Carrier Guide
Learn how carrier operations teams use FTM to manage dispatch, drivers, equipment, shipment execution, documents, settlements, and reporting inside Salesforce. The permanent replacement for the legacy Carrier Guide PDF.
This guide covers
Dashboard Overview
Driver Management
Equipment & Fleet
Dispatch & Load Board
Documents & Communication
Settlements & Payroll
Overview
What You’ll Learn
This guide covers the full carrier operations workflow inside FTM, from daily dashboard review through driver settlements.
Dashboard Overview
Review daily KPIs, revenue by driver, expense breakdowns, and expiring compliance documents from your carrier home page.
Driver Management
Maintain driver profiles, CDL and medical card expiration dates, recruiting pipeline, and payroll settings in Salesforce.
Equipment & Fleet
Track truck and trailer records, maintenance services, inspections, registration expiration, and assignment history.
Dispatch & Load Board
Manage all active loads from a real-time Kanban board. Assign drivers and equipment, update milestones, and track status in one screen.
Documents & Communication
Generate and send Bills of Lading, Rate Confirmations, and Invoices. Attach PODs and use email templates directly from the load record.
Settlements & Payroll
Generate driver settlement reports covering load payments, expenses, and fuel. Preview, download as PDF, or send directly from FTM.
Load lifecycle
A Typical Load in FTM
Each stage produces or updates a record in Salesforce. Nothing is re-entered between steps.
Load Assignment
Load received, record opened
Dispatch Planning
Driver and equipment selected
Driver Assignment
Driver notified via app
Pickup
Pickup confirmed, BOL attached
In Transit
Status live, milestones updated
Delivery
Delivered, milestone set
Proof of Delivery
POD captured and attached
Billing & Settlement
Invoice generated, driver paid
Dashboard
Dashboard Overview
Your FTM home page opens to the Carrier Overview dashboard, giving you a live view of operational and financial performance without opening any individual records.
Carrier Overview Dashboard
The Carrier Overview shows Sales by Dispatcher, Revenue by Driver, Revenue by Customer, Expenses by Type, Sales by Date, and Profit/Loss charts. All data reflects live Salesforce records with no export required.
Start each day on the Carrier Overview dashboard before opening individual load records. The Revenue by Driver chart immediately shows which drivers are active and generating revenue.
Use the Profit/Loss chart to identify trucks or drivers where fuel and expense costs are reducing margin. Investigate outliers before they become billing problems.
Subscribe to the dashboard using the Subscribe button to receive a scheduled email snapshot. Ask your administrator to set the delivery time to match your morning review.
Figure 1 Carrier Overview home page showing Sales by Dispatcher, Revenue by Driver, Revenue by Customer, Expenses by Type, Sales by Date, and Profit/Loss by truck.
Expiring Documents Dashboard
The home page also surfaces expiring compliance documents as live list views: Fleet Expiring Registrations, Worker Expiring CDLs, and Worker Expiring Medical Cards. Each list updates automatically and flags records approaching expiration.
Review the expiring document lists daily. A driver with an expired CDL or medical card cannot legally operate. FTM surfaces these proactively so you can act before compliance fails.
Fleet Expiring Registrations shows the trailer or truck unit number, license plate, driver, and exact expiration date. Click any row to open the equipment record and attach the renewal.
Figure 2 Home page compliance dashboard showing Expiring Registrations (trailers T2697, T2698), Expiring CDLs (three workers with expiration dates and endorsements), and Expiring Medical Cards.
Driver management
Managing Drivers
FTM stores each driver as a Worker record in Salesforce, containing employment details, CDL and medical compliance, payroll settings, and a full activity history.
Driver Profile
Each Worker record holds personal information, employment dates, CDL endorsements, license number and expiration, medical card expiration, emergency contact, payroll settings (hourly rate, per-mile rate, percentage pay), and recruiting stage.
Keep CDL Expiration and Medical Card Expiration dates current. FTM uses these fields to surface expiring documents on the home page compliance dashboard.
Set the correct payroll method (hourly, per-mile, or percentage) at onboarding. This setting feeds directly into the settlement calculation when a driver runs loads.
Use the Settlement button in the action menu to generate a pay report for the selected driver. The settlement pulls all load payments and expenses within the date range you specify.
Figure 3 Worker record for Eric Ramsey showing personal details, CDL endorsements (Hazmat, Tanker), license number A2928462, CDL expiration 5/22/2025, medical card expiration 5/11/2021, payroll settings (80% percentage pay), and the Settlement action button.
Driver Recruiting Pipeline
The Workers Recruiting Kanban tracks driver candidates from first contact through hired status. Stages include: Information Requested, Reaching Out, Not Qualified, Not Interested, Interested, Processing, Approved, Orientation Scheduled, and Hired.
Move candidates through the Kanban by dragging cards or updating the Recruiting Stage field on the Worker record. The Kanban reflects the current stage in real time.
The Hired column shows drivers who have completed onboarding. Once hired, use Mark Recruiting Stage as Complete to finalize the record and move the driver to active status.
Figure 4 Recruiting Kanban showing driver candidates across stages: Reaching Out (Watson, Tom), Interested (Niels, Camon), Processing (Jim, Sam), Approved (Matt, Juan), Orientation Scheduled (Samuel, Mike), and Hired (Samson, Dan, Ramsey, Eric).
Driver Related Records
The Related tab on each Worker record shows attached compliance files (CDL scans, insurance), assigned loads with pickup city and date, expense records (tires, owner-operator pay, other), and violation records. Everything is visible in one record without switching screens.
Attach CDL and medical card scans to the Worker Files section at onboarding. These are required for compliance audits and are stored permanently in Salesforce.
Review driver expenses before generating a settlement. Expenses (tires, fuel, owner-operator pay) are deducted from gross earnings in the settlement calculation.
Figure 5 Worker Related tab showing Files (CDL document attached), Loads (L-31 and L-117 from Irvine CA), Expenses (E-3 Tire $800, E-4 Owner Operator Pay $1,200, E-64 Other $100, E-93 Tire $600), and Violations (V-1).
Equipment & fleet
Managing Equipment
Each truck and trailer is stored as a Fleet record in Salesforce with maintenance history, inspection records, driver assignment, and registration compliance tracking.
Equipment Record
Each Fleet record contains unit number, equipment type, make, model, year, VIN, license plate, registration expiration, purchase date and price, odometer readings, assigned drivers, and a full service and inspection history. Registration expiration feeds directly into the home page compliance dashboard.
Keep Registration Expiration current on every fleet record. FTM uses this date to surface expiring equipment on the home page Expiring Registrations list. Outdated records produce false compliance alerts.
Log all maintenance in the Services section of the fleet record (parts, repairs, tire changes). This creates a permanent maintenance history that supports DOT audits and resale valuation.
Link trucks to trailers using the Coupled With field. This relationship makes it easy to identify which trailer is paired with each truck at dispatch time.
The Inspections section tracks DOT inspections by type and result. Add inspections immediately after completion so the record reflects the actual compliance status.
Figure 6 Equipment record for Truck-9 (Freightliner Cascadia 2017, VIN 989324OUIFENJR324) showing purchase price $135,900, registration expiration 12/28/2020, assigned drivers (Daniels, Samuel), 227,165 odometer, 2 inspections (I-3 Yearly Passed, I-6 Highway Patrol), and 5 service records totaling $5,850.
Dispatch & load board
Dispatch & Load Management
Manage all active loads from a real-time Kanban board and work individual load records through pickup, transit, delivery, and billing.
Dispatch Board
The Loads Dispatch Kanban groups all active loads by status across columns: None, Assigned, Dispatched, In Transit to Pickup, At Shipping, In Transit to Delivery, At Receiving, and Delivered. Each card shows load ID, customer, dispatcher, and origin/destination. Loads move between columns as milestones are updated.
Use the Dispatch Kanban as the primary view during operating hours. It gives you a real-time count by status column so you know exactly how many loads are in each stage without running a report.
Update load status immediately when events occur. Delayed status updates cause the Kanban to misrepresent actual operations and reduce visibility for dispatchers reviewing the board.
Figure 7 Dispatch Kanban with 73 active loads grouped by status: None (9), Assigned (3), Dispatched (7), In Transit to Pickup (5), At Shipping (6), In Transit to Delivery (7), At Receiving (3), Delivered (33). Each card shows load ID, customer, origin/destination, and dispatcher.
Load Record
Each load record holds the full lifecycle of a shipment: load info (driver, lane quote, requirements, dispatcher), pickup and delivery addresses and appointment times, customer details, rate, billing status, and a document generator bar for Create Invoice, Bill of Lading, and Rate Confirmation PDFs. All related records (files, stops, line items, pay items) are accessible from the Related tab.
Use the Create Invoice, Bill of Lading, and Rate Confirmation buttons in the action bar to generate PDF documents directly from the load record. These pull all load data automatically and support customizable templates.
Mark Status as Complete only after POD is attached and the invoice has been generated. Completed loads feed into settlement calculations and close the billing cycle.
Figure 8 Load record showing Status: Delivered, driver Samuel, dispatcher Thomas King, requirements (Straps, Load Locks, Driver Assist), customer AB Plastic INC, rate $2,500, total $2,600. Action bar shows Create Invoice, Bill of Lading, and Rate Confirmation PDF generators. Files section shows Scale Tickets and PoD L-1 attached.