Replacing a spreadsheet dispatch process with a live operations platform

The challenge

Dispatch ran on one shared spreadsheet and a WhatsApp group. Two coordinators held the entire routing logic in their heads, nobody could answer where a shipment was without making a phone call, and every new depot made the problem worse. The business could not grow past the capacity of the people running the spreadsheet.

Our approach

We spent the first two weeks in the dispatch room rather than in Figma, watching how the coordinators actually worked and writing down the rules they were applying without realising it. Those rules became the domain model. We shipped the driver-facing side first, so real data was flowing before the coordinator interface existed, then rebuilt dispatch around live positions instead of phone calls.

What we delivered

• Coordinator dashboard with live vehicle positions and assignment
• Driver mobile web app that works offline and syncs when signal returns
• Customer tracking links, removing the majority of status phone calls
• Role-based admin for depots, vehicles, drivers and pricing
• Reporting on utilisation, on-time rate and cost per delivery
• Infrastructure as code with staging, preview and production environments