Client Proposal & Statement of Work
Prepared exclusively for Cascade Freight Brokers — a 90-day pilot to automate rate confirmations, carrier check-ins, and invoice reconciliation.
Executive Summary
Cascade Freight Brokers moves 340+ loads a month with a three-person back office still keying rate confirmations and check calls by hand. This proposal outlines a focused pilot to remove that manual layer without disrupting live freight.
FreightDesk AI reads inbound rate confirmations, carrier check-in emails, and factoring paperwork, then writes clean, structured data directly into Cascade's existing TMS and accounting stack — no rip-and-replace, no new software for dispatchers to learn.
The engagement is structured as a phased pilot: a two-week Discovery to map your exact document formats and exception cases, a three-week Build against a live sandbox, and a guided Launch with your team watching every automated decision before it goes hands-off.
Every hour your team spends re-keying a rate confirmation is an hour not spent booking the next load. FreightDesk AI removes that hour — permanently.
Understanding Your Operation
Findings below are drawn from the July 22 operations walkthrough with Marcus Reyes and two dispatchers.
Each of the ~85 weekly rate-cons arrives as a PDF or forwarded email and is manually keyed into Cascade's TMS by a dispatcher, introducing transposition errors on rate, accessorials, and reference numbers.
~7 hrs/weekCheck-in emails and texts land across three inboxes and one shared phone line, with no single source of truth — customers occasionally get conflicting status updates on the same load.
~3 hrs/weekMatching signed BOLs and carrier invoices to the original rate confirmation is done at week's end in a batch, delaying factoring submissions and tying up cash Cascade could otherwise turn faster.
4–6 day delayProposed Solution
No dispatcher workflow changes until your team has approved the automation's output in a live sandbox. Each phase ends with a go/no-go checkpoint.
Aug 4 – Aug 15, 2026
Document-format mapping, TMS & accounting API access, exception-case catalog, success-metric sign-off.
Aug 18 – Sep 5, 2026
Rate-con parser, check-call unifier, and invoice-matching pipeline built against a sandboxed copy of your TMS.
Sep 8 – Sep 19, 2026
Parallel-run against live loads, dispatcher walkthrough, staged cutover, and a 30-day tuning window.
Why phased: freight brokerages run on trust between dispatch and carriers — a mis-keyed rate or a dropped check-call has real cost. Running the pilot in parallel with your existing process for the first two weeks of Launch means nothing goes live until your own team has verified it.
Scope of Work
We'd rather over-communicate boundaries now than surprise you at invoice time.
| Workstream | Description |
|---|---|
| Rate-con parsing | Automated extraction of rate, lane, reference #, and accessorials from PDF/email rate confirmations into the TMS. |
| Check-call unification | Single status feed combining carrier email, SMS, and phone-logged check-ins into one load-status record. |
| Invoice matching | Automated 3-way match of rate confirmation, signed BOL, and carrier invoice, flagging discrepancies for review. |
| TMS & accounting integration | Read/write integration with Cascade's existing TMS and accounting platform via named APIs identified in Discovery. |
| Dispatcher training | One live walkthrough session and a written quick-reference guide for the dispatch team. |
| Item | Why it's excluded |
|---|---|
| Custom TMS development | This pilot integrates with your existing TMS — it does not modify or extend the TMS platform itself. |
| Carrier-side integrations beyond the 3 named APIs | Additional carrier or broker-network integrations can be scoped as a change order once Discovery confirms demand. |
| After-hours live support | Pilot support is business-hours (8am–6pm PT). 24/7 monitoring is available as a post-pilot add-on. |
| Historical data backfill beyond 90 days | Keeps Discovery scoped to a two-week window; older records can be migrated separately if needed. |
Deliverables & Milestones
Dates assume a signed proposal and Discovery kickoff by August 4, 2026.
| Milestone | Deliverable | Target Date | Acceptance Criteria |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kickoff | Signed access & document-format catalog | Aug 4, 2026 | TMS/accounting API credentials issued; 20 sample rate-cons collected |
| Discovery complete | Exception-case log & success-metric sign-off | Aug 15, 2026 | Marcus Reyes approves scope-of-automation document in writing |
| Sandbox build | Rate-con parser + check-call unifier (sandbox) | Aug 29, 2026 | 95%+ field accuracy on 50-document sandbox test set |
| UAT sign-off | Parallel-run report vs. manual process | Sep 12, 2026 | Dispatch team confirms zero missed or misrouted loads across parallel-run window |
| Go-live | Production cutover | Sep 19, 2026 | Live traffic routed through FreightDesk AI; manual fallback documented |
| 30-day tuning review | Performance report & tuning adjustments | Oct 19, 2026 | Accuracy and turnaround metrics reviewed jointly; open items closed |
Investment
All tiers include the full Discovery → Build → Launch pilot. Tiers differ in integration depth and post-launch support.
Payment Schedule — Growth Partner Tier
| Milestone | Amount | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
| Signing / Kickoff | $499.50 (50% of setup) | Aug 4, 2026 |
| Go-live | $499.50 (50% of setup) | Sep 19, 2026 |
| Monthly service fee | $249/mo | Billed monthly starting Sep 19, 2026 |
Terms
Dates above assume Cascade provides API access and sample documents within 3 business days of a request, and reviews deliverables within 2 business days. Delays on Cascade's side shift the schedule day-for-day.
Work outside the Scope of Work (Section 5) is billed at $150/hr, or quoted as a fixed change order above $500. No change-order work begins without written approval from Marcus Reyes or a designated approver.
All custom integration code, parsing logic, and configuration built specifically for Cascade Freight Brokers transfers to Cascade upon final payment. Halloway Studio retains rights to general-purpose tooling and frameworks reused across engagements.
Both parties agree to keep rate data, carrier lists, and proprietary process details confidential during and after the engagement.
Approval
Signing below approves the Growth Partner tier ($999 setup + $249/mo) and authorizes Discovery kickoff on Aug 4, 2026.
Growth Partner Tier — 90-day pilot
Setup: $999 (split 50/50 at signing and go-live) · Ongoing: $249/mo starting at launch
$999 + $249/mo
Client
Signature
Printed Name & Title — Marcus Reyes, Director of Operations
Date
Service Provider
Signature
Printed Name & Title — Devin Marsh, Halloway Studio
Date
Halloway Studio · Portland, OR · hello@hallowaystudio.com · (503) 555-0182 · hallowaystudio.com