Trip, Bilty and POD: a practical shipment workflow
A transport movement produces several records. The trip describes the movement, the Bilty records the consignment, and the proof of delivery shows what happened when the goods reached the receiver. Keeping these records together helps your team answer customer questions and prepare the correct invoice.
1. Record the movement before dispatch
Confirm the customer, vehicle, pickup and drop locations, planned date, material and driver. Use the actual pickup and delivery addresses in the entry. A register can show a short place name for quick scanning, while the saved entry retains the address needed by the dispatch team.
For a market vehicle, check the supplier associated with the truck number. The automatically selected supplier should be reviewed before saving, especially when a vehicle has been arranged through a different supplier for this movement. Keep customer freight and supplier hire separate so that receivable and payable amounts remain understandable.
2. Choose the document that matches the job
A Trip and a Bilty are separate records in Bharat Jodo. A Bilty does not need to be attached to a Trip to be entered or invoiced. When preparing an invoice, choose the intended source documents and check their customer, freight and references. Avoid billing the same work twice through separate sources.
The visible document number is useful within the company. Different companies can use the same local number, so it is not sufficient to identify a shipment across the platform. Use the unique Consignment ID for driver tracking and quote it when reporting a tracking problem.
3. Check freight and document visibility
Customer freight, supplier hire and additional charges serve different purposes. Review both sides before saving. Supplier details are kept out of the customer Bilty PDF. If the receiving party should not see freight and charges, use the PDF visibility setting and inspect the generated document before sharing it.
Hiding a value from a PDF changes the document presentation; it does not cancel the freight or remove the value from accounting. Resolve corrections in the entry itself, rather than treating a hidden charge as a deleted charge.
4. Keep delivery evidence readable
Open the Trip or Bilty and upload the E-POD or physical POD copy to the correct record. A useful scan shows the document reference, receiver acknowledgment and relevant delivery remarks clearly. Check that every page is present and that the image is not cropped or blurred.
After uploading, use View to inspect the saved copy and Download when you need to share it. Do not assume that selecting a file means it was saved: confirm that the application reports success and provides the saved document action.
5. Review before invoicing
- Match the customer and shipment references to the work being billed.
- Check freight, additional charges and any receipt already recorded.
- Inspect the linked invoice number and avoid making a duplicate invoice.
- Keep loading slips and POD copies with the correct shipment.
For example, a customer freight of ₹12,000 and supplier hire of ₹10,000 are separate amounts. A ₹3,000 customer advance reduces the outstanding customer balance; it does not reduce the supplier’s hire unless a supplier payment is separately recorded.