Shipping and Logistics — A Guide from Scratch

After the delivery note is issued the goods are still in the warehouse. Which vehicle they go on, in what order, in how many cartons, whether a carton is missing from the truck, and when and to whom the customer actually took delivery usually stays on paper or on the phone. The Shipping window keeps this chain in one place: it cuts and labels cartons, spreads the day's shipments over vehicles, shows load and route order, counts loading with QR codes, takes a signed, photographed proof of delivery on the driver's phone and writes the real delivery date into the on-time-in-full (OTIF) report.

1. The flow at a glance

Packing: a carton proposal from the lines of a delivery note (or an order without a delivery note yet); once cut, each carton gets a number (KL…) and a QR label.
Planning: on the shipping board, pending documents are dragged to a day and a vehicle (or a carrier); the shipment gets a number (SV…).
Loading: the warehouse clerk scans the cartons; if a carton is missing, extra or unknown, loading is not confirmed.
On the way: the driver taps "I have set off"; the day's route appears in order on the phone, with a directions link for each stop.
Delivery: at the stop, "Deliver" — cartons, the receiver's name, signature and an optional photo. The result can be full, partial, returned or could not be delivered.
Afterwards: the real delivery date of the delivery note is stored; the OTIF reports use it and the planner gets a message.

2. First setup: permissions and master data

Settings › Users › Shipping / logistics has four permissions: Shipping: packing and loading (warehouse clerk), Shipment planning and master data (logistics lead), Driver screen (only the shipments assigned to that user) and Proof of delivery (POD) entry (recording delivery for any stop from the office). Users with the older "Shipping permission" bit can pack and load. Among the role templates, the Driver role opens only the driver screen.

Then in the Master data tab: Vehicles (plate, type, kg / desi / pallet capacity, default driver, inspection, traffic insurance and comprehensive insurance end dates), Drivers (name, phone, licence and SRC end dates; the User name field is the driver's HNR user — the driver screen works through this link), Carriers (code, name, tracking address template https://…{takip}), Carton standards (per stock item: quantity per carton, unit weight, empty carton weight, carton size, cartons per pallet) and the Expiry calendar (inspections, insurances, licences and SRC ending in the next 60 days). A vehicle, driver or carrier used in a shipment is not deleted; it becomes inactive.

3. Packing and carton labels

Propose cartons looks at the item's carton standard: if a quantity per carton is set, full cartons come out and the remainder is never hidden (250 pieces, 100 per carton → 100 + 100 + 50). Items without a standard and remainders are collected per document into a mixed carton; if a mixed carton goes over 25 kg a new one is opened. Weight = quantity × unit weight + empty carton weight; desi = width × length × height / 3000 (from the carton size, otherwise from product volume). A product with unknown weight or size is shown with a warning; gross kg and size can be corrected by hand in the proposal. Cut cartons takes the number from the series and writes the carton number and the delivery note number into the carton's QR code; Print labels produces a 100 × 150 mm label PDF. The same line cannot be packed beyond the document quantity.

4. The shipping board: vehicle assignment and load

On the left is Pending shipments: outgoing delivery notes (sales and purchase returns) not yet in a shipment, plus open sales orders whose delivery date is within the chosen horizon. Each row shows the promised date, estimated kg and desi, carton count and a delay badge. On the board, columns are days and rows are vehicles; there are also No vehicle assigned, Carrier and Customer collects rows. Drop a document (or several ticked documents) onto a shipment card to add it; drop it onto an empty cell to open a new shipment for that day and vehicle. Dragging a card to another cell changes its date or vehicle. Documents of the same customer going to the same address become one stop. The bar on the card is the load: the highest of the kg, desi and pallet ratios; green up to 80%, yellow up to 100%, red above. For documents without cartons the load is estimated from the carton standard.

5. The shipment card, route and document set

Clicking a card opens the shipment card on the right: header (date, transport type, vehicle, driver, carrier and tracking number), load bars, stops and the audit trail. Suggest route orders the stops: stops with known coordinates by the nearest stop rule starting from the warehouse (straight-line distance), then stops without coordinates by province, district and address. No map service is used; coordinates are learned from the driver's delivery location. You can also change the order by hand with ↑ ↓. Document set (PDF) prints, in one file and for every stop, the delivery note, the packing list, the carrier label for carrier shipments and all carton labels; each part keeps its own paper size (A4 and 100 × 150 mm). Packing list (English) is the English packing list for exports. You can design these forms yourself in Settings › Print Forms with the Packing list, Carton label and Carrier label types.

6. Loading scan

With Loading scan open, scan the carton labels: a hand scanner types into the text box (Enter), on a phone Scan with camera scans continuously and the same code is not counted twice within two seconds. The list is split into Scanned and Missing; a carton of another shipment, an unknown code and a code scanned twice are listed separately. Confirm loading is enabled only when nothing is missing or extra; Confirm with missing removes the missing cartons from the shipment and leaves them in the warehouse. An order without a delivery note cannot be loaded. After confirmation the status is Loaded; when the driver taps "I have set off" it becomes On the way.

7. The driver screen and proof of delivery

The driver logs in on the phone and opens Shipping; My route shows today's shipments (and one still on the way from a previous day) in stop order. The next stop is highlighted; Directions opens the phone's map app and the phone number can be tapped to call. Deliver has three steps: 1. Cartons — scan the cartons or leave them ticked; an unticked carton counts as returned, and if all are unticked the result is a return. The Could not be delivered box is for cases such as nobody there or the address closed. 2. Proof — the receiver's name and finger signature (required) and an optional photo (the phone shrinks it to 1600 pixels). 3. Save — you may add the location and a note; a stop that could not be delivered or was returned needs an explanation. If saving fails the screen stays open; there is no offline queue, so press Save again when the connection is back. A stop's proof cannot be entered twice; a wrong record is corrected on the card with Undo delivery record and a reason, with planning permission.

8. After delivery: delivery note status, OTIF, returns

When the proof is saved, the stop's delivery notes become Delivered (or partly delivered / returned) and the real delivery date is recorded. The OTIF report on the customer card and Reports › Sales › OTIF now use this date instead of the invoice date as the order's delivery moment for these delivery notes; a partial or returned delivery does not count the order as "in full". When every stop is closed, the shipment becomes Delivered, Returned or Partly delivered. The delivery note of a stop that could not be delivered goes back to pending shipments and can be planned again. The person who created the shipment gets a message; a WhatsApp notice to the customer is sent only when the administrator has switched it on. Returned cartons are marked; the return intake process is in a separate module.

9. On the phone (Garden)

On screens under 7 inches the window works step by step: My route (driver), Load (choose a shipment → scan → confirm), Plan (1. documents, 2. vehicle or carrier, 3. confirm), Pack (document → proposal → labels), Shipments and Master data. For camera scanning the phone must connect through the HTTPS address (see the Mobile guide).

10. Common warnings

"… is already in shipment …" — the document is in another open shipment; remove it there first or move the card.
"Loading is short or over …" — a carton was not scanned; find it or use Confirm with missing.
"Unit weight not defined", "Carton size not defined" — complete the product in Master data › Carton standards.
"Your user is not linked to a driver record" — enter the driver's user name in Master data › Drivers.

11. Not in this version

Freight tariffs and shipment cost allocation, a logistics KPI dashboard, customer delivery preferences (delivery hours per address), automatic integration with carriers (today the tracking number and status are entered by hand), offline delivery records and proforma / CMR / ATR export documents are planned as separate work. The board already has the hooks for them.

Related guides: Warehouses · Mobile · Reports · All modules.