How to automate carrier scorecard reporting using Parabola
You want to work with carriers that consistently deliver on KPIs like beyond on-time performance. But with each carrier providing data in their own format and on different schedules, it can be challenging to see how they stack up against one another.
With Parabola, leverage AI to standardize shipment data across your carriers and grade them on metrics like on-time performance, billing accuracy, damage free shipment rate, and cost per pound. Build a standardization engine to map carrier data to your internal format before creating robust dashboards and visualizations to compare carriers 1-to-1 — even if the incoming data varies wildly from carrier to carrier.
- Pull carrier data from sources like PDFs, spreadsheets, and emails using steps like Pull from PDF file and Pull from inbound email.
- Standardize values like carrier names and dates using steps like Standardize with AI, Edit columns, and Format dates to ensure consistency across records.
- Use steps like Add math column, Sum by group, and Average by group to calculate KPIs like on-time delivery rate, average cost per shipment, and damage-free rate.
- Combine data from multiple sources using the Combine tables step to ensure you have all performance metrics in one dataset.
- Create a robust reporting dashboard using the Visualize step in Parabola.
Video overview
Why Parabola
Carrier scorecarding involves measuring and evaluating carrier performance against key performance indicators (KPIs) like on-time delivery, cost per pound, invoice accuracy, claims resolution, and overall spend. These scorecards help logistics teams identify high-performing carriers, negotiate better contracts, and improve overall supply chain efficiency.
- Pull carrier data from sources like PDFs, spreadsheets, and emails using steps like Pull from PDF file and Pull from inbound email.
- Standardize values like carrier names and dates using steps like Standardize with AI, Edit columns, and Format dates to ensure consistency across records.
- Use steps like Add math column, Sum by group, and Average by group to calculate KPIs like on-time delivery rate, average cost per shipment, and damage-free rate.
- Combine data from multiple sources using the Combine tables step to ensure you have all performance metrics in one dataset.
- Create a robust reporting dashboard using the Visualize step in Parabola.
- Map out your desired final output before building your Flow. Determine which KPIs are most critical for your team, and then work backwards to understand which dataset(s) you’ll need to calculate each metric.
- At the start of your Flow, standardize your data as much as possible across carriers to ensure a good 1:1 comparison.
- In your reporting dashboard, you have the ability to filter by carrier. Many teams will choose to create a comprehensive dashboard to report on all carriers, and then create specific, filtered-down views to analyze performance for specific carriers.
- To start building your carrier scorecarding Flow, use the Template above and check out Parabola University.
- Learn more about how to set up an auto-forwarding rule in Parabola here.
3PL scorecarding centralizes performance data—like on-time delivery and fulfillment accuracy—into automated dashboards, giving teams real-time visibility into issues that impact OTIF metrics. Instead of pulling data manually from different systems, scorecards surface trends, issues, and accountability so you can drive improvement rather than chase errors.
Many logistics teams start with rudimentary tools: BI platforms, spreadsheets, or basic reports from WMS systems. These often fall short because they require manual updates and lack cross-system visibility. Parabola enables automated scorecarding by connecting shipment data, carrier APIs, and historical benchmarks into dynamic, no-code dashboards that update as often as needed.
Manual scorecarding is labor-intensive, because data is siloed across multiple 3PL systems and formats. Reconciliation often involves complex joins, normalization, and aggregation, which makes frequent updates (daily or hourly) impractical without automation—especially during surges or peak seasons when OTIF issues spike.
Scorecards help logistics teams track whether 3PLs are meeting contractual commitments and service standards. By quantifying metrics like on-time shipments, error rates, and cost variance, shippers can hold partners accountable and identify trends early. See our blog on 3PL management for strategies on building stronger provider relationships.
