Dispatch tracking software, for a fleet of two to fifty trucks, tracks the run rather than the truck: assigned, en route, at which stop, delivered, exception, each moved by the driver from the road with its time. That is the tracking a small fleet's dispatcher acts on, because the question is never 'where is truck 3' but 'is truck 3 going to make the four o'clock window', and the status answers it. Tracking the truck's position is telematics, priced per vehicle with hardware in every cab, and it answers a different question. This page is what dispatch tracking means at small-fleet scale, what it costs, and where Runsheetly Pro keeps it.
Tracking the run
Every run on the board carries its status and the time it changed, moved by the driver. En route at 7:10, stop four delivered at 11:42, exception at stop five at 12:20: that is a record the dispatcher can act on at 12:21 and read on Friday. Runsheetly Pro keeps it for every run, with the run sheet the free dispatch schedule sized filed beside it.
Tracking the truck, and what it costs
Telematics puts a device in every cab and shows the truck on a map, with the hours-of-service log if the device is also the ELD. It is priced per vehicle per month with a term and the hardware on top. For a fleet with high-value loads or a customer that demands the map, it pays; for a fleet whose dispatcher wants to know whether the window will be made, the status already says.
What tracking should not do to the drivers
A dispatch tracking product that reads the driver's phone location all day is a tracking product with a dispatch screen, and the drivers know it. Tracking the run's status is something the driver does deliberately at each stop; tracking the phone is something done to them. Runsheetly records the status and the time and reads no location.
The record the tracking leaves
Minutes per run against the schedule, exceptions per stop and per shipper, the windows made and missed: the status history is the record dispatch management reads to change one thing a week. It comes from the driver's thumb at each stop, which is why the board has to be on the driver's phone and not only in the office.
Questions people ask about dispatch tracking software
What does dispatch tracking software track?
The run's status as the driver moves it (en route, at a stop, delivered, exception) with the time, not the truck's position. That is what the dispatcher acts on.
Do we need GPS tracking?
Only for high-value loads or a customer that demands the map. Telematics is priced per vehicle with hardware; the run's status costs nothing extra in Runsheetly Pro.
Is the ELD a tracking device?
It records hours of service by rule and some models add GPS. It is a separate purchase whatever dispatch software is used, and the run's status lives on the board.