FAQ

Bumbal is user-friendly transport software for making appointments with customers for service or delivery, for making a planning and for following the execution via the integrated drivers’ APP including track & trace for planner and customer. Bumbal is suitable for wholesale traders, retailers, e-tailers, production companies with their own vehicles, but also for carriers.

You can deploy Bumbal as a complete solution or opt for separate parts.

Have a look at our references and get an idea of what businesses deploy Bumbal.

There is no maximum number of vehicles and everything can be flexibly adjusted. Be sure to contact us to be informed about what is possible.

The main advantages of Bumbal:

No need to make any more complicated ride planning in Excel
Bumbal transport software is simple and user-friendly. Bumbal does not have unnecessary functionalities, Bumbal goes back to basic; it is a matter of entering an activity, planning and following the status, as easy as that. If something changes in the planning? You have got it fixed with one push of a button.

Planning from your smartphone, desktop or tablet
With Bumbal you can work from your desktop, tablet or smartphone, the choice is yours. This always provides an insight into the planning and the status. The Bumbal APP to be used on the road makes all this possible, in addition, you communicate quickly and easily with your customers and drivers.

Wasting kilometres is a thing of the past (Automatically) and reliably making appointments with the customer or having the customer making their own appointments? Bumbal sees to an efficient planning, where no kilometres and time are wasted.

Affordable and flexible
You pay a one-off small amount for the implementation of the Bumbal transport software. The software is tailor-made for your company and this is followed by a short training. In addition, you pay a fixed monthly payment per vehicle. Do you temporarily have more or fewer vehicles? No worries, we adapt your subscription to this. Do you want to stop using Bumbal? No problem either, because Bumbal can be unsubscribed every month.

Yes, Bumbal can quite well operate as a completely independent system.

Click here to view our data for linking Bumbal to other systems.

In principle any system can be linked to Bumbal, or: Bumbal can be combined with everything. For already linked systems also view our partners and systems page. In most cases we can link quickly, at limited costs. Some links take a bit more made-to-measure work. So, make sure to contact us, we gladly provide you with a tailor-made answer.

On the one hand, the Bumbal APP is used to determine position for the automatic ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) updates for both customer and planner. On the other, the APP is for the instruction of drivers and the registration of execution. Among other things, the following items are to be found in the APP:

Route schedules available for driver with sequence of stops, and within stops loading or service rules (what is to be delivered / collected or service visit);
loading lists per ride (survey of products that have to be carried in that ride);
registration times of arrival and departure;
digital signature;
option to take pictures;
registration packaging;
scanning barcodes (also bulk scanning several barcodes at the same time);
processing driver instructions (both separate instructions going with the order concerned or stem instructions with addresses);
registration remarks drivers;
adding extra (non-planned) driver activities;
registration of irregularities (e.g. shortage of delivery / damage), if so desired, incl. photo – signature.

What is registered by the driver on the road, is also immediately available in the activities and ride dossier of the planner or other employees (think of sales or customer service). If so desired, you can also automatically send on by e-mail the registered shortages of delivery or irregularities to, for instance, customer service staff so that immediate action can be taken.

With Bumbal you can plan several rides at the same time, also for more days with the push of a button. Here Bumbal automatically takes into account all basic principles concerning stops and rides, such as, among other things window times, appointment time, but, for instance also vehicle types, possible product characteristics (right product on the right ride) or vehicle characteristics (e.g., tailboard). And, if so desired, historical traffic information and capacity (for instance, weight or volume).

In Bumbal you can define zones on the basis of postal codes. In the route schedule these zones can subsequently be linked to specific rides (for instance, the Tuesday ride in Limburg). When entering stops/orders these zones are automatically linked to the activities via the postal codes of the addresses concerned. Subsequently, the planning algorithm sees to it that, on the basis of the zone characteristics, the right addresses are included in the right rides. Completely automatically. And if a particular day / region is full, the algorithm will also automatically look for the next fitting ride.

In settings you can indicate whether Bumbal has to combine different orders for one address within overlapping date / time slots or not. If you activate this setting, the Bumbal planning algorithms will see to it that these orders are planned in one stop. Here you can also directly set whether the stop times of the different orders have to be added together or that the order with the longest stop time must be used as the total stop time.

Rides certainly do not become less efficient if you allow the customer himself to choose a date and time-slot via the Bumbal appointments solution.

The reason for this is, that beforehand Bumbal calculates in the current planning via the planning algorithm, what options can be offered to the customer within an efficient execution. At the same time, already planned stops and all conditions / basic principles set are taken into account. The customer is only offered the options here, that with regard to time and distance, have the least impact on the planning.

In this way the customer himself is as it were making the planning for you. Therefore, the role of the planner changes much more from planning himself to monitoring whether everything goes well.

Bumbal can quite well be used without other software (stand-alone). You can enter orders and addresses manually or input them via an Excel upload. In Bumbal you can also manage stem data of customers/addresses, vehicles and drivers. In stand-alone use, the same functionalities are available as in the variation where Bumbal is linked to an ERP, web shop of TMS (Transport Management System).

Bumbal is pre-eminently suited to be linked to other (ERP/web shop/TMS) systems. In this way it is possible to transfer orders automatically to Bumbal and therefore manual input is no longer necessary. Changes or cancellations of orders can also be automatically processed in this way. Subsequently, in Bumbal you can finalise everything concerning appointments, planning and track and trace / registration of execution if you wish. If so desired, all information enriched by Bumbal can be again transferred back to the system linked, for instance, for further administrative finalisation. Bumbal can be linked in various ways, some of the possibilities are via:

XML via Bumbal FTP location
XML posts to URL
Restful API (json)

It is most convenient to work with API links, for API documentation also see the following page: Bumbal API info.

For that matter, Bumbal consciously focuses on transport and delivery planning and everything connected with it and does not focus on specific management of orders, bookkeeping, article management, stock management, rates management, etc. This is what ERP/TMS solutions are good at. In this way, various systems are a good complementary fit.

Yes. Via the track & trace screen, the planner has an insight within the Bumbal web environment into the latest status of activities and rides in execution. Here, all updates available on activities that have been finalised (within an agreed time window) and activities that are still open (with expected status on time or not on time). Also available are the latest known positions of drivers/employees on the road. The dossier on the registration finalisation of activities and rides can also be viewed here. In other words, in the blink of an eye, the planner has the present status of all rides that are underway available.

Bumbal can be used for every language or multilingually, also where customer contact and the drivers’ APP are concerned. As to the APP, the task can be linked to the language that is set as standard on the smartphone or tablet.

With Bumbal you can automatically inform customers on planned and real times of arrival, also called ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). In the ETA planned message, the specifically planned time (possibly within a certain time margin) is passed on to the customer.

The planned time is determined by the planning algorithm on the basis of the best-fitting ride arrangement and the order within a ride. In the ETA planned message, a link can directly be added to the ETA actual portal in which the customer himself on the day of execution can call up the very latest expected time of arrival. This status is determined with the help of the determination of the position of the driver via the Bumbal APP and this is compared (calculated) with the route planned. ETA messages can be sent via email or SMS.

Bumbal has a secure cloud environment. To this effect, the following technical measures have been taken:

the Bumbal servers (Linux CentOS virtual servers) are housed in the Iron Mountain Data centre in Amsterdam. This data centre meets the usual/ relevant safety certificates (ISO 50001, ISO 27001, ISO 9001, ISO 14001, PCI-DSS Level 1, HIPAA, SOC 1 Type II, SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3). For more information on the data centre, view this web page.
All communication from and to Bumbal services takes place via SSL certificates;
all authentication passwords are saved with the BCrypt encryption method;
the (appointment/ETA) portals for customers work on the basis of tokens (for every visit – ETA message a new, unique single-use entry).

Bumbal meets the requirements of the AVG because Bumbal works on the basis of a processor’s agreement. This means in fact that Bumbal users are themselves responsible for the data they process via Bumbal. By law, Bumbal is considered a processor. The Bumbal software only processes personal data on behalf of users. Of course, Bumbal in doing this takes care of thorough technical security and we commit ourselves via the processor’s agreement to report possible data leakages that we are aware of to customers.

Transport software is an umbrella term for all software that is used to arrange all logistics around transport. The most important thing for you as a user is: it is flexible, can be connected to everything and takes as much work as possible off your hands by means of automatic processes that you can set yourself.

Bumbal is no TMS (Transport Management System). Matters such as rates management, invoicing, remuneration (collective agreement (CAO) registration of hours) or Canbus link for the drivers’ APP are not offered by us. When logistic service providers use Bumbal we are always linked to the TMS. For that matter, you can also use Bumbal stand-alone (manual input or Excel (order-upload).

An implementation without systeminterface (link with another software system) can be accomplished in one day. If an interface has to be set up, an implementation takes about 4 weeks. In this implementation we set up the Bumbal environment (amongst other things, stem data, planning settings, and possible set up of own house style for customer communication), tests take place and we train users at distance. In other words: we deliver ready-to-use.

Bumbal works on the basis of the “pay for use” principle. An amount per vehicle per month. In this basic subscription, order management, (automatic) planning, track & trace for the planner and the drivers’ APP are included.

Optionally, you can also use the automatic appointments solution. With this, customers can choose a date or time-slot from options that have been calculated beforehand for efficiently fitting into the current planning. For this solution a fee per appointment is calculated. If you do not want to use the appointment solution, but want to send ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival) or POD (Proof Of Delivery) messages to customers, that is also possible. You can then opt for an additional communication subscription.

A volume graduated discount applies to both the subscriptions (basic + communication) and the fee per appointment. The user costs are monthly charged afterwards on the basis of actual use. This also offers the possibility to unsubscribe every month.

In addition to the user costs, we charge a small one-time fee for activating your own Bumbal account and you can also opt for a custom set-up and online training and if applicable realizing a systeminterface with i.e. ERP of websop. We then deliver it ready for use. Wondering if Bumbal is profitable for your company? Do the calculation yourself, check the tarifs page or contact us for more information.

Bumbal goes for a long-term relation with both its customers and partners. Also due to its partners, Bumbal can continue developing in its dynamic environment. The partners Bumbal proudly cooperates with can be seen on  this page.

Bumbal is proud of its product and therefore happily provides a demonstration free of obligations. This demonstration can be given online or on location, but we are also quite happy to receive you at our office. It is really a demonstration free of obligations, so, it does not tie you to anything.

Now request a demo free of obligations.