Appointments live in email
Carriers and brokers book by phone and email, and someone retypes each request into a spreadsheet or a calendar. The schedule is as current as its last update.
Dock scheduling software that catches the conflict before the truck arrives.
A dock schedule kept in a spreadsheet can’t see the purchase order behind an appointment, the equipment at the door or the wave that isn’t picked yet. For warehouses and 3PLs across Northwest Arkansas, we build custom dock scheduling software on your WMS, and let AI propose the fix for your approval. Software you own.
EXPLORE A SAMPLE WORKSPACE
One morning at the dock.
Six doors, one overlapping booking, and a plan that moves the load to a door with the right equipment before the truck arrives.
Appointments today18Inbound & outbound
Doors occupied4 / 611:10 AM snapshot
Booking conflicts112:15–12:40 window
Dock appointments
Today · 11:10 AMDoor
11:3012:0012:301:00
Dock 1
IN-305
Dock 2
IN-312 · unloadOUT-308
Dock 3
IN-307
Dock 4
Compatible slot available
Dock 5
IN-309
Dock 6
Later arrival
Dock 1IN-305 · Scheduled
Dock 2IN-312 · UnloadingOUT-308 overlaps · 12:15–12:40 PM
Dock 3IN-307 · Scheduled
Dock 412:15–12:40 PM available
Dock 5IN-309 · Scheduled
Dock 6Later arrival scheduled
ScheduledOverlapping booking
Dock 2 overlaps from 12:15–12:40. Dock 4 has the equipment and open slot for OUT-308.
Sample data · Interactive demoChanges stay in this preview.
This is sample data. Yours would run on the systems you already have.
Talk through your businessWhy the dock
schedule breaks.
The schedule can’t see the load
An appointment is a time and a carrier name. What is on the truck is in the WMS. How long it takes to unload and which door can take it are in someone’s head.
Conflicts found at the door
Two loads land on one door in overlapping windows, or a refrigerated load is booked where it can’t unload. Nobody knows until the truck backs in.
Early, late and no-show
A truck outside its window pushes back everything behind it. The reshuffle happens by radio, and the wait can come back later as a detention bill.
From the appointment
to the departure.
- One schedule for every door, inbound and outbound, with carrier and customer updates sent from the same record.
- Appointments tied to the purchase order, ASN or outbound order behind them, so receiving knows what is on the truck and how long it will take.
- Door rules checked at booking: equipment, temperature, load type, capacity and overlapping windows.
- Check-in and departure on a tablet at the dock, so each appointment keeps its booked window, the actual arrival and the time at the door.
NWAAI / Your operation
How AI is usedYour team approves the next step.
AI proposes the door and the window for each request, and the fix when a truck is early, late or double-booked: which load moves, to which door, and what has to be picked or put away first. Your dock lead approves it, and the change is recorded against the appointment.
Review → Approve → Record
What a dock
schedule needs.
A schedule is only as good as what it can see. These are the records it reads.
Records
- Appointments: carrier, reference number, requested window, door and status.
- Purchase orders and ASNs for inbound loads: what is on the truck and how much of it.
- Outbound orders and waves, with their pick status and ship-by time.
- Door attributes: equipment, temperature zone and the load types each door can take.
- Arrival, door and departure times for each truck.
- Shift and labor plans, if you schedule unloading crews against the doors.
Systems it connects to
- Your WMS, for purchase orders, ASNs, orders, waves and locations, through its API or the exports your team already pulls.
- The spreadsheet or calendar that holds the schedule today.
- Email and phone requests from carriers and brokers, or a request page if you want one.
- Scanners, tablets or a gate log, for check-in and departure times.
- For 3PLs, the reports your customers receive or the portals they use.
A FIRST PROJECTStart with one building’s
Start with one building’s
inbound doors.
Inbound receiving at one building is the simplest place to start: a fixed set of doors, purchase orders already in the WMS, and a schedule your team keeps by hand. A first project replaces that schedule with one tied to the WMS, adds the door rules and the conflict check, and puts check-in on a tablet at the dock. Outbound loads, customer updates and a carrier request page can follow.
Dock scheduling is one part of the warehouse software we build, alongside picking, inventory and ship-by dates.
LET’S MAKE IT PRACTICALBuilt on what
Built on what
you already run.
Bring this week’s dock schedule, however you keep it, and one day that went wrong. We’ll look at what the schedule would have needed to know.
Talk through your businessWhy build this instead of buying a dock scheduling tool?
A packaged tool is the right answer when booking is the whole problem. We build when the schedule has to read your WMS, follow your door rules or tie into picking and your customers’ reporting. If a packaged tool fits, we’ll say so.
Can carriers request their own appointments?
Yes, if you want that. A request page lets a carrier or broker ask for a window against a purchase order. Your rules decide which windows are offered, and your team confirms. Carriers who call or email are entered into the same schedule.
What happens when a truck is early, late or doesn’t show?
The schedule shows it at check-in or when the window passes, and proposes the next door and time that fit the load. Your dock lead approves the move. The appointment keeps the booked window, the actual arrival and the change, which is the record you need if a carrier bills detention.
What will our business own?
Once a project is paid in full, the custom code, configuration and documentation we create for you are yours, handed over in accounts you control. Third-party software, hosting and AI services keep their own licenses and costs.