Case Study

Modernizing 3PL Warehouse Operations and Billing: The WiMS Platform

A single system of record unifying warehouse master data, day-to-day operations, and client billing for a global logistics and contract-warehousing provider.

Overview

Third-party logistics (3PL) providers sit at an unusual intersection of two disciplines: warehouse operations and complex, contract-driven billing. Every client (or “storer,” in warehousing terms) can have its own storage rates, handling charges, accessorial fees, and invoicing cadence. Managing that complexity across dozens of clients and multiple warehouses is where most 3PLs either scale gracefully or drown in spreadsheets.

WiMS (Warehouse Information Management System) was built to solve exactly that problem for a global logistics and contract-warehousing provider. It's a browser-based platform that unifies warehouse master data, day-to-day operations, and client billing into a single system of record — replacing a patchwork of manual processes and disconnected tools.

The Challenge

Before WiMS, warehouse operations and finance teams relied on manual, largely spreadsheet-based processes to track inbound and outbound activity, calculate variable storage charges, and generate client invoices. This created a few recurring problems common to growing 3PL operators:

  • Rate structures and contract terms for each client lived outside any system of record, making them slow to update and easy to apply inconsistently.
  • Storage billing that depends on fluctuating warehouse space usage is inherently hard to track by hand, and small errors compound quickly across a large client base.
  • Producing accurate, auditable invoices required manual reconciliation between operations data and finance records, which slowed down billing cycles and made errors harder to catch.
  • There was no centralized, role-based way to manage who could see or act on which warehouse's data.

None of these problems are unique to this client — they're endemic to the 3PL and contract-logistics industry, which is part of why a purpose-built platform made sense.

The Solution

WiMS was designed as a modular web application spanning the core functions a 3PL back office needs:

Master data management

A single source of truth for warehouses, clients, suppliers, unit-of-measure standards, and organizational structures, with role-based access control so users only see the warehouses and data relevant to them.

Warehouse operations

Digitized tracking of inbound receipts and outbound orders, handling documentation, and the variable space-utilization data that storage billing depends on.

Rate and contract management

A structured way to define and maintain client-specific rate sheets (storage, handling, and accessorial charges), with a review/approval step before rates go live.

Billing and invoicing

Automated generation of client invoices and consolidated group invoices, tied to configurable billing calendars and periods, along with tax and remarks handling for real-world invoicing edge cases.

The result is a system where operational activity in the warehouse flows through to billing without manual re-entry or reconciliation — and where every rate change and invoice is tracked, rather than living in someone's inbox or spreadsheet history.

Technical Approach

WiMS is a modern web application: an Angular single-page front end (using AG Grid for the data-heavy tables the domain demands) backed by a .NET Web API, with SQL Server as the system of record. Authentication uses JWT/OIDC-based identity, and reporting/export relies on server-side Excel generation so finance teams can still work with the data formats they're used to. The system is organized into clean functional areas — master data, operations, and finance — which keeps the platform maintainable as new client requirements come in.

AngularAG Grid.NET Web APISQL ServerJWT / OIDC

Impact

By consolidating rate management, warehouse operations, and invoicing into one platform, the client moved from manual, spreadsheet-dependent processes to a governed, auditable system:

  • Rate and contract changes go through a single, controlled workflow instead of being edited ad hoc across scattered files.
  • Storage and handling charges are calculated from the same operational data used to run the warehouse, cutting down the reconciliation work between operations and finance.
  • Invoicing is faster to produce and easier to audit, since every invoice traces back to the underlying rate sheet and operational activity that generated it.
  • Access to sensitive rate and financial data is scoped by role and warehouse, rather than being an all-or-nothing spreadsheet share.

Conclusion

WiMS shows how a purpose-built platform can take a 3PL's messiest back-office problem — reconciling operations with contract-specific billing — and turn it into a governed, repeatable process. For an industry where margin often comes down to billing accuracy and operational efficiency, that shift matters well beyond IT.

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