TMS vs ERP: Overview, Differences, and Integration for Australia

Transportation Management Systems (TMS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) platforms are two essential, yet distinct, operation systems that shape how businesses manage operations and logistics. While ERP systems unify finance, inventory, sales, and HR into one enterprise backbone, TMS platforms focus on optimising freight, carrier coordination, transport planning, and last-mile execution.

In Australia, many companies using Odoo, Microsoft Dynamics 365, MYOB Advanced, or SAP Business One still lose visibility once goods leave their warehouse. Freight costs vary across long distances, tracking remains fragmented among carriers, and compliance with Chain of Responsibility (CoR) or NHVR obligations often requires manual oversight. That’s why understanding how TMS complements ERP has become critical for efficiently scaling operations.

In this article, you will gain a clear understanding of how TMS and ERP differ in purpose and data structure, why integration between them delivers measurable ROI, and which integrated TMS and ERP solutions suit Australian conditions best. 

What Is an ERP System?

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is a unified platform that centralises a company’s core operations, such as finance, procurement, production, inventory, human resources, and reporting, into a single, integrated source of truth. At its core, an ERP acts as the backbone of organisational administration and resource coordination, ensuring every transaction, order, and financial event is captured, validated, and traceable.

Core ERP functions include:

• Financial Management: Centralises accounting, billing, and forecasting with compliance to BAS, GST, and ATO reporting requirements.
• Procurement and Inventory: Tracks supplier purchases, stock levels, and landed costs across multiple warehouses or states.
• Manufacturing and Production: Manages bill of materials (BOM), work orders, and capacity planning for both discrete and process manufacturing.
• Human Resources and Payroll: Integrates employee data, leave management, and Single Touch Payroll (STP Phase 2) submission.
• Reporting and Analytics: Generates real-time dashboards and statutory reports, supporting Australian Accounting Standards (AASB).

For Australian businesses, ERP systems typically support ATO-aligned tax reporting, Single Touch Payroll (STP) compliance, Business Activity Statement (BAS) submissions, and localised chart-of-accounts templates to maintain financial transparency.

Widely adopted platforms in Australia include Odoo, Microsoft Dynamics 365, SAP Business One/S4, NetSuite, and MYOB Advanced, chosen for their localisation, industry support, and integration ecosystems. Discover our guide to the top 10 leading ERP vendors for Australian businesses.

What Is a Transportation Management System (TMS)?

A Transportation Management System (TMS) is specialised software designed to plan, execute, and optimise freight and transport logistics. It provides visibility into daily transportation operations, ensures timely shipment execution, and offers data analytics for performance and cost management. According to Grand View Research, the market for these systems is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 16.2% from 2019 to 2025.

Core TMS functions include:

• Route and Freight Optimisation: Calculates the most cost-effective routes across the regional delivery zones.
• Carrier and Rate Management: Compares rates from national carriers such as Toll, StarTrack, and Mainfreight.
• Shipment Execution and Tracking: Generates labels, manifests, and real-time tracking updates for multi-carrier consignments.
• Proof of Delivery (POD) and Returns Handling: Digitally captures delivery confirmations and manages return logistics for e-commerce orders.
• Regulatory Compliance: Supports Australian logistics standards, including Chain of Responsibility (CoR), NHVR requirements, and Dangerous Goods (DG) handling rules.

In Australia, key TMS providers such as Cario, Shippit, Freight2020, and TransVirtual support diverse logistics needs, from e-commerce delivery orchestration and real-time freight visibility to complex fleet and compliance management for industrial supply chains.

In short, ERP and TMS systems serve different but connected purposes within the supply chain: ERP manages what a business plans and produces, while TMS manages how goods are delivered. Together, they create an end-to-end supply chain system, from order creation to delivery confirmation. Up next, we’ll explore what truly separates TMS from ERP, their functions, data ownership, and how each system fits into the broader business architecture.

What Are the Key Differences Between TMS and ERP

TMS and ERP differ in purpose, users, and data scope, yet both are integral to a connected supply chain. To understand how these systems complement each other, the table below summarises key differences:

Businesses ultimately need both systems because ERP ensures planning accuracy while TMS ensures execution efficiency. Together, ERP and TMS create a closed information loop, from order to invoice to delivery, linking financial accuracy with operational execution. The following section explores how ERP and TMS integration works in practice.

What Is ERP and TMS Integration?

When ERP and TMS systems integrate, order data flows seamlessly between business planning and transport execution. Order information from ERP automatically feeds into the TMS for route planning, carrier selection, and delivery scheduling. As shipments are completed, the TMS returns real-time updates, such as delivery confirmations and freight costs, back into the ERP. This continuous data loop keeps finance, operations, and logistics synchronised across the supply chain.

Why ERP and TMS Integration Matters

ERP and TMS integration connects business planning with logistics execution, eliminating data silos and turning disconnected operations into a single, visible supply chain. When both systems work together, every stage from order creation to delivery and invoicing runs on shared, real-time data, improving coordination, accuracy, and decision-making.

Key benefits:

• Creates end-to-end visibility across orders, transport, warehouse, and finance
• Improves delivery accuracy and customer communication through shared shipment updates
• Enables real-time freight cost tracking against budgets, SKUs, and customers
• Supports AI-powered planning, carrier decision-making, and delay prediction
• Reduces manual entry, transport errors, and compliance risk
• Strengthens cash-flow accuracy by linking POD, invoice, and cost accruals

When to integrate ERP and TMS?

Businesses should integrate ERP and TMS when transport operations become too complex for manual coordination, typically when shipment volumes rise, multiple carriers are involved, or real-time delivery visibility becomes essential. In Australia, companies often choose integration when expanding interstate operations or adding e-commerce fulfilment channels that demand real-time tracking and pricing accuracy.

How to integrate ERP and TMS?

ERP and TMS can be integrated by using native ERP logistics modules or connecting third-party transport systems via API.

• ERP-Native TMS: Systems such as Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management offer built-in TMS functionalities that share the same database as ERP. This approach ensures consistency in data structure and reporting while reducing integration complexity.
• Third-Party TMS Integration: Platforms like SAP and Cario or NetSuite and Shippit connect through APIs or middleware. These integrations provide greater freight functionality, carrier flexibility, and scalability for high-volume shippers.

In both models, successful deployment requires aligning master data, such as products, addresses, carriers, and tax rules, and testing real-time event flows such as order creation, shipment confirmation, and proof-of-delivery updates.

TMS and ERP Integration Examples in Australia

A standout example of this integration in Australia comes from our project with a major landscaping and outdoor materials supplier in Brisbane. The client, known for its broad product range and reliable delivery service, faced growing operational challenges due to fragmented systems for sales, driver scheduling, production, and finance. This created delays, manual work, and limited visibility across deliveries and inventory.

To address these issues, Havi Technology designed and implemented a custom, end-to-end Odoo ERP and fleet management solution that centralised sales, inventory, finance, and transport operations in one single system.

Key integrated capabilities are illustrated in the image below:

• Accounting and Finance: Automated refunds, vendor approvals, and cash-flow forecasting, integrated with KeyPay payroll and Adyen payment terminals for real-time financial visibility.
• Sales and CRM: Centralised all sales channels with payment integration and linked fleet data, enabling direct dispatch planning from confirmed orders.
• Procurement and Inventory: Real-time tracking of supplier orders and stock levels, ensuring materials were available for both manufacturing and delivery.
• Manufacturing and Production: Streamlined make-to-order workflows connecting sales orders to manufacturing jobs with partial fulfilment support.
• Fleet and Logistics Management: Digital job scheduling and vehicle tracking replaced manual boards, providing live visibility across trucks, routes, and deliveries.

This integration transformed how the business managed both its enterprise operations and logistics execution. By unifying planning, inventory, finance, and transport data, the client now runs with real-time visibility from quote to delivery, reduced manual errors, and scalable dispatch capacity, all within a single platform.

As Australian companies scale, the goal shifts from simply integrating systems to choosing the right combination that fits their size, industry, and logistics complexity. The next section explores the top integrated TMS and ERP solutions for Australian businesses.

Best Integrated TMS ERP Solutions for Australian Businesses

The best integrated TMS and ERP solutions for Australian businesses combine enterprise resource management with advanced transport visibility, helping companies move from siloed operations to connected, compliant supply chains. Below are four proven combinations suited for different business scales and industries.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Supply Chain TMS

Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers a native Transportation Management System (TMS) built directly into its Supply Chain Management suite. This integration enables businesses to plan, execute, and monitor shipments across inbound and outbound logistics within the ERP system. For Australian enterprises, it ensures end-to-end operational control while maintaining compliance with BAS and GST reporting standards.

• Full visibility from sales orders to freight settlement.
• AI-driven route optimisation and carrier rate management.
• Use internal fleets or external carriers to define rates, reconcile costs, and optimise load building based on volume and weight.

For detailed guidance, visit Microsoft Learn, Transportation management overview.

Odoo and Starshipit Integration

The Odoo and Starshipit integration streamlines how Australian retailers manage fulfilment, carrier rates, and label creation, directly from within their Odoo environment. With Starshipit, users can automatically import orders from Odoo, generate shipping labels, compare carrier rates, and print documentation in bulk, all while maintaining live visibility over each parcel.

• Automate order importing, label generation, and carrier allocation directly from Odoo.
• Access Starshipit’s pre-negotiated carrier rates or use your own, with no per-label fees.
• Support multi-warehouse and international operations, including automated customs forms and HS code management.
• Manage all labels, packing slips, and shipping documents from one platform.

The system supports leading carriers such as Australia Post, DHL, Sendle, and FedEx, helping businesses scale nationally and internationally without a complex setup.

SAP and Cario Integration

The SAP and Cario integration transforms how logistics, sales, finance, and customer service teams quote, book, track, and reconcile freight across multiple carriers, directly within the SAP environment. It connects every stage of the freight process, from delivery quoting to cost reconciliation, into one seamless workflow.

• Offer customers delivery options, such as the fastest route, lowest cost, or preferred carrier.
• Generate consignments, select carriers, and print shipping labels seamlessly.
• Automated carrier selection, label generation, and freight reconciliation.
• View live shipment status and proof-of-delivery updates in SAP.

This partnership enhances freight visibility, automates invoice reconciliation, and supports Chain of Responsibility (CoR) compliance across complex transport networks.

NetSuite and Shippit Integration

NetSuite integrated with Shippit enables seamless order synchronisation and real-time delivery management between ERP and logistics operations. Together, they bridge global ERP capability with local, last-mile shipping automation, giving Australian retailers and distributors unified control from order to delivery.

• Automatically sync sales orders and trigger shipments from NetSuite.
• Execute dispatches in either NetSuite or Shippit while maintaining full data consistency.
• Consolidated financial and freight reporting in one dashboard.
• Centralise e-commerce, retail, and wholesale fulfilment workflows across both systems.

By combining NetSuite’s global ERP framework with Shippit’s intelligent carrier network, Australian businesses gain faster, more accurate shipping, improved customer communication, and a fully integrated order-to-delivery process.

These integrated solutions demonstrate that the right TMS and ERP combination depends on business scale, logistics complexity, and compliance needs. Whether embedded in ERP or connected through cloud APIs, they all share one objective: real-time control of both goods and data movement across Australia’s supply chain.

Next, we’ll address common questions and practical insights in our TMS–ERP FAQs, helping Australian decision-makers clarify integration costs, carrier compatibility, and implementation priorities before they begin their journey.

TMS ERP FAQs and Additional Insights

Is a TMS part of ERP or a separate system?

A Transportation Management System (TMS) is typically a specialised system separate from ERP, designed to handle logistics execution and freight optimisation. However, many modern ERP platforms, such as Microsoft Dynamics 365, now include built-in or integrable TMS modules to bridge operational and logistics workflows.

Can Odoo integrate with TMS systems?

Yes. Odoo can integrate with external TMS systems, such as Starshipit. Through these integrations, Australian businesses can automate label creation, carrier selection, and freight tracking. To explore the best setup for your operations, speak with our experts today.

How does TMS differ from WMS?

A Warehouse Management System (WMS) manages inventory storage, picking, and warehouse operations, while a TMS focuses on the movement of goods beyond the warehouse, from shipment planning to carrier invoicing.

Do I need TMS if I already have ERP?

Yes, if your business manages high transport volumes, multiple carriers, or complex delivery routes, a TMS is essential. While ERP ensures financial and operational accuracy, a TMS delivers the real-time freight visibility and efficiency that ERP alone can’t provide. Together, they form a complete digital logistics ecosystem.

In conclusion, ERP and TMS integration is the key to visibility, efficiency, and compliance. ERP systems unify business data and financials, while TMS solutions optimise freight movement and customer delivery. Together, they close the operational gap that often costs time and profit. Talk to Havi Technology today and discover how our Odoo, Dynamics 365, and integration expertise can help your business run smarter, faster, and with complete visibility.