System Fix: Hidden Inefficiencies | by ALL2S Consulting LLC
All freight forwarders I’ve worked with know one thing for sure — their master data is a mess, and most feel powerless to fix it.
But here’s the truth: you’re not powerless.
You can contain it. You can clean it up.
And you can create the structure and process to greatly reduce the risk going forward.
Keep reading to understand how you can take control of your CargoWise contact data — before the duplicates, mismatched records, and reporting errors take control of you.
1️⃣ Why Duplicates Happen
CargoWise is incredibly flexible — which is both its strength and its weakness.
Without clear governance, multiple users can easily create slightly different versions of the same company or contact.
| Example | The System Thinks These Are Different |
| ABC Logistics Inc. | ABC Logistics Incorporated |
| ABC Logistics (Main) | ABC Logistics – Miami |
| ABC Logistics | A.B.C. Logistics |
Each record might have a different address, billing setup, or missing information — and suddenly, your database has three versions of one customer.
Multiply that across hundreds of users and thousands of shipments, and the risk compounds fast.
2️⃣ Why Duplicates Are So Dangerous
Duplicate contacts create ripple effects across finance, operations, and reporting — but the consequences in each area are different.
💰 Finance Risk (Where It Hurts Most)
My background gives me a heavy focus on finance, and I can tell you — this is where duplicates become most dangerous because you’re dealing directly with money.
In finance, where cash flow can be significantly impacted, controls must be tight.
I’ve seen major issues arise with vendors that have multiple locations.
They may issue invoices from different branches, leading users to believe multiple financial organizations need to exist in CargoWise.
In reality, many of these vendors have a central billing office. Without structure, this creates duplicate vendor records, misapplied payments, and unnecessary reconciliation headaches.
It gets even trickier with overseas agents.
If you pay the wrong agent record, getting that money back — or redirected correctly — can be daunting.
You’re suddenly dealing with:
- Countries that have strict cash movement laws
- Language barriers
- Time zone delays
- And offices with little motivation to return funds
The risk isn’t just administrative — it’s financial exposure that can directly hit your bottom line.
The good news: CargoWise has tools to manage this effectively.
You can set up multiple offices under one organization and link them to a central billing office.
That way, operations can display the correct local office on paperwork while finance pays the correct entity.
It just takes upfront configuration effort and governance discipline.
📦 Operational Risk
Duplicate contacts cause breakdowns in visibility and compliance.
Shipments booked under one contact may have documentation or milestones tied to another.
That disconnect confuses operators and can lead to compliance issues, especially when customs, insurance, or claims reference the wrong legal entity.
📊 Reporting Risk
Reporting is where management finally sees the manifestation of the problem.
Your dashboards show inconsistent customer volumes, profit by client is unreliable, and KPIs reflect partial truths.
Strategic decision-making becomes reactive rather than informed.
Duplicates don’t just live quietly in the background — they multiply across every integration, from your ERP to Power BI to financial reports.
One duplicate in CargoWise doesn’t stay in CargoWise. It spreads.
3️⃣ The Root Cause: No Contact Ownership
Most duplicates aren’t created out of carelessness — they’re created out of urgency.
An operator needs to book a shipment immediately, so they type a quick version of the company name and hit “Save.”
Without clear ownership or data standards, CargoWise will let anyone create new records.
That convenience comes at a cost: fractured master data that impacts every downstream function.
4️⃣ The Fix: Design Contact Control
Data governance doesn’t have to be complicated — but it does have to be intentional and consistent.
Start by creating a formal process for organization and contact setup requests.
No one should be entering new organizations or contacts directly in CargoWise unless they are part of a designated master data team.
Even contacts that appear non-financial today should still go through this controlled process — because tomorrow, that same contact might become financial.
If it was created without validation or structure, it will cause downstream issues later.
There are several ways to manage setup requests effectively:
- Some companies use email-based forms to submit new organization requests.
- Others use an internal IT ticket system like TopDesk, Jira, or ServiceNow, which I strongly prefer.
Ticketing systems centralize everything — the request, feedback, documentation, and final approval — all in one place.
They also allow you to track metrics (response times, number of requests, duplicate prevention rate) and measure accountability.
⚙️ Set Clear Service Levels
One of the biggest pushbacks often comes from operations.
They want to move fast, and they fear that tighter controls will slow them down.
To balance control with agility, establish a reasonable service level agreement (SLA) — for example, a 24-hour turnaround on contact setup requests.
This gives operations predictability without sacrificing quality.
📚 Train for Data Awareness
Finally, invest in data training.
Help your teams understand that “moving fast” can sometimes mean “moving sloppy.”
That sloppiness doesn’t just create extra admin work — it can turn into a shipment from hell when incorrect contacts lead to customs delays, billing mismatches, or compliance red flags.
Clean data doesn’t slow your business down.
It’s what allows your business to move fast without friction.
5️⃣ The ROI of Clean Contacts
Clean contact data is invisible — until you don’t have it.
When your system is structured, your teams stop wasting time chasing errors, your invoices go to the right place, and your reports finally tell the truth.
Clean master data improves:
📈 Cash flow accuracy
🧾 AR and AP reconciliation
📊 Data confidence for reporting
💼 Compliance and audit readiness
When users trust the data, adoption goes up — and efficiency follows.
Final Thought
Duplicates aren’t just an IT problem — they’re a financial and operational risk that silently compounds over time.
When your master data is clean, your financial statements tell the truth, your cash moves with confidence, and your operations flow without friction.
You’re not powerless. You can take control.
🧭 Download my free ALL2S Data Health Audit Checklist to start assessing your CargoWise master data today.
☕ And if you want to take it further, I can help you design a data governance dashboard that monitors contact accuracy, duplicate trends, and ownership compliance — in real time.
🔗 https://buymeacoffee.com/ALL2SConsultingLLC/e/465813
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