McLeod LoadMaster data: what carriers can export

What does LoadMaster hold for a carrier?#

McLeod LoadMaster holds the operating record of an asset-based carrier: who ordered the freight, how it moved, who drove it, what was billed and what the driver was paid. For most fleets that run it, LoadMaster is the system that ties dispatch, billing and settlements together, with ELD, fuel card and document imaging systems feeding it.

The core chain generally runs from order to movement to stop. An order is the customer's shipment with its rate and references. A movement is a leg of equipment and driver assignment that carries the order, and each movement has stops for pickup, delivery and anything in between. Splits, relays and repowers create several movements for one order, which is why the joins matter more than any single table.

Around that chain sit the master files: customers, locations, drivers, tractors, trailers and payees, plus charge codes, accessorials and rate tables. Most installs also hold check-call history, service failure codes and free-text comments, which are often the clearest record of what actually happened on a load.

Carrier record map: what to export and how sensitive it is#

A carrier's LoadMaster records fall into eight families, and the most sensitive are driver pay and settlements and the driver and payee master files. The map below groups the families an IT director will usually find; table and field names differ by version and configuration, so confirm each family against your own install before you scope an export.

Which export routes are open to you?#

The export routes open to a carrier depend mostly on where LoadMaster runs and what the agreement allows. A carrier that hosts the database on its own servers can often query it directly or through a reporting tool, while a carrier in a hosted arrangement may need to request extracts through McLeod or use the reporting and integration options its agreement includes.

Built-in reports are good for checking volumes and spotting gaps, but they summarize. An archive for analysis needs record-level extracts with keys intact, usually as delimited files or a separate database copy. If your team has never queried the database, work from a restored backup on a separate server so dispatch is never slowed.

• 1Standard and custom reports: quick for counts and spot checks, weak as an archive.
• 2Direct queries on a self-hosted install: complete record-level history, but needs someone who knows the schema.
• 3Backup restored to a separate server: a full copy for analysis without touching production.
• 4Vendor-assisted extracts: the usual route for hosted environments, with scope and any fees set by your agreement.
• 5Integrations and APIs: useful for current data, rarely the right tool for years of history.

Why driver pay and settlement records need separate handling#

Driver pay and settlement records need separate handling because they tie a named person to earnings, deductions and sometimes bank and tax details. Company driver pay, owner-operator settlements, advances, escrow balances and garnishments often sit close together in the same part of the database.

For internal reporting these records belong in the archive under tight access. For any use outside the company, most carriers exclude them or reduce them to patterns with no person identifiable, and only after counsel reviews driver agreements, owner-operator leases and the state privacy laws that may apply.

A practical rule for IT: export settlements to a separate, access-restricted location, never into the working folder that holds order and stop history. That keeps every later scoping decision simple.

Fields to flag before anything leaves the building#

Field flagging means marking each column as keep, transform or exclude before any export is shared. A customer name that is essential for internal reporting can be replaced with a consistent token in an external package, so the history still links together without naming anyone.

• 1Shipper, consignee and bill-to names, addresses and contacts on orders and stops.
• 2Customer rates, fuel surcharge tables and accessorial pricing.
• 3Driver names, employee IDs, license details, phone numbers and home terminals.
• 4Owner-operator tax IDs, bank details and settlement statements.
• 5Tractor and trailer VINs and plates, which can be matched to public registrations.
• 6Free-text comments, check-call notes and imaged bills of lading and delivery receipts.

How do you check a LoadMaster export is complete before a migration?#

A LoadMaster export is complete when its counts and totals reconcile to the live system and the general ledger, and when sample loads can be traced end to end. Run these checks before cutover to a new TMS, while the source system and the people who know its configuration are still available.

Keep the results with the archive. A short reconciliation note signed off by IT and finance is what lets anyone trust the history later, whether the question is an audit, a cargo claim, a driver pay dispute or a decision about licensing.

• 1Count orders, movements and stops by year, and compare them with the same counts run inside LoadMaster.
• 2Reconcile billed revenue by year to the general ledger, allowing for credit memos and rebills.
• 3Reconcile settlement totals by pay period to payroll and owner-operator payment records.
• 4Trace sample loads from order to movements, stops, invoice and settlement, including splits, relays and repowers.
• 5Confirm every status, charge and service failure code in the data has a description in the exported code lists.
• 6Write purged periods, past conversions and known gaps into the data dictionary.

Illustrative: a refrigerated carrier archives LoadMaster history#

Illustrative: a fictional refrigerated carrier runs LoadMaster on its own servers, with an ELD platform feeding hours and positions and an imaging system holding signed delivery receipts. A planned move to a new dispatch platform prompts the IT director to build a complete archive before cutover.

The team restores a recent backup to a separate server, documents the order, movement and stop joins, and exports line-level billing, check calls and service failure codes by year. Settlements and the driver master go to a restricted share. Imaged documents stay in the imaging system, indexed by order number.

When leadership later asks whether the history could support a data license, the scope is already clear: order-to-delivery chains with temperature exceptions and delay reasons, customer and driver identities tokenized, and settlements excluded.

How SourceX reviews LoadMaster exports#

SourceX reviews carrier records through the SourceX five-step transaction: Supply, Rights, Preparation, Approval and Delivery. The first fit check uses metadata only, such as the LoadMaster version, years of history, record families and known restrictions, so no export is shared at that stage.

If the carrier proceeds, the Rights step checks the McLeod agreement, customer and broker contracts and driver notices, and Preparation removes personal and confidential details. Large archives stay in the carrier's own storage or ship on encrypted drives, and the SourceX Evidence Packet records provenance, licensing rights, permitted use, the privacy record and release authorization.