TMS implementation and migration: what comes over, who does what, and how long it takes

A TMS implementation moves your dispatch, billing, and driver pay onto a new system. At TransPlus it takes 30 to 90 days from signed contract to go-live, depending on fleet size and data migration. Your customer, driver, and equipment lists come over through TransPlus templates with a named onboarding specialist, and most Fleet Manager customers are live within 60 days.

This guide starts at the signature: how long it takes, who does each step, what comes over and what stays behind, cutover day, EDI, the driver app, and the path for brokers. It's how we run onboarding at TransPlus, and most of it holds whichever TMS you pick.

How long a TMS implementation takes: 30 to 90 days from signing

At TransPlus, onboarding takes 30 to 90 days depending on fleet size and data migration, and most Fleet Manager customers are live within 60 days, with a named onboarding specialist. The clock starts when the contract is signed. Demos, quotes, and picking the vendor happen before that and aren't counted in it.

Fleet size is what it is. Data migration is the part you control, and what stretches it sits in the lists: a customer keyed three different ways over ten years, drivers and trucks still on file long after they left, rates that live in a dispatcher's head, and nobody on your side with time to fill the templates. If you run EDI, every trading-partner connection is rebuilt and tested with the shipper, so get the list of partners to your specialist early. EDI setup time depends mostly on each trading partner's testing process.

Here is what has to happen between signing and go-live. Much of it overlaps; the fixed order is that templates are filled before they are imported, and training is done before go-live.

1. Kickoff: TransPlus names your onboarding specialist, and you name your owner.
2. Templates: your team exports, cleans, and fills the TransPlus templates, or loads them with your specialist's guidance.
3. Import: TransPlus imports the completed templates, and your team checks what landed.
4. Rates: not on the import templates. Your team sets up rates in TransPlus, or loads an Excel rate sheet into a Rate Quote once it is formatted to match the Rate Table and saved as CSV.
5. EDI: the TransPlus EDI team rebuilds and tests each trading-partner connection while you keep running your current TMS.
6. Driver app: drivers install TransPlus Connect and log in before cutover.
7. Training: your specialist trains your team live on the software and the integrations you purchased.
8. Cutover: open loads go in, and every new load from that morning goes into TransPlus.

Before you sign

If you're still comparing vendors, work through the TMS buyer's guide, and if you're not sure it's time yet, read the 5 signs you need to upgrade your TMS.

Settle three things before you sign, because they shape everything after it:

• Who owns the project on your side. Usually the owner or the office manager, with the lead dispatcher and whoever runs billing and driver pay. They will fill the templates, check the import, and train everyone else.
• Everything you need on day one: add-on modules such as EDI or ACE and ACI e-manifests, driver-app seats, and the integrations you run. Live training covers the software and the integrations you purchased, so settle them up front.
• The onboarding fee. At TransPlus it is quoted with your plan; see TMS pricing for what each plan includes.

TMS implementation services: what your team does and what TransPlus does

The short version: your team owns the data, and TransPlus owns the import. You fill the TransPlus import templates, or load them with guidance from your named onboarding specialist, and TransPlus imports the completed templates. TransPlus does not pull data out of your old system or run the migration for you, so the hours your office puts into exporting and cleaning lists are the biggest thing you control.

What comes over through the import templates, and what doesn't

For carriers on Fleet Manager, the templates bring over customers, drivers, carriers, trucks, and trailers, and the full template list also covers chassis, customs agents, customs brokers, equipment hardware, and locations. For brokers on Logistics Manager, they bring over customers, carriers, shippers, and consignees.

Clean before you fill. Merge the customer that was keyed three different ways, take off the drivers who left two years ago, and drop the trailers you sold. Dirty data imported on day one is dirty data on every invoice after it. Here is the whole picture, including what stays behind.

Cutover day: keeping dispatch running while you switch

You keep dispatching in your current system until the day you switch. Trucks keep moving and invoices keep going out while the templates are filled, the import runs, and the EDI connections are rebuilt.

Running two systems for a stretch is normal. Give them different jobs: live loads stay in the old system, and practice happens in TransPlus. Re-enter a week of real loads in TransPlus while dispatch still runs them from the old one, and take a handful all the way through to the invoice and the driver's pay without sending anything, so billing and payroll find their gaps before go-live instead of after it. Clear those practice loads with your specialist before cutover.

Pick the cutover day on purpose: a low-volume weekday morning, inside support hours, at the start of a driver pay period, and away from month-end close, so no settlement or invoice run straddles two systems. In the last days before it, enter your open loads in TransPlus so the open-load list is current. Plan with your onboarding specialist how open invoices and year-to-date driver settlements are handled on that day. Collect invoices you already sent from the old system; don't re-invoice them in TransPlus. From that morning, every new load goes into TransPlus, and the old system is for looking things up until you cancel it, so take your exports first.

After go-live you have 1:1 live technical support on every plan, 7am to 6pm ET, Monday to Friday, with emergency after-hours support. Keep your owner and lead dispatcher close to the phone through the first billing run and the first pay run.

Moving your EDI without losing tenders

Your trading partners stay the same. The TransPlus EDI team rebuilds each connection to TransPlus and tests it with the shipper, and you keep running your current TMS while that happens, so load tenders keep arriving where your dispatchers already look. The same in-house team that builds the connections monitors them after go-live. See EDI for trucking for how the connections run.

At kickoff, hand your specialist a list of every trading partner, the transactions each one sends or expects (load tenders, status updates, invoices), and a contact at each shipper. Before you set the cutover day, ask where each connection stands.

Getting drivers onto the new app

TransPlus Connect is the driver app: trips, PODs, and messages synced to dispatch. Seats are licensed per driver and quoted before you sign, so count your drivers when you get the quote.

Roll the app out before cutover day, not on it. Get every driver to install it and log in while loads are still running from the old system, start with the drivers most likely to call dispatch when something looks off, and make sure they know who to call. The first live trip should not be the first time a driver opens the app.

Brokers on Logistics Manager

If you broker freight and run no trucks, your system is Logistics Manager. Onboarding takes 30 to 90 days depending on the size of your operation and how much data comes over, with a named onboarding specialist guiding it. Your customers, carriers, shippers, and consignees come over through TransPlus templates.

Rates and order history are not on the templates, same as for carriers, so export your load history and keep the file. Clean the carrier list before you fill the template: drop carriers you no longer use and merge duplicates, so your team isn't picking between three versions of the same carrier on day one. If you run your own trucks and also broker, Fleet Manager includes brokerage, so you follow the carrier path above.

Switching from Rose Rocket, Avaal, Truckbase, or Xpert Dispatch

The process above is the same whichever system you're leaving. These pages cover the parts specific to each one:

• Rose Rocket alternative: for carriers and brokers comparing dispatch, billing, and support, and why to keep your Rose Rocket export.
• Switching from Avaal: for fleets on Avaal Express (AED) or AFM, including how the Avaal customer and driver import works.
• Truckbase alternative: for fleets that cross the border, including what to export from Truckbase before you cancel.
• Xpert Dispatch alternative: for fleets adding trucks, loads, and users, including how cutover from Xpert handles open invoices and driver settlements.

TMS implementation checklist

1. Get the plan, additional users, add-on modules, driver-app seats, EDI fees, and the onboarding fee on one written quote before you sign.
2. Name the owner on your side, plus the lead dispatcher and whoever runs billing and driver pay.
3. Export your customers, drivers, carriers, trucks, and trailers from the old system (brokers: customers, carriers, shippers, and consignees).
4. Clean the lists: merge duplicates, and retire drivers who left and units you sold.
5. Fill the TransPlus templates, or load them with your onboarding specialist.
6. Export your order and settlement history and keep the file.
7. Set up rates in TransPlus, or load your Excel rate sheet into a Rate Quote after formatting it to match the Rate Table and saving it as CSV, and check each rate against the last rate confirmation.
8. List every EDI trading partner, and keep running your current TMS while each connection is rebuilt and tested.
9. Get every driver onto TransPlus Connect before cutover day.
10. Practice on a week of real loads, through to the invoice and the driver's pay.
11. Enter open loads in the last days, plan open invoices and year-to-date settlements with your specialist, and cut over on a low-volume day at the start of a pay period.
12. Keep your old TMS until every EDI connection is live and the first billing and pay runs close in TransPlus.

TMS implementation questions

How long does it take to switch to a new TMS?

At TransPlus, onboarding takes 30 to 90 days from signed contract to go-live, depending on fleet size and data migration, and most Fleet Manager customers are live within 60 days, with a named onboarding specialist. Choosing the vendor happens before that clock starts. The cleaner your customer, driver, and equipment lists are when you fill the import templates, the less time the data takes.

What data comes over when you switch TMS software?

At TransPlus, your customer, driver, and equipment lists come over through TransPlus templates. For carriers on Fleet Manager that means customers, drivers, carriers, trucks, and trailers, and the full template list also covers chassis, customs agents, customs brokers, equipment hardware, and locations. For brokers on Logistics Manager it means customers, carriers, shippers, and consignees. Rates and order history are not on the templates. Export your order and settlement history and keep the file, and enter open loads by hand in the last days before cutover.

Who does the data migration, us or the TMS vendor?

At TransPlus, you fill the TransPlus import templates, or load them with guidance from your named onboarding specialist, and TransPlus imports the completed templates. TransPlus does not pull data out of your old system, so plan office time to export, clean, and fill the templates. That work and your fleet size are the biggest factors in where you land in the 30 to 90 days.

Will dispatch stop while we switch TMS?

No. You keep dispatching in your current system until the day you switch, and your current TMS keeps handling EDI while each connection is rebuilt. From that morning every new load goes into TransPlus only. Pick a low-volume weekday morning, inside support hours, at the start of a driver pay period, enter open loads in the last days before it, and plan with your onboarding specialist how open invoices and year-to-date driver settlements are handled.

How do we move our EDI connections to a new TMS?

With TransPlus, your trading partners stay the same. The TransPlus EDI team rebuilds each connection to TransPlus and tests it with the shipper, and you keep running your current TMS while that happens. List every trading partner at kickoff, with the transactions each one sends you, so none gets missed.

What is the easiest TMS to implement for a small trucking company?

Look for a vendor that names a person to run your onboarding, imports your lists from templates instead of selling a long services project, trains your team live before go-live, and tells you up front what the timeline depends on. At TransPlus that means a named onboarding specialist, template-guided import, and 30 to 90 days from signing, with most Fleet Manager customers live within 60 days.

What does a TMS implementation cost?

At TransPlus, the onboarding fee is quoted with your plan, and so are additional users, driver-app seats, add-on modules, and EDI setup, module, and per-transaction fees, so you see the whole cost before you sign. For the wider picture, see how much transportation management software costs.

Related reading: why now is the right time to implement a TMS, how a TMS benefits trucking companies in the U.S. and Canada, and what a cloud-based TMS is.