System Fix: Hidden Inefficiencies | by ALL2S Consulting LLC
If you’ve ever pulled a financial report in CargoWise and wondered,
“Why doesn’t this match what I know is happening?” — you’re not alone.
Every logistics organization I’ve worked with has faced this at some point.
The profit looks off. The revenue categories don’t add up.
And finance spends hours chasing numbers that should have balanced automatically.
The culprit?
Charge codes that have gone completely wild.
1️⃣ How Charge Codes Go Off the Rails
Charge codes are the backbone of your financial and operational reporting in CargoWise.
They determine how transactions flow into your P&L, how revenue and cost are classified, and even how certain workflows trigger downstream.
But over time, and without clear control, they multiply—fast.
| Charge Code | Description | Issue |
| FREIGHT | Freight | Used by ocean, air, and trucking—impossible to segment |
| OCNFRT | Ocean Freight | Same as FREIGHT but created by one branch |
| FREIGHTREV | Freight Revenue | Duplicates category—skews totals |
| FREI | Freight | Typos + truncation = chaos |
| FREIGHT-CHG | Freight Charge | Same charge, different GL mapping |
One charge code becomes five. Every branch adds its own flavor—and your reporting turns into a jigsaw puzzle that never quite fits.
2️⃣ Charge Codes: Easy to Set Up… Hard to Get Right
Charge codes in CargoWise look easy to set up—technically, they are.
But this is a strong “but.”
Just because they’re easy doesn’t mean they don’t deserve attention, focus, controls, governance, and forward-thinking rules.
Should you limit who can create charge codes? Of course.
But also give charge codes the time and respect they deserve. They’re not just lines you add to a shipment. They impact:
- 💰 Auto-rating and margin calculations
- 📦 Quoting accuracy
- 🔗 CargoSphere and rate integrations
- 🧾 P&L and cost allocation
- 📊 Reporting and forecasting
They’re “easy” and “hard” at the same time: easy to enter, hard to manage well—because proper setup means filling in as much detail as possible and using available fields to unlock full functionality (service type, department, rev/cost class, mode, GL, tax, automation, etc.).
3️⃣ Why It Matters: Data Chaos = Decision Blindness
📊 Inaccurate reporting: Revenue/cost scatter across categories, distorting profitability by service, mode, or customer.
💰 Broken GL mapping: Inconsistent mapping pushes activity to the wrong accounts—finance ends up reconciling forever.
🧩 Operational confusion: Long, duplicative picklists lead users to “just pick something,” triggering wrong accruals and failed automations.
🚨 Compliance risk: Misclassified charges can create tax/customs reporting issues across borders.
When charge codes go unchecked, every report becomes a negotiation—not a reflection of reality.
4️⃣ Things to Think About (Before You Touch a Single Code)
- Local vs. Global: Charge codes can be local (specific to your company sign-on) or global (shared across an organization with offices in other countries). Think this through—it affects intercompany invoicing and cross-border consistency.
- Parity with Org Structure: You’ll notice these recommendations mirror the ones for organization codes—and that’s intentional. The two must align.
- Follow the Guidance: CargoWise has a lot to say about how to set up charge codes. Do not breeze through this process. Read, plan, and configure deliberately.
If you want someone practical and straight-forward to walk your team through charge codes, I’d love to help.
5️⃣ The Root Cause: Lack of Structure and Ownership
- Decentralized ownership: Branches/regions create their own codes.
- No standards: Naming and mapping conventions are missing.
- No review cadence: Old/duplicate codes stay active indefinitely.
Operations “just need it to work,” so no one wants to touch the list—and accuracy fades.
6️⃣ The Fix: Bring Order to the Chaos
🧭 1) Define Ownership & Governance
Assign a Charge Code Administrator (Finance or Master Data). All new codes flow through a ticketed request (TopDesk, Jira, ServiceNow) for documentation, approvals, and auditability.
🧩 2) Standardize Naming & Mapping
Adopt a convention like:
- REV_OCEAN_FREIGHT
- COST_AIR_HANDLING
- REV_TRUCKING_FUEL
Maintain a Charge Code Reference with purpose, mode, GL mapping, tax, status (Active/Inactive).
⚙️ 3) Audit & Clean Quarterly
Identify duplicates/near-duplicates, unused codes, missing GL/tax setup. Deactivate or consolidate ruthlessly. Less is more.
📚 4) Train for Consistency
Teach the why: one wrong code affects invoices and management reporting. Understanding drives compliance.
7️⃣ The ROI of Clean Charge Codes
✅ Accurate profit by service/customer/region
✅ Smooth reconciliation between CargoWise and your GL
✅ Better forecasting and cost control
✅ Faster decisions—with confidence
When codes are clean, your data finally speaks one language.
Final Thought
When charge codes go wild, you lose the ability to trust your numbers. And when you can’t trust your numbers, you can’t lead with confidence.
It’s time to take back control.
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ALL2S CONSULTING LLC 