Dispatch and in-transit
A transport system is not a wall of trucks in a control room. What actually runs is the desk and the driver’s phone: where to load, which vehicle, which route, who signs, when the POD returns, how freight is settled. Any of those four steps as photos in a chat group becomes a month-end fight. We fix the shipment model first: shipper, consignee, cargo, lane, trip, charge lines. Dispatch considers body type, payload, driver credentials, and in-transit conflicts; loading has a list and exceptions (over, short, damage); how precise location is to the customer is agreed in the design, not argued after go-live as “do we need to the door.”
POD and sign-off
E-sign, paper POD photo, exception refusal—state writes back to the shipment. Finance will not pay without a POD; a POD in a driver’s pocket for a week stalls receivables. Freight often has a contract rate, extras, tolls, waiting, and detention; rules are configurable and exceptions approved. Reconciling is shipment detail, not “about how many trucks this month.”
Own fleet and subcontract
Many companies subcontract when own trucks are short. If subcontract dispatch, settlement, insurance, and credential expiry live in another spreadsheet, the desk cannot see real capacity. We treat subcontract as a capacity resource on the same shipment, settle at contract rate, and block dispatch when credentials expire. Claims (damage, delay) hang on the shipment and the liable party instead of a new email thread.
Accessorials
Detention, deadhead, second delivery, wait overtime—if those fees have no rules, driver and shipper each remember a different month. Lane optimization can wait; load lists, exception photos, and e-POD must be actions a driver will actually do. Hazmat, reefer, and oversize mixed into a general pool must be blocked at dispatch by credential checks. Insurance claims should carry cargo and sign-off evidence off the shipment so a second pile of paperwork is not started.
Offline driver app
The driver app must be few steps and able to cache offline, so load and sign still complete on poor fuel or signal. Go-live pilots a fixed lane or one fleet, connecting shipper orders and payables. Training is dispatch and lead drivers. A transport system that works can dispatch, get a sign-off back, match charges, and show a customer where the freight is.