The position feed reports an impossible jump.
Detect: Speed and event-order checks conflict with previous trusted scans.
Recover: Discard the suspect estimate, retain the last confirmed event, and request carrier verification.
Logistics · INDUSTRY BLUEPRINT
Shipment exception recovery desk
Coordinate carrier evidence, dock capacity, and customer commitments for dispatcher-approved shipment recovery.
Explore in the architecture studioThe business situation
Illustrative reference architecture. Validate requirements for your organization.
Illustrative architecture: A third-party logistics operator manages delayed inbound loads to a distribution center. Carrier position feeds, driver messages, dock appointments, and customer delivery windows disagree. Dispatchers need feasible recovery options before a delay propagates into missed appointments and avoidable detention.
Problem
Position estimates do not establish arrival, and driver messages cannot authorize a new commercial commitment. Rebooking one dock slot may strand another load. An agent workflow must reconcile operational constraints without interfering with driver safety or carrier control.
Why a multi-agent system?
Tracking, appointment, customer-commitment, and recovery specialists investigate separate systems. A scheduling service evaluates feasible windows while agents explain uncertainty and coordinate a dispatcher-owned exception case.
Intended outcome
The intended result is a reviewable operational decision with source evidence and explicit ownership. Measure actionable recovery preparation and confirmed appointment outcomes. Delivery performance also depends on traffic, carrier execution, and facility operations, so improvements must be evaluated against comparable lanes rather than assumed.
Specialist agent team
Tracking investigator
Compare carrier scans, last-known position, and estimated arrival freshness.
Tools
- Carrier event adapter
- geofence event reader
Authority boundary
Cannot direct vehicle movement or treat predictions as confirmed scans.
Dock coordinator
Retrieve appointments, unloading capacity, and site restrictions.
Tools
- Dock scheduling read API
- facility calendar
Authority boundary
Cannot reserve or cancel slots without dispatcher approval.
Commitment analyst
Find contractual delivery windows and approved escalation contacts.
Tools
- Transport order API
- service-term search
Authority boundary
Cannot waive service terms or promise compensation.
Recovery planner
Draft reroute, rebook, or hold options with dependencies and costs.
Tools
- Route feasibility service
- transport quote API
Authority boundary
Cannot assign unsafe driving schedules or tender loads autonomously.
Enterprise systems
Transportation management system
Owns loads, carrier assignments, commercial terms, and approved transport changes.
Carrier visibility platform
Supplies timestamped events and estimates with source-specific confidence and freshness.
Dock and customer operations systems
Expose capacity and delivery commitments while retaining local booking authority.
Architecture diagrams
flowchart LR
N0["Shipment exception recovery desk"]
N1["Tracking investigator"]
N2["Dock coordinator"]
N3["Commitment analyst"]
N4["Recovery planner"]
N5["Evidence ledger"]
N6["Human decision"]
N7["Authorized adapter"]
N0 --> N1
N0 --> N2
N0 --> N3
N1 --> N4
N2 --> N4
N3 --> N4
N4 --> N5
N5 --> N6
N6 --> N7sequenceDiagram
participant O as "Case orchestrator"
participant S as "Transportation management system"
participant H as "Accountable reviewer"
O->>S: Read delayed load state
O->>H: Propose dock rebooking
H-->>O: Approve bounded recovery
O->>S: Commit appointment change
S-->>O: Slot reserved but carrier pending
O->>H: Escalate partial recovery stateRuntime flow
- 1
Capture delay signal
Deduplicate carrier events and attach load, leg, event time, and expected customer window.
- 2
Check tracking quality
Classify observations as confirmed scans, carrier estimates, or stale positions before calculating available recovery time.
- 3
Gather constraints
Read dock capacity, site restrictions, order commitments, and permitted carrier options from authoritative systems.
- 4
Evaluate options
Run route and appointment feasibility checks; show assumptions about arrival and unloading duration explicitly.
- 5
Obtain dispatcher decision
Present costs, affected parties, and unresolved conditions; communication drafts stay pending until the dispatcher approves them.
- 6
Commit coordinated changes
Reserve the selected appointment, submit approved transport changes, and reconcile each acknowledgement before announcing a confirmed recovery.
Failure recovery
Dock rebooking succeeds but carrier acceptance fails.
Detect: The workflow has a booking receipt without a corresponding carrier acknowledgement.
Recover: Hold the recovery as partial and release or retain the slot according to the dispatcher's approved compensation policy.
Security & decision boundaries
- Keep driver safety and legal driving constraints in validated planning services and human dispatch procedures.
- Distinguish estimated arrival from carrier-confirmed arrival in every output.
- Bind changes to load, leg, carrier, appointment, and source revision.
- Restrict customer contract retrieval by account assignment and operating region.
- Track appointment reservations with expiry and compensating release actions.
Operational metrics
Measurement definitions, not promised improvements.
Exception preparation time
Time from reliable delay signal to dispatcher-reviewable recovery options.
Arrival evidence freshness
Age of the latest trusted tracking event when a recovery decision is presented.
Recovery acknowledgement rate
Approved plans with every required carrier and facility receipt divided by approved plans.
Reservation leakage
Expired or abandoned dock reservations remaining active beyond their release deadline.
Architecture tradeoffs
| Decision | Benefit | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Parallel constraint gathering | Provides a useful dispatch picture before windows close. | Needs reconciliation of different source timestamps. |
| Reservation before commitment | Protects scarce dock capacity. | Temporary reservations can reduce utilization if not released promptly. |
| Explicit partial success | Prevents false claims that recovery is complete. | Adds workflow states and dispatcher follow-up work. |
Rollout plan
Recorded delay cases
Dispatchers verify estimate labeling, route constraints, and contract-window interpretation against known outcomes.
Shadow control tower
One lane group assesses plan usability and tracking freshness without booking changes.
Approved rebooking pilot
Selected facilities enable changes after partial-acknowledgement and reservation-release drills succeed.