Case Study
Data Connection Helps Transportation Company Track KPIs
CLA created automated margin reports, allowing a transportation company to make faster and better-informed business decisions.
Organization
Northern Cargo, a transportation company with 250 clients.
Need
Better reporting on margins per shipment and carrier for greater efficiency.
Outcome
New automated daily reports track KPIs for better decision-making.
Understanding the situation
In business for over 70 years, Northern Cargo handles over 50 million pounds of freight annually for more than 250 clients. With so many clients, tracking financial data to understand the profit margin per carrier and shipment is incredibly challenging. Northern Cargo’s multiple data collection systems required manual input — and generating margin reports sometimes took a full month.
Exploring the challenge
CLA has successfully worked with Northern Cargo on tax strategy for years, but the company remained challenged by its reporting and tracking. Hearing the company’s concerns, CLA’s tax team called in the firm’s digital team to meet with Northern Cargo.
CLA’s digital team worked with Northern Cargo to learn about its report-building process and determine the appropriate calculations for:
- Overall margins
- Margins by carrier
- Margins by separate orders within shipments
Achieving results
CLA connected Northern Cargo’s multiple data collection systems, creating daily, automated margin reports. Northern Cargo can now review key performance indicators every day and compare them with historical trends, enabling them to make faster and better-informed business decisions.
CLA streamlined my reporting process. Previously, creating multiple reports took hours of my time, but now I can run them instantly and make faster business decisions.
