Cross-border freight quote tool
From an Excel rate sheet to quotes based on shared rules.
Anonymized case · internal system
- Role
- Strategist · Builder
- Stack
- Google Apps Script · Sheets · Business rules
The problem
Quoting cross-border shipments relied on an Excel rate sheet and each person’s judgment: slow, inconsistent and hard to scale to a new market.
The system
I built a tool that applies the rate sheet and commercial rules to prepare a consistent quote, with assumptions governed in one place. I used it to support regional expansion.
Consistent quotes start with explicit rules.
The quoting tool replaces manual lookup in an Excel rate sheet with a tool that applies the same shared rates and commercial rules to each cross-border request.
- 01
Centralize
Rates and commercial assumptions live in a shared source. The team can review what informs each offer without relying on a local copy of a spreadsheet.
- 02
Apply rules
The tool combines the rate with business rules to prepare a quote. Consistency comes from using the same criteria for comparable requests, not from pretending exceptions do not exist.
- 03
Review and send
The result is prepared from shared rules, helping the team respond consistently during regional expansion. Conditions outside those rules should go through commercial review.
If you are building oneBefore automating a quote, decide who updates rates, when changes take effect and which cases need escalation. A fast response has little value if it uses an outdated rate.
Read the Spanish field note on growth and logistics in LATAM →
What changed
The work had to be felt in the operation.
- 01
Quotes calculated with shared rules
- 02
Rates and assumptions in one place
- 03
Exceptions ready for commercial review
Do you have a similar operating challenge?