Dispatch and drivers

This page is for dispatchers and owners at a hauling company, and for anyone evaluating HaulApp who wants to see how a day of trucking runs in it. It covers the office side first: how work reaches the dispatch board, and how dispatch puts trucks on it. The second half is for drivers: what the driver app shows and what each button does.

Dispatch starts where sales stops. Sales prices the work as a job quote (see Customers, jobs and quotes). Dispatch decides which truck hauls it on which day. Drivers capture the tickets that prove each load. For the whole flow, read How HaulApp works.

Three words dispatch uses

• A release is one day’s share of a job quote: a delivery day and a quantity, such as “Tuesday, 120 tons”. One job quote can have many releases.
• An assignment puts one truck, and the driver in it, on one release.
• A load is one truck trip. A truck runs as many loads on an assignment as the day allows.

All three are in the glossary.

From job quote to the day sheet

A job quote reaches dispatch only after two things happen. The job quote is on an order, and someone has confirmed the work with the customer. The steps below happen on the Orders screen. Customers, jobs and quotes explains how an order item is taken.

1. Call the customer and confirm the work. On the order item, select Mark confirmed. The button changes to Pick days.
2. Select Pick days. A calendar opens with the customer’s requested window shaded.
3. Pick the delivery day.
4. In How much on this day, enter the quantity for that day.
5. Select Put 120 tons on this day (the button names your quantity and unit).

The release now appears on the Dispatch screen for that day, in the Unassigned group.

HaulApp enforces two limits on releases:

• A release that takes the job quote past its ordered quantity needs a reason. HaulApp asks “Why is this going over?” and records the answer.
• Releases can never add up to more than 110% of the ordered quantity. For a larger change, change the order amount first.

Days you pick outside the customer’s window are allowed. HaulApp shows them as outside the window so you know you made that call.

Trucks and drivers

HaulApp pairs each driver with a standing truck, the way the yard does: dispatch says “send 105” and means the truck and the driver in it. Each truck has a unit number, a body type (dump, trailer, roll-off or other) and a road status of in service or out of service.

Each driver record shows:

• Employment: employee or subcontractor.
• Carrier: for a subcontractor driver, the company they drive for. Checks go to the carrier.
• Truck: the driver’s standing truck.
• Home yard.

Who turns up each day lives on Drivers → Schedule. The Roster shows every driver today as Working, Off or Sick, with the truck they drive. The week view shows the next seven days with the number of ready trucks under each day. When a driver covers someone else’s truck for a day, set that day’s truck on the roster. The standing pairing does not change.

Assign a truck

1. Open Dispatch. Pick the day in the date bar. To see one yard, pick it in the location menu; otherwise leave All locations.
2. Find the row in Unassigned and select Assign. The assignment drawer opens.
3. Pick a truck. Its driver comes with it.
4. Select Assign at the bottom of the drawer.

The row moves to Assigned. There is no separate publish step: the assignment reaches the driver’s app as soon as you make it. Behind the scenes HaulApp keeps a numbered plan for each day, and every change you make produces the next version (Plan v2, v3 and so on).

The truck list in the drawer shows every truck, including the ones you cannot use. A truck that is out of service or has nobody in it stays in the list, greyed, with the reason. You can fix both from the drawer: Put back in service returns the truck to the road, and Put a driver in it adds a driver who has no truck that day.

HaulApp will not book the same truck or the same driver twice in one day’s plan. To put a second truck on a release that is already running, select Add truck on its row.

Reassign work

Trucks break down and plans change. To move work to another truck:

1. Select the truck on the day sheet or the map. The truck panel opens.
2. Select Reassign remaining work.
3. Pick the new truck.
4. Type the reason, such as “114 broke down”. HaulApp requires one.
5. Select Reassign.

The new truck takes over the work that has not started. Loads the first truck already started or finished stay with that truck. HaulApp never moves a started load, so the record of who hauled what is fixed.

The driver who loses the work sees the change on the next refresh of their app.

What the dispatch board shows

The Dispatch screen is the board for one day. It has three parts.

The day sheet. One row per release, with Customer, Material, From, To, Qty, Gap, Window, Truck and Tickets. A badge in the header totals the gap across the day, such as “40 tons short”, or reads Fully covered. Hide columns you do not need. Save a filtered view as a tab, for example one tab for your biggest customer, and switch between it and the full sheet all day. Saved tabs belong to you and survive a new browser.

The map. Switch the day sheet from table to map to see every truck’s last reported position. HaulApp also draws each working truck’s road route to its next stop when routing is turned on for your company. The route is a planning estimate for the dispatcher. It is not turn-by-turn navigation and not a legal truck route.

The next-action bar. When drivers have not acknowledged their plan, a bar across the top says so, for example “2 drivers haven’t acknowledged”. Until they do, those drivers work from their previous plan. A clean board shows no bar.

Select a truck to see its status, its last position, its current work and the loads it has started today.

On a phone, the board shows the same day as a single readable column. Every action still works through the full-width drawer. Use a desktop to compare many trucks side by side.

Load and assignment states

Every assignment and load carries a state. The driver’s taps move the load forward; dispatch moves assignments.

State	Applies to	What it means	What moves it
Planned	Assignment	Dispatch put a truck on the release.	Dispatch assigns a truck.
Acknowledged	Assignment	The driver has seen the plan. A driver can start loads only from an acknowledged assignment.	Driver selects Acknowledge plan.
Superseded	Assignment	Dispatch moved this work to another truck or to a newer plan version. Loads already started on it stay on record.	Dispatch reassigns.
Started	Load	The truck began a trip.	Driver taps Navigate for a new load.
To origin	Load	Driving to the pit or pickup.	Same tap as Started.
At origin	Load	Arrived at the pickup.	Driver taps I’ve arrived.
Loaded	Load	The truck has its material and the scale ticket is captured.	Driver captures the ticket, or taps Confirm load when the job has no pickup ticket.
To destination	Load	Driving to the drop.	Driver taps Navigate.
At destination	Load	Arrived at the drop.	Driver taps I’ve arrived.
Delivered, then Proof due	Load	Material is on the ground; the delivery proof is being recorded.	Driver taps Complete delivery; both pass in that one tap.
Complete	Load	The trip is finished. HaulApp never reassigns or relabels a complete load.	Same tap.

A load’s physical state and its paperwork are separate. A delivered load with a ticket still waiting for review is still delivered. See Tickets and verification.

A day of dispatch

sequenceDiagram
    participant Office as Office (Orders)
    participant Dispatcher
    participant App as HaulApp
    participant Driver as Driver app
    participant Billing
    Office->>App: Mark confirmed, then Pick days (Tue, 120 tons)
    App->>Dispatcher: Release appears as Unassigned on the day sheet
    Dispatcher->>App: Assign truck 105 (driver comes with it)
    App->>Driver: Assignment appears on Today's shift
    Driver->>App: Confirm truck, Acknowledge plan
    loop Each load
        Driver->>App: Navigate, I've arrived
        Driver->>App: Capture ticket (photo, ticket number, net tons)
        Driver->>App: Navigate, I've arrived
        Driver->>App: Capture proof (delivery photo, signature)
        Driver->>App: Complete delivery
        App->>Dispatcher: Truck position, load state and ticket count update
    end
    Dispatcher->>App: Reassign remaining work if a truck goes down
    App->>Billing: Tickets wait in Tickets → Review

The driver app

This part is for drivers. The driver app runs in your phone’s web browser. Your company gives you its address. HaulApp shows it in English or Spanish.

Sign in and start your shift

1. Open the driver app and sign in. HaulApp sends you to its sign-in page and back.
2. On Start of shift, check your name and pick Which truck today? If you drive a different truck today, tap it.
3. Under Language, pick English or Español. The app starts in your phone’s language.
4. Tap Confirm truck.
5. On Today’s shift, read the plan: the plan version, where to report, and Your assignments. Each assignment shows the material, the number of loads, and where it goes From and To.
6. Tap Acknowledge plan.

Dispatch sees that you acknowledged. If you have no assignment yet, the app says No load yet and tells you where to wait.

Run a load

The big button at the bottom always shows the one next step. A banner above it says where you are: NEXT STOP, EN ROUTE, LOADING, DROP-OFF or DONE.

1. Tap Navigate. The route opens in the Hammer truck navigation app. If the stop has no map location, the button reads Start driving instead.
2. At the pickup, tap I’ve arrived.
3. Tap Capture ticket. Photograph the whole scale ticket with its number in frame.
4. Check Is it readable? Tap Retake if not.
5. Type the Ticket number and the net tons the ticket shows. Fix a wrong number by tapping the field. The app needs both before it accepts the ticket.
6. Tap Navigate to head for the drop, then I’ve arrived when you get there.
7. Tap Capture proof. Take the delivery photo. Enter the receiver’s name under Who’s receiving the load? and have them sign above the line, then tap Save signature.
8. Tap Complete delivery. The app shows the load as done and how many loads of the job are finished.
9. Tap Start next load, or Back to shift.

When you have no signal

The app keeps working with no connection. Your shift is saved on the phone. Photos, tickets and taps wait on the phone until the signal returns, then go to the office on their own.

The header shows No connection and a count such as 3 to send. Tap it to open Paperwork. Each item there shows one of four words:

• Saved on this phone: waiting for a signal.
• Uploading: on its way.
• Received by office: done.
• Needs attention: the upload did not finish. Tap Try again.

Tap Send to office to send everything now.

Check your tickets

Tap My tickets to see every ticket from this shift and where it stands with the office:

• In review: the office has not looked at it yet.
• Approved for billing: counted. Nothing more to do.
• Office needs a fix: the office needs a better photo. If you still have the paper ticket, tap Retake and send.

Your location

While you are signed in, the app sends your phone’s location to dispatch about every 50 meters of movement, or every 30 seconds when you are still. Dispatch uses it for the map.

Not supported yet

• Installing the driver app from the App Store or Google Play.
• Texting a signing link to the receiver’s phone. Have the receiver sign on your phone.
• Problem reports from the driver app reaching the office. Call dispatch.
• Messaging a driver from the dispatch board, or recording a breakdown that the office keeps.
• A driver turning down an assignment from the app.