What is dispatch software, for a fleet that has no dispatcher on every shift? It is three records kept in one place: the run sheet each driver carries, built from the stops, the windows and the loads and checked against the driving limit; the board that says which truck has which load and where it is now; and the roster that puts the drivers on the trucks for the week. Vendors call the same thing dispatch programs, dispatching programs, dispatch systems software, a dispatching system, a digital dispatch system or dispatcher software, and the names describe the packaging rather than the job. This page is what the job is, what each name adds, and where the free dispatch schedule on this site fits.
The run sheet is where dispatch starts
A run sheet is a driver's day: the stops in order, the windows, the loads, the truck. Written by hand it has the right stops and the wrong length, because nobody adds twenty minutes at each of seven stops to twenty-five minutes between them until the driver is late. The free dispatch schedule on this site does that arithmetic from the trucks, the stops and the stop and drive times, and checks the run against the federal driving limit before the truck leaves. Every dispatching system worth the name does this first.
The board is what the whiteboard was trying to be
Dispatch programs and dispatching programs are usually the board: every truck and driver, every run with its loads and stops, and a status that moves from assigned to en route to delivered or exception as the day goes. The office reads it, the drivers read it from the road, and 'which truck is empty' has an answer in seconds. Runsheetly Pro is that board for a fleet of two to fifty trucks, one price for the whole fleet.
The other names, and what each adds
A digital dispatch system or digital dispatching systems means the board is on a screen rather than a wall, which is the whole point. Dispatch systems software and a dispatching system usually add the roster. Dispatcher software is the same board described from the dispatcher's seat. A transportation management system adds load tendering, EDI and IFTA and is priced per truck with a term; telematics adds GPS hardware in every cab. A small fleet needs the three records first and the rest only at a size where their fees pay.
What dispatch software should refuse to do
It should not keep the hours-of-service log, because the ELD is the device the law requires for that and a spreadsheet pretending to be one is wrong on the day it matters. It should not sell loads, because a load board is a different business. It should not track the driver's phone, because a small fleet's dispatcher acts on the run's status, not a dot on a map. The free dispatch schedule cites the driving limit as a ceiling and leaves the log to the device.
Questions people ask about what is dispatch software
What is dispatch software in one sentence?
The run sheet, the board and the roster for a fleet, kept in one place the drivers can read from the road. The free dispatch schedule on this site builds the first; Runsheetly Pro keeps all three.
Is a dispatching system the same as a TMS?
No. A transportation management system tenders loads and handles EDI and IFTA, priced per truck with a term. A dispatching system is the board and the roster; it works with any TMS or none.
Do we need dispatcher software at three trucks?
You need the run sheet to fit the day and the board to say who is where. At three trucks the free sheets may be enough; Pro is for keeping the board when the whiteboard stops being readable from the road.