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Setting Up a Delivery, Transit or Field-Service Operation

For courier and delivery fleets, bus / paratransit / shuttle operators, utility and field-service crews, tow operators and any business that dispatches vehicles and people to jobs. In Resgrid a vehicle is a unit, a job is a call, a planned sequence of stops is a route, and end-of-day summaries are records.

1 — Department settings​

SettingValue
24-hour timePer preference.
Use branding in emailsOn.
ModulesRoutes, Units, Shifts, Checklists, Work orders (Readiness Pro), Inventory, Records on; Mapping on; Trainings optional.
Dispatch settingsDefault statuses dispatched → En route, released → Available; rest period 5 min; Order by driving ETA on.
Mapping settingsUnit location TTL 30 min.

2 — Types​

TypeValues
Unit typesVan, Box truck, Bus, Paratransit van, Service truck, Tow truck, Bike / cargo bike.
Call typesDelivery, Pickup, Service call, Breakdown, Accident, Passenger incident, Route deviation, Customer complaint.
PrioritiesScheduled, Same-day, Urgent, Emergency.
CertificationsDriver licence class, DOT medical card (expiry), Forklift, Hazmat endorsement, First aid, Passenger assistance.

3 — Groups, roles, statuses​

  • Stations: each depot / yard with address and geofence (service area).
  • Organisational groups: regions or contracts.
  • Roles: Driver, Helper, Technician, Dispatcher, Supervisor, Mechanic.
  • Custom statuses: units — Off duty · Loading · En route · On site / Delivering · Returning · Breakdown · Out of service; personnel — On duty · Off duty · On break; staffing — Available · Unavailable.

4 — Vehicles and drivers​

  • One unit per vehicle with a Driver role (and Helper where used); User Defined Fields on units for plate, VIN, capacity, lift-equipped.
  • Hardware GPS tracking bindings per vehicle (Teltonika / Digital Matter / Traccar) with source priority above the phone; the Unit app on the driver's device for status, checklists and routes.
  • Drivers verify contact methods and install Responder or use the Unit app only.

5 — Routes and jobs​

  • Routes: build route plans with stops (address, contact, planned arrival/departure, dwell time, notes), assign a unit, optionally optimise stop order and use the depot as start/end; drivers start the route in the Unit app and stops are marked on geofence arrival. Link stops to calls where each stop is a job.
  • Calls for ad-hoc jobs: dispatch to a unit; destination POIs for customer sites; call templates for Delivery / Pickup / Service call with UDFs (order number, PO, customer reference).
  • Run cards: Breakdown → Service truck ×1 closest-unit auto-dispatch; Urgent delivery → Van ×1 closest.
  • Contacts: customers with addresses, delivery instructions as alert notes; categories per contract.

6 — Records​

From the Operational report templates pack: Delivery Run Report (Quick entry, one per unit per day), Bus/Route End-of-Day Summary (transit), Job/Service Completion (field service, signature field, photo attachments). Reviewer: dispatcher. Report exports to email customers proof-of-delivery or to upload to the ERP nightly through a workflow.

7 — Readiness​

  • Checklists: Vehicle pre-trip (Unit, each shift, reported location required, critical: brakes, lights, tyres) with Create a work order on failure and Place unit out of service; Lift inspection weekly (paratransit); Load securement (trucks).
  • Work orders (Readiness Pro): preventive schedules by meter (miles / kilometres from the tracker) — oil change every 8,000 km, brake inspection every 30,000 km; business calendar Mon–Sat; vendor charges for outside shops; parts from inventory.
  • Inventory: depot as a facility; parts (filters, bulbs, wipers) as bulk with reorder points and a preferred supplier; handhelds and scanners as serialized assets issued to drivers; purchasing with purchase orders.
  • Shifts: assigned driver shifts per depot; workshifts anchor each shift checklists.

8 — Communication​

  • Chat: depot channels; DMs to units for turn-by-turn changes; urgent messages for recalls.
  • Notifications: Unit breakdown → dispatcher + mechanic; Driver available < N per depot before the morning wave.
  • Workflows: Call closed (Delivery) → email the customer contact with the proof-of-delivery export; Record finalized (Run report) → upload to the ERP SFTP; Work order overdue → Slack.
  • Weather alerts for winter operations.

First-week checklist​

  • Every vehicle as a unit with a tracker binding
  • Depot geofences drawn; customers imported as contacts
  • One route built and run end-to-end in the Unit app
  • Pre-trip checklist scheduled per vehicle with out-of-service on failure
  • Delivery Run Report definition published and exported via workflow