Signs the spreadsheet has stopped keeping up
A spreadsheet is a good tool for one person who knows every job. It gets harder when several people need the same information at the same time, or when the people who need it are out on the road.
These are some of the common signs that it might be time for something more structured.
- The person running dispatch spends a large part of the day ringing drivers
- Two people book the same truck, or a job falls through because nobody wrote it down
- Customers call to ask where their delivery is, and someone has to call the driver to find out
- Delivery dockets come back crumpled, late or not at all
- Invoicing waits on paperwork, so it happens days or weeks after the work
- Only one person really knows how the system works, and things stall when they’re away
Dispatch and job status
At its simplest, a job tracking tool is one shared list of jobs with a status that everyone can see: booked, allocated, picked up, delivered, invoiced. The office allocates a job to a driver and a vehicle, and the driver sees it on their phone.
The useful part is what happens when plans change. If a pickup is cancelled or a customer adds a pallet, the change goes to the driver straight away and the system can show when they’ve seen it. That replaces a lot of phone calls with one update.
Decide which statuses actually matter to you. Too many steps and drivers stop updating them. Too few and the office still has to ring around.
Proof of delivery
Proof of delivery is often the best place to start, because it affects disputes, invoicing and customer trust all at once. A driver can capture a signature, a photo of the goods where they were left, the time and the receiver’s name on a phone.
Once that record exists, it can be attached to the job, sent to the customer and used for the invoice. When a query comes up weeks later, it can be found by searching rather than digging through a folder of dockets. Write down what your customers expect a proof of delivery to include, because that shapes what the driver has to capture.
Keeping customers updated
Many “where’s my delivery?” calls can be answered before they’re made. A system could send a message when a job is picked up, when the driver is on the way, and when it has been delivered, with the proof of delivery attached.
Be careful with estimated arrival times. Traffic, loading delays and changed runs make them unreliable, and a wrong estimate can cause more calls than no estimate at all. A simple “on the way today” is sometimes more honest and more useful than a precise time.
Drivers, devices and coverage
The driver side has to be quick to use, often with gloves on or in a hurry at a loading dock. Large buttons, few steps and no typing where it can be avoided make the difference between a tool that gets used and one that gets ignored.
Mobile coverage drops out on plenty of regional routes. If drivers need to record deliveries out of range, the app has to save entries on the phone and send them when the signal returns, without losing or doubling up records. That adds work to a build, so say early if it applies to you.
Location data needs care. If the system records where drivers are, decide what is collected, when, who can see it and how long it is kept, and tell drivers plainly. Software can also help keep schedules and maintenance records consistent for chain of responsibility purposes, but it won’t make a business compliant on its own.
Off-the-shelf or custom?
There are many transport management and fleet products on the market, and one of them may suit you well. Try them with a few of your real jobs, not just the demo, and check per-user or per-vehicle fees, contract terms and whether you can export your data if you leave.
A custom tool makes more sense when your work doesn’t fit those products, when you only need one part done well, such as proof of delivery, or when it has to connect with systems you already use. If you have GPS tracking or telematics already, a custom tool may be able to read from it, depending on whether the provider allows that access. My guide on choosing between custom software and off-the-shelf tools goes through the decision in more detail.
How costs are worked out
Custom software and apps are quoted individually, because the effort depends on how many people use the system, what it connects to and whether it needs to work offline. I don’t publish a set price for this kind of work.
I write down the agreed scope first, then give a fixed price for it. Changes after work starts are quoted before I do them, so nothing is added without your approval. I’m not registered for GST, so no GST is added, and I usually reply to enquiries within two business days.
What to put in a brief
You don’t need a technical specification. A plain description of how work moves through the business is far more useful. The detailed Project Builder asks for most of the following.
- One typical job, written out from the booking to the paid invoice
- How many vehicles, drivers and office staff would use the system
- How jobs are booked and allocated now, and what usually goes wrong
- What a proof of delivery needs to include for your customers
- Which updates customers want, and how they prefer to receive them
- The software you already use for accounting, tracking or bookings
- Routes or areas where coverage is unreliable