Many successful fuel suppliers and marketers are utilizing credit and product allocation management systems that help them manage risk and control the credit line of their customers at the terminal. After all, suppliers are in the business of selling fuel, not giving it away. Naturally, it’s beneficial to sell to the best, most reliable customers. Making sure you do just that is sometimes the hardest part of the sale. These allocation management technologies are used to reserve or allocate product across both proprietary and third-party terminals in an enterprise and protect volume for customers with branded or contractual agreements at the terminal. In some cases, the supplier might also use this technology to reserve product for its own business use. While at first this approach might sound like it is intended to limit the oil company’s business, it actually proves to achieve just the opposite. A centralized credit and product allocation controls solution creates a safety net that empowers sellers to enter new markets with potentially tighter margins and do business successfully with customers who had posed a greater risk in the past. In this paper, we discuss the features of credit and product control systems that can help a savvy supplier differentiate its brand in a commoditized marketplace – and grow its fuel supply business.

1. Credit and Product Controls
Today’s most cost-effective and efficient way to grow your business
2011 / White paper
by Lisa Rotunno
Make the most of your energy
SM

2. Summary
Executive summary ..................................................................................... p 1
Introduction ................................................................................................. p 2
Customer service, customer service, customer service ................................ p 4
The power of electronic BOLs . .................................................................... p 6
The new way of doing business ................................................................... p 6
Centrally managed product moves help protect supply efficiently . ............... p 7
Grow your business with the industry-leading DTN TABS solution ................ p 8
Conclusion .................................................................................................. p 9

3. Grow Your Business Through Credit and Product Controls
Executive summary
Fuel suppliers and marketers are putting advanced technology, centralized
credit and product control systems to work to benefit both sides of the suppliercustomer relationship. These information systems make it possible for the supplier
to make current allocation and lifting status readily available to its customer, so
both can best manage their processes, avoid supply issues and lengthy telephone
resolution, and dispatch and lift more efficiently. With exceptional service and
attention, the customer does not need to, nor is inclined to, pull from another
supplier or go to another terminal.
The electronic Bill of Lading (eBOL) generated automatically by such a system
and transmitted immediately to a customer who is re-selling the product lets that
customer invoice faster. Allocation viewing provides customers with secure, upto-the-minute credit availability, product forecasts and current month allocations.
Again, the customer recognizes streamlined business as enhanced service.
In addition to improved customer relations and loyalty, the supplier applying a
robust credit and product controls solution helps its own cause. It can accurately
factor all elements affecting a customer’s limits. It can relay in real time vital
communications regarding product availability at any specific terminal and
customer credit across all terminals, all to optimize enterprise efficiency. Advanced
allocations capability helps automate and streamline the adjustments necessary to
manage supply disruptions efficiently.
DTN TABS from Schneider Electric was developed by industry specialists to
provide these capabilities and benefits. Further, it reflects industry standards that
enable seamless interoperability with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems,
making information available to all business processes. Designed with functional
modules, this solution is easy to update and keep pace with industry requirements
and customer needs – and, therefore, retains its initial investment value.
Making permanent savings through
accurate, automated billing
White paper on improving credit and product controls | 01

4. Grow Your Business Through Credit and Product Controls
Introduction
Many successful fuel suppliers and marketers are utilizing credit and product
allocation management systems that help them manage risk and control the
credit line of their customers at the terminal. After all, suppliers are in the business
of selling fuel, not giving it away. Naturally, it’s beneficial to sell to the best, most
reliable customers. Making sure you do just that is sometimes the hardest part of
the sale.
These allocation management technologies are used to reserve or allocate
product across both proprietary and third-party terminals in an enterprise and
protect volume for customers with branded or contractual agreements at the
terminal. In some cases, the supplier might also use this technology to reserve
product for its own business use.
While at first this approach might sound like it is intended to limit the oil company’s
business, it actually proves to achieve just the opposite. A centralized credit and
product allocation controls solution creates a safety net that empowers sellers to
enter new markets with potentially tighter margins and do business successfully
with customers who had posed a greater risk in the past.
In this paper, we discuss the features of credit and product control systems that
can help a savvy supplier differentiate its brand in a commoditized marketplace –
and grow its fuel supply business.
White paper on improving credit and product controls | 02

5. Making permanent
savings through accurate,
automated billing

6. Grow Your Business Through Credit and Product Controls
Customer service, customer service, customer service
It’s The Golden Rule: Treat the customer as you would like to be treated.
Providing exceptional customer service – by assuring customers have product
when they need it, in a way that minimizes their costs – will gain and maintain
preferred status for the supplier. Suppliers using credit and product control
systems make sure their customers are informed, happy – and retained as
customers.
Keeping the customer informed. The smartest suppliers are improving
customer relations and enhancing their trusted supplier status by providing ondemand Web access to product and credit availability information.
Customers who don’t know their allocation status or contract ratability are
more likely to dispatch trucks with inadequate credit or product allocation. Only
when they arrive at the rack do they discover they are unable to load and then
incur costly demurrage charges or higher delivery costs due to lack of timely
information.
The supplier with an advanced controls system can eliminate this scenario. It can
make simple lifting information available, such as which products are available
and at what terminals. Or, it can provide even more detailed information, showing
specifics on how many gallons are available of each product; when allocation will
refresh; the refresh amount, and more.
It’s even possible to feature contract ratability so customers know when they need
to lift, to remain ratable against their contract commitment. This approach gives
the customer a greater sense of control and minimizes a need on the supplier’s
part to enforce a “take or pay” contract clause. Providing real-time ratability status
ends the guesswork on the customer’s part and provides the supplier with a tool
to manage contracts easily.
White paper on improving credit and product controls | 04

7. Grow Your Business Through Credit and Product Controls
Customer service, customer service, customer service
(continued)
Proactive communications help customers:
• Better manage contract compliance
• Identity supply issues faster
• Dispatch more effectively
• Reduce truck downtime.
Keeping the customer happy. When customers are out of allocation, the
phones are ringing off the wall. Account reps and management are spending more
time soothing unhappy customers than selling. Worse, they are calling customers
after the fact to reprimand them for either over- or under-pulling – not the best way
to build a relationship or future sales.
Using a reliable allocation management system helps the supplier create a group
of premier customers – assuring them they always have product available at the
terminals in which they regularly lift, regardless of tight supply. The most robust
systems also allow those best customers to extend allocation controls to their
best customers.
Keeping the customer a customer. There are only two options when the
customer arrives at a terminal to discover allocation problems: pull from another
supplier or go to another terminal. This is lose-lose for all parties involved:
the supplier, the customer and the terminal. The result: lower margins, costly
reconciliation and greater difficulty in benchmarking the performance of carriers
and other business partners.
Online allocation visibility lets the customer know allocation status before there is a
problem. Alerting customers to their allocation and credit levels often encourages
them to lift more. And when these communications are branded to reflect a
supplier’s unique company image, a powerful new customer touch is generated
that supports future business.
White paper on improving credit and product controls | 05

8. Grow Your Business Through Credit and Product Controls
The power of electronic BOLs
With automated product controls, the Bill of Lading (BOL) is electronically
generated as soon as gallons are lifted at the rack, and it is transmitted
immediately to both the supplier and the customer. From there, electronic copies
of the BOL with the driver’s signature can be placed on the supplier’s Web portal
for customers to view securely at any time.
The power of an electronic BOL doesn’t stop there. The supplier who uses an
automated controls system usually can take advantage of electronic integration
with a customer’s accounting package. This service enables the marketer
customer who is re-selling the product to invoice faster. Alternatively, with a
hard copy BOL, the marketer customer often doesn’t have load information for
days; when the paper BOL finally does show up, the marketer’s account has
already been debited before there is enough information to invoice the secondgeneration customer. It is a paperwork headache and an expensive cost-of-money
proposition for the marketer customer. Once again, the supplier is providing muchappreciated customer service with eBOLs.
The new way of doing business
Managing credit. The robust credit and product controls solution gives the
supplier an accurate credit limit for each customer that should factor in load
prices, taxes, non-invoiced BOLs and receivables balances. In volatile markets
with increased prices, this is an invaluable functionality for the supplier who needs
to closely monitor and control customer liftings against up-to-date credit limits.
Real-time communications. The supplier can provide customers direct
feedback about remaining product available at their preferred terminal and their
remaining credit available across all terminals. Information can be provided through
an e-mailed alert and to a mobile device. Real-time communication imparts details
of loading problems quickly and clearly, to help resolve issues and authorize load
Extend the
customer service
A robust controls system module
such as the DTN TABS Rack Marketer
extends its best features of allocation
management and real-time billof-lading (BOL) delivery, one level
further. The supplier can empower its
customers to leverage DTN TABS in
their own businesses, offering them
the same advantages: reduced risk
and strengthened customer business;
inherently, fortifying the original
supplier-customer relationship. It’s all
about customer service!
releases in real time – and improve business efficiency for the customer and the
supplier’s enterprise.
With the ability to solve daily challenges efficiently and effectively, the supplier is
doing business in a new way: converting those challenges into opportunities to go
“above and beyond” for its customers.
White paper on improving credit and product controls | 06

9. Grow Your Business Through Credit and Product Controls
Centrally-managed product moves help
protect supply efficiently
It could be that the most stressful part of being a supplier is dealing with business
disruptions. It is challenging to grow your brand and your bottom line during times
of supply interruption, such as hurricane season or pipeline disturbances.
An advanced allocations solution allows the supplier to move volumes of selected
allocations from the primary terminal to a backup terminal, while keeping the
allocations intact at the source terminal. Once the supply constraint is resolved,
the moved allocations would be set back to normal lifting conditions, taking into
account the extra volume lifted at the backup terminal during the disruption.
The ideal solution also would let the supplier move products in a scaled manner,
for a scheduled period of time – automating what would otherwise be an
extremely labor intensive manual process. Here are some examples:
• hort Outage of zero to three days that occurs within an allocation week
S
(such as Sunday through Saturday): the supplier only wants to move a few
days of supply to the backup terminal
• hort Outage of zero to three days that overlaps an allocation week refresh
S
(such as Tuesday – Wednesday – Thursday): the supplier needs to add a few
days of supply to the backup terminal after the period refreshes
• ong Outage that lasts more than an allocation week: the supplier might
L
need to move the full allocation volume for the period to the backup terminal
Further, the supplier needs to inform its customers which terminals and products
are affected during these times, to assure them they have access to product
and where the product is available. A centralized solution enables lightning-fast
adjustments, forward and backward, of all allocations for every customer at
all terminals, or a specific terminal or terminal group, with just a few clicks of a
mouse. This approach eliminates calling terminals to shut off product. The supplier
can allocate all customers equally or save the remaining product for premier or
contract customers. Best of all, the supplier can apprise its customers of the
situation in real time – good customer service.
White paper on improving credit and product controls | 07

10. Grow Your Business Through Credit and Product Controls
Grow your business with the
industry-leading DTN TABS solution
Designed and developed by a consortium of industry leaders, DTN TABS from
Schneider Electric reliably delivers robust and flexible credit and product control. It is
the leading third-party terminal allocation and credit control service – interfacing with
all major terminal automation systems and many proprietary systems and supporting
more suppliers and rack marketers than any other service.
Enterprise performance. DTN TABS has shown to be easy to implement and provide business efficiency and risk management that is unparalleled by any other technology provider. Schneider Electric is an active participant in PIDX and fully supports
industry standards to ensure interoperability that will optimize the downstream supply
chain. Suppliers interface it with SAP and other ERP systems to share real-time lifting
information with other business processes accurately and efficiently – which ultimately
minimizes cost of ownership.
Keeping current. While it has been in production for more than 25 years, DTN TABS
is continuously enhanced and extended by Schneider Electric to keep pace with
industry requirements and customer needs. This ongoing investment ensures that
DTN TABS will evolve to meet suppliers’ future business needs while they minimize
capital expenditures on proprietary internal systems. Recent DTN TABS enhancements include:
• nhanced Credit Module – enables suppliers to consider receivables balances,
E
fuel prices, taxes and non-invoiced BOLs, to more tightly align customer credit
controls
• ove Product Allocations Module – gives suppliers the ability to quickly respond
M
to supply situations by quickly and efficiently move allocations from a primary
terminal to a backup supply terminal
White paper on improving credit and product controls | 08

11. Grow Your Business Through Credit and Product Controls
Conclusion
In today’s fast-moving downstream environment, supplier organizations must
be responsive and accurate to gain complete rack control over credit and
product across all proprietary and third-party terminals – and stay competitive.
The implementation of a robust, single platform that provides real-time lifting
information and dynamic, granular credit control reduces supplier risk and
strengthens customer service.
See for yourself how credit and product controls can enhance customer service
and grow your business, with a live demonstration of the industry-leading DTN
TABS solution. Schedule a live demonstration of DTN TABS by calling us at
1-866-460-1030.
Meeting suppliers’ future business needs while
reducing capital expenditures on proprietary internal
systems
White paper on improving credit and product controls | 09

12. ©2012 Schneider Electric. All rights reserved.
Schneider Electric USA
9110 West Dodge Road
Omaha, NE 68114
Phone: 1-800-391-1175
Fax: 1-402-255-8125
http://www.schneider-electric.com
August 2012