From the yard to the dock and back

Summary

A yard job (or move) is taking a trailer from one place to another: dock to spot, spot to spot, spot to dock, entrance to spot, or spot to exit. Each move is done by a yard person from their app, or is recorded instantly when it already happened or when the driver does it. The system keeps track of which spot is occupied by which trailer, and closes or reopens the dock job accordingly.

The full path between dock, yard and cross-dock is in Dock, yard and cross-dock; the driver’s path, in The driver from gate in to gate out.

Before you start

Modules: Yard and Docks in the warehouse.
Permissions: Write Yard to create, cancel and reorder moves from the yard board; Write Docks (Supervisor, Admin and Super Admin roles only) to send a trailer to the yard from the dock board or to move a job back to dock management.
Who moves trailers: anyone with Read Own Jobs in the warehouse (Worker, Supervisor and Admin by default). They work from My Work.
A yard with spots set up (see Setting up the yard and its spots).

The move types

Move	When it is used	Who does it
Dock to Spot	The trailer finished at the dock and stays in the yard.	A yard person.
Spot to Dock	A yard trailer goes to a dock to be loaded or unloaded.	A yard person.
Spot to Spot	Reshuffle inside the yard.	A yard person.
Entrance to Spot	The driver drops the trailer straight in a spot, without a dock.	The driver.
Spot to Exit	The trailer leaves the yard.	The driver, or a yard person if they bring it to the exit.

Entrance and exit moves done by the driver are recorded as already finished: they do not go through the yard queue or appear in anyone’s My Work.

How a trailer enters the yard

From the dock to the yard

When the operator finishes and the trailer does not leave with the driver, the dock job stays in Work Finished. The supervisor presses Send to Yard on the dock board. The Send Trailer to Yard window offers:

Target yard — with several active yards, which one it goes to.
Assign to Spot — pick the spot (only available spots are listed and you can search them) and, optionally, the person who will move it (Select Yard Worker). The spot is held immediately and a Dock to Spot move is created. If the installation has extended notifications, the driver gets a message with the spot number.
Send to Yard (no spot) — the job goes to Pending Yard, the driver is checked out and the trailer appears in Jobs to Assign on the yard board, where someone picks a spot. You see Trailer marked for yard. Assign spot from Yard view. Meanwhile the trailer is still physically at the dock and the dock looks occupied.

The dock job’s end time is when the operator finished, not when the trailer moved.

The driver drops the trailer

At the kiosk, if the warehouse has docks and a yard, the driver chooses Yard Drop Off (with only a yard, they are not asked). The check-in goes straight to Jobs to Assign on the yard board, not to the dock board bell. Drag the card onto a free spot: the proposed move is Entrance to Spot and it is recorded as finished, with the spot occupied. With extended notifications, the driver receives the spot number.

Important: the job of a driver who drops a trailer stays open (Assigned) and the driver still counts as on site until that trailer leaves the yard. Read the queue special cases before using Quick Release on those spots.

Creating a move

There are three ways to create a move, all from the yard board:

Drag a card from Jobs to Assign onto a spot. The type is proposed from the job: a delivery, Entrance to Spot; a load, Dock to Spot; a pickup, Spot to Dock.
Drag an occupied spot onto another free spot (reshuffle) or onto a dock in the top row.
Use Send to Dock for Loading on a spot with an empty trailer.

Important: if you drag a delivery in Pending Yard, the proposed type is Entrance to Spot, but that trailer is at the dock. Change it to Dock to Spot: with Entrance to Spot the spot is taken, but the dock job does not close and the card stays in Jobs to Assign.

The Create Yard Job window

Field	What it does
Load Information	Read only: the job, trailer and driver being moved.
Movement Type	Already proposed; can be changed. For Entrance to Spot and Spot to Exit the window explains that the trailer enters directly without a dock, or leaves the facility.
Assign User	Who moves it. Optional. Only staff who can receive jobs are listed; if you leave it empty on an internal move, you are asked what to do (see below).
Destination Spot	For Dock to Spot, Spot to Spot and Entrance to Spot. Only available spots are shown.
Destination Dock	For Spot to Dock.
Job Type at Dock	Only when the original job was already closed: Load (default), Pickup or Delivery.
Priority	Normal, Urgent or Critical. Urgent and critical moves go first in the queue.
Advanced options › Arrival time	Leave blank to use the current time. It keeps the real arrival order if you record the move later. A future time is not accepted.

Press Create Job. You see Yard job created successfully. If the job already had another pending move, that one is cancelled and its spot freed: a trailer has only one active move at a time.

If you don’t pick who moves it

For Dock to Spot, Spot to Dock and Spot to Spot, if you pick nobody the No yard worker assigned window offers three options:

Create the job unassigned — it goes into the yard queue and someone is assigned later.
Just occupy / release the spot and dock — records the move as already done: nothing is left pending. Depending on the type, the spot is marked occupied and the dock job closes (dock to spot), the origin spot is freed and the trailer is placed at the dock (spot to dock), or the origin is freed and the destination occupied (spot to spot). You see Movement recorded: spot and dock updated.
Go back and pick someone.

From the yard to the dock

Drag the occupied spot onto a dock in the top row (or use Send to Dock for Loading).
Pick who moves it and confirm. If the original dock job was already closed, the system says The original job is completed. A new dock job will be created for this trailer. and asks for the Job Type at Dock.
Starting the move frees the origin spot.
When it finishes, the trailer is at the dock and the dock job follows its normal cycle (see The life of a dock job). The driver is notified if the installation has extended notifications.

If the original job was still open (for example in Pending Yard), the same job changes dock and goes back to Assigned as soon as the move is created. If it was closed, a new dock job is created with the original driver’s data, with no operator and no customer, and a note explaining why: assign them on the dock board and, if needed, link its receipt or shipment from its details (see Linking the job to its receipt or shipment).

A driver picks up a trailer from the yard

The driver checks in at the kiosk as Yard Pickup. The card appears in Jobs to Assign.
Press Match Trailer on the card (or drag it onto the occupied spot). Match Pickup Driver with Trailer opens: search by trailer or spot number (spots whose trailer matches what the driver entered come first, flagged Match), pick one and press Confirm Match.
A Spot to Exit move is created. If you pick someone to bring it out, it goes into the queue and the driver’s job is Pending Yard until it finishes; if not, it applies instantly: the spot is freed, the job closes and the driver is checked out.

The job of the trailer that was parked in that spot closes when you match. If the trailer already left without a recorded move, use Quick Release on the spot.

Move statuses

Status	Meaning
Waiting	Created with nobody assigned.
Assigned	Has a person but has not started.
In Progress	The person is moving it.
Completed / Cancelled	Closed. It leaves the queue and stays in the Yard Management report.

What changes at each step

Moment	Spots	Dock job and driver
On create	The destination spot is held (yellow).	Spot to dock: if the job was still open, it becomes Assigned at the destination dock.
On start	Spot to dock: the origin spot is freed.	Dock to spot: the dock job closes (Completed) and the driver is checked out.
On finish	Spot to spot, to dock and to exit: the origin spot is freed.	Exit: the job closes and the driver leaves. Spot to dock: the driver is notified (extended notifications).
On cancel	The held spot is freed if nothing else uses it; the trailer stays where it was.	The dock job does not change.

Corrections

Cancel job (Active Jobs tab) — cancels only that move. It asks Cancel this yard job? The reserved spot will be released.
Move to dock management (in the job details, Corrective actions) — pick a non-yard dock and the job type (Delivery, Pickup or Load) and, for deliveries and pickups, the document to link or create. It cancels the job’s yard moves, frees its spots and sets it as Assigned at the end of that dock’s line. Supervisor, Admin and Super Admin roles with Write Docks only. You see Job reclassified to dock management.
Cancel job (and yard jobs), same section — cancels the dock job with all its moves, frees spots and checks the driver out.

Full example

Monday 14:00 — Unloading of trailer 61200 for Northern Trading Co. finishes at dock 3. The supervisor presses Send to Yard, picks spot B-04 and Carlos Ruiz. The driver leaves without the trailer.
14:05 — Carlos sees the move in My Work, presses START YARD JOB (the dock job closes and dock 3 is free), moves the trailer, takes a photo and presses FINISH YARD JOB.
Tuesday 9:00 — Valley Distributors sends an order. The supervisor uses Send to Dock for Loading on B-04, picks dock 6 and Load as the type. A new dock job is created with no operator; he assigns it to Ana López and links the shipment.
9:10 — Starting the move frees B-04. When it finishes, the trailer is at dock 6 ready to load.

Messages you may see

Message	Meaning and what to do
The destination spot is not available.	Another move took that spot between opening the window and confirming. Pick another.
Origin spot is required.	The move needs to know which spot it leaves from. Drag from the spot again.
You must select a spot. / You must select a dock.	The destination is missing.
Target dock must be an active non-yard dock.	When moving to dock management you picked an inactive or internal dock.
Cannot reclassify a completed or cancelled job.	The job already closed; create a Spot to Dock move to open a new one.
This dock job is already completed or cancelled.	You tried to match a pickup that already closed.
This pickup has already been matched with a trailer and assigned to a yard worker.	An exit move with a person already exists; check Active Jobs.

Best practices

Assign the spot when sending to the yard whenever you can: the trailer clears the dock sooner.
Use Just occupy / release only when the trailer already moved; if someone must move it, create the job so who and when is recorded.
Enter the real arrival time under advanced options if you record a move late.
After sending a yard trailer to a dock, check on the dock board that the job has an operator and a customer.

Troubleshooting

The trailer is still at the dock although I sent it to the yard.

You sent it without a spot (Pending Yard): someone has to assign a spot and move it from the yard board.

The yard person can’t finish the move.

The photo is missing: their app requires at least one. And they can only start and finish moves assigned to them.

A card stays in Jobs to Assign although I gave it a spot.

It was a delivery in Pending Yard recorded as Entrance to Spot. Open its details, use Quick Release or cancel as appropriate, and create the move again as Dock to Spot.

The driver got no spot notification.

Yard move messages only exist in installations with extended driver notifications.

Frequently asked questions

When is the destination spot taken?

As soon as the move is created, not when it finishes. That way nobody else uses it while the trailer is on its way.

What happens if I cancel a move?

The destination spot is freed (if nothing else uses it) and the trailer stays at its origin. The dock job is not cancelled.

Why did a new dock job appear with no operator?

Because you sent to a dock a trailer whose job was already closed. The system creates a new one instead of reopening the old, but it does not know who will work it or which customer it belongs to: assign them from the dock board.