SAP Business Network Global Track
SAP Business Network Global Track and Trace is a cloud-based solution that enables users to capture, process, and store tracking information about tracked business processes.
SAP Business Network for Logistics (SAP BN4L) is a cloud platform for carrier collaboration. It connects shippers with their carriers, freight forwarders, 3PLs and other logistics service providers. It was earlier called SAP Logistics Business Network (SAP LBN), and some people shorten it to SAP BNL.
BN4L is not a transportation management system (TMS). Think of it as a shared space between you and the companies that move your freight. Load tenders, carrier responses, shipment status updates and delivery documents all pass through it as clean, structured data.
Today, most of this work happens over email and phone. A load tender goes out by email. The carrier confirms on a call. A planner phones the dispatcher to ask where the truck is. Proof of delivery shows up as a scanned PDF. At every step, useful data ends up in someone's inbox. BN4L moves all of it onto one network.
SCM Champs is an SAP BN4L implementation partner for mid-size shippers and logistics companies in the US and India. Our SAP BN4L consultants usually work alongside SAP TM.
It's usually easy to tell. If two or more of these sound familiar, a carrier collaboration network is worth a look:
And when it's not worth it: if you work with five carriers and all of them already exchange EDI with you, BN4L adds another layer without fixing much. The real value comes from the carriers you can't connect with cleanly today.
How we help: We start with a carrier landscape review before anyone talks about scope. It tells you if the business case holds up. Sometimes the honest answer is "no" or "not yet", and it's better to learn that in two weeks than in six months.
BN4L isn't one product you switch on. Most companies start with one module and add more later.
SAP Freight Collaboration fixes a tendering problem. It covers load tendering, carrier acceptance and rejection, subcontracting, document exchange and dock appointment scheduling, all in one carrier portal. If you already run SAP TM, this is usually where you start.
SAP Global Track and Trace (SAP GTT) fixes a visibility problem. It collects tracking events for your shipments and orders and keeps them in one place. That gives you one shipment visibility record, instead of checking separate carrier portals by hand. It can take events from many sources, including non-SAP systems and visibility providers like project44, FourKites and Shippeo.
The other two parts, Material Traceability and the Intelligent Insights add-on, are rarely where a first project starts.
One thing to know early: Freight Collaboration can't be customised much, and any change has to go through an SAP influence request. Global Track and Trace gives you more room to script your own rules. If your needs are unusual, this shapes your scope a lot, and finding out late is expensive.
How we help: When you live with both, tendering and visibility feel like the same problem. But they lead to different modules and different budgets. We work out which problem you really have, and check your requirements against what Freight Collaboration can actually do.
The network connects three sides of the same shipment, and each side joins for a different reason.
Shippers stop chasing. Tenders become structured records instead of emails. Carrier acceptance and rejection happen automatically. Status updates arrive without a phone call. Detention and demurrage can be tied to a specific load, so there's less to argue about when the invoice comes in.
Carriers join to cut empty miles and waiting time. They see tenders sooner, respond faster and spend less time waiting at loading docks. Waiting time eats into their margin, and that's the argument that actually gets them to use the network.
Your customers get the answer they keep asking for: when will my delivery arrive? With real-time shipment tracking, the answer comes from live data, not a guess. Better ETAs also mean fewer "where is my order" calls for your service team.
Not sure if your carriers are ready for the network? [Book a carrier landscape review]
Then Freight Collaboration sits right on top of it. Freight orders in SAP TM create tenders, and carrier responses flow back into planning and freight settlement. This is the setup that gives the most value, because the network is wired to the documents that drive your freight cost.
Two things to know before you assume it's a small project:
BN4L has its own licence, based on the volume of business documents you process, such as freight orders and dock appointments. It's not included in your SAP TM licence.
BN4L runs as a separate cloud tenant. The link between TM and BN4L needs regular monitoring, and someone has to own it after go-live.
How we help: If TM is already live, the question is what to move first, not what to include. We check whether your TM master data and status codes are clean enough for the network, then decide which processes go first. Starting with tendering and adding settlement later usually works. Doing everything at once usually doesn't.
If you don't have TM yet, first decide whether you have a tendering problem or a visibility problem. Global Track and Trace depends much less on TM than Freight Collaboration does.
If you only need basic carrier interaction, the Collaboration Portal that comes with SAP TM may be enough, with no extra licence. BN4L is the better choice when many carriers need to connect through EDI or API, or when you also want shipment tracking and dock appointments on the same network.
It's worth making this comparison before you commit.
The network is only useful when it's connected to the systems that create and use the data.
Check these before you scope the project:
This is where network projects succeed or fail, so it helps to know how it works.
Carriers already on the network: You send a connection request and they accept it. This is usually quick, often a matter of days.
New carriers: You add them as a business partner, SAP's onboarding team checks the request, and the carrier sets up its own account on the network. Carriers join for free, which removes the first objection you'll hear.
Large EDI carriers connect quickly. The mapping work is real, but predictable.
Regional and smaller carriers are the real project. Most of them don't have EDI, so they need Web UI onboarding, training and a clear reason why it's worth their time. Sending them a login and hoping for the best is how carrier portals fail.
Rolling out to every carrier at once. Carriers create accounts and never log in. We onboard in waves: large EDI carriers first, then regional carriers on the Web UI, then the long tail. Each wave has to work before the next one starts.
Treating onboarding as just a technical connection. For a regional carrier, this changes how they work. It's not just a new login. Every wave we run includes training and a direct conversation about what changes for them and how it helps.
Measuring success by "the system is live". We track one number instead: the share of freight tendered through the network. Until that number is high, planners keep the old manual process running alongside, and you end up paying for both.
Dirty SAP TM master data. We clean carrier records and status codes before configuration, not during testing. It's boring work, but it saves weeks.
Scope creep in Freight Collaboration. Customisation is limited, so requirements that don't fit the standard must be caught during scoping and handled another way, not found during build.
In our experience, network projects rarely fail on configuration. They fail when carriers don't use the network. Our approach is built around that.
Your carrier mix decides the timeline far more than the number of modules. Thirty carriers mostly on EDI is a very different project from two hundred regional carriers with no EDI at all. As a rough guide, here's what a typical project looks like:
So a shipper with around 30 carriers, mostly on EDI, can often be fully live in 4 to 6 months. A shipper with 200 or more regional carriers should plan for 9 to 12 months. We confirm your exact timeline during the carrier landscape review, once we know your carrier base.
Case Study: Carrier Onboarding on SAP BN4L for a US Food Distributor
A US food distributor was running SAP TM and working with 30 carriers. Most load tenders went out by email, and planners spent 3 to 4 hours a day chasing carriers for acceptance and status updates.
What we did:
Ran a carrier landscape review in 3 weeks. It showed that 70% of freight moved with just 6 large EDI carriers.
Set up SAP Freight Collaboration and connected it to SAP TM for tendering and freight settlement.
Onboarded carriers in 3 waves: EDI carriers first, then regional carriers on the Web UI, then the long tail.
Trained 45 carrier dispatchers and held a direct call with every regional carrier.
Results after 6 months:
78% of freight now tendered through the network, up from zero
Tender acceptance time down from 4 hours to 12 minutes
65% fewer status calls to carriers
Detention charges tied to specific loads, with 40% fewer invoice disputes
Most BN4L projects are run as configuration projects. We run them as carrier adoption projects, because the network is only worth as much freight as your carriers actually move through it. SCM Champs is an SAP partner focused on SAP Supply Chain Execution.
Whoever you talk to, ask these questions:
Yes. SAP Logistics Business Network (LBN) was renamed SAP Business Network for Logistics (BN4L). It's the same platform, now part of the wider SAP Business Network.
No. SAP TM plans and executes your transportation. BN4L is the collaboration layer that connects SAP TM with your carriers. The two work together.
No. BN4L is licensed separately, based on the volume of business documents you process. Your SAP account team can confirm pricing for your volume.
No. Carriers join the network for free. The shipper invites them, and they set up their own account.
Yes. Carriers without EDI or APIs use a simple Web UI to accept tenders, send status updates, book dock appointments and share delivery documents.
For road freight (FTL and LTL) in North America, Freight Collaboration supports ANSI X12 EDI 204 (load tender), 990 (response), 214 (shipment status), 210 (freight invoice) and 997 (acknowledgement). Outside North America, EDIFACT is used. Spot quotes and freight requests for quotation run through the API or Web UI, not EDI.
Partly. Global Track and Trace depends much less on SAP TM and can take events from non-SAP systems. Freight Collaboration gives the most value when connected to SAP TM, though it also offers open APIs for other systems.
Roughly 4 to 6 months for a shipper with about 30 carriers mostly on EDI, and 9 to 12 months for 200 or more regional carriers. Global Track and Trace on its own takes about 3 to 5 months.
By the share of freight tendered through the network, not by go-live. Until most freight runs through BN4L, planners keep the manual process going and you pay for both.
A good partner reviews your carrier landscape, picks the right module, configures BN4L and connects it to SAP TM, EWM and S/4HANA. They also set up EDI and API links and onboard your carriers in waves, with training.
Before anyone talks about modules or licences, find out what your carrier base can support.
A carrier landscape review maps every carrier by freight share and connection type, and gives you the onboarding order your project will follow. You'll see how much of your freight can realistically move onto the network, and how long that will take.
[Book a carrier landscape review] | [Talk to an SAP BN4L consultant]
SAP Business Network Global Track and Trace is a cloud-based solution that enables users to capture, process, and store tracking information about tracked business processes.
The material traceability solution is a network that connects members of the supply chain and enables them to collaborate and share material genealogy data.