South Africa has the longest road network of any country in Africa. The ports of South Africa are often used for the importation of goods and transportation thereof to the land-locked countries such as Zimbabwe, Malawi, Zambia and Botswana or the industrial metropoles and communities in the interior such as Johannesburg, Pretoria, Kimberley and Bloemfontein. Transport of passengers includes the transport of tourists, bus passengers and taxi passengers.

Road transport is regulated through permits for cross-border transport and permits (also known as operating licenses) for domestic transport. Applications for these permits and licenses include specification of the routes. The regulation of transport in a country is important to address issues like wear and tear of the roads, congestion, overloading control on roads and routes with high utilization, planning of infrastructure and maintenance on roads. The regulation of the taxi industry was important to control utilization of routes and eliminate hostilities between taxi associations over routes.

All nine South African provinces have a Transportation Board and each is tasked with process administration with regards to the delivery of domestic transportation permits. Issued permits are valid for a maximum time frame of five years.

The Cross-Border Road Transport System (CBRTS) and Road Transport Permit System (RTPM) provide current information on transport volumes and route utilization to the authorities tasked with planning and regulating the industry. The RTPM system was designed for the issuing of domestic and cross-border permits, providing a single solution for the regulating of the transport industry in a country.

With all the information in a single system, a business intelligence solution can be utilized to provide concise and topical information to authorities and various role players.