How to Invoice a Manual Transport Docket | Latner Software Documentation

A manual transport docket with a charge on it turns into a customer invoice the moment you complete the docket, so a one-off delivery or pick up gets billed without anyone having to key an invoice by hand.

Overview

Transport that belongs to a rental contract is billed with the contract. Transport that doesn't belong to anything - a customer's own machine shifted across town, a load dropped at a site, a competitor's unit dragged back to your yard - has nowhere to hang a charge. That's what the charge on a manual docket is for, and completing the docket is what bills it.

Only Manual dockets invoice this way. A docket raised from a rental contract carries its charge as a transport line on the contract, and that line is billed with the contract.
The trigger is completion, not creation. A manual docket with a charge greater than zero raises a customer invoice as soon as it is completed, whether that happens on the desktop or on the driver's phone.
The invoice is for exactly one line: quantity 1 at the docket's charge, with the docket's type (Delivery, Pick Up, Collection or Site Move) as the item.
A charge needs somebody to bill, so the docket must have a Customer and a Customer Site. A manual docket with no charge, or a charge of zero, completes without raising anything.
The invoice arrives as Open unless Default Transport Customer Invoices to Completed is switched on, and it is linked back to the docket both ways.
Once the invoice exists the docket can't be reopened until the invoice is cancelled, so it is worth getting the charge right before you complete.

Before You Begin

Nothing has to be turned on for a charged docket to invoice itself, but one setting decides what state the invoice lands in, and a couple of permissions decide who can see and finish it.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Default Transport Customer Invoices to Completed - off means the invoice arrives as Open, on means it arrives Completed	Security › Settings › Customers
Transport Dockets permission - to open the docket at all	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Rental › Screen
Customer Invoices permission - to open the invoice the docket raises	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Customers › Screen
Cancel Customer Invoice permission - only needed if you have to undo an invoice and re-charge the docket	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Customers › Option
Reopen Transport Docket permission - only needed if you have to correct a charge after completion	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups › Transport › Option

The Customers module in Global Settings. With the toggle off, every transport invoice arrives as Open and someone has to complete it

The setting is read at the moment the invoice is created, so changing it later has no effect on invoices that already exist. It applies to transport invoices only - rental contract, sales order and work order invoices each have their own equivalent setting in the same list.

Invoicing the Docket

Step 1 - Check the charge before you complete the docket

Open the docket from Transport › Transport Dockets and look at Transport Charge under General Details. While the docket is Open you can click straight into the field and change it, then use Save at the top of the card.

Transport Charge - what the customer pays for the job, excluding tax. This is the whole invoice, so it needs to be the full price of the delivery or pick up, not a rate.
Customer and Customer Site - both required as soon as there is a charge. Without a customer the save is rejected with Cannot have Transport Charge if Transport is not linked to a Customer, and a customer without a site is rejected with Cannot have Customer without Customer Site selected.

The field is only editable on a Manual docket that is still Open. On a docket that came from a rental contract it is read-only, with a tooltip pointing you at the contract's transport line instead.

Editing Transport Charge in place on an Open docket. Cancel and Save appear on the General Details card as soon as a field is touched

Step 2 - Complete the docket

Choose Options › Complete Transport. Because the docket is manual and carries a charge, Latner asks you to confirm before it goes any further.

The Options menu on a manual docket. Reopen Transport is greyed out because the docket is still Open

The confirmation reads Completing this transport will also create a transport customer invoice, would you like to proceed? Choose Confirm to carry on. This prompt only appears for a manual docket with a charge above zero, so if you don't see it, check the charge actually saved.

The confirmation that appears only when the docket will raise an invoice - your last chance to check the charge

Step 3 - Fill in the completion details

The Complete Transport dialog opens with the customer, site, contact, phone and due date already filled from the docket and greyed out. Two fields are yours:

Completed Date - required, and defaults to now in the branch's timezone. Set it back if the job was actually done earlier.
Driver - optional, and useful when a driver was never allocated to the docket in the first place.

The equipment table below is empty on a manual docket, because a manual docket has no equipment lines. That's expected - unlike a contract docket, you don't have to tick anything off before Complete will go through.

The Complete Transport dialog on a manual docket. The line table is empty because a manual docket records the job, not what was carried

Once you click Complete, the docket moves to Completed, Completed Date and Completed By fill in, and the charge becomes read-only.

The completed docket. Transport Charge is now fixed at $450.00 and can no longer be edited in place

Step 4 - Find the invoice on the docket

Scroll to the tab strip at the bottom of the docket and open Transport Invoices. Every invoice raised from this docket is listed there with its status and totals, and the invoice number is a link straight through to it.

The Transport Invoices tab on the docket. Sub total is the charge, tax is calculated at the customer's tax rate, and the count on the tab tells you an invoice exists without opening it

Step 5 - Check the invoice

Open the invoice and check it reads the way you expect before you send it. Everything on it comes from the docket and the customer:

Source - Transport, and Linked To is the docket number, so you can get back to the job from the invoice.
Branch, Customer Name and Customer Site - copied from the docket.
Invoice Date - today's date in the branch's timezone, which is the day you completed the docket, not the day the job was done.
Payment Terms and Due Date - the customer's payment terms, or the global default term when the customer has none.
Billing Contact and Billing Address - the site's billing contact if it has one, otherwise the customer's.

The invoice raised by the docket. Source reads Transport and Linked To is the docket number

On the Details tab there is exactly one line: Line Type Transport, the docket's type as the item, quantity 1, and the charge as the unit price. Tax is calculated at the customer's tax rate.

The single invoice line. The item is the docket's transport type, which is how transport revenue is separated in reporting

Step 6 - Complete the invoice

An Open invoice is still a draft. While it is Open you can add lines to it with Options › Add Invoice Detail - handy when the same job also earned a waiting-time charge - and you can look at it with Generate Print Preview, but Generate Customer Invoice PDF, Email Invoice, Mark Invoice as Sent and Take Payment are all unavailable until it is finished.

Choose Options › Complete Invoice when you're happy with it.

The Options menu on the Open invoice. The greyed-out entries are the ones that need a completed invoice

The status moves to Completed, Date Completed and Completed By fill in, and the PDF, email and payment options become available.

The completed invoice, ready to send. Balance Outstanding is the full total until a payment is taken against it

After Invoicing

The invoice appears in Customers › Customer Invoices alongside every other customer invoice, and on the customer's own record, with Transport as its source.
It also stays on the docket's Transport Invoices tab, so the job and the money it earned never get separated.
The line's revenue is reported under the Transport line type, and can be broken down by transport type where that grouping is offered.
Where an accounting integration is active, the line's revenue account is resolved from your account code configuration and stamped onto the invoice, so what gets synced is what you can see.
A completed docket can't be completed a second time, so the same job can't be double-billed by accident. A second invoice only ever comes from reopening the docket or from a new docket.

An invoiced docket can't simply be reopened. Latner refuses with Cannot reopen Transport with Invoice(s) attached to it: Please Cancel the Invoice(s) first. If the charge was wrong, cancel the invoice first, then reopen the docket, correct the charge and complete it again - which raises a fresh invoice for the corrected amount.

FAQs

I completed the docket and no invoice appeared. Why?

Either the docket had no charge, or the charge was zero, or the docket isn't a manual one. Only a Manual docket with a Transport Charge above zero raises an invoice on completion. If the docket came from a rental contract, the transport charge sits on the contract as a transport line and is billed with the contract's next invoice instead.

The charge was wrong. How do I fix it after completing?

Cancel the invoice from Options › Cancel Customer Invoice - a cancellation note is required, and an invoice that has been paid or part-paid can't be cancelled. Cancelling the invoice leaves the docket alone, so then use Options › Reopen Transport on the docket, correct Transport Charge, and complete it again. A new invoice is raised for the new amount.

The docket is already completed and I forgot to put a charge on it. What now?

Transport Charge is read-only once the docket is completed, so you have two choices. Reopen the docket (nothing blocks it while there is no invoice attached), add the charge and complete it again - or leave the docket alone and raise a manual customer invoice for the job from Customers › Customer Invoices. The first keeps the job and the money linked, which is usually what you want.

Why does the invoice show today's date rather than the date of the job?

The invoice date is the day the docket was completed, in the branch's timezone, not the Completed Date you typed into the completion dialog. If that date matters for the period the revenue lands in, complete the docket in the right month, or use Options › Change Invoice Date on the completed invoice - which needs the Change Completed Invoice Date permission.

Can I add another line to the transport invoice?

Yes, while it is still Open. Options › Add Invoice Detail is available on an Open invoice and disappears once it is completed, so anything extra has to go on before you finish it. If the invoice arrives already Completed because Default Transport Customer Invoices to Completed is switched on, you won't get that chance.

The customer is on credit hold. Can I still invoice the job?

A docket for a customer on credit hold can't be created in the first place unless it is a pick up - Latner rejects it with Cannot create Transport for customer on credit hold. A docket created before the hold went on still completes and still invoices; the hold controls new work, not billing for work already booked.

Does the driver completing the docket on their phone also raise the invoice?

Yes. The invoice is raised by the completion itself, not by the screen it was completed on, so a manual docket with a charge invoices exactly the same way when the driver closes it off in the mobile app. That is another reason to settle the charge before the docket goes out for the day.

What about the cost side - the supplier we paid to do the job?

That is separate. On an External docket the Transport Cost and Supplier feed a purchase order or a sub hire order, and the cost has to stay under the charge unless the Allow Transport Cost To Be Greater Than Charge permission says otherwise. Completing the docket bills the customer for the charge; paying the supplier follows its own path.

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