Jobs on a paper pad, invoices copied out by hand.

Starting point

The system runs for two towing companies, with eight to ten dispatchers using it around the clock in shifts. Before, everything went through pre-printed report sheets, often three jobs on one slip, and the report followed only afterwards. Sometimes an entry was missing, sometimes a value was wrong, sometimes the report came too late. Every few days someone copied the invoices out of those reports by hand. Anything that did not add up often surfaced only there.

What we built

• Everything sits in one system: jobs, vehicles and prices. The paper slip is gone.
• Validation happens while typing, for number plates, streets and times. Anything wrong shows up before the job is closed.
• The invoice comes out of the finished job, without anyone transferring numbers. The report goes out by email straight after.
• Every step can be switched to manual when a case needs checking. Automatic is the normal case, not a constraint.
• Two kinds of job that run separately: workshop jobs from private and business clients, towing jobs for public authorities. Each kind has its own invoices and its own archive.
• Anyone paying cash gets a receipt. Plus reports on which driver drove what and how busy a day was.
• A dark mode, because the work runs around the clock in shifts. On a night shift that is not a gimmick, it is a question of eyesight.

Result

The report now goes out right after the job, the invoice follows the next day. What was a pad of report sheets has become a system for the whole yard, from dispatch through to reporting.