Assigning a driver from the bell

Summary

When a driver registers at the kiosk for a warehouse delivery or pickup, they appear in the dock board’s bell. Assigning them turns that registration into a dock job: they get a customer, a dock and an operator, the receipt or shipment is linked (if it applies), and the driver is told which door to go to. It all happens in one window, Assign Driver.

Before you start

Docks module enabled and the Write Docks permission (Supervisor, Admin and Super Admin by default).
The driver registered at this warehouse’s kiosk as Warehouse Delivery or Warehouse Pickup (see Driver registration).
To link documents: the Receiving module (deliveries) or Shipping module (pickups). To create a new document from here you also need the Capture Receipts or Create Shipments permission.
To notify the driver: the messaging system turned on and the Dock Assignment notification enabled (see Driver notifications).

How the window opens

By itself: if you have the board open when the driver finishes registering, the window appears right then (unless you already have another window open).
From the bell: the floating button with the counter. Each card shows the name, company and type; tap it to open the window. The bell only lists today’s registrations that are still unassigned.

What it shows about the driver

The left column, Driver Information, has the photo taken at the kiosk, the name, phone, company and type of visit, and below it Additional Driver Information: every field the warehouse asked for (truck, trailer, license, plates, pickup number…). Here they are read-only; if the driver made a mistake, fix them later in the job details.

Step by step

The right column is filled in from top to bottom, in this order:

Assign Client — who owns the goods (No Client by default). When you pick one, the documents box refreshes with that customer’s documents. Without a customer no document can be created or linked, and the job’s time is measured against 120 minutes.
Documents — if the warehouse uses Receiving or Shipping, a box appears with the open receipts (delivery) or shipments (pickup). The closest match comes marked as Suggested and already checked; you can check several or ask for a new one. If you check a document before picking a customer, the customer is filled in from the document. See Linking the job to its receipt or shipment.
Assign Dock — required. If the warehouse has Waiting-type docks, they appear first and the first one comes preselected: change it if the truck goes straight to a door. By default busy docks are offered too; the job lines up behind the ones already there.
Assign Worker — optional. The job joins the end of that operator’s queue. Without an operator, it shows up for nobody in My Work.
Notes — instructions for the operator (optional, up to 1,000 characters).
Click Assign Dock at the bottom of the window. If you picked a customer, confirm the Assigned client: "…" message; if you didn’t and the warehouse uses documents, confirm you want to assign without a customer.
Answer Do you want to notify the driver?. With OK, if the dock is a regular door and messaging is on, the driver gets an SMS or WhatsApp with the dock number. With Cancel, the job is assigned anyway but without a message.

When it finishes you see Assigned successfully., the window closes, the driver leaves the bell and the job appears at the dock as Assigned.

Important: opening or closing the Assign Driver window (including when it opens by itself) resets the FIFO View’s worker and customer filters to All. If you were arranging an operator’s queue, pick them again in the filter before dragging.

The Receiving Record

On deliveries, above the fields there is a Receiving Record card with a green button. Although that button also says Assign Dock, it does not assign: it opens the Receiving Record Form, the dock’s record of the unloading. The button that assigns is the blue one at the bottom of the window.

The form includes:

The basic data (date, customer, company, dock, trailer) and the seal number, which is also saved in the driver’s data.
The Inspection Checklist: trailer in good condition, seal intact, quantities verified, documentation complete, damage noted, temperature check (if applicable) and photos of any issues.
Items & Inventory: a table to note what comes off (description, quantity, weight, dimensions, location). A line without quantity is flagged Quantity missing: it would reach the receipt with quantity 0.
Comments and Checked and certified by.

Save keeps it on the job; Print produces a PDF. What you enter in Items & Inventory reaches the operator pre-filled in their app and, when the job is finished, becomes lines on the linked receipt (see The operator’s loading record and verification).

Sending to the waiting area

In installations with the waiting area turned on, the bottom of the window also has Send to waiting area, for when no dock is free. It asks Send this driver to the waiting area? No dock or operator will be assigned. and, when accepted, takes the next free waiting spot in the active yard and replies Driver sent to waiting area (…) with the spot. If there are no free spots you see No waiting spots available right now.

Important: Waiting Area spots currently cannot be created from the yard editor (the type appears in the list, but it is not saved). If your installation has the waiting area turned on and it always says there are no spots, ask support to set them up.

What happens next

Board: the dock turns red and the job appears as Assigned, with the arrival time from the kiosk registration (so the FIFO View follows the real arrival order).
Operator: sees it in My Work as the current job or under Upcoming Jobs.
Documents: the linked receipt or shipment takes the driver’s data and shows the dock job card. Its status changes when the operator starts, not on assignment.
Driver: gets the message with the dock, in the language they chose at the kiosk.
Other supervisors: their board refreshes and they see a notice that the driver was assigned; if they had that same driver’s window open, it closes for them.

The driver’s full journey is in The driver, from gate to exit.

Example

At 10:15 Luis Pérez registers for a delivery with trailer 77310 and reference ASN-4471 in his fields. Assign Driver opens on the board. The supervisor picks Northern Trading Co.: the documents box shows receipt REC-01288 as Suggested (reference and trailer match). She leaves dock 2, picks Ana López, writes "Check temperature" in Notes and clicks Assign Dock. She confirms the customer and agrees to notify the driver. Luis receives "you have been assigned a loading door… proceed to door #2". Receipt REC-01288 is now linked and will stay pending until Ana taps START JOB.

Special cases and limits

Two supervisors assign the same driver: the first one wins. The second sees This driver already has an active job. Another supervisor may have just assigned them. and no duplicate is created.
Waiting dock: if you assign to a Waiting-type dock, the assignment message is not sent even if you answer yes; send it when you move them to a door (changing the dock asks whether to notify).
Job type: it comes from what the driver chose at the kiosk. If they chose wrong, assign them and fix the type in the job details.
Yard drivers: drivers who come to drop off or pick up a trailer in the yard don’t go through here: they appear on the yard screen.
Visit registrations: if a visit-type registration reaches the bell (from older flows), the window offers no dock: the bottom button says Sign In and only marks it as handled.

Messages you may see

Message	What to do
Assigned successfully.	Nothing: the job is already at the dock.
This driver already has an active job…	Another supervisor assigned them. Find them on the board.
Assigned, but the WMS link failed: …	The job was created. The text says why the document was not linked (another customer, already linked, already closed). Link it later.
That person cannot be assigned jobs in this warehouse…	The chosen operator no longer has permission in this warehouse. Pick someone else.
Your session expired. Please sign in again.	Sign in again; the driver is still in the bell.

Best practices

Pick the customer first: that way you see their documents and the right suggestion.
Check the photo and trailer against the actual truck before assigning.
Notify the driver by message: it saves trips to the office.
Fill in the Receiving Record on deliveries: the operator gets it pre-filled and the receipt builds itself.

Troubleshooting

The driver did not get the message.

Check that the dock is a door (not Waiting), that messaging and the Dock Assignment notification are on and that their country code is allowed. The message history says whether it was blocked.

The documents box does not appear.

The warehouse does not have Receiving (deliveries) or Shipping (pickups), or the registration is neither a delivery nor a pickup.

The option to create a new document does not appear.

No customer is selected, or you lack the Capture Receipts or Create Shipments permission.

I clicked the green button and nothing was assigned.

That button opens the Receiving Record. Assign with the blue button at the bottom.

Frequently asked questions

Can I remove a driver from the bell without assigning them?

There is no button to dismiss them. Close only closes the window: the driver stays in the bell. Registrations nobody assigned stop showing the next day, and a nightly process closes them. If the driver left without a job, check them out from the driver log or from Visitors (see Driver check-out and the driver log).

Can I switch delivery to pickup when assigning?

Not in this window. Assign them and, in the Job Details, change the Job Type and click Update Job. If you had already linked a receipt, unlink it and link the right shipment.