What Are Reports?
Reports is a feature inside Settings > Reports that gives freight brokers a bird's-eye view of how their operations are performing. It answers two big questions:
Booking Reports -- "How are we doing at booking loads and working with carriers?"
Tracking Reports -- "How well are we tracking our shipments, and what's going wrong when we can't?"
Users can look at data for a specific month or pick a custom date range (up to 30 days). There is also a Download CSV button that lets them export the raw shipment data as a spreadsheet.
How to Navigate Reports
When a user opens Settings > Reports, they'll see:
Two tabs at the top: "Booking" and "Tracking" -- clicking each switches the view
A month selector: arrows to go forward/backward by month
A date range picker: to select a custom start and end date (max 30 days apart)
A Download CSV button: exports all shipment data for the selected period
Part 1: Booking Reports
The Booking tab shows how well the team is building loads, getting offers, and booking carriers. It has five sections.
1A. Usage Summary
This is a card at the top with four sub-tabs:
Totals Tab
What You See | What It Means |
Total Loads | How many loads were created during this period (excludes deleted and canceled loads) |
Loads Posted for Booking | How many of those loads were posted on Chain's marketplace for carriers to see |
Booked via Chain | How many loads had a carrier booked through an offer made on the Chain platform |
Containers Tracked | How many ocean containers were tracked during this month |
Canceled Loads | Loads that were canceled |
Deleted Loads | Loads that were deleted from the system |
Financials Tab
What You See | What It Means |
Total Revenue Booked on Chain | The total dollar amount of customer charges for loads that were booked through Chain |
Total Margin Booked on Chain | The total profit earned on loads booked through Chain (customer charge minus carrier cost) |
Average Margin (All Loads) | The average profit margin percentage across all loads that have both a customer charge and carrier cost |
Average Margin (Chain-Booked) | Same as above but only for loads booked through Chain |
Offers Tab
What You See | What It Means |
Total Offers | The total number of offers carriers made across all loads |
Loads Negotiated (Total) | How many loads had their price negotiated (the final offer was different from the initial offer) |
% of Loads Negotiated | What percentage of all loads were negotiated |
Chain-Booked Loads Negotiated | How many Chain-booked loads specifically were negotiated |
% Chain-Booked Negotiated | What percentage of Chain-booked loads were negotiated |
Broadcasts Tab
What You See | What It Means |
Booked where carrier was broadcasted | Loads booked on Chain where the winning carrier was included in a broadcast (email/notification blast to carriers) |
Booked where carrier was NOT broadcasted | Loads booked on Chain where the winning carrier was not part of any broadcast -- meaning they found the load on their own or were contacted directly |
NOT booked via Chain but carrier was broadcasted | Loads where a carrier was broadcasted but the load was ultimately booked outside of Chain -- this is a "missed opportunity" metric |
Avg broadcasts (Chain-booked) | Average number of broadcast rounds for loads booked through Chain |
Avg broadcasts (Outside Chain) | Average number of broadcast rounds for loads booked outside Chain |
There's also a hidden Developer Logs section (collapsed by default) that shows data quality issues like loads missing a carrier, missing freight costs, or missing margin data. This is mainly for internal debugging.
1B. Posts & Offers Chart
A daily line chart showing two lines for the selected month:
Loads Built -- how many loads were created each day
Offers Received -- how many carrier offers came in each day
This helps visualize busy days and whether offer volume matches load creation.
1C. User Stats Chart
A bar chart that breaks down performance by individual user (the person who booked the load). For each user, it shows:
Total loads they managed
Total offers on their loads
How many were booked via Chain
This helps managers see who is handling the most volume.
1D. Margin vs. Days from Pickup Chart
This chart shows the relationship between when a load was booked (how many days before the pickup date) and what margin was achieved. Two lines are shown:
All loads
Chain-booked loads only
The idea is to see if booking earlier leads to better margins (it usually does).
1E. Top Tens
Four ranked lists:
Top 10 Carriers -- carriers with the most loads, with their average margin
Top 10 Carriers Booked on Chain -- same but only Chain-booked
Top 10 Lanes -- most popular origin-to-destination routes
Top 10 Lanes Booked via Chain -- same but only Chain-booked
Part 2: Tracking Reports
The Tracking tab shows how well shipments are being tracked by Chain's system. It has two sections.
2A. Tracking Details
This section only looks at delivered loads (loads that completed their journey).
Overview Card
What You See | What It Means |
Total completed loads | How many loads were delivered during this period |
Trackable loads | How many of those loads could have been tracked -- meaning at least one tracking method (ELD, driver app, API, etc.) was properly set up, OR the load was actually tracked |
Loads tracked | How many loads Chain actually tracked successfully. A load counts as "tracked" if Chain received GPS/location data near enough to the pickup and delivery locations |
Percent of trackable loads tracked | The main metric: of the loads Chain could have tracked, what percentage did it actually track? Formula: (Loads tracked / Trackable loads) x 100 |
Percent of completed loads tracked | A broader metric: of all delivered loads (whether trackable or not), what percentage was tracked? This is always lower than or equal to the trackable percentage |
Total distance tracked | The total miles across all tracked loads |
How "tracked" is determined behind the scenes: When a shipment is delivered, Chain's system looks at all the GPS location data it collected and checks whether any location points were within 7 miles of the pickup location and within 7 miles of the delivery location. If both stops had a location "hit," the load is 100% tracked. If only one stop was hit, it's 50% tracked. The system then compares this percentage against a threshold to decide if the load counts as "tracked."
How "trackable" is determined: Chain checks every possible tracking method for the load to see if at least one was correctly configured. For example:
Was the driver's phone number a real mobile number (not VOIP)?
Was the carrier's ELD system connected and did it find the truck/trailer?
Was an API integration set up with a valid connection?
Was an external tracking link valid and supported?
If any single method was properly configured, the load is considered trackable.
Untrackable Load Insights Card
This card only appears if there were loads that couldn't be tracked. It shows the specific reasons why tracking failed:
Reason | What It Means | What to Tell the Customer |
Tracking Sources not setup | No tracking method was configured at all for this load | The customer needs to set up at least one tracking source (ELD, driver app, etc.) for their carriers |
Missing driver phone number | The driver app was the tracking method, but no phone number was on file | The customer needs to add the driver's phone number to the load |
Driver phone is VOIP | A phone number was provided, but it's a VOIP number (like Google Voice), which can't be used for real GPS tracking | The driver needs to use a real mobile phone number, not a VOIP number |
Mobile app configured incorrectly | The Chain driver app is set up, but the settings are wrong | Check that the driver app settings are configured correctly for this carrier |
Missing truck or trailer number in ELD | The carrier has an ELD connection, but the specific truck or trailer number on this load wasn't found in the ELD system | The truck or trailer number on the load might be wrong, or the carrier hasn't registered that unit in their ELD |
Invalid API setup | An API tracking integration exists but isn't working properly | Check the API integration configuration |
Invalid external tracking link setup | An external tracking link was provided but it's not valid or not supported | The tracking link URL may be wrong or from an unsupported provider |
Invalid SFTP setup | An SFTP integration exists but isn't working properly | Check the SFTP integration configuration |
Invalid Tive device setup | A Tive tracking device was assigned but not configured correctly | Check the Tive device assignment |
Invalid TMS app setup | A TMS app integration exists but isn't configured correctly | Check the TMS app integration |
Invalid visibility provider setup | A visibility provider integration exists but isn't configured correctly | Check the visibility provider integration |
Tracking not initiated | Everything was set up correctly, but tracking simply never started | This could mean the driver never opened the app, the ELD never sent data, or there was a technical issue. Worth investigating on a case-by-case basis |
Carrier Tracking Performance Table
A table showing tracking performance broken down by carrier:
Column | What It Means |
Carrier Name | The carrier's company name |
DOT Number | Their DOT registration number |
Total Loads | How many delivered loads this carrier had |
Tracked Loads | How many of those loads were successfully tracked |
Tracking % | Their tracking percentage (tracked / total x 100) |
Clicking on a carrier row opens a list of their individual untrackable loads, showing the load number, origin, destination, and the specific reason(s) tracking failed.
2B. Tracking Methods Chart
A bar chart showing how loads were tracked, broken down by method:
Method | What It Means |
ELD | Tracked via the carrier's Electronic Logging Device (truck/trailer GPS from their ELD provider) |
Driver Mobile App | Tracked via the Chain driver app on the driver's phone |
API | Tracked via a direct API integration with a tracking provider |
External Tracking Link | Tracked via an external tracking URL provided on the load |
SFTP / CSV / EDI | Tracked via file-based data transfers |
Tive Device | Tracked via a Tive temperature/GPS tracking device |
TMS App | Tracked via a TMS (Transportation Management System) app integration |
Visibility Provider | Tracked via a third-party visibility provider integration |
A single load can be tracked by multiple methods. This chart shows the total count for each method.
Part 3: CSV Export
When a user clicks Download CSV, they get a spreadsheet with one row per shipment and columns for every data point, including:
Shipment ID, load number, status
Carrier name, DOT number, MC number
Origin/destination city and state
Customer charge, carrier freight cost, margin
Whether it was booked via Chain
Whether it was tracked, and by which methods
All trackability details (was the driver phone valid, was ELD set up, etc.)
Pickup date, days from pickup when covered, equipment type, weight
This is useful for customers who want to do their own analysis in Excel or share data with their team.
Common Support Scenarios
"Why is our tracking percentage low?"
Look at the Untrackable Load Insights card. The most common reasons are:
Sources not setup -- carriers don't have any tracking method configured
Missing driver phone number -- loads using driver app tracking but no phone on file
Tracking not initiated -- everything was set up but the driver/system never started tracking
"Why does a load show as untrackable when we had tracking set up?"
Check the specific reason in the carrier performance table. Common causes:
The phone number was VOIP
The truck/trailer number didn't match what's in the ELD
The API or SFTP integration had a configuration issue
"What's the difference between 'Percent of trackable loads tracked' and 'Percent of completed loads tracked'?"
Trackable loads tracked = tracked / trackable. This only counts loads where tracking should have worked as the denominator. It tells you: "When we could track, did we?"
Completed loads tracked = tracked / all delivered. This uses every delivered load as the denominator, including loads with no tracking set up at all. It tells you: "Overall, what portion of our loads had tracking?"
"A customer says their numbers don't match what they see in their TMS"
The reports only count loads that exist in Chain's system. If loads weren't imported or synced from their TMS, they won't appear here. Also, Booking reports exclude deleted and canceled loads from totals, while Tracking reports only look at delivered loads.