Bourque Data Systems, Inc. (BDS) now hosts its logistics software for more than 40 rail shippers and has implemented data transmission processes that provide the following data sets to its customers:

                             •  Car Location Messages
                             •  Bills of Lading and Acknowledgements
                             •  Waybills
                             •  Billing Repair Cards - Estimates and Invoices
                             •  Railcar Lease Invoices
                             •  Mileage Credits
                             •  Rail and Truck Freight Bills

BDS has significantly invested hardware, software, and personnel in its collection efforts. As BDS data service clients have grown, it has implemented software alert procedures to signal if a file has not transmitted according to its proper frequency and BDS has deployed staff perform pro-active data management.

In addition, all BDS data transaction processes are replicated at its CyrusOne data facility in Houston to assure continuity of collection and delivery should its Woodlands data center experience an outage.

Based on the above capabilities, BDS will proactively monitor our customers' data collection needs and respond quickly should an issue arise via emergency contact procedures.

Car Location Messages

In particular, our CLM collection services provide RAILTRAC® licensees with less costly and timelier CLMs than other methods available today and provide shippers one contact reference for their shipment monitoring systems.

BDS now provides CLM collection services for the following shippers:

BDS currently collects CLMs directly Class 1 railroads and from the AAR for all railcar messages including Class 1, Shortline, and Mexican CLMs. BDS CLM transactions, integrated directly into RAILTRAC®, include:

           Fleet - basic fleet reporting with fleet update capabilities linked to RAILTRAC®                       for adding are removing railcars from fleet service

           CLR - request for CLMs of free-runner moves used for non-fleet shipments of                      customer equipment, railroad owned equipment, or inbound supplier cars.

           CLT - temporary fleet additions for third-party or non-shipper supplier moves)

           CLM Rewind - collection of recent CLMs back to the last shipment should CLM                    feeds be cut

           Waybill Collection - collection of CLMs based on waybill supplier or consignee

BDS provides its CLMs on a standard, per record basis without additional fees for fleet updates, ftp, railroad messages, and base monthly charges. Our billing method provides simplicity for the shipper so that the calculation of monthly CLM bills is not a mystery and can be easily audited against RAILTRAC® via counts in the RT_CLM_HISTORY and RT_CLM_ARCHIVE tables.

Bills of Lading

BDS provides bill of lading (BOL) creation, conversion to 404 formats, and verified delivery of the BOL directly to Class 1 and Shortline rail carriers. Our BOL creation and translation programs conform to all U.S. and Canadian HAZMAT requirements.

BOLs of all types can be transmitted including:

           •  Revenue
           •  Empty Billing
           •  Empty or Loaded Switch
           •  Unit Train
           •  Furtherance of Transit
           •  Store in Transit
           •  Stop Off in Transit
           •  Railroad Company Business
           •  Shop Move

All BOL 404s transmitted are verified via return 997 and 824 acknowledgements and BOLs unacknowledged are flagged immediately so action can be taken. BOLs can be created manually via eBILL™ or from shipment or order feeds from ERP systems such as SAP, JDE, or other order/shipment software.

In addition, selected BOL data sets can be transmitted to consignees as well as customs brokers for cross border movements.

Billing Repair Cards

BDS has implemented an automated procedure to receive from repair shop's BRC estimates and invoices as well as running repairs from the railroads. Repair estimates records are automatically loaded and validated in RAILAcct® notifying repair personnel of their arrival. RAILAcct® then provides the functionality to:

           •  Evaluate the validity and price of the repair quote via the AAR Price Master or               negotiated rates with the shops
           •  Easily access repair history on the particular railcar
           •  Approve or disapprove at the BRC line item level
           •  Message to the shop the approval/disapproval
           •  Receive supplemental BRC records for re-quotes
           •  Automatically load and validate BRC invoices against the BRC estimates                         approved
           •  Store a log of shop performance on repairs scope and turnaround time

To minimize effort by you, the shipper, BDS provides all consulting and coordination with the shops' IT departments to arrange startup and testing of BRC transmissions. The only task required of the shipper is the signing of a permission letter to allow BDS to implement the project.

The automatic collection of BRCs removes the need to manually enter and import these records and frees time for railcar analysts to focus on monitoring and analysis of railcar repairs.

Railcar Lease Invoices

BDS has implemented an automated procedure to receive from leasing companies lease invoices via electronic transmission. These invoices are imported into RAILAcct® where they are validated against correct car ID, rental rate, lease contract, and other data points to assure the invoice is correct. With the upcoming release of RAILAcct in January 2003, validation against shop credits will provide alerts when credit days claimed by the leasing company do not match credit rules defined by the respective railcar lease contract.

To minimize effort by you, the shipper, BDS provides all consulting and coordination with the leasing companies' IT departments to arrange startup and testing of lease invoice transmissions. The only task required of the shipper is the signing of a permission letter to allow BDS to implement the project.

The automatic collection of lease invoices and the resulting audits facilitates a more efficient process of lease administration and payment

Waybill and Supplier Shipments

BDS provides collection and distribution of waybill, inbound supplier, or other third party shipments. These records are collect via railroad waybill information and from other RAILTRAC® licensees and are validated and posted to RAILTRAC® creating trip records thus eliminating manual entry efforts.

Waybill shipments are useful if the shipper, for various reasons, cannot supply RAILTRAC® shipment feeds from its internal systems for its own outbound moves.

In the case of inbound supplier shipments, raw material deliveries can be easily monitored and delivery and release times of the railcar can be captured for demurrage audit.

These records are collect via railroad waybill information and from other RAILTRAC® licensees and validated for accuracy.

To minimize effort by you, the shipper, BDS provides all consulting and coordination with the suppliers or other entities to arrange startup and testing of shipment record transmissions. The only task required of the shipper is the signing of a permission letter to allow BDS to implement the project.

Mileage Credits

BDS collects AAR and leasing company mileage credit files for those shippers who require mileage audits. Files are downloaded, converted, validated, and loaded to RAILAcct® once per month.
To minimize effort by you, the shipper, BDS provides all consulting and coordination with the AAR and leasing companies to arrange startup and testing of mileage credit transmissions. The only task required of the shipper is the signing of a permission letter to allow BDS to implement the project.

Rail and Truck Freight Bills

BDS collects freight bills (410s) from both railroads and motor carriers and can provide custom file structures for a shipper's exiting freight payment system or for the BDS software modules RateServer and TRANSPay.

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