Hours of service
- Drive time and window left today
- Weekly hours left on the 60 or 70 hour clock
- Next required break
Dispatch Management
Dispatch management software for trucking fleets
Dispatchers juggle tenders, driver hours, trailers and appointment windows across spreadsheets and phone calls. Agnotic Technologies builds dispatch management software for motor carriers that assigns each load to a driver who can legally run it and carries every stop through to settlement.
Hours-of-service awareDriver and equipment checksDetention captureSettlement handoff
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Carrier dispatch
What is dispatch management software for trucking fleets?
Dispatch management software for trucking fleets takes tendered loads, matches each one to a driver and truck with enough hours of service and the right equipment, tracks appointments and check calls, and passes completed loads to billing and driver pay. Agnotic Technologies builds dispatch management software for carriers, connected to ELD, TMS and accounting systems.
This is the carrier's side of the load. Shippers planning and buying freight use a TMS, covered on our transportation management system page, and delivery route planning is on our route optimization page.
The dispatcher's hardest question is a simple one: who can take this load and still be legal when it delivers? The software answers it from live hours of service, not from memory.
Rule table
Which hours-of-service rule does each dispatch check enforce?
The rule table behind the assignment screen, for property-carrying drivers under 49 CFR Part 395. Exceptions such as short-haul operations are set up with your safety team.
| Hours-of-service limit | What the rule says | Dispatch check that enforces it |
|---|---|---|
| 10 hours off duty | A driver may not drive without first taking 10 consecutive hours off duty | The earliest start for a new load is calculated from the driver's last off-duty period |
| 14-hour window | No driving after 14 consecutive hours from coming on duty | The trip plan must reach the last stop before the driver's window closes, with a buffer for the appointment |
| 11 hours of driving | No more than 11 hours of driving inside the 14-hour window | Drive time left from the ELD is compared with the estimated drive time for the load |
| 30-minute break | Driving stops once 8 hours of driving pass without a 30-minute interruption | The trip plan inserts the break and the ETA includes it |
| 60 or 70 hours | No driving after 60 hours on duty in 7 days, or 70 hours in 8 days | Weekly hours left are checked for multi-day loads, and a 34-hour restart is shown where it would reset the clock |
Hours come from each driver's ELD records. Dispatch reads them; the ELD stays the record of duty status.
Load flow
How does a load move through dispatch?
From the tender to the driver's settlement, recorded once and shared with billing.
Tender
Loads arrive as X12 204 tenders, broker portal posts or emails, and are parsed into one load record.
Accept or decline
The dispatcher accepts with an X12 990 or a portal response once a driver and truck are available.
Assign
The assignment screen lists drivers with enough hours, a current medical certificate and the right endorsements, next to trucks and trailers that fit the load.
Run the load
Check calls, ELD location and arrival events update the ETA and send X12 214 status messages to the customer.
Time at stops
Arrival and departure times at each stop start detention and layover clocks against the customer's free time.
Close and settle
Signed paperwork, accessorials and miles go to billing and to the driver's settlement.
Assignment checks
What does the dispatcher match on before assigning a load?
Four groups of checks, shown side by side on the assignment screen so the dispatcher sees why a driver is or is not offered.
Driver qualification
- Current medical examiner's certificate
- License class and endorsements, such as hazmat or tanker
- Customer or site requirements, such as a TWIC card at ports
Equipment
- Trailer type, length and condition
- Reefer settings and pre-cool for temperature-controlled loads
- Truck or trailer due for inspection or maintenance
Position and preference
- Distance from the pickup
- Home time requests and planned days off
- History with that customer or lane
Exceptions
Which exceptions should dispatch catch early?
Problems a dispatch board should surface while there is still time to act.
Challenge
A driver will run out of hours before delivery.
Agnotic approach
Every ETA update is checked against the driver's hours left, and the dispatcher is alerted while a swap or reschedule is still possible.
Challenge
A truck breaks down mid-route.
Agnotic approach
The load can be reassigned or relayed through a meeting point, and the customer's appointment updated in one step.
Challenge
An appointment will be missed.
Agnotic approach
Late risk shows on the board from the ETA, with a message to the customer drafted with the new time.
Challenge
A driver's medical certificate is about to expire.
Agnotic approach
Expiry dates from the qualification file block assignment after the date and warn the safety team ahead of time.
Challenge
Paperwork is missing at delivery.
Agnotic approach
The driver app asks for a photo of the signed delivery receipt before the stop can be closed.
Detention and accessorials
How does the software capture detention and accessorials?
Detention is often lost because nobody wrote down the times. The software records them from the driver app and ELD location.
- Arrival and departure times at each stop, from a geofence or a driver check-in
- Free time per customer contract, with the detention clock starting when it runs out
- Layover, extra stops, lumper fees and tolls recorded against the load
- Photos of receipts and signed paperwork attached to the stop
- Accessorials sent to billing with the evidence a customer will ask for
- Disputed charges tracked until they are resolved
What do we build into dispatch management software?
Modules for the carrier's dispatch office, from tender to settlement.
Load intake
EDI 204 tenders, broker portals and email parsing into one load record, with 990 responses sent back.
Dispatch board
Loads, drivers and equipment on one board, filtered by terminal, region and status.
Hours-of-service aware assignment
Drivers ranked by hours left, qualification and distance, with every check run before a load is confirmed.
ELD connection
Duty status and location read from your ELD provider's API to keep hours and ETAs current.
Driver app
Load details, stop order, document capture and messages for drivers on Android and iOS.
Customer status updates
Check calls and ELD positions turned into X12 214 messages, portal updates or emails.
Detention and accessorials
Stop times, free time and charges recorded with evidence and sent to billing.
Settlement and billing handoff
Completed loads with miles, stops and accessorials passed to driver pay and invoicing in your accounting system.
Rules and standards
Which rules and standards does dispatch software follow?
49 CFR Part 39549 CFR 395 Subpart B49 CFR Part 391X12 204 and 990X12 214X12 210
Facts and sources
Facts behind dispatch management software
The rules and EDI standards the assignment screen and load flow are built on, each linked to its primary source.
A property-carrying driver may not drive without first taking 10 consecutive hours off duty, may not drive after 14 consecutive hours from coming on duty, may drive a total of 11 hours in that period, and may not drive once 8 hours of driving have passed without a 30-minute interruption.
Source: 49 CFR 395.3(a) (eCFR)A property-carrying driver may not drive after 60 hours on duty in 7 consecutive days, or 70 hours in 8 consecutive days if the carrier operates every day of the week, and either period may end with an off-duty period of 34 or more consecutive hours.
Source: 49 CFR 395.3(b) and (c) (eCFR)A motor carrier operating commercial motor vehicles must install and require each of its drivers to use an electronic logging device (ELD) to record the driver's duty status, with limited exceptions such as drivers who need a record of duty status on no more than 8 days in any 30-day period.
Source: 49 CFR 395.8(a)(1) (eCFR)A driver must not operate a commercial motor vehicle unless medically certified as physically qualified, and each motor carrier must keep a driver qualification file that includes the employment application, motor vehicle records, the road test certificate and the medical examiner's certificate.
Source: 49 CFR 391.41(a) and 391.51 (eCFR)The X12 204 Motor Carrier Load Tender lets shippers or other parties offer a shipment to a full truckload carrier with scheduling, equipment requirements and shipping instructions; the 990 is the response to a load tender, and the 214 carries shipment status.
Source: X12 transaction sets 204, 990 and 214 (X12)
Who it is for
Who do we build dispatch software for?
Motor carriers whose dispatch office has outgrown spreadsheets and phone calls.
Truckload carriers
Dispatch boards for full truckload fleets running tendered loads for shippers and brokers.
Dedicated contract fleets
Fixed lanes and customer rules, with appointment windows and paperwork set per site.
Regional and drayage carriers
Short multi-stop days where hours and appointment windows change through the day.
Carriers with owner-operators
Mixed fleets where settlement rules differ for company drivers and owner-operators.
Scope and cost
What drives the cost of dispatch management software?
We do not publish prices. These are the things that change the size of a build, and we price them on the scoping call.
Load sources
How many EDI partners, broker portals and email formats loads arrive through.
ELD and telematics providers
Which providers you use and what their APIs expose for hours and location.
Fleet mix
Company drivers, owner-operators, team drivers and the equipment types you run.
Driver app
Whether drivers need a new app or the dispatch system uses one they already have.
Accounting and settlement
The systems that invoice customers and pay drivers, and how much settlement logic we build.
Rules and exceptions
Short-haul operations, hazmat loads and customer-specific rules to configure.
Engagement
How does a dispatch software engagement work?
We start in the dispatch office, not in a design tool.
1.
Scoping call
We sit with your dispatchers, map how a load moves today and list every system it touches.
Scope2.
Fixed-scope first release
Load intake, the dispatch board and hours-of-service aware assignment for one terminal, connected to your ELD.
Build3.
Scale and support
More terminals, the driver app, detention capture and settlement, with support after launch.
ScaleFrequently Asked Questions
No. The ELD remains the record of each driver's duty status. Dispatch reads hours and location from your ELD provider's API to plan loads and ETAs.
It takes the driver's drive time left, 14-hour window and weekly hours from the ELD, estimates the trip time with breaks, and offers only drivers who can finish before a limit is reached.
Yes. We build X12 204 load tender intake with 990 responses and 214 status messages back, and parse email or portal loads where partners do not use EDI.
Not quite. A shipper's TMS plans and buys freight; carrier dispatch assigns drivers and trucks to the loads a carrier has accepted. Many carriers call their dispatch system a TMS, and our transportation management system page covers the shipper side.
It records arrival and departure times from geofences or driver check-ins, compares them with each customer's free time and adds detention to the load with the time stamps as evidence.
We pass completed loads with miles, stops and accessorials to your settlement and accounting system, and can build settlement screens if you need pay rules for company drivers and owner-operators.
No. NEMT dispatch has its own trip, eligibility and billing rules, covered on our custom NEMT dispatch software page.