Pickup field and press tab. If you do not know the abbreviation of the pickup location, enter the first few letters of the name, press tab and a lookup screen will display (example below).

6. Use the arrow keys on your keyboard to scroll to the desired pickup location and press the "Select" button or double-click on the record you want to use. Keypoint will return you to the Offer Entry screen with the pickup abbreviation populated along with the customer’s name, address, and contact information. Press Tab.

7. If the pickup location is not set up as a shipper in Keypoint, you may tab past the abbreviation field and enter the name and address information in the proper fields. Only the city, state, and country are required fields. Everything else may be left blank in the Pickup section.

8. Enter the pickup date and time into the Date fields and press Tab.

9. The cursor is now in the pickup Contact field. If you had entered a primary operations contact in the customer record the primary operations contact’s name will display in this field. If desired, you can leave the name as is or type in a different contact name. Press Tab.

10. Enter a delivery abbreviation into the Delivery field and press tab. If you do not know the abbreviation of the delivery location, enter the first few letters of the name, press tab and a lookup screen will display. Press Tab.

11. If the delivery location is not set up as a record in Keypoint, you may tab past the abbreviation field and enter the name and address information in the proper fields. Only the city, state, and country are required fields. Everything else may be left blank in the Delivery section.

12. Enter the delivery date and time into the Date fields and press Tab.

13. The cursor is now in the delivery Contact field. If you had entered a primary operations contact in the customer record the primary operations contact’s name will display in this field. If desired, you can leave the name as is or type in a different contact name. Press Tab.

14. If your Pickup customer record was also marked as a Customer and/or Bill To, the Bill To field will be populated. If no Bill To information is displaying, enter a bill to abbreviation into the Bill To field and press Tab.

15. Using the dropdown select an equipment type code into the Equipment Type field and press Tab. (Equipment is required for posting an Offer.) At this point your screen should look similar to this:

16. Enter a value in the Pieces field and press Tab. (this field is optional)

17. Enter a value in the Weight field and press Tab. (Weight is required for posting an Offer.)

18. Using the dropdown select a commodity in the Commodity field and press Tab. (this field is optional)

19. Enter a value in the Charges field and press Tab. (this field is optional)

20. Enter a comment in the Comment field and press Tab. (this field is optional)

21. Click on the Update button at the top of the screen. *Note that an offer number is now assigned. Your screen should look similar to this:

22. Click on the Update button one more time to clear the screen. You have now entered an Offer into Offer Entry.

23. Offers have many similarities to Orders: (use of buttons at top of screen)

    1. Order: use this button to turn an Offer into an Order when you find a Carrier to take it
    2. Void: use this button to void an Offer that is no longer available
    3. Duplicate: use this button to duplicate an Offer
    4. Post: use this button to post the Offer to the DAT Load Board
    5. Send Offer: use this button to send the available Offer to potential Carriers via email/fax

B. Offer Inquiry

1. Go to the Operations menu and select the Offer Inquiry option.

2. The Offer Inquiry screen is very similar to Dispatch Control screen, see the screen below:

3. Enter the criteria you want to search with on the Inquiry tab, then Click on the Search button.

4. Just like Dispatch Control, you can right click on each offer on the Results tab to get the options that are available to use on the selected offer.