TMS evaluation pack
nShift TMS: The questions buyers ask, answered
Evaluating nShift TMS for your transport operation? Start here.
What supply chain, IT, security and procurement ask about nShift TMS
The transport desk has to see every consignment and defend every krona of freight spend, and by the time the RFP lands, its questions are already set: what the desk can see, which carriers it can book on its own agreements, how bookings reach the ERP, and what is in writing when security and procurement read the file. Every answer here carries the evidence beside it.
What supply chain and logistics asks
Supply chain leads this evaluation, and it starts where the workday starts: what the desk can see and book.
What visibility do we get across our consignments?
Every consignment carries its statuses with source, location, and time, and the Control view opens the data to anyone who needs it. Unilever dispatches around 800 pallets a day from a cold warehouse holding more than 10,000 pallets, against half-hour delivery windows: "The information from [nShift] makes it possible for us to constantly measure and improve our deliveries."
Which carriers can we book, and on whose agreements?
240+ carriers are already connected, and you ship on your own transport agreements, with freight payer per agreement and temporary numbers for one-off cases. Adding a carrier is self-service: search the library, order, activated. nShift maintains and modernizes the connections, most recently the FedEx REST migration, MyDHL Express Global, and new PostNord SE booking APIs. Road, air, and sea report in the same analytics.
Can carriers and other external parties update a shipment without logging in?
Yes. Complement consignment gives an external party a secure link to enrich a shipment without a login: statuses, ETA and ETD, price information, and uploads such as a signed CMR, a POD, or damage photos. Everything becomes part of the official shipment history, and triggers automate what follows: a claim opens when a damage photo arrives, invoicing releases on Delivered.
How does day-to-day execution work at volume?
Consignments register through the GUI or integrations, with templates that lock fields per user and batch booking for volume; several consignments consolidate into one shipment with goods rows preserved. Once booked, a shipment is locked from editing, so the record the carrier received is the record you audit. Documents cover labels in PDF and ZPL, waybills and CMR, pick lists, customs invoices, Dangerous Goods Declarations, DHL paperless trade, and FedEx Electronic Trade Documents.
What IT asks
IT inherits the integration and the allowlist, so they ask how bookings flow and where the system runs.
How does it connect to our ERP?
Through ERP, ordering, and CRM integrations with semi or fully automatic booking, over FTP, SFTP, HTTP, web services, or ApportConnect, nShift's file-based integration with a print client. Event rules send outbound status files back to your systems, and the integration documentation is public.
Where does it run?
On AWS since April 2026, with systems hosted in Sweden and, per nShift's customer communication, no changes to GDPR compliance or existing data security agreements. Fixed IP addresses are published for allowlisting, and system email sends from a verified nshift.com domain.
Can we verify reliability ourselves?
Yes, any day, without asking nShift. status.nshift.com is the public status page for the TMS family, with nShift TMS, Web-TA, and Memnon Apport as named components.
Can we pull the data into our own BI?
Yes. Analytics runs on Qlik Sense: the Enterprise app is included, with Dashboard, Flow, Status, Carrier, and Details sheets covering the current and full previous year; Analytics Custom adds your own KPIs with extended storage. Scheduled Reports extract into your own BI, and sheets export to Excel. One constraint: Analytics refreshes once per day, so it reads yesterday's operation; live statuses stay on the consignment view.
What security asks
Security signs off before the contract moves, starting with who can log in and what a public link can reach.
How is access controlled?
Login is username plus Company ID, with lockout on failed attempts. User administration runs per domain, and templates can be restricted per user, so a coordinator books only what their role allows.
Those public Complement links, what can they reach?
One consignment, nothing else. Each link is a scoped access token bound to a single consignment, so an external party enriches that shipment without receiving a login or visibility into anything beyond it.
What certifications and commitments cover our data?
nShift is ISO 27001 certified, with DNV as certification body and the certificate available on request, and runs external penetration testing on cloud systems within a risk-based security program. The TMS handbook states it directly: "nShift meets the obligations set out in the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)." Systems are hosted in Sweden.
What procurement asks
Procurement wants the freight numbers defensible and the validation from outside.
Who outside nShift has validated this product?
Gartner named nShift a Notable Vendor in the Europe Context Magic Quadrant for Transportation Management Systems in both 2024 and 2025. nShift's 2025 announcement states: "nShift transport management software (TMS) enables complete supply-chain visibility."
How does it help us defend freight spend?
Prices calculate per tariff on the consignment, and Analytics carries the KPIs a carrier review needs: total price, price per consignment, per kg, per m3, per LDM, and status quality per carrier. Shipment Hub brings externally booked shipments into the same view. nShift TMS does not include a route optimization or freight audit module; cost control works through calculated prices and carrier-level KPIs.
How fast do customers get to value?
Ovako's Head of Logistics: "Our priority has been to get going quickly with the least possible friction to directly achieve the performance we wanted. And that's what we got." On the nShift ROI report, Harvey Nichols reached ROI payback in under 6 months, with implementation 3x faster than quoted alternatives.
Can you provide references?
Yes, matched by size, sector, and geography. Published TMS references include Unilever, Mobile Climate Control, Ovako, and Asmet, which selected nShift on integration with its IFS ERP, carrier verification, lead time, and cost.
The full answer set for your RFP
The TMS RFP and Security Pack brings the security answers, the verified detail behind every claim on this page, and a ready-to-use response to the questions evaluation teams ask most.
Rather talk it through?
If your evaluation runs into a question this page does not answer, or you want the carrier connections, the integration path, and the security detail mapped to your own lanes and markets, book a short demo. Bring whatever the committee is still debating and we will work through it live.
New consignmentCopenhagen → Hamburg
DHLDHL Express1 daykr 312
PNPostNordMyPack · 2 dayskr 248
DPDDPDClassic · 2–3 dayskr 269