Logistics companies are digitising the document trail behind every delivery

Junaid Hussain, Head of Digital Services at Ricoh South Africa.

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Every delivery generates a trail of records, from proof of delivery and loading schedules to customs documentation and photographs. Getting them to the right people quickly can speed up customer queries, compliance checks and payment.

“If a company can prove that goods were delivered and received, it can move much more quickly towards payment,” says Junaid Hussain, Head of Digital Services at Ricoh South Africa.

Ricoh has deployed DocuWare in logistics environments to connect these records to the broader delivery process, track their status and route them to the people and systems that need them. Documents are indexed and searchable, giving authorised users access to delivery and compliance records across the business.

Logistics companies need to know which delivery notes have gone out, which have been signed and returned, and which are outstanding.

A digital document management system can track these records and feed their status into dashboards. Once a signed proof of delivery is entered into the system, it can be matched to the original delivery note. Customers can be granted controlled access to retrieve it, or the signed record can be sent automatically to the relevant supplier.

That makes document automation as much a financial issue as an operational one. Once a signed POD is available, accounts receivable can confirm delivery and progress the transaction for payment.

Ricoh has taken the process further in one live customer implementation, connecting document management directly to loading and delivery.

“Delivery notes are automatically created and assigned to trucks based on area and location. The information then moves through an API to create an electronic delivery note and loading schedule,” says Hussain.

Loading staff use a PDA or tablet to confirm deliveries have been loaded. The system can account for tonnage when allocating loads, and delivery details are sent directly to the driver’s tablet.

At the customer site, the recipient can acknowledge the delivery electronically. Quantities can be confirmed, discrepancies recorded and photographs added to the record.

Once submitted, the complete document pack flows back into the system for processing.

Hussain says that automating loading schedules, truck allocation, delivery notes and tonnage calculations has also improved dispatch. Trucks that had previously left after 8am could now leave before 8am.

The workflow also speeds up exception handling. If a driver records a delivery as incomplete, partially delivered or unsuccessful, the relevant employee can be notified within minutes and can contact the customer while the details are still current.

For logistics decision-makers, this is where digitisation goes beyond electronic storage. Delivery records become part of the operational workflow and can automatically trigger the next action.

The same approach can help logistics businesses operating across multiple locations.

“We have another logistics environment with satellite offices at border points and around South Africa. Scanners were deployed across the country so documents could be captured when drivers returned and sent directly into the central system,” says Hussain.

In other implementations, scanners have been placed at logistics providers’ depots, with controlled access allowing them to submit documents directly into the system.

Head office can then work with PODs, queries and exceptions as soon as documents are captured, while teams across different locations can access the same records.

Cross-border movements bring another layer of documentation. Hussain points to customs and regulatory records, including SAD 500 forms and clearance documentation, which need to be kept with the relevant transaction.

Documents associated with a shipment can be combined into a digital pack linked to the delivery. Rules can define which records should accompany a transaction and flag anything outstanding when the signed delivery note is received.

Permissions can also be applied down to document level, while an audit trail records who accessed a document and when. Access rights can determine whether a user can view, print, send or work with particular records.

For companies managing delivery evidence and regulatory documentation across multiple locations, this creates a clear history of how records have been handled.

Retention rules can also be applied according to company policy, with users notified when records reach the end of their retention period.

Artificial intelligence is reducing the manual work required to process logistics documents. Intelligent document processing capability can monitor sources such as e-mail inboxes or document repositories, pull documents into the system and automatically extract data from them.

In logistics, this can include waybills, delivery notes and third-party delivery documents. The technology can extract data for indexing and route the document into the appropriate process, leaving employees to focus on exceptions, approvals and decisions that require human judgment.

These workflows can also connect with ERP, accounting and logistics applications through APIs and other integration tools.

“That’s important in logistics environments where dispatch, delivery, finance and compliance operate across different applications,” says Hussain. “A document and workflow layer can connect those systems and automate the flow of records while allowing companies to continue working with their existing technology.”

For logistics companies, digitisation goes well beyond converting paper into electronic records. The bigger opportunity lies in connecting delivery documentation directly to the processes it supports. The result is a logistics operation where the documents supporting each delivery move through the business as efficiently as the goods themselves.