Systems and methods for estimating carrier transit times

Abstract

A software system operates to track transit times for shipments between facility locations within a supply chain. Carrier service level agreements are used to generate estimated transit times between a plurality of origins and destinations. Transit times are stored as edges between ZIP code nodes in a graph database. Facility locations are associated with the ZIP code node corresponding to their location. A user interface can access the data from the graph database to easily present the data to a user. In some examples, the data is stored based on ZIP code of each location. The user interface allows for 3 digit ZIP codes to be assigned to various user-defined regions to more easily manage the data on a broader level. Estimated transit times can also be accessed through an application programming interface for use by transportation management systems such as lead time estimation systems and inventory planning systems.

1 . A transit time tracking system comprising:
 a processing device; and   a memory device communicatively coupled to the processing device and storing:
 a graph database including a plurality of location nodes, each of the plurality of location nodes representing a ZIP code associated with one or more facility locations and a plurality of edges between pairs of the location nodes representing transit times between the ZIP codes; and 
 instructions which, when executed by the processing device, cause the processing device to: 
 receive a new facility location; 
 identify a new ZIP code associated with the new facility location; 
 upon determining that the new ZIP code associated with new facility location is not included in the plurality of location nodes of the graph database,
 generate a new location node representing the new ZIP code associated with the new facility location; and 
 generate one or more new edges between the new location node and one or more of the plurality of location nodes of the graph database representing estimated transit times, wherein the estimated transit times are estimated by extrapolating the transit times associated with ZIP codes sharing the same first 3 digits as the new ZIP code. 
 
   
     
     
         2 . The transit tracking system of  claim 1 , wherein the memory device further stores instructions that, when executed by the processing device, cause the processing device to:
 receive updated transit times for one or more of the transit times; and   modify the one or more transit times in the graph database to the updated transit times.   
     
     
         3 . The transit time tracking system of  claim 1 , wherein the graph database further includes nodes representing facility locations within a supply chain, each of the facility locations being associated with a ZIP code node based on a ZIP code of the facility location. 
     
     
         4 . The transit time tracking system of  claim 3 , wherein the supply chain is a retail supply chain and the facility locations are one or more of distribution centers, vendors, and stores. 
     
     
         5 . The transit time tracking system of  claim 1 , wherein the new facility location is received through a graphical user interface (GUI) or an application programming interface (API). 
     
     
         6 . The transit time tracking system of  claim 1 , wherein at least one pair of location nodes include a plurality of edges between the pair of location nodes and wherein each of the plurality of edges between the pair of location nodes represents transit times associated with a different shipping mode. 
     
     
         7 . The transit tracking system of  claim 1 , wherein the memory device further stores instructions that, when executed by the processing device, cause the processing device to:
 receive a request for a transit time, the request including an origin ZIP code and a destination ZIP code;   query the graph database for the origin ZIP code and the destination ZIP code;   retrieve at least one transit time for the origin ZIP code node and destination ZIP code node, the at least one transit time being associated with a shipping mode; and   output the at least one transit time and the shipping mode for the origin ZIP code and destination ZIP code.   
     
     
         8 . The transit time tracking system of  claim 7 , wherein the query specifies a shipping mode and the output is one transit time for that shipping mode. 
     
     
         9 . The transit time tracking system of  claim 7 , wherein the query does not specify a shipping mode and the output is one or more transit times for each available shipping mode for the origin and destination. 
     
     
         10 . A method for tracking transit times, the method comprising:
 receiving a new facility location;   identifying a new ZIP code associated with the new facility location;   upon determining that the new ZIP code associated with new facility location is not included within a graph database, wherein the graph database includes a plurality of location nodes, each of the plurality of location nodes representing a ZIP code associated with one or more facility locations and a plurality of edges between pairs of the location nodes representing transit times between the ZIP codes,
 generating a new location node representing the new ZIP code associated with the new facility location; and 
 generating one or more new edges between the new location node and one or more of the plurality of location nodes of the graph database representing estimated transit times, wherein the estimated transit times are estimated by extrapolating the transit times associated with ZIP codes sharing the same first 3 digits as the new ZIP code. 
   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving updated transit times for one or more of the transit times; and   modifying the one or more transit times in the graph database to the updated transit times.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the graph database further includes nodes representing facility locations within a supply chain, each of the facility locations being associated with a ZIP code node based on a ZIP code of the facility location. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12 , wherein the supply chain is a retail supply chain and the facility locations are one or more of distribution centers, vendors, and stores. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the new facility location is received through a graphical user interface (GUI) or an application programming interface (API). 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein at least one pair of location nodes include a plurality of edges between the pair of location nodes and wherein each of the plurality of edges between the pair of location nodes represents transit times associated with a different shipping mode. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 10 , further comprising:
 receiving a request for a transit time, the request including an origin ZIP code and a destination ZIP code;   querying the graph database for the origin ZIP code and the destination ZIP code;   retrieving at least one transit time for the origin ZIP code node and destination ZIP code node, the at least one transit time being associated with a shipping mode; and   outputting the at least one transit time and the shipping mode for the origin ZIP code and destination ZIP code.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein a query used in the querying specifies a shipping mode and the output is one transit time for that shipping mode. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein a query used in the querying does not specify a shipping mode and the output is one or more transit times for each available shipping mode for the origin and destination. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the request is received through a graphical user interface (GUI) or an application programming interface (API) and the transit time is output through the GUI or the API. 
     
     
         20 . A transit time tracking system comprising:
 a processing device; and   a memory device communicatively coupled to the processing device and storing:
 instructions which, when executed by the processing device, cause the processing device to:
 receive one or more transit times for each of a plurality of pairs of origin ZIP codes and destination ZIP codes; 
 generate a graph database including a plurality of location nodes, each of the plurality of location nodes representing a ZIP code associated with one or more facility locations and a plurality of edges between pairs of the location nodes representing transit times between the ZIP codes; 
 record each of the transit times as edges between corresponding origin ZIP code nodes and destination ZIP code nodes in the graph database 
 receive a new ZIP code; 
 upon determining that the new ZIP code associated with new facility location is not included in the plurality of location nodes of the graph database,
 generate a new location node representing the new ZIP code associated with the new facility location; 
 generate one or more new edges between the new location node and one or more of the plurality of location nodes of the graph database representing estimated transit times, wherein the estimated transit times are estimated by extrapolating the transit times associated with ZIP codes sharing the same first 3 digits as the new ZIP code; and 
 add the new location node and the one or more new edges to the graph database.