From shipper paperwork to TMS entry in 22 seconds with the Cover Card
Covering a load means re-keying the customer's paperwork into the TMS. The SmartLoads Cover Card reads forwarded PDFs, matches them to the right load and lists every field in the TMS's own order. Here's how it works and how the matching avoids the wrong load.
When a load is covered, a broker still has to key the customer's paperwork (release, shipper document, reference numbers, pickup and delivery details) into the TMS. With SmartLoads, anyone on the team forwards that paperwork to one email address. An AI model reads the PDFs into fields, a rules-based matcher finds the load by lane, pickup date, customer rate and weight, and the load shows a Cover Information card listing every field in the TMS's own order. The first live forward matched the right load in 22 seconds.
Booking the carrier isn't the last step. Someone still has to put the covered load into the TMS: the customer's reference numbers, the pickup and delivery addresses and hours, the items, weight and rate, and the special instructions. That information arrives as PDFs from the customer, often two documents for one load, and it gets typed in by hand.
At SmartLoads' first agency customer, the person covering loads described the problem simply: they couldn't find things. The information was spread across an email, two PDFs and the load board.
How the Cover Card works
- Forward the paperwork. Anyone on the team forwards the customer's email, with its PDFs, to a SmartLoads cover address. There's nothing to install.
- AI reads the documents. An AI model reads every attached PDF and merges them into one set of fields: customer, reference numbers, pickup and consignee (name, address, contact, phone, hours, notes), dates, items, pieces, weight, footage, equipment, customer rate and special instructions. It also flags anything it's unsure of.
- Rules find the load. A deterministic matcher, not the AI, decides which load the paperwork belongs to.
- The load shows the card. A large Cover information button appears on the load. It opens every field in the TMS's own order, ready to key or copy.
The first live forward, on September 26, 2026, was matched to the right load 22 seconds after it arrived.
Why matching is the hard part
The customer's paperwork almost never carries the broker's load number. Their shipper number isn't anywhere on the load board. So the matcher uses what both sides do share:
- Lane. The pickup and delivery cities, including second names in parentheses and the place in a facility name (for example "NUCOR STEEL - JEWETT" means Jewett). "Saint" and "St", and "Fort" and "Ft", are treated as the same.
- Pickup date, within three days either side of the load's ship date or board date.
- Customer rate, when the paperwork states one, to within a dollar.
- Weight, within 2% (or 50 lbs).
- Status. A booked or covered load is preferred over an open one. You're covering a load you booked.
Then it decides:
| Result | When | What the broker sees |
|---|---|---|
| Matched | Exactly one booked or covered load on the lane with the right rate, within two days, not already carded | The card on that load |
| Possible | Loads on the lane, but no clear winner | "Is this the load?" on up to five candidates |
| Unmatched | Nothing on that lane near that date | The card is saved for a person to review |
Here's why this matters. On one day in September there were three $1,000 loads out of the same plant. Only one of them was covered, and that's the one the paperwork belonged to. Matching on the plant and the rate alone would have been a coin toss. Preferring the covered load made it certain.
Reference numbers, the TMS's way
Every TMS has its own conventions for where references go. The Cover Card follows the agency's rules. For example, at one Aljex agency:
- Customer Ref # = the shipper number
- Consignee Ref # = the shipper number
- Pick Up Ref # = pickup number // shipper number
The carrier, MC number and carrier rate come from the booking in SmartLoads. The customer's address comes from the TMS's own customer list. So the card only shows what the TMS doesn't already know.
Why AI reads and rules decide
Reading a scanned release or a shipper document is exactly what AI is good at: messy layouts, varying labels, two documents describing one load. Deciding which load that paperwork belongs to is a different kind of job. It has a right answer, and it should be explainable. So the AI extracts, a tested matcher decides, and every match comes with a note saying why ("matched on lane, rate, weight and date"). When the matcher isn't sure, it says so and a person picks.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need an integration with our TMS?
No. The Cover Card works by email forward and shows the fields in your TMS's order, so keying them takes seconds. The card's data is also available through the SmartLoads Partner API for systems that can read it directly.
What if the paperwork matches the wrong load?
The matcher only auto-matches when exactly one booked or covered load fits the lane, rate and date. Otherwise it shows candidates, and a person confirms the right one.
Can anyone on the team forward paperwork?
Yes. Forwarding the customer's email is the whole workflow. There's nothing to install.
What does the AI do if a document is unreadable?
It returns what it could read along with warnings, and the card shows those warnings so a person checks the originals.