3A Logistics OS – End-to-End ERP, Control Tower & AI Operating System
1. Company Overview
3A International is a multimodal freight forwarding and logistics group in Egypt, operating:
Air & sea freight (import/export, FCL/LCL, consolidation)
Customs clearance & brokerage
Inland multimodal transport (rail, river, road)
Terminals, depots, CFS and value-added logistics
We are ISO 9001 / 14001 / 45001 certified
We want a custom, AI-native ERP / “Logistics Operating System” that becomes the central brain of the company.
2. Project Goal
Build a web-based ERP platform that:
Centralises all shipments and operations (air, sea, rail, river, road, customs, terminals).
Manages customers, partners, carriers, contractors, rates and contracts in one place.
Provides a real-time Control Tower + Network Digital Twin for visibility, risk and scenarios.
Delivers accurate job-level, customer-level and corridor-level profitability (cost-to-serve).
Embeds IMS / QHSE / ISO documents, non-conformities, audits and risks.
Includes customer & partner portals plus a corporate website on our domain.
Uses AI for insights, recommendations, document processing and “next best actions”.
Scope is the full system, not a small MVP.
3. Core Modules – Functional Scope
3.1 Platform & Security
Web application (desktop-first, responsive).
User accounts, roles and permissions (Sales, CS, Sea Ops, Air Ops, Customs, Inland Ops, Terminals, Finance, QHSE, HR, Management, Admin).
Audit logging for critical changes.
API-first design (REST) so accounting, BI, portals and AI can connect.
3.2 Master Data & Configuration
Customers, suppliers/contractors, carriers, global agents.
Locations (ports, airports, ICDs, terminals, depots, borders, corridors).
Services & products (air, sea, inland, customs, warehousing, projects, consulting).
Charge codes (THC, BAF, DO fee, clearance fee, etc.).
Config tables (statuses, reasons, incident types, risk levels, SLA targets).
3.3 CRM & Commercial Management
Leads, prospects and opportunities (pipeline).
Customer profiles with commercial notes and history.
Quotations with multi-leg routes (e.g. sea + rail + truck), margin calculation and validity.
Convert accepted quotes into jobs (pre-filled).
3.4 Rate & Contract Management
Buy rates for carriers, agents, truckers, rail & river (lanes, equipment, validity, free time).
Sell rates / customer tariffs and named-account contracts.
Rate search & selection during quoting and planning.
3.5 Operations – Freight & Multimodal
Job / shipment management for sea & air (import/export, FCL, LCL, consol).
Inland / multimodal legs (rail, river, truck) linked to the same job.
Multi-leg structure: each leg with its own carrier, ETD/ETA, actual times and milestones.
Standard milestones (Booked, Docs Ready, Gate-In, On Board, Arrived, DO Collected, Released, Delivered, Empty Returned, Closed).
Task assignment and “My Tasks” view per user.
Document management (BL, AWB, invoices, packing list, DO, customs docs, POD, photos).
3.6 Operations – Customs & Terminals / CFS / Depots
Customs file linked to job (declaration no., regime, duties/taxes, status, clearance dates).
Clearance workflow tracking (docs submitted → released → delivered).
Basic terminal / depot / CFS handling: gate-in/out, yard dwell time, LCL de-consolidation / consolidation, loading lists.
Rail & river terminals: train/barge schedules, loading/unloading lists, utilisation.
3.7 Partner / Carrier / Supplier Management
Profiles for carriers (sea/air), agents, truckers, CFS, depots, rail & river operators, brokers.
Vetting data: licenses, insurances, certificates, contracts, status (Pending/Approved/Blocked).
Performance KPIs per partner (on-time %, average delays, D&D incidents, claims, clearance time).
Spend and margin by partner and lane for evaluation and negotiation.
3.8 Control Tower & Network Digital Twin
Real-time global view of all active jobs and legs with status, ETD/ETA and risk flags.
Filters by customer, lane, corridor, mode, port, operator, risk level.
Exception lists (overdue milestones, near free-time, high-risk jobs).
Network Digital Twin: nodes (ports, terminals, depots, customers) and links (lanes/modes) for simulation of “what-if” scenarios (port closure, carrier loss, routing changes).
3.9 Costing, Job P&L, Revenue Assurance & Credit Control
Cost lines and revenue lines per job; automatic P&L (revenue, cost, margin, margin %).
Profitability reports by customer, lane, corridor, mode, partner, operator.
Revenue assurance: compare vendor invoices to contracted rates / free time, detect overbilling; check customer invoices for missing/under-billed charges.
Customer credit status and alerts; export finance data to accounting (no full GL needed inside ERP).
3.10 IMS / QHSE / ISO Management
Full IMS document register (POL/PRC/REC/REG) with version control, approvals and change history.
Document storage (Word/PDF), ISO clause mapping.
Non-conformities / incidents linked to jobs, customers, partners and processes.
CAPA tracking (corrective / preventive actions, owners, due dates).
Audit records and findings; risk & opportunity register.
3.11 HR & Performance
Basic staff profiles, roles and departments.
Link jobs handled to operators and sales/KAMs.
KPIs per person and team (jobs handled, OTIF, error/incident rate, margin contribution).
Cognitive load & workload balancer: model workload/complexity and suggest re-balancing tasks to reduce errors and burnout.
3.12 Analytics, BI & Reporting
Dashboards for volume, revenue, cost, margin, OTIF, clearance time, D&D, NCs.
Filters by customer, lane, corridor, mode, partner, operator, branch.
Reporting database design ready for BI tools (e.g. Power BI).
3.13 Sustainability & Asset Health
CO₂ / emissions estimation per shipment, leg and corridor; aggregation by customer, lane, mode and period; comparison of routing options (cost vs time vs emissions).
Asset register for key equipment (barges, vessels, rail wagons, terminal equipment) with usage, maintenance history and basic predictive maintenance logic.
3.14 Customer & Partner Portal + Corporate Website
Customer & Partner Portal (e.g. portal.<domain>):
Secure login for customers, agents and partners.
Track & trace (status, milestones, ETD/ETA by job/BL/container).
Download/upload documents; view invoices and basic account statement.
Simple KPIs for key customers (volume, OTIF, emissions).
Corporate Website (e.g. www.<domain>):
Public site for brand, services, projects, news and careers.
CMS for content updates.
Contact / RFQ forms that create leads in ERP CRM.
“Login” and “Track Shipment” buttons linking to portal/ERP APIs.
4. AI & Automation Layer – Expectations
The solution must be AI-native, with at least:
AI Copilot (contextual assistant)
Available inside the ERP and portal.
Answers questions about jobs, customers, partners, lanes, KPIs.
Summarises profiles, incidents, audits, and procedures (PRC-… docs).
Drafts emails and reports (e.g. delay notices, claim letters, rate increases) using real data.
Insight & Risk Engine
Predictive risk scoring for jobs (delay/D&D risk), partners, corridors and customers.
Early-warning alerts and “next best action” suggestions for operators.
Document AI
Read BL/AWB/invoices/clearance docs and suggest field values during data entry.
Advanced Concepts
Corridor “Mini-CEO” agents monitoring each strategic corridor’s P&L, service, risk and emissions, proposing pricing and routing changes.
Strategy Time Machine / Replay to simulate alternative past decisions (pricing, routing, carrier mix) and show impact.
Automation & playbooks: configurable rules and AI-driven workflows triggering tasks, notifications and escalations on exceptions.
Architecture must allow AI components to be extended and improved over time.
5. Technology & Delivery Expectations
Modern web stack (e.g. React/Vue + Node/Laravel/.NET + PostgreSQL/MySQL) – vendor to propose.
Clean, modular architecture by module; API-first.
Scalable for ~50–100 concurrent internal users + portal users.
Proper security, backups and logging.
Full source-code and IP ownership by 3A International.
Vendor to propose delivery plan, milestones, timeline and budget for the entire scope above.