TMS Fleet Management: What's the Difference Between TMS and FMS?

TMS fleet management covers two jobs. A Transportation Management System (TMS) runs the freight side of your business: dispatch, load planning, billing, and driver pay. Fleet Management Software (FMS) looks after the trucks themselves: tracking, maintenance schedules, and fuel. Most carriers need both jobs done, and many modern TMS platforms now handle the fleet side within one system.

Here is a plain look at the differences between Transportation Management Software (TMS) and Fleet Management Software (FMS), where the two overlap, and how a Transportation Management System like TransPlus TMS can cover the fleet management work most trucking companies need day to day.

Transportation Management Software (TMS) vs. Fleet Management Software (FMS)

TMS and FMS are complementary, not competing. The TMS plans and executes the movement of freight: dispatch, route and load planning, carrier selection, shipment tracking, and invoicing. The FMS keeps equipment and drivers road-ready: vehicle tracking, maintenance, fuel monitoring, and compliance. Run separately, they leave your dispatchers and fleet managers re-keying the same data in two places. Run together, everyone works from the same live picture of every truck and load.

Many Transportation Management Systems take a hybrid approach. Built on transportation management software, they fold in the fleet management features carriers use most, such as fuel management, maintenance reminders, and basic compliance, so a fleet can run the whole operation from a single platform instead of paying for and maintaining two systems.

Side by side, here is what each system owns:

• Transportation Management Software (TMS) is a comprehensive solution and system designed to manage the planning, execution, and optimization of the physical movement of cargo. Your TMS acts as a central hub for all transportation- and freight-related operations, to include route planning, load optimization, carrier selection, shipment tracking, and freight audit and payment.
• Fleet Management Software (FMS) focuses on managing and optimizing your fleet of vehicles. It provides tools for vehicle tracking, maintenance scheduling, driver management, fuel consumption monitoring, and regulatory compliance.

How Does Transportation Management Software (TMS) Help Your Trucking Company?

Transportation Management Software helps trucking companies run their operations from order to delivery. It functions as a central hub for managing transportation, offering tools for dispatching, route and load optimization, carrier selection, real-time shipment tracking, freight audits, and payment. Automating and optimizing these key functions helps reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Here are a few key features of Transportation Management Software:

• Route Planning and Optimization: This helps determine the most efficient routes considering factors like distance, time, fuel costs, and delivery windows.
• Load Planning and Optimization: This aspect maximizes truck utilization by strategically planning and optimizing load configurations with FTL and LTL capabilities.
• Carrier Selection and Rate Negotiation: The software can help select the best carriers based on performance, rates, and availability.
• Shipment Tracking and Visibility: The software allows you to track shipments in real-time, providing complete visibility and proactive updates to customers.
• Freight Audit and Payment: It has the ability to automate the freight audit and payment process, ensuring accuracy and reducing processing time.

How Does Fleet Management Software (FMS) Help Your Trucking Company?

Fleet Management Software provides a comprehensive suite of tools to effectively manage your fleet and your drivers, prioritizing safety, compliance, and efficiency. This includes features like vehicle tracking and telematics for real-time monitoring, driver communication tools, payroll and finance tools, maintenance scheduling, fuel management functions, and compliance reporting. Armed with this software and these capabilities, freight companies can improve operational efficiency and reduce costs.

Here are a few key features of Fleet Management Software:

• Vehicle Tracking and Telematics: This feature can monitor vehicle location, speed, mileage, and engine diagnostics in real-time with key integrations like Motive, Geotab, Omnitracs, and more.
• Driver Management: Track driver hours of service, performance, and behavior to ensure compliance and safety.
• Maintenance Scheduling and Alerts: This software feature allows you to schedule preventive maintenance, track repairs, and receive alerts for potential issues.
• Fuel Management: Fuel management functions and software integrations monitor fuel consumption, identify fuel waste, and help optimize fuel efficiency.
• Compliance Reporting: Fleet Management Software can help generate reports and provide reminders to ensure compliance with regulations like ELD requirements and DOT inspections.

READ MORE: How To Use TMS Data to Make Better Decisions in Trucking

Do You Need Both? TMS Fleet Management in One System

You do not have to pick a winner between TMS and FMS. The practical question is whether your TMS covers enough of the fleet side, fuel tracking, maintenance reminders, and basic compliance, to run the whole operation from one system. For many carriers it can.

Already running a TMS and weighing a change? If the system you run today is Avaal, our guide to switching from Avaal covers what the move to TransPlus involves.

Want to see how TransPlus handles dispatch and fleet management together? Contact TransPlus today or book a demo.