Our Real-World Experience Supporting TruckMate in Transportation

We’ve been working with TruckMate for roughly 20 years. In transportation terms, that’s not unusual — many transport companies run TruckMate for decades. It’s a legacy system, but it’s not going anywhere, and for good reason.

Transportation was ahead of many other industries in IT long before people realized it. Dispatch, billing, accounting, driver communication, border systems — all of it had to work together, in real time, under constant pressure. TruckMate was built for that job.

Why TruckMate Still Matters

TruckMate isn’t a generic ERP that’s been forced into trucking. It was designed specifically for transport operations.

It integrates dispatch, billing, and accounting into a single operational platform. It supports communications and tracking tied directly to trucks and drivers. It handles cross-border workflows with US and Canadian agencies. It also integrates with document scanning and document management systems, which matters because transportation generates an enormous amount of paperwork.

The Reality of Transport IT

Transportation runs on tight margins and tight timelines. When systems go down, trucks don’t just stop moving on a screen; they get stuck at the border.

Over the years, we have virtualized TruckMate environments and saved significant time and money. Early on this was commonly done with VMware. Looking at environments today, we would design these systems with high availability in mind using platforms like Proxmox with Ceph. That allows infrastructure to be maintained while the business continues to operate and you get all that built in to Proxmox.

Downtime in transportation isn’t just inconvenient. It can cascade into missed deliveries, trucks stuck at the border, disrupted supply chains, and customer penalties. Transportation is critical infrastructure, whether people think about it that way or not.

Where Things Usually Go Wrong

Most issues don’t come from TruckMate itself. They come from the ecosystem around it.

Upgrades can be difficult because of tight integrations with document management systems and cross-border services. EDI and MQ connections to US and Canadian border agencies add complexity, and middleware dependencies are often poorly understood until something breaks.

One commonly underestimated risk is SSL certificate renewals from border agencies. If a renewal is missed, MQ can go down and trucks can get stuck at the border. While BorderConnect can be used as a fallback, it creates additional work and pressure during already stressful situations.

Avoiding unnecessary costs and downtime requires understanding both the technical details and the operational processes involved.

Everything Is Interconnected

Transportation IT does not operate in isolation. Internal systems, internet connectivity, border agencies, trucks on the road, and third-party providers are all tightly linked.

If one part fails, the impact spreads quickly. That is why transport companies should invest in highly available infrastructure, reliable backups, and backup internet connections. Without internet access, dispatch stops, border processing stalls, and operations grind to a halt.

People and Process Matter

When problems occur, fast resolution depends on knowing who is responsible for what and who to contact.

That usually means maintaining clear documentation covering local IT providers, TruckMate (Trimble/TMW) support, and border or EDI contacts. No single party controls the entire system, and real resolution requires cooperation across organizations.

Our approach is to document as much as possible so we can assist effectively when issues arise.

What Makes Environments Run Smoothly

After years of supporting TruckMate in production environments, the pattern is consistent. Stable operations depend on good infrastructure, backup connectivity, solid documentation, and a capable team. A good team solves most problems in any business, and transportation is no exception.

How We Help

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to TruckMate. Every transport company operates differently.

The right starting point is a careful review of how the system is used, where issues occur, which integrations are critical, and which risks are being underestimated. From there, we help stabilize and support the environment so trucks keep moving, because when they don’t, the impact extends far beyond a single company.

For more information about how we support TruckMate environments:
https://dataforgecanada.com/software/truckmate