Digital Innovation Drive BOL Efficiency

In refined fuels, the bill of lading (BOL) that verifies ownership of the fuel can be as important as the transported fuel. In fact, the average value of one BOL can easily top $15,000, so when BOLs are incorrect or even lost, revenue is impacted, both in terms of the lost product, as well as the time invested in finding lost documents and correcting mistakes.

In addition to the value of the fuel, research shows the average cost to correct a single billing error on an invoice is $126. The opportunity to work more efficiently and effectively can definitely make a difference in the bottom line.

Although the digital transformation has brought many efficiencies to a function devised hundreds of years ago, suppliers are still spending considerable time and effort identifying missing BOLs that result in having to work with terminal operators to resubmit documents for invoicing.  The suppliers spend time logging into multiple supply partner portals to obtain BOL reports and manually comparing reports to make sure all BOLs are accounted for, some allocating as many as four full-time employees for this work.

There are new innovative technologies offered by industry leaders to help suppliers identify lost documents before customers realize they were overlooked and ensure BOLs are reconciled in a timely fashion. DTN’s innovative tool, TIMS BOL Recon, automatically looks for missing BOLs every 24 hours and notifies users if any missing BOLs are found.

A SaaS-based solution can help reduce personnel overhead, realize revenue faster and actually boost transparency between the suppliers and terminals. The DTN BOL Recon system offers a watch list function that allows users to add BOLs to the list. The system will inform the user when it sees that a BOL has been billed.

The digital transformation of BOLs is quickly making the use of these important contracts more effective and efficient with software solutions and advancements in IoT.