📦 About TransportsTransports represent a holistic approach to managing transport processes on the Orbit platform, and function as an umbrella term for all logistical processes that can be modelled using a custom combination of our core objects Orders, Shipments, and Tours. This concept allows for a flexible framework, catering to the specific needs of diverse transport- and delivery processes. TransportShape and TransportComposer are core tools for working with Transports.
TransportComposers are smart forms designed to make creating Transports easy. TransportComposers apply rules and schemes defined in your TransportShapes and use TransportDrafts to maintain and automatically save all half-ready Transports, ensuring users can effortlessly return to and continue any draft they started.
One of the key tools in working with Transports is the TransportComposer. The TransportComposer offers a user-friendly interface for creating Transports – and thus Orders, Shipments, and/or Tours –, all from a single smart form. Its design heavily emphasises customisation, allowing you to tailor the form to your specific needs without being confined to e.g. preset fields and other constraints. This level of flexibility ensures that you can quickly adapt to various logistical scenarios with ease.
TransportComposers can be strategically positioned in various locations throughout the Orbit MissionControl app. Since TransportComposers may be used for creating any of our core objects – Orders, Shipments, and/or Tours –, you may find it helpful to make them accessible e.g. from the Tours tab or the Orders tab - fully depending on the configuration in your personal Workbench settings.
Two pre-configured default TransportComposers are readily available in the top right corner of your Shipments tab. The Create Transport button opens the single-stop form; the arrow next to it opens Create Multi-Stop Transport. Both are managed by Orbit and will always reliably work without the need of further customisation.
Every TransportShape works in one of two modes, and the mode decides what the form can hold:
Single-stop: one pickup and one dropoff per Shipment. The default Create Transport form uses this mode and holds exactly one Shipment. It has no control for a further stop.
Multi-stop: any number of stops and any number of Loads between them. The default Create Multi-Stop Transport form uses this mode. Every Load travels from one stop to another, and Orbit creates one Shipment per distinct pickup and dropoff pair.
So when you work with the default forms, an Order that needs more than one Shipment, for example one pickup with two destinations, starts from Create Multi-Stop Transport, not from Create Transport.
In Orbit MissionControl, open Shipments, click the arrow next to Create Transport and choose Create Multi-Stop Transport.
Add the stops
The form starts with two stops. Hover over a stop card: a bar appears below it with Add Stop and Remove Stop. Click Add Stop until every address is in place, then fill in the addresses and time windows.
Add a Load at each pickup
Hover over the stop where goods are collected and click Pickup. A Load appears on that stop. Repeat for every Load you need, for example one per destination.
Assign the dropoff
Hover over the destination stop and click Dropoff. Choose the Loads that are unloaded there and confirm. A Load with no dropoff is incomplete and does not become a Shipment.
Submit
Complete the rest of the form and submit. Orbit groups the Loads by their pickup and dropoff pair: Loads with the same pair become one Shipment, every other pair becomes its own Shipment, all in one Order. The default multi-stop form also creates one Tour that carries all of these Shipments. If you want the Shipments without a Tour, use a custom multi-stop TransportShape that creates no Tour.
For example, Jana at the invented company Fjordfracht collects two Loads in Oslo, one for Lyon and one for Porto. She adds three stops, clicks Pickup twice on Oslo, assigns one Load to Lyon and one to Porto, and submits. The result is one Order with two Shipments, Oslo to Lyon and Oslo to Porto, and one Tour that carries both.
The concept of TransportDrafts plays a crucial role in the TransportComposer's user experience. As users interact with the form, a TransportDraft is automatically created and updated in the background. This process not only saves progress but also allows users to pause and resume their work at any time. Once a TransportComposer form is completed, the TransportDraft links directly to the generated Orders, Shipments, or Tours, streamlining the transition from data input to final logistical execution.
You can access a comprehensive list of all Transport Drafts via the Orders > Drafts tab in MissionControl. This central location acts as the definitive source for all drafts generated throughout MissionControl, including those automatically created in the background, for instance, by Orbit Decode.
Drafts in the finalised state are indicated by a checkmark, signifying that the draft has yielded an output, such as an order. In this finalised state, the quick action section of the row provides a direct link to all generated output objects, allowing you to seamlessly continue working with these objects. Once output objects were generated, it will no longer be possible to keep working on the TransportComposer form.
TransportDrafts may exhibit various status indicators based on their origin. A notable instance is drafts originating from our Decode feature, which display specific statuses to indicate whether the job is in progress, has encountered a failure, or has completed decoding and is ready for user review. Drafts from other sources may use other status indicators.
Imagine you work at a logistics company and aim to swiftly generate quotes for standard transports within your primary operating region. Your objective is to allow operators to quickly input essential data during numerous daily client calls, facilitating the rapid dispatch of preliminary quotes.
To accomplish this, you would craft a new TransportShape incorporating only the vital fields, such as pickup and drop-off locations and dates, equipped with sensible default values, thereby eliminating unnecessary fields. To turn this into a quoting workflow, you would enable the Send Quote action on the shape, so operators can send the customer a price straight from the form rather than immediately committing the transport. Orbit calls a price sent to a customer a quote, as in the Send Quote action and the Quotes list in Orbit MissionControl. An offer is something else: a Callout sent to a carrier in the Marketplace.
Through Orbit MissionControl's Workbench settings, you can add a button that launches a TransportComposer with this specific configuration in the Navigation Sidebar, consistently visible on the left side of Orbit MissionControl, and label it “Quick Quote.” This “Quick Quote” form becomes readily accessible to your users, enabling them to deliver fast and precise quotes during client interactions.
Facilitate Orbit’s Roles model to force users to use (or not use) certain TransportComposers with their associated TransportShapes!
During busy periods, operators might initiate various TransportComposers, only to be interrupted by new client calls or colleagues. Thankfully, they can always revisit the drafts section to view all drafts they've engaged with throughout the day. In this space, they can carefully review, amend, and complete their work before submission.
Why is there no Add Stop button in the Create Transport form?
That form uses a single-stop TransportShape and holds exactly one Shipment with one pickup and one dropoff. Use Create Multi-Stop Transport from the arrow next to the button when a transport needs more stops or more than one Shipment.
Can I turn a single-stop draft into a multi-stop one?
The default Create Transport form has no such action. Start a new draft from Create Multi-Stop Transport. A custom TransportShape can carry a Convert to multi-stop action in its form; ask your Orbit contact to set it up.
