How to Keep a Carrier Review Log Your Team Can Use

Write for the person who was not there

A useful review log connects the carrier, evidence, decision and unfinished work. It should let another person understand the approval without reconstructing the conversation.

Use the USDOT number and legal name to identify the entity. Record when the review took place, which sources were checked and the facts that mattered. Distinguish the time you retrieved a record from any effective date shown in it.

Keep notes specific. “Insurance checked” offers little help. “Agent confirmation saved with the review; shipment assumptions and restrictions recorded” tells the next reviewer where to look.

For a freight quote, retain the fuel benchmark and surcharge calculation so another broker can reproduce the amount.

Give an unresolved question somewhere to live

Suppose dispatch supplies a new phone number. A useful entry preserves the previous number, the new number and the unanswered confirmation request. It also identifies who is following up.

Once confirmed, add the supporting contact, date and outcome. If a separate question remains, keep it open. A general “approved” label should not hide a condition that has yet to be met.

These are proposed working practices, not a federal recordkeeping standard. Adapt the fields and decision labels to your brokerage’s policy.

Preserve the earlier decision

Use a new entry for a new review rather than overwriting the previous row. Keep a current-status view if it helps daily work, but retain the evidence showing how that status was reached.

The blank CSV below provides a starting point for Excel or Google Sheets. Agree who maintains the working copy and where supporting documents live. Several emailed copies can quickly leave two brokers looking at different answers.

Limit access to the people who need it. Record business facts and evidence; avoid speculative accusations or unnecessary personal information. Set retention and access rules with the appropriate people in your business.

When a carrier returns after a booking gap, preserve the earlier approval and record the new review separately.

Test the log with a handover

Give a completed entry to someone who did not perform the check. Ask them to identify the carrier, explain the decision and name any remaining work. Each question they cannot answer points to a gap in the record.

Then show them an older alert email. They should be able to find the latest review and see whether the alert still requires action. A dashboard can provide that continuity, but the information has to survive the handover wherever you keep it. If the decision moves into a TMS, carry the conditions as fields rather than a notes paragraph.