Orders are created daily under a project. Because most of the information flows down from the project level, creating an order is fast — you'll mainly be confirming details and making any day-specific adjustments.
To get started, go to the Dispatch page and click New Order in the top right corner.
Step 1: Select Your Project
Select the project this order belongs to. Once selected, all the information set at the project level — materials, sites, freight rates, contacts, and notes — will automatically populate the order.
You can then add any order-specific details:
Order Name — Give this specific order a distinct name if needed.
Order PO / Order Zone / External ID — Add these to distinguish between orders created under the same project.
Step 2: Project Details and Phase
Project details will carry over from the project. If you need to assign a different phase to this order, you can select it here. If a new phase needs to be created, that must be done back in the Projects page first.
Step 3: Date and Time
Set the date and start time that will be shown to your drivers.
If the order start time differs from when trucks should actually begin, you can set both times separately — one for the order and one for the truck start time.
You can also add a stagger if you need trucks to start at intervals (e.g., every 30 minutes). The first truck starts at 8:00 AM, the next at 8:30 AM, and so on.
Step 4: Materials
Materials will pre-fill from the project. You can adjust quantities for that specific day if needed (e.g., changing from 1,000 tons to 85 tons).
If you change the pickup site on an order, the buy and sell price will automatically update to match what was configured for that site at the project level.
💡 If you want your invoices to show freight rates and material costs as separate line items, check the box at the order level to separate them.
Step 5: Pickup and Drop-Off Sites
Pickup and drop-off sites will pre-fill from the project, along with their geofences.
If a geofence needs to be adjusted for this order, you can edit it directly from the order screen without affecting the saved site settings.
You can also set a geofence delay per order. This prevents a location event from triggering if a driver is simply driving past a site. For example, setting a 120-second delay means the driver must be within the geofence for at least 120 seconds before Tread registers a pickup or drop-off event. This is especially useful when pickup and drop-off sites are close together.
The order screen also displays estimated route times, distances, cycle times, and truck time benchmarks based on the configured sites, which is useful reference information for your dispatchers.
Step 6: Trucks and Quantities
Set how many trucks you need for that day and how much each truck should complete:
Running — Trucks continue making trips until all material for the day has been delivered. No specific limit per truck.
Per Ton / Per Load — Set a specific target per truck (e.g., 50 tons or 3 loads).
Truck Type — Specify the type of trucks you are requesting (e.g., Tri-Axle Dump Truck).
Truck Capacity — Set how much each truck can carry (e.g., 10 tons). This helps auto-populate ticket values.
Step 7: Freight Rates and Tax
Vendor and driver rates will carry over from the project. If you want vendors and internal drivers to be paid the same rate for this specific order, check the box to align those values.
You can also adjust the tax rate at the order level if it needs to differ from what was set on the project.
Step 8: Contacts
Contacts will carry over from the project. You can swap out the foreman, update collaborators, change the salesperson, or add and remove external contacts directly on the order.
Step 9: Notes and Attachments
Any notes set at the project level will appear here. You can add or edit order-specific notes:
Order Notes — Visible on the order (e.g., "It might rain out.")
Driver Notes — Shown to drivers on their dispatch.
Internal Notes — For internal team visibility only.
You can also attach any additional documents needed for this order.
Creating and Managing the Order
Once everything looks good, click Create Order. The order will appear on your Dispatch page.
From the Dispatch page you can:
Set order status — Orders move to In Progress automatically once at least one driver starts their job. You can also manually set an order to On Hold or Weather Hold, which will be communicated to drivers.
Edit an order — Click back into the order to update any details.
Duplicate — Quickly create the same order for the next day by updating the start date, adjusting truck count, and choosing whether to copy over job assignments.
Copy and Edit — Similar to duplicate but gives you full editing flexibility before saving.
Let us show you how:
Questions? We're here to help! Contact us anytime at 1 (888) 558-7323 or email us at support@tread.io