How CIRS Works in 4 Steps

A Step‑by‑Step Guide for Logistics, Finance, and Operations Teams

Last updated About 1 month ago

The Big Picture: How CIRS Works in 4 Steps

At its core, CIRS follows a simple, repeatable workflow:

Ingest

Bring invoices and pricing data into CIRS.

Analyse & Verify

Recalculate expected costs for every shipment line.

Flag & Resolve

Surface discrepancies and help you approve, dispute, or ignore them.

Report & Audit

Turn all activity into usable, compliant reports and insights.

Everything else in the system supports and enhances these four steps.

Step 1: Ingest – Getting Your Data into CIRS

CIRS needs two main types of data to work effectively:

  1. Your carrier invoices (what you were billed).

  2. Your rate structures and rules (what you should have been billed).

1.1 What You Import

You can import:

Carrier invoices

From DHL, UPS, FedEx, local couriers, and other partners or via direct integrations or by uploading files (e.g. Excel, CSV, or structured exports).

Rate cards

Your negotiated pricing per carrier, per service, per zone, per weight break.

Zone definitions

How each carrier divides the world into zones and how postcodes/regions map to those zones.

Surcharge tables

Fuel, peak season, remote area, and other add‑on fees.

1.2 How to Ingest Data – Step by Step

1. Set up your company account

  • Your administrator creates your organisation in CIRS.

  • Add teams and assign roles (Finance, Operations, Compliance, Exec).

2. Import carrier rate cards

  • Navigate to the Rate Cards or Pricing section.

  • Download a template if needed (recommended for first‑time setup).

  • Populate your carrier, service, zone, weight breaks, and prices in Excel/CSV.

  • Upload the file and let CIRS map and validate the structure.

3. Upload surcharge and zone data

  • For each carrier, import:

    • Fuel surcharge tables.

    • Peak/seasonal surcharge tables.

    • Remote area or out‑of‑area fee tables.

  • Import your zone definitions, or use existing standard ones if already configured.

4. Connect or upload invoices

  • Either connect to carriers via secure integrations (preferred), or

  • Upload invoice data files directly (e.g. monthly statements in Excel/CSV).

Once this is done, CIRS has the same information your carrier has – and can calculate expected costs line by line.

Step 2: Analyse & Verify – Recalculating Every Line

Once invoices are ingested, CIRS breaks each invoice into individual shipment lines and recalculates what each one should have cost.

2.1 What CIRS Checks

For every single line, CIRS will verify:

Weight

  • Actual vs volumetric weight.

  • Correct weight break according to the rate card.

Zone

Whether the destination has been mapped to the correct carrier zone.

Base rate

Correct base price for the carrier, service, zone, and weight combination.

Surcharges

  • Fuel, peak, remote area, and any custom surcharges.

  • Whether these are within agreed thresholds or contracted rates.

Discounts and special terms

Contracted discounts by service, account, route, or volume.

CIRS calculates an Expected Cost for each line and compares it to the Invoiced Amount. Any mismatch is flagged.

2.2 Pricing Rules (“Smart Rate Cards”)

Your contracts and policies are expressed as Pricing Rules – these are business rules that tell CIRS how to handle different scenarios.

Examples:

  • “If shipment weight is under 0.5 kg and carrier is DHL, ignore volumetric weight.”

  • “If destination zone is Zone 3 and service is Express, apply a 5% discount threshold.”

  • “Flag any surcharge line where the value exceeds the contracted rate by more than 10%.”

These rules are:

  • Priority‑based – higher‑priority rules are applied first.

  • Version‑controlled – you can see who changed what and when.

  • Non‑technical – set up via forms and drop‑downs; no coding needed.

2.3 Setting Up a New Rule – Step by Step

  1. Go to the Rules section in the main menu.

  2. Click Create New Rule.

  3. Enter a name and description (e.g. “DHL Express Zone 3 Discount”).

  4. Assign a Priority Level (higher = applied earlier).

  5. Define Conditions

    • Carrier, service, zone, weight range, surcharge type, or other criteria.

  6. Choose the Action

    • Ignore (exclude from discrepancy checks).

    • Flag for Review (highlight for team review).

    • Auto‑Approve (treat as correct without manual intervention).

  7. Save and Activate the rule.

  8. The rule is now applied to all future invoice processing and is recorded in the audit trail.

Tip:

To get started, many organisations begin with broad tolerance rules such as:
“Flag any invoice line with a discrepancy above £X.”

Then they refine over time as patterns emerge.

Step 3: Flag & Resolve – Working with Discrepancies

Once invoices are analysed, CIRS surfaces the results in the Invoices area and the Dashboard.

3.1 The Dashboard – Your Daily Control Centre

When you log in, the Dashboard gives you a live snapshot of billing health:

Summary cards

  • Total invoices processed.

  • Invoices with discrepancies.

  • Approved invoices.

  • Invoices pending review.

Status distribution chart

Processing, Approved, Discrepancy, Completed – at a glance.

Recent activity feed

Most recently processed invoices with their status and key figures.

Quick filters

Filter by date range, carrier, status, or company.

A typical daily routine is:

  1. Log into CIRS and open the Dashboard.

  2. Check the Discrepancy count – these are your high‑value items.

  3. Click through to the Invoices list to start reviewing.

3.2 The Invoice List

The Invoices section shows all processed invoices with:

  • Invoice number and date.

  • Carrier name and service type.

  • Total invoiced amount vs expected amount.

  • Number of line items and discrepancy count.

  • Current status (colour‑coded).

Use the search and filters to narrow by carrier, date range, or status.

3.3 Invoice Detail View

Click into an invoice to see a line‑by‑line breakdown.

Each shipment line has a status indicator:

  • Matched (Green) – Invoiced price matches expected cost.

  • Discrepancy (Red) – Overcharge or undercharge detected.

  • Under Review (Yellow) – Needs manual verification before decision.

  • Ignored (Grey) – Excluded by a rule (for example, low‑value variances).

For each line, you typically see:

  • Invoiced amount.

  • Expected amount.

  • Percentage/absolute difference.

  • Any triggered rules or reasons for flagging.

3.4 Reviewing a Discrepancy – Step by Step

  1. Open the Invoices section.

  2. Filter by Discrepancy status.

  3. Select an invoice and open its Detail View.

  4. Scroll to the red Discrepancy lines.

  5. Review side‑by‑side:

    • Invoiced vs Expected amount.

    • Triggered rules or comments.

  6. Decide on an action for each line:

    • Approve if the charge is justified (e.g. contract change, known exception).

    • Mark for Dispute if you believe the carrier has overcharged.

  7. Once all lines are processed, update the invoice status (e.g. Completed / Ready for Dispute).

  8. Generate a Discrepancy Report to send to the carrier for credit notes or adjustments.

Important:

The aim is to move your team away from manual checking of everything and towards reviewing only those lines that genuinely need attention.

Step 4: Report & Audit – From Activity to Insight

Every decision in CIRS is recorded and can be turned into usable reports.

4.1 Available Reports

You can generate reports such as:

Invoice Matching Overview

Match rates, discrepancy values, and total savings recovered.

Carrier Performance

Billing accuracy, error frequency, and dispute rates per carrier.

Rule Effectiveness

Which rules are triggered most often, and how much value they are protecting or recovering.

User Activity Log

Which users approved, disputed, or modified invoices and rules, with timestamps.

These reports are exportable (e.g. Excel) for deeper analysis or sharing with stakeholders.

4.2 The Audit Trail

CIRS maintains a comprehensive, tamper‑proof audit trail, including:

  • Who performed an action (user name and role).

  • What was changed (invoice status, rule, data import, etc.).

  • When it happened (date and timestamp).

  • Why it was done (linked to specific invoice, rule, or process).

This is particularly valuable for:

  • External audits (financial, compliance, regulatory).

  • Internal reviews and investigations.

  • Demonstrating policy adherence and control to management.

Nothing in the audit trail can be modified or deleted, which ensures full traceability.

Next Steps

CIRS gives you a simple but powerful pattern to rely on: Ingest, Analyse, Flag, Resolve, and Report. Once the initial setup is complete, your teams spend less time checking invoices line by line, and more time acting on insights – spotting real issues quickly, defending your margins, and building stronger, data‑backed relationships with your carriers.

Once you are familiar with the core workflow, you can:

  • Extend CIRS across more carriers and business units.

  • Tighten or adapt rules to focus on the biggest risk areas.

  • Use historical data to quantify savings and continuously improve contract terms.

CIRS is designed to grow with your logistics operation – whether you handle a few thousand shipments a month or hundreds of thousands, the underlying process is the same: ingest, analyse, flag, resolve, and report.