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Shipment Tracker

Live end-to-end shipment milestone tracking — from manifest creation to delivery, with vehicle telemetry.

Overview

Shipment Tracker is the post-departure live view of every shipment currently managed by your fleet. It shows at a glance what is in flight, what is delayed, and what has just arrived — without needing to call drivers or check paper manifests. Dispatchers and logistics managers advance milestones with a single click as they receive confirmations from the field.

Connected to Fleet Manager

Every shipment record is cross-referenced with its assigned vehicle from fleet.json. The Live Vehicle Telemetry card on the right panel shows the vehicle's plate, driver name, fuel type, and current cargo weight alongside the milestone timeline.

Shipment Lifecycle

Every shipment passes through a defined set of stages in strict sequence. Stage transitions are enforced — you cannot skip stages forward, and you cannot move backwards except to flag an Exception.

Manifest Created Loaded In Transit Out for Delivery Delivered

Additionally, any shipment can enter an Exception state from any active stage. Exceptions can be resolved — the shipment then resumes from where it was when the exception was flagged.

StageMeaning
Manifest CreatedShipment record exists; goods are staged or being loaded at the dock.
LoadedVehicle has been sealed and all cargo is confirmed on board.
In TransitVehicle has departed the facility and is en route to the first delivery stop.
Out for DeliveryVehicle is in the delivery area and making final drops to recipients.
DeliveredAll drops complete; delivery confirmed by operator or driver.
ExceptionA delay, incident, or issue has been flagged. The shipment is paused pending resolution. Can be entered from any stage; resolved shipments resume to their previous stage.

Dual Ledger Architecture

Shipment Tracker reads from two distinct sections of fleet.json:

LedgerSourceKey Fields
Shipmentsfleet.json → shipments[]Tracking number, origin, destination, ETA, current stage, milestone timeline array
Vehiclesfleet.json → vehicles[]Plate number, assigned driver, fuel type, cargo manifest, structural capacity

The two records are cross-referenced via vehicleId on each shipment. This means if a vehicle's driver or status changes in Fleet Manager, the Shipment Tracker's telemetry card reflects the update immediately.

Milestones Are Append-Only

Every milestone recorded in Shipment Tracker follows strict append-only rules:

  • Timestamps are written server-side — never client-side. This prevents clock-skew discrepancies between browser sessions.
  • Milestones are immutable once written — you cannot edit or delete a milestone after it has been recorded.
  • Corrections require a new entry — if an operator recorded the wrong stage, flag it as an Exception and add a note explaining the correction. The timeline remains intact.

Immutable Audit Trail

The append-only milestone design is intentional. For compliance, insurance, and customer dispute purposes you need an unalterable record of when each stage actually occurred. Corrections go through Exception notes, not edits to past milestones.

UI Walkthrough

The Shipment Tracker screen is split into two panels:

Left Panel — Shipment Ledger (44%)

Filterable list of all shipments. Each row shows tracking number, origin/destination city, current stage badge, and ETA. Click any row to load the full detail view in the right panel.

Right Panel — Timeline & Telemetry (56%)

Shows the milestone timeline for the selected shipment, the Advance and Flag Exception buttons, and the Live Vehicle Telemetry card with plate, driver, and cargo information.

Milestone Timeline

The timeline is a chronological list of every state change and exception recorded for the shipment. Each entry shows the timestamp (UTC, formatted to local time), the operator name, the stage that was recorded, and any notes attached to the entry.

Advance Button

The Advance button moves the shipment to the next stage in the lifecycle. It is only active when the shipment is in a valid forward transition state. Clicking it writes a new milestone entry with the current server timestamp.

Flag Exception

The Flag Exception button opens a small form where you record:

  • Current location — free text (city, road, GPS reference)
  • Reason code — Traffic / Mechanical / Weather / Address / Customs
  • Operator note — free text for additional context

After submission the shipment enters Exception state. The Advance button changes to Resolve Exception, which returns the shipment to its pre-exception stage.

Filters

The Shipment Ledger can be filtered to narrow down the visible shipments:

  • Status filter — show only shipments at a specific stage (e.g. In Transit, Exception)
  • Vehicle filter — show only shipments assigned to a specific vehicle
  • Date range — filter by manifest creation date or ETA
  • Destination city — filter by the final delivery city

Quick Start

  1. Navigate to Logistics → Shipment Tracker in the sidebar.
  2. The Shipment Ledger on the left lists all active shipments. Look for any with an Exception badge — these need attention first.
  3. Click a shipment row to load its details in the right panel.
  4. Review the milestone timeline and vehicle telemetry card.
  5. Click Advance to record the next milestone, or Flag Exception to log a delay with a reason code and operator note.

AI Assistant

Click the AI Assistant tab anchored to the right edge of the screen to open a chat panel with context on the shipment ledger — tracking number, origin/destination, current stage, ETA, customer, weight, last recorded milestone, and whether each shipment is past its ETA. When a shipment is open it also focuses on that one, so you can ask for the recommended next action. It triages exceptions, detects delays, and summarizes shipments by stage.

Example Prompts

  • "Which shipments are in an exception state?"
  • "List shipments past their ETA"
  • "Summarize shipments currently in transit"
  • "What is the next action for the selected shipment?"

Analyze the Selected Shipment

When you open a shipment, the empty-state panel shows Analyse Selected Shipment and Summarize Selected Shipment shortcuts that scope the answer to that tracking number — its stage, timeline, exceptions, and next milestone.

Save as Report & Add Knowledge

After the assistant replies, a Save as Report button stores the response in My Reports with an auto-generated title. Use Add Knowledge in the input dock to attach documents so the assistant can reference your own carrier SLAs and exception-handling procedures.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create a new shipment record from Shipment Tracker?
No — shipment records are created automatically when a trailer is sealed in the Warehouse Link screen. Shipment Tracker is a post-departure tracking tool only.
What happens to the shipment record after it is Delivered?
Delivered shipments remain visible in the ledger and can be filtered by date range. Their milestone timeline is fully preserved for audit purposes. The associated Dispatcher Console job also moves to Completed.
Who can advance milestones — the driver or the dispatcher?
Any user with access to the Logistics module can advance milestones. In practice, a dispatcher records advances based on driver confirmations received by phone or message. There is no driver-facing mobile view in the current release.