Master Data for Charge Calculation
In order to calculate the charges for a freight order, and to distribute the charges amongst the delivery items, you must maintain some master data for the purposes of charge calculation.
See the following video to learn more on the charge calculation master data.

Freight Agreement
Freight agreements are maintained in the Manage Freight Agreements app. You can create and edit freight agreements as the basis for calculating transportation charges payable by you to your carrier. You use freight agreements, along with calculation sheets, rates, and scales to efficiently manage long-term contracts with your carriers. The Manage Freight Agreements app allows you to do the following:
Create freight agreements with contractual data such as validity dates, charge lines, and rates
Copy existing freight agreements, including the calculation sheets, rates, and scales in the freight agreements
Display and edit freight agreement details, including calculation sheet items, rates, scales, and calculation rules
Add and edit larger volumes of rates using Microsoft Excel
Use rate tables in freight agreements instead of creating them locally in the freight agreements
Release freight agreements so that they can be used in freight orders to calculate charges
Edit released freight agreements (super users only)
Delete freight agreements (in process freight agreements only)
Display freight order details and access the freight order (in released freight agreements only)
On the header level of the freight agreement you maintain the fundamental information of a freight agreement, such as the following:
- Purchasing organization
- Carrier
- Validity (from/to)
- Document currency
- General Terms (main transportation mode and shipping type)
Calculation Sheet
The calculation sheet is used to calculate transportation charges. The calculation sheet combines the charge types permitted for a document and the sequence in which the system takes these charge types into account during the calculation. The system uses the calculation sheet to specify which transportation charges to calculate and how to calculate them. This helps to pay suppliers or carriers for subcontracted transportation services. The calculation sheet points to calculation sheet items and each calculation sheet item can result in a calculated amount.
Each calculation sheet item can consist of the following:
- Charge type
- Rate (either flat rate, local rate table or referenced rate table)
- Calculation resolution base (root, product, or stage)
- Calculation method (for example standard, breakweight)
- Rounding profile
- Reference item (for relative calculation sheet items)
In more detail, the items above refer to the following:
- Rate:
- Rates contain details of the rate table for each calculation sheet item. It is also possible to enter fixed rates or percentages of other lines in the calculation sheet.
- Calculation Resolution Base:
During charge calculation, the system determines the calculation resolution base by the origin of the data on which the charge aspect is based. You can define the charge aspect for the resolution base as:
Root: This is the header of the freight order.
Stage: To utilize stage attributes such as distance between the locations visited on a tour.
Product: When product attributes like product quantity, weight or volume need to be used.
For example, you want to determine the freight rate based upon the gross weight of the freight order. To do this, you need to use the calculation resolution base of root. If, however, you want to calculate the freight on a per product basis, the calculation resolution base must be product.
You can use Microsoft Excel to speed up the process of adding and editing large volumes of rates in local rate tables. You download the rates to Microsoft Excel and then you can add rates, edit existing rates, and add scale items. Then you can upload your changes to the freight agreement. When you download the rates, the system creates a Microsoft Excel file for each calculation sheet item (charge type). The file name of each Microsoft Excel file is in the format of Rates_<ChgType>_<Timestamp>, for example, Rates_FB00_20230721123456
.
The downloaded Microsoft Excel file includes the following details:
Charge type data
Currency
Organization data
Calculation rule
Calculation bases
Existing rates
If there is just one scale, or if all the scale bases have the Same Scale type, the rates are displayed in the file as a list. If there are multiple scales or the scale bases have different scale types, the rates are displayed in a table. The table is pivoted at the last added scale with its scale items as column headers.
Simulation
Watch the simulation Create Freight Agreement for Carrier Invoicing to learn more about the system-related activities.