Orders
Why use Orders?
The orders feature allows you to keep track of all your loads and how far along they are in the operations process.
For an example trucking company, each load is put in a “bucket”, in a separate tab, based on the status:
- Entered loads are waiting on rate confirmation
- Confirmed are signed and waiting to be dispatched
- Dispatched are not yet loaded
- In Transit are loaded and headed to the receiver
- Delivered have not yet been invoiced
This allows you to see how loads progress through your delivery process, and gives you a quick to-do list for each bucket.
The preloaded steps can be customized to your business, too. So if you primarily work with brokers, you may want to remove the Confirmed or Entered step. You can add new steps, or rename existing steps to make more sense for you.
This gives you an easy way to see where all your outstanding loads are at a glance.
You can also automatically set a status when you dispatch or invoice an order. For example dispatching automatically moves an order to “Dispatched” and invoicing automatically moves to “Completed”. This makes sure your orders move through your process smoothly and consistently.
How to add an order
Step 1: Add Order
There are two ways you can start adding an order.
Click the green “Add Order” button from the Your Orders screen:
You can also click the “+” button next to Orders in the left hand navigation menu, from anywhere in Rigbooks:
Step 2: Order details
Once clicked, you will see the following screen. Enter the information for your order:
The only required field is Order #, so you can revisit an order and add more details as you get them.
Rigbooks doesn’t require you to process an Order in a strict sequence, so you can add one with any status.
If this load is for a dedicated customer or you repeatedly haul the same load, you can select the Frequency as “Recurring”and it will be used as a template to create future loads:
The information entered in “Internal Note” will only be visible in Rigbooks and will not show up on printed orders or displayed to the customer.
Contracting Parties
You have the flexibility to enter the customer that ordered the load and the customer to bill the load. You can also enter a third party, like a factoring company, for remit to.
On any of the customer names, you can begin typing to search your account’s customer database.
Once you start typing, a list of customers appears that matches your search. You can type more of the customer name to find the customer you want:
If the customer you need is not in your customer database and doesn’t show up in the search list, you can click “Add new customer?” to create a new one:
You will be presented with this popup screen to enter your customer information.
Only the customer name is required. Once you have entered the desired information, click the blue “Add Customer” button to save the customer.
The new customer will be selected after the popup window closes.
If you need to change the selected customer, you can click the “Choose a different Customer?” link.
This will display the customer search field:
Stops
You can enter multiple pickups and drops for this order.
Once you click “Add Pickup” or “Add Drop”, a form appears with fields to enter information about the stop:
Only the Date is required.
The customer search works just like the “Contracting Parties” fields above.
You can add as many stops as you need.
Once you have entered all of your stops, you can automatically calculate the routed miles including IFTA per state miles, using ProMiles. Click the “Calculate from stops?” link:
If you have already know how many deadhead miles there are for this order, you can enter them in the Unloaded Miles field. You can also wait until the order is dispatched to a trip to enter this.
Rates & Charges
This is where you enter all your billable charges to your customer. You can enter Line Haul, Fuel Surcharge, Detention and more. You can also choose from a wide variety of rate units
- per Mile
- per Hour
- per Day
- per Ton
- per Load
- per Gallon
- per Stop
- Lump Sum
You can fully customize the categories of charges you can enter. To create a new category, click “Add a new revenue category?”
You will be presented with a popup window asking for the revenue category details:
When you have entered the name and optionally entered the description, click “Add Revenue Category” and the new revenue category will be added to the list of revenue categories on the add order page.
You can also add as many charges as you need, by clicking on the blue “Add New Charge” button:
Example charges:
Notes for customer
You can also enter notes that will be displayed to the customer on print outs, and automatically copied over to the invoice for this order.
Step 3: Finishing up
Once you have finished entering the desired order details, click the blue “Add Order” button.
This will save your order record and present you with a new Order Entry form. This way if you have many orders to enter you can begin on the next one immediately.
How to dispatch an order
Step 1: Start the dispatch process
There are two places to start a dispatch.
On the “Your Orders” page, click the blue “Dispatch” button on the list of orders. This will only be available for orders that haven’t already been dispatched:
You can also dispatch an order from the Order Details page. Click the blue “Dispatch” button:
Step 2: Enter the remaining dispatch information
When you dispatch an order, you are also creating a Trip record. All the information from the order will be carried over and you’ll only need to select a driver. There’s also an Order Details section to show you information about the order record:
If you need help adding a trip, click here.
Once you finish adding the trip, your order status will be updated as configured in Order Settings.
To verify your settings:
And then scroll down to the “Order Status Automation” section:
The above settings indicate a dispatched order will be moved to the “In Transit” status.
How to invoice an order
Orders are invoiced through their attached trip record, and there are two ways you can get to the trip record from the orders area.
Step 1: Visit the attached trip record
By clicking the blue “View Trip” button on the “Your Orders” area for dispatched orders:
You can also get to the trip record from the Order Details page:
Step 2: Invoice the trip
From the trip record page, you can click the white “Create Invoice” button:
Step 3: Enter the remaining invoice information
You will be taken to the new invoice page with all of the order information carried over to the invoice, so you don’t have to re-enter it:
If you need more help creating an invoice, please click here.
Once you finish invoicing the order, your order status will be updated as configured in Order Settings.
To verify your settings:
And then scroll down to the “Order Status Automation” section:
The above settings indicate an invoiced order will be moved to the “Completed” status.
How to copy an order
If you have a load for a customer that is identical to one you hauled before, you can just copy the existing order instead of re-entering the new one.
Step 1: Start the copy process
From the “Your Orders” page, find the order you want to copy, click “Options” and then “Copy Order” from the context menu that appears:
Step 2: Update Reference and Dates
You will be taken to the Add Order screen with all the information pre-entered from the copied order. You can update the order with the new Reference numbers and dates needed for the new order:
You can also make any other changes that you need.
Step 3: Finishing up
Once you have finished verified the order details, click the blue “Add Order” button.
This will save your order record and present you with a new Order Entry form. This way if you have many orders to enter you can begin on the next one immediately.
How to edit an order
If you need to make changes to an order you previously created and saved, you can edit any of the details of the order.
Step 1: Start the edit process
You can start the edit process for an order from two places.
First, from the “Your Orders” page, find the order you want to edit, click “Options” and then “Edit” from the context menu that appears:
You can also edit an order from the Order Details page. Click the white “Edit” button
Step 2: Update the order details
Once clicked, you will see this screen. All the order details will be displayed and you can change any of the information shown:
If you need to learn more about what any of the fields represent, please see “How to add an order”
Changing a customer
If you need to change the selected customer for either Ordered by, Billed to, or the shipper/receiver for any of the stops, click the “Choose a different customer?” link:
This will replace the customer information card with a customer database search field. Start typing to find any customer already in your customer database:
If you cannot find the desired customer in your database, you can create a new customer record by clicking “Add new Customer?”
You will be presented with this popup screen to enter your customer information.
Only the customer name is required. Once you have entered the desired information, click the blue “Add Customer” button to save the customer.
The new customer will be selected after the popup window closes.
Reordering stops
If you need to change the order the stops are listed, you can click the up/down arrows to move a stop through the stops list:
Removing a stop
If you need to remove a stop, click the red “Remove” button for the stop:
If you need to add a new pickup or drop, you can add multiple new stops to this order:
Once you click “Add Pickup” or “Add Drop”, a form appears with fields to enter information about the stop:
Only the Date is required.
The customer search works just like the “Contracting Parties” fields above.
You can add as many stops as you need.
Removing charges from the order
If you need to remove any of the existing charges from the order, you can click the white trash can button:
You will need to save the order details before the removed charges are saved.
Add more charges to the order
If you need to add more charges to the order, click the blue “Add New Charge” button:
You will need to save the order details before the new charges are saved.
Step 3: Save your Order Details
Once you have made all the desired changes to the order, click the blue “Save Order Details” button at the bottom of the screen:
This will save all your changes and return you to the page you were on before clicking the “Edit” button.
How to delete an order
If you have added an order that was a mistake or is not needed, you can remove it.
Step 1: Delete the order
You can delete an order from the “Your Orders” page. First, find the order you want to delete, click “Options” and then“Delete” from the context menu that appears:
You must confirm that you want to delete the order before it is removed. Click “OK” if you want to remove it, or cancel if you don’t want it removed:
How to download an order as a PDF file
If you need to download an order record either to save on your computer, email it to a customer, or any other reason you can download a pdf file of an order with a single click.
Step 1: Download the pdf file
You can download a pdf file for an order from two places.
First, from the “Your Orders” page, find the order you want to download, click “Options” and then “Download PDF” from the context menu that appears:
You can also download an order from the Order Details page. Click the white “Download” button
How to print an order
If you need to print an order record, you can print with a single click.
Step 1: Print the order
You can print an order from two places.
First, from the “Your Orders” page, find the order you want to print, click “Options” and then “Print” from the context menu that appears:
You can also download an order from the Order Details page. Click the white “Print” button
How to customize which order statuses your account uses
Order statuses are used to track an orders progress through your delivery operation.
For an example trucking company, each load is put in a “bucket” in a separate tab, based on the status:
- Entered loads are waiting on rate confirmation
- Confirmed are signed and waiting to be dispatched
- Dispatched are not yet loaded
- In Transit are loaded and headed to the receiver
- Delivered have not yet been invoiced
This allows you to see how loads progress through your delivery process, and gives you a quick to-do list for each bucket.
These preloaded statuses can be customized to your business. So if you primarily work with brokers, you may want to remove the Confirmed or Entered step. You can add new steps, or rename existing steps to make more sense for you.
Open the order settings page
From the “Your Orders” page, click the white “Settings” button in the top right of the screen:
The “Order Statuses” area is at the top of the Settings page:
Edit existing statuses
You can edit the names of any of the statuses by clicking the button with the pencil icon:
Removing existing statuses
You can also delete any statuses by clicking the button with the trashcan icon:
Once clicked, you will need to confirm that you want to delete the status:
Adding a new order status
If you need to add new statuses, you can click the blue “Add New Order Status” button:
This will display the “New Order Status” screen:
Only the name is required.
Once you have filled out the status information, click the blue “Add Order Status” button to save the new order status: