--- title: "TransportComposer" description: "How a TransportComposer turns a TransportShape into one form for creating Orders, Shipments and Tours, and how TransportDrafts save your progress." url: "https://support.pr-9.orbit.do/en/core-features/transport-composer" locale: "en" lastReviewed: "2026-10-19" --- # TransportComposer How a TransportComposer turns a TransportShape into one form for creating Orders, Shipments and Tours, and how TransportDrafts save your progress. > **Note:** 📦 **About Transports** **Transports** 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*. ### TransportComposer **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. ### Single-stop and multi-stop forms 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**. ### Create one Order with several Shipments 1. **Open the multi-stop form** In Orbit MissionControl, open **Shipments**, click the arrow next to **Create Transport** and choose **Create Multi-Stop Transport**. 2. **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. 3. **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. 4. **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`. 5. **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. #### **TransportDraft: Ensuring Continuity** 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. ## Real-World example > **Tip:** 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. **Q: 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`. **Q: 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.