Delivery challans and weighbridge slips
Paper that leaves the gate, comes back signed and creased, and then gets typed in a week later.
Capturing proof of delivery at the gate, from a phone, closes the loop between what left and what was invoiced.
Typical timeline: Live in 6–8 weeks
Captured at the gate, not typed in next week
These are the signs this is worth doing
If several of these are true, this is usually where the fastest return sits.
Dispatch paperwork has a particular failure mode: the document is created digitally, printed, sent out with the vehicle, signed by someone at the other end, and then has to physically return before anything can be reconciled or billed. In between it exists only as paper in a cab.
The consequences are ordinary and cumulative. Billing waits. Short-delivery disputes come down to whose copy is legible. And the eventual data entry is a person retyping information that started out digital.
What capture at the gate changes
- Signed proof of delivery photographed and indexed against the consignment immediately.
- Weighbridge slips captured as an image with the figures extracted, not retyped.
- Gross, tare and net readings checked against expected quantity at the point of weighing.
- Discrepancies raised while the vehicle is still present.
- Billing triggered on captured proof rather than on paper returning.
- Everything searchable later by consignment, customer, vehicle, or date.
It has to work on a cheap phone with no signal
This is field software in the least forgiving sense. It runs on whatever handset a driver or gate operator has, often in poor light, sometimes in rain, and frequently with no usable connectivity at the moment of capture.
So capture is offline-first: images and readings are stored locally and sync when there is signal, with the queue visible so nobody is guessing whether something went through. The interface is a few large targets rather than a form, because it is being used one-handed by someone who wants to be doing something else. Software that assumes a good connection and a patient user does not survive contact with a gate.
The point is not photographing paper. It is that billing and disputes stop waiting for a document to physically travel back.
We would rather tell you now than three weeks into a project. This work is usually the wrong call if any of the following describes you.
- Operations already fully digital at the point of delivery with electronic proof.
- Very low dispatch volumes where paper genuinely returns quickly.
- Sites where drivers and gate staff cannot be given any device at all.
The systems involved
We integrate rather than replace wherever it makes sense. These are the systems this work most commonly touches.
Challan capture — questions we get asked
Does it work without internet at the gate?
Yes — capture is offline-first and syncs when connectivity returns, with a visible queue so nothing silently fails to upload.
Can it read weighbridge displays?
Often, from a photograph. Where the weighbridge has a data output, integrating directly is more reliable and we prefer it — image capture is the fallback, not the default.
Is a photographed challan acceptable as evidence?
For your own operational and dispute purposes it is considerably better than an unlocatable paper copy. Where a statutory original is required, this supplements rather than replaces it — check the specific requirement with your advisers.
The services this work sits inside
Where this comes up most
The sectors where we most often do this work, and where the payback is usually clearest.
Others worth reading
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Handwriting recognition is the hardest case in document AI. It is still far better than a shelf nobody can search — provided expectations are honest.
Read itThinking about challan capture?
Start with a short conversation. We will tell you honestly whether this is the right place to begin, or whether something else pays back faster.