How Trucking and Delivery Businesses Automate Dispatch and Paperwork

Quick answer

UK trucking and delivery businesses automate dispatch and paperwork by connecting a planning board to a driver app, capturing electronic proof of delivery on the driver's phone, running digital walkaround checks with timestamps, and linking the whole thing to Xero, Sage or QuickBooks so invoices raise themselves the moment a job is signed off. HGV fleets add automatic tachograph downloads on top, and the paper simply stops coming back to the office.

The first time I watched a transport office grind to a halt, it wasn't because a truck broke down. It was because a signed delivery note was sitting in a cab somewhere on the A1 while the invoice it belonged to sat unpaid in a tray in the office, and nobody could raise it until the paper came home. That was the day I stopped thinking of admin as a background cost and started treating it as the thing that decides whether a haulage business gets paid this month or next.

If you're searching for how trucking and delivery businesses automate dispatch and paperwork, you're probably somewhere on that same road. Either the phone never stops, or your planner is still working off a whiteboard, or you've got a drawer of walkaround check sheets you wouldn't want a DVSA examiner to open. This is the guide I wish someone had handed me ten years ago: UK specific, priced in pounds, and candid about what the software can and can't fix.

The Short Version

Here's the direct answer. UK operators automate dispatch and paperwork by putting four things into one connected system: a planning board that sends jobs straight to a driver app, electronic proof of delivery captured on the driver's phone, digital walkaround checks with timestamps, and an invoicing link into Xero, Sage or QuickBooks so the invoice raises itself the moment the job is signed off. HGV fleets add automatic tachograph downloads on top. Done properly, the paper disappears, the invoice goes out the same day, and your compliance records are audit ready without anyone touching a filing cabinet.

The tools range from about £30 per user per month for a lean UK transport management system to several hundred pounds a month for a modular platform with tacho analysis and workshop modules. Van and last mile operators can get route optimisation and proof of delivery for roughly £37 to £95 a month at entry level. The order you tackle things in matters more than the brand on the invoice.

Why Paper Is Costing You More Than You Think

Most operators think of admin as a nuisance rather than a cost line, and the numbers say otherwise. According to the Road Haulage Association's Annual Cost Movement Survey, reported by trans.info in December 2025, operating costs excluding fuel rose by 5.91 percent year on year, and the RHA puts the annual running cost of a standard 44 tonne artic at roughly £166,000 before diesel. The same piece notes the sector runs on margins of barely two percent. At that margin, a lost delivery note is the difference between a job that made money and one that didn't.

Cash flow is where paper really bites. MarketInvoice's 2026 statistics on transport cash flow, drawing on RHA and DVSA figures, put average payment terms for UK road haulage SMEs at 42 days, against fuel and driver costs that fall due weekly, across around 180,000 licensed goods vehicle operators in Great Britain. Every day between delivery and invoice adds to that gap. If the note is signed on Monday and reaches the office on Friday, you've handed your customer four extra days of free credit on top of the terms you agreed.

Then there's compliance, where paper stops being expensive and starts being dangerous. A prohibition notice or a public inquiry doesn't show up on any spreadsheet until it's too late.

What Actually Gets Automated

Let me define the pieces, because suppliers throw around acronyms as if everyone already knows them.

A transport management system, or TMS, is the office software that holds your jobs, customers, rates, vehicles and drivers, and turns a booking into a planned run and then into an invoice. Dispatch is the act of allocating those jobs to drivers and getting the instructions to them, which used to mean a phone call or a printed manifest.

Electronic proof of delivery, usually shortened to ePOD, is the driver capturing a signature, photo, timestamp and GPS location on a phone at the point of delivery. Sign on glass is the industry term for the customer signing on the phone screen. Digital walkaround checks replace the paper defect book with an app that timestamps and geolocates each inspection, automatic tachograph downloads pull card and vehicle unit data without anyone plugging in a download key, and accounts integration pushes invoices with attached PODs straight into Xero, Sage or QuickBooks.

Automating dispatch and paperwork means joining those pieces so information is entered once, at the point it happens, and flows everywhere else on its own.

Start With The Delivery Note, Not The Planning Board

Here's where I disagree with most of the advice out there. Nearly every guide tells you to start with route optimisation or a shiny planning screen. I'd start with ePOD, because it's the change that puts money in the bank fastest and the one your drivers will accept most easily.

Mandata, one of the longest established UK TMS providers, makes the case plainly in their explanation of how ePOD speeds up haulage invoicing: with delivery data captured in real time, invoices can be generated instantly, and the record of timestamps and GPS coordinates leaves little room for disputes. In my experience the dispute point is the bigger win. A timestamped photo of six pallets on a clean loading bay ends an argument about damage before it starts.

Advantage, a Microsoft Dynamics partner working with UK distributors, gives a concrete figure in their glossary entry on electronic proof of delivery: a UK food distributor cut credit note requests by 62 percent in its first year with ePOD, because GPS located signed records resolved most disputes on the first call. They also describe using the ePOD confirmation as the trigger for automatic invoicing, which is exactly the setup I'd aim for.

Practically, this means picking a driver app that captures signature, photo and location as a minimum, with mandatory fields so a driver can't close a job without a photo. Then set the rule in your TMS that a completed, signed job raises an invoice automatically, immediately or in a daily batch. Within a fortnight your days to invoice should drop to zero or one, and that alone can shift your cash position by a week.

Digital Walkaround Checks And What DVSA Actually Wants

The daily walkaround is a condition of your operator's licence, not a nice to have. As vehReports sets out in their guide to DVSA walkaround check requirements, the requirement comes from the DVSA's Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness: a documented check at the start of every shift for every HGV over 3.5 tonnes, defects rectified or signed off before the vehicle leaves, and records kept for at least 15 months. Drivers do the check, but the operator owns the system, and gaps in the record are the biggest flag an examiner looks for.

HaulProof, who build compliance software for small operators, add a point that catches people out. Their walkaround check guide explains that examiners look for evidence that defects are recorded and acted on, and that months of checks all reading nil defects will make an examiner question whether the checks happen at all. I've watched that conversation at an operator visit. The paper book said everything was perfect for a year, and the examiner simply didn't believe it.

This is why digital checks matter beyond convenience. FleetGS notes in their DVSA compliance guide for fleet managersthat paper forms create no automatic audit trail and are easily lost, whereas an app creates a timestamped, GPS located record for every inspection. The timestamp is the important bit. A check completed at 05:58 with the ignition on at 06:04 is believable. A check with no time on it, initialled in biro, is not.

My preferred setup is a check app inside the same system as the planning board and ePOD, so the driver opens one app in the morning, not three. Make photos mandatory for any defect and route defects to the workshop in a closed loop, so nothing can be marked fixed without a repair record. Tachomagic bundles digital checks into their TADD automatic download device subscription, which solves two problems with one bit of kit, and Mandata Go includes a Vehicle Checks app alongside its Manifests ePOD app.

Tachographs, Download Routines And The 2026 Dates

If you run vehicles over 3.5 tonnes, tachograph management is the paperwork task most likely to put you in front of a Traffic Commissioner, and one of the easiest to automate.

The basics haven't changed: driver cards need downloading at least every 28 days and vehicle units at least every 56 days, and infringements need dealing with. What has changed is the hardware. The official Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure page on tachograph retrofit requirements for international journeys lays out the dates: vehicles with analogue or non smart digital units on international work had to have Smart Tachograph 2 fitted by 31 December 2024, Smart 1 units by 19 August 2025, and from 1 July 2026 goods vehicles over 2,500 kg used for hire or reward on international journeys also need Smart Tachograph 2. If you only operate within the UK, you can keep the unit already fitted.

Logbook.co.uk adds two things worth knowing in their Smart Tachograph 2 deadlines guide: from 24 December 2026 all newly registered goods vehicles must have Smart Tachograph 2, and HGVs on international UK to EU journeys must now produce 56 days of tachograph data at the roadside rather than 28. National Compliance Training notes that vans caught by the July 2026 rule must also follow full EU style drivers' hours, meaning a maximum of nine hours daily driving with a 45 minute break after four and a half hours.

For automation, the answer is a remote download device. Instead of a transport manager walking round the yard with a download key once a month, the unit downloads card and vehicle data whenever the ignition is on and pushes it to analysis software that flags infringements. Tachomagic's TADD is one example, and PCS and Axon both include tachograph analysis modules. The point isn't the brand. Manual downloads are the compliance task most often missed, and missed downloads are what a DVSA examiner asks about first.

Choosing A Transport Management System For UK Haulage

The market is crowded, so let me be blunt about what I'd look at and what I'd skip.

Mandata Go is the entry point from the biggest name in UK haulage software. Mandata's own transport management system pages pitch Go at small and growing operators with job templates, built in planning and integrated apps for ePOD, vehicle checks and navigation, with GoPlus aimed at hauliers running 10 to 50 vehicles. Their pricing page is quote based, and licences are concurrent, so two licences means two people logged in at once, which saves money if your office works shifts. One Capterra UK reviewer of Mandata Go reported a poor experience with the Xero integration, describing double entry and PODs not attaching. I've seen that link work well elsewhere, so treat it as a reason to test the accounts integration hard during your trial rather than a reason to rule Mandata out.

Best for: general hauliers and pallet network members who want a UK built system with the widest range of integrations.

HaulTech is the one I'd point smaller fleets towards first. Software Finder lists HaulTech from £30 per user per month, covering bookings, planning, ePOD and invoicing in one cloud system with pallet network connectivity and links to Sage, Xero and QuickBooks. The Capterra UK reviews of HaulTech are broadly positive on price and admin savings, though one reviewer flagged connection dropouts and several mention an initial learning curve. That matches my experience: unglamorous, quick to learn once you push through the first week, and priced sensibly.

Best for: fleets of roughly five to thirty vehicles who want dispatch, ePOD and invoicing without an enterprise price tag.

Stream is a UK developed platform priced per vehicle rather than per user. Expertsure's comparison of UK transportation management software highlights its job allocation, live tracking, ePOD and customer notifications, and notes setup measured in days rather than months. Stream's own blog lists integrations with Xero, Sage 50, Sage 200 and Brightpearl.

Best for: hauliers and 3PLs running roughly 10 to 100 vehicles who want predictable per vehicle pricing.

PCS and Axon are the established modular systems for mid sized fleets with heavier compliance needs. WifiTalents' review of haulage software puts PCS at roughly £50 to £150 per user per month depending on modules, with annual contracts common, and Axon at roughly £250 to £600 per month. Both bundle tachograph analysis and maintenance modules, which is the reason to choose them. If you don't need those, you're paying for weight you won't carry.

Best for: operators of ten or more HGVs who want tacho analysis, workshop and transport in a single quoted system.

What would I skip? Anything sold primarily on route optimisation for a general haulage fleet. For a 44 tonne artic doing two collections and one delivery a day, the planning problem is trailers, drivers' hours and backloads, not turn by turn efficiency. And I'd be wary of any US built trucking TMS without a real UK customer base, because its compliance side is built around American rules that don't apply here.

Route Planning And Proof Of Delivery For Vans And Last Mile

If you run vans on multi drop work, the buying decision is different. You care about how many stops the software plans well, how drivers find the app, and what it costs when volume goes up. A note before the prices: Track-POD, Routific and Spoke all bill in US dollars, so the pound figures below are approximate conversions at the time of writing.

Track-POD is the one I've used most and the one I'd recommend for small delivery teams that need proper ePOD rather than a route planner with a photo bolted on. Their published pricing runs at 49 dollars per driver per month on annual billing, or 59 dollars monthly, with a three driver minimum, so around £37 per driver per month. There's also a per order model from 285 dollars a month for 1,500 orders with unlimited drivers, useful if your driver count changes week to week. Upper's breakdown of Track-POD pricing notes that SMS notifications are billed separately on every plan.

Best for: three to twenty van operations that need signatures, photos, barcode scanning and a customer portal.

Routific, per Capterra, starts free for up to 100 orders a month, with paid plans from 150 dollars a month, roughly £115, covering up to 1,000 orders. EfiRoute's comparison of small team route tools points out that at a few hundred stops a month you're paying for headroom you don't use, but above that the per order economics work. Routific's reputation for routes drivers can actually follow, without the criss crossing some tools produce, is deserved.

Best for: delivery teams at the 500 to 1,500 stops a month mark who value route quality over bells and whistles.

Spoke Dispatch, formerly Circuit for Teams, is the simplest to set up and drivers generally like the app. RFP.wiki lists its Starter tier at 125 dollars a month, about £95, for 1,000 included stops, with Premium at 200 dollars for 2,000. The catch is that a busy month pushes you into the next tier, so the bill grows with orders even if your fleet doesn't.

Best for: small teams who prioritise simplicity and will stay within a stop allowance.

Two warnings. The per stop model looks cheap until December, so model your peak month before you sign. And several of these tools list proof of delivery or live tracking as a paid add on, so check the order form for the four things you need: proof of delivery, a driver app, live tracking and address import. If any of those is extra, the headline price is fiction.

Connecting It All To Xero, Sage Or QuickBooks

The accounts integration is where most automation projects quietly fail, and it's rarely the software's fault.

A good integration does three things: it creates the sales invoice in your accounts package from the completed job, it attaches the POD to that invoice, and it keeps customer records in sync so you're not maintaining two lists. Track-POD's Xero integration attaches the POD to the invoice once the order is delivered, and its Sage link works through Zapier on order status changes. Mandata Go creates and emails invoices itself and syncs with Sage, QuickBooks and Xero.

The trap is customer master data. If your TMS has "J Smith Haulage Ltd" and Xero has "J. Smith Haulage", the sync will fail or create a duplicate. Before you switch the integration on, export both customer lists, reconcile them by hand once, and agree that the TMS is the master from then on. It's a boring afternoon that saves months of untangling. And test the POD attachment specifically, because that's the feature the Capterra reviewer found broken, and the one your credit controller relies on when a customer says the goods never arrived.

Earned Recognition: Worth Chasing Or Not?

Once your maintenance and drivers' hours records are digital, you'll hear about Earned Recognition. The official GOV.UK guidance collection describes it as a voluntary scheme for operators who have held a licence for at least two years: you share performance data regularly with DVSA, and in return your vehicles are less likely to be stopped.

Velocerta's guide explains the mechanics: DVSA doesn't access your systems directly. A DVSA validated IT system measures key performance indicators over four week periods and reports them four weeks after each period ends. Fleetalyse adds that manual reporting doesn't qualify, so your maintenance and tacho software must be on the validated supplier list.

Is it worth it? For time critical work, fewer roadside stops is a real gain, and the GOV.UK listing helps in tenders. For a five vehicle general haulier, the audit cost and discipline required probably outweigh the benefit. My view is that the value of Earned Recognition is mostly that it forces you to run the systems properly, and you can do that without joining. If a tender asks for it, chase it. If not, get the records right first and decide later.

The Bit Most Guides Get Wrong

Here's the reality check. Software does not fix a process that doesn't exist. If your planner keeps jobs in their head, a TMS gives them a screen to ignore. If drivers skip walkaround checks on paper, an app will produce a beautiful digital record of checks that didn't happen, and an examiner will spot that just as easily.

The second thing guides miss is double entry. The whole point of automating dispatch and paperwork is that a job is keyed once. If customers still email bookings and someone retypes them, you've automated the middle of the process and left the expensive part alone. Customer portals, email parsing and pallet network integrations exist to kill that first keystroke. Mandata reports creating over 1.75 million jobs a month automatically through integrations, which tells you how far the industry has already moved.

Third, drivers. Every failed rollout I've seen was killed in the cab, not the office. Give drivers robust Android devices, keep the app to one login, and ride along for a day to see where it breaks. A driver who finds the app slower than paper will go back to paper.

Questions To Ask Before You Sign Anything

Is the price per user, per vehicle, per order or per stop, and what does my busiest month cost?

Does the driver app do ePOD, walkaround checks and navigation in one login?

Will the accounts integration attach the POD to the invoice, and can I test that in the trial with my real Xero or Sage file?

Are proof of delivery, live tracking and notifications included or add ons, and is SMS billed separately?

Can it export 15 months of walkaround and defect records in a form an examiner can read without me in the room?

If I run HGVs, does it handle tachograph downloads and infringement reporting, or do I need a separate device?

Is the supplier UK based with UK customers I can speak to, and can I export my data if I leave?

If a salesperson can't answer those clearly, that's your answer.

A Workflow I'd Actually Run

For a twelve vehicle general haulier, this is the order I'd set things up.

Week one, put ePOD on every vehicle using the driver app of whichever TMS you've chosen, with mandatory photo and signature. Switch on automatic invoicing from completed jobs. Don't touch planning yet.

Week two, move walkaround checks onto the same app with a template per vehicle type and defects routed to the workshop. Keep the paper books in the cab for a fortnight as backup, then take them out.

Week three, fit remote tachograph download devices and connect them to analysis software, with infringement reports landing in the transport manager's inbox weekly.

Week four, connect the accounts package. Reconcile customer lists first, then test with five invoices before you let it run unattended.

Only then move planning onto the board, because by that point the office trusts the data coming in from the cabs. For a van fleet the order is similar, but planning comes second rather than last, because route quality directly affects how many stops each driver can do.

What To Do This Week

Count how many days pass between a delivery being signed and the invoice leaving the office. Then count how many walkaround check records from the last 15 months you could put in front of an examiner in ten minutes. Those two numbers tell you where to start, and they're the ones that change first when you automate dispatch and paperwork properly. Book two trials, put a real driver on each for a week, and choose the system your drivers stop complaining about.

Sources

trans.info, What's really eating into UK haulage margins: https://trans.info/en/uk-haulage-amrgins-445813
MarketInvoice, UK Transport & Haulage Cash Flow Statistics 2026: https://marketinvoice.co.uk/stats/uk-transport-haulage-cash-flow-statistics-2026/
Mandata, The Benefits of Electronic Proof of Delivery (ePoD) in Road Haulage: https://www.mandata.co.uk/insights/the-benefits-of-electronic-proof-of-delivery-epod-in-road-haulage/
Advantage, What is Electronic Proof of Delivery (ePOD): https://www.advantage.co.uk/glossary/electronic-proof-of-delivery
vehReports, The DVSA walkaround check: HGV & PSV legal requirements: https://vehreports.com/blog/guides/dvsa-walkaround-check-hgv-psv-requirements
HaulProof, HGV Walkaround Check: What the Law Requires and a Free Digital Template: https://haulproof.co.uk/blog/hgv-walkaround-check-guide/
FleetGS, DVSA Compliance for UK Fleet Managers: Complete Guide: https://www.fleetgs.com/blog/dvsa-compliance-guide
Tachomagic, Walkaround Checks Guide: Official Guide for Operators & Drivers: https://www.tachomagic.com/walkaround-checks-guide.php
Department for Infrastructure (Northern Ireland), Tachograph retrofit requirements vehicles used international journeys: https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/articles/tachograph-retrofit-requirements-vehicles-used-international-journeys
Logbook.co.uk, Smart Tachograph 2 Deadlines: UK Operators Guide (2026): https://www.logbook.co.uk/smart-tachograph-2-deadlines-uk-2026/
National Compliance Training, UK Tachograph Law Changes 2026/27: What Operators Need to Know: https://nationalcompliancetraining.co.uk/uk-tachograph-law-changes-2026-2027/
Mandata, Transport Management System | TMS for UK Haulage: https://www.mandata.co.uk/transport-management-systems/
Mandata, Mandata TMS Pricing: https://www.mandata.co.uk/pricing/
Mandata, Transport Management Software | Road Haulage: https://www.mandata.co.uk/transport-management-systems-md/
Capterra UK, Mandata Go Pricing, Cost & Reviews: https://www.capterra.co.uk/software/1042384/mandata-go
Software Finder, HaulTech Transport Management Software: Pricing, Free Demo & Features: https://softwarefinder.com/fleet-management-software/haultech-transport-management-software
Capterra UK, HaulTech Transport Management Software Pricing, Cost & Reviews: https://www.capterra.co.uk/software/1027108/haultech-transport-management-software
Expertsure, 7 Best Transportation Management Software UK 2026 (TMS): https://www.expertsure.com/uk/vehicle-tracking/transportation-management-software/
Stream, The Benefits of Using Electronic Proof of Delivery: https://go2stream.com/blog/the-benefits-of-using-electronic-proof-of-delivery/
WifiTalents, Best Haulage Software | 20 Tools Compared (2026): https://wifitalents.com/best/haulage-software/
Track-POD, Pricing: https://www.track-pod.com/pricing-delivery-app/
Track-POD, Every Shipping Integration in Track-POD (2026 Edition): https://www.track-pod.com/blog/shipping-integration/
Upper, Track-POD Pricing for 2026: Detailed Breakdown: https://www.upperinc.com/blog/track-pod-pricing/
Capterra, Routific Software Pricing, Alternatives & More 2026: https://www.capterra.com/p/142530/Routific/
RFP.wiki, Circuit vs Track-POD (2026): Pros, Cons & Pricing: https://www.rfp.wiki/supply-chain-logistics-transportation/transportation-management-systems/last-mile-delivery-technology-solutions/circuit/track-pod
EfiRoute, Best Route Optimization Software for Small Delivery Teams (2026): https://efiroute.com/blog/best-route-optimization-software-small-teams
GOV.UK, DVSA earned recognition for vehicle operators: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dvsa-earned-recognition-guidance-and-forms
Velocerta, DVSA earned recognition for vehicle operators: a fleet manager's guide: https://velocerta.co.uk/blog/dvsa-earned-recognition
Fleetalyse, DVSA Earned Recognition scheme: https://fleetalyse.co.uk/blog/what-is-earned-recognition-scheme-uk

Frequently asked questions

What is electronic proof of delivery and why does it matter for a haulage business?

Electronic proof of delivery, or ePOD, means the driver captures a signature, photo, timestamp and GPS location on a phone at the point of delivery, so the evidence reaches the office before the driver has pulled away. It matters because invoices can be raised straight away and disputes about damage or missing goods are settled by the photo and location record. One UK food distributor cut credit note requests by 62 percent in its first year of using it.

How much does transport management software cost in the UK?

A lean UK transport management system such as HaulTech starts from about £30 per user per month. Modular systems like PCS run at roughly £50 to £150 per user per month and Axon at roughly £250 to £600 per month depending on modules. Mandata prices on quote, using concurrent licences so you only pay for the number of people logged in at the same time.

What is the cheapest way to automate deliveries for a small van fleet?

For a small van operation the article points to per driver tools that bill in US dollars, with entry prices of roughly £37 per driver per month for a three driver minimum, or about £95 a month for a plan covering 1,000 stops. Routific also offers a free tier for up to 100 orders a month. Always price your busiest month rather than your average one, because stop based plans push you into a higher tier when volume rises.

Do I have to keep daily walkaround check records, and for how long?

Yes. A documented walkaround at the start of every shift is a condition of your operator's licence for HGVs over 3.5 tonnes, and records must be kept for at least 15 months. Digital checks are preferred because they timestamp and geolocate each inspection, which is exactly the evidence a DVSA examiner asks for.

What does a DVSA examiner look for in walkaround check records?

Examiners look for a complete, unbroken record for every vehicle on every working day, evidence that defects are actually recorded, and evidence that each defect was repaired before the vehicle went out. Gaps are the biggest red flag. A long run of checks all reading nil defects will also make an examiner doubt the checks are being done properly.

How often do tachographs need downloading?

Driver cards need downloading at least every 28 days and vehicle units at least every 56 days, and the data has to be analysed for infringements. Remote download devices do this automatically whenever the ignition is on, which removes the task most operators forget and the one examiners ask about first.

What are the Smart Tachograph 2 deadlines for UK operators?

Vehicles on international work had to fit Smart Tachograph 2 by 31 December 2024 if they had analogue or older digital units, and by 19 August 2025 if they had first generation smart units. From 1 July 2026 goods vehicles over 2,500 kg on international hire or reward journeys also need one, and from 24 December 2026 all newly registered goods vehicles must have Smart Tachograph 2. UK only operations can keep the unit already fitted.

Can my transport software link to Xero or Sage?

Yes, most UK systems integrate with Xero, Sage and QuickBooks so the completed job creates the sales invoice and attaches the proof of delivery to it. The most common failure is mismatched customer names between the two systems, so reconcile the customer lists by hand once and test the POD attachment with real invoices before letting it run unattended.

Is DVSA Earned Recognition worth it for a small haulier?

It is a voluntary scheme for operators who have held a licence for at least two years, and it means fewer roadside stops and a public listing on GOV.UK. For time critical work or tenders that ask for it, that can be valuable. For a five vehicle general haulier the audit cost and effort are probably more than the benefit, and the article suggests getting the underlying records right first and deciding later.

Should I start with route planning or proof of delivery?

For general haulage the article recommends starting with electronic proof of delivery and automatic invoicing, because that puts money in the bank fastest and drivers accept it easily. Walkaround checks, tachograph downloads and the accounts link come next, with planning moved last once the office trusts the data. Van fleets doing multi drop work should bring planning forward to second, because route quality directly affects how many stops each driver can do.