WMS Appointments: Scheduling, Rescheduling and Dock Appointment Settings

Book dock appointments for inbound deliveries and outbound pickups in a three-step wizard, reschedule or cancel them from the list, and set the reschedule, grace-period and notification rules in Appointment Settings.

A dock appointment tells the warehouse when a truck will arrive, which carrier is coming, and what it will do — drop off or live-unload an inbound delivery, or pick up an outbound load. Booking ahead keeps the dock doors from bunching up: drivers get a time slot, and the warehouse team can see the day’s arrivals before the first truck shows up. Everything lives under WMS → Appointments: the list, the booking wizard and the settings page.

Step 1: Book an appointment in the three-step wizard#

1. Go to WMS → Appointments → Appointment List and click “+ New” (or open WMS → Appointments → Make Appointment directly). Step 1 asks only for the carrier: pick one from the dropdown — the list comes from your carrier master data — and click Confirm.
2. Step 2 — choose activities. Open the Inbound card and/or the Outbound card (at least one is required). Inbound offers Drop Off Delivery or Live Delivery; Outbound offers Pickup Preload or Live Load.
3. Link the paperwork while you are there: Add Receipt attaches inbound receipts to an inbound activity (search by receipt ID, reference number or PO number), and Add Load attaches outbound loads to an outbound activity. Linking is optional, but it ties the appointment to the exact documents the truck is coming for.
4. Click Continue. Step 3 — choose date & time: pick a day on the calendar first, then AM or PM, then an hour, then one of the 15-minute start times that appear. Click Submit in the summary panel to finish — the appointment number (APPT #) is shown as soon as it is created.

The summary panel on the right stays visible through all three steps and shows the carrier, the activities with their linked receipts and loads, and the chosen date and time. Click a section heading in the panel to jump back to that step and fix something — nothing is final until you submit on Step 3.

Two views of the same appointments: list and calendar#

The Appointment List page (WMS → Appointments → Appointment List) opens with List and Calendar tabs. The list is the working view for finding one appointment; the calendar is the planning view for seeing how busy the dock is, hour by hour.

• In the list, use Search by to filter by appointment number, reference number, PO number, load number, load ID, receipt ID, carrier, service type, appointment date range, Client or status — then click Search (filters apply only when you click it; Reset clears them).
• Each row shows the appointment number (with its reference number underneath), carrier, Client, appointment time and status, plus who created and last updated it. Expand a row to see the linked documents and service type, and to reach Edit and Cancel.
• Export downloads the appointments currently shown as a CSV file — handy for sharing the day’s schedule outside the system.
• In the calendar view, switch between Day and Week, pick a date on the mini calendar, and tick or untick the four service types (Drop Off Delivery, Live Delivery, Pickup Preload, Live Load) to see how many appointments of each kind sit in every hour slot. Inbound and outbound services are coloured differently so a crowded hour stands out at a glance.

Reschedule, edit and cancel#

1. To reschedule, open the appointment (click its number in the list, or expand the row and choose Edit). On the Edit Appointment page (WMS → Appointments → Edit) you can change the carrier, the date and the time — the time picker moves in 15-minute steps, matching the booking slots.
2. The same form also maintains the appointment’s status (New, Not confirmed, Confirmed, Checked in, In progress, Completed, Cancelled, No show) and its notes. Save returns you to the list.
3. The documents linked to the appointment are shown read-only next to the form — services, receipts with their reference numbers and Clients, and the load. Linked documents are set in the booking wizard, not here.
4. To cancel instead, expand the row in the list and click Cancel, then pick a cancellation reason. The reasons come from Master Data reason codes (category: order cancellation), so the same plain-language reasons are used everywhere a booking is cancelled. An already-cancelled appointment cannot be cancelled again.

Dock appointment settings: rescheduling, grace period and notifications#

Appointment Setting (WMS → Appointments → Setting) holds the standing rules in three cards, each with its own Save button: Carrier Reschedule Settings, Grace Period, and the default notification email. Set them once and every appointment follows the same rules.

• Carrier Reschedule: switch carrier rescheduling on or off, and set “Restrict reschedule within (hours)” — how close to the appointment time a carrier may still move the booking.
• Grace Period — Default Rule: separately for early and late arrivals, choose how the limit is counted (Duration in minutes, or a Fixed Time), how long it is, and whether a driver who is early or late may still check in.
• Grace Period — Conditional Rules: add exceptions that apply only to a specific Client, equipment type (Dry Van, Reefer, Flatbed, Box Truck, containers and more) or carrier, each with its own early/late limits. Rules you no longer need can be deleted from the table.
• Default Notification Email: type one or more email addresses (press Enter after each) that should receive appointment notifications by default.

Clients book dock time in the Portal (two-step confirmation)#

Clients can book a dock time window themselves in the Client Portal under Warehousing → Dock Appointment → New dock appointment. They pick a warehouse, a date, and a time window — the window picker shows how many spots are left in each slot. They can also pick their carrier from the list, link their own inbound receipts (or outbound loads), and add a reference number and a note. If they only need a dock window for a truck, the inbound appointment page links straight to the dock booking form.

• Submitting holds a spot right away. The request lands in My Dock Appointments as "Waiting for warehouse confirmation".
• The warehouse either confirms your time (status becomes "Confirmed") or proposes a different window with a note. When a new time is proposed, you can accept it, pick another time yourself, or cancel — all from the same list.
• If a slot is full, the booking is not accepted and the message tells you to pick another window. Also note: if the warehouse does not confirm in time, the held spot is released back shortly before the window starts — your appointment stays on the list and the warehouse can still confirm it, but the spot is no longer guaranteed.

Warehouse side: the confirmation queue and slot capacity#

Portal requests show up in WMS → Appointments → Appointment List. Use the quick filter above the list — "To confirm (warehouse)" and "Waiting for client" — to work the queue. Expand a request to see the client’s requested window and use the buttons there: Confirm appointment, Propose new time (pick a window and add a note for the client), or Reject (a reason is required; the client sees it). If the slot is already full but you still want to take the truck, confirming asks for an overbooking reason, which is kept on the record. The capacity strip at the top of the list shows, for any warehouse, date and direction, how full each slot is.

Capacity itself is set in WMS → Appointments → Setting, in the "Slot Capacity & Confirmation" card: the slot length (30/60/120 minutes), a default capacity per slot (leave blank for unlimited), and how many hours before the window an unconfirmed hold is released. Individual warehouses can differ: add override rows per warehouse and direction — either for the whole day or for one specific slot start — with their own capacity.

After confirmation: assigning the driver#

Once an appointment is confirmed, a driver still has to be put on it. Expand the appointment in the list and click “Assign driver”. If the carrier is in your directory, pick the driver from its driver list; the driver then gets a notification — in the Docklify driver app if they have an account, or a text message with a confirm link if they do not — and accepts or declines. You see the outcome on the appointment: the driver’s name, phone and plate appear on the row once they accept. If plans change, “Reassign” sends the job to a different driver and the previous driver’s link stops working immediately.

Two situations are covered without any phone calls. First, the driver is already at the gate: tick “Driver is already on site” in the same dialog and type the driver’s name and phone — the assignment is recorded as entered by the warehouse. Second, the carrier is not in your directory yet: the appointment keeps the carrier name it was booked with, and after assigning you get a one-click prompt, “Save carrier to directory”, so next time you can pick the carrier and its drivers directly. The prompt is optional — skip it and nothing else changes.

If the driver does not answer in time, the assignment expires on its own: the appointment goes back to “needs a driver”, and the warehouse, the carrier and the client are all notified so anyone can reassign. The reply deadline is shown when you assign and is set in Appointment Settings (driver response timeout); it never runs past 30 minutes before the appointment window starts.

When the truck arrives: gate check-in, self check-in and no-shows#

The last leg is the gate. A driver who accepted the assignment opens it in the Docklify driver app — My Appointments under the TMS tab — and shows the gate QR code on their phone; it works from 4 hours before the window. At the gate, the guard verifies the driver on the Gate Verification page (YMS → Gate Verification, or on the guard’s phone under YMS → Entries): one scan loads the appointment, the guard checks the plate, picks a dock and confirms, and the Entry Ticket prints. The appointment flips to checked in by itself and the driver gets a text with the entry number and dock — nobody has to update the appointment list by hand. The full guard-side routine is in the YMS Entries article.

Drivers without an appointment are covered too, when your warehouse allows walk-ins: they scan the QR poster at the gate, fill in the self check-in form and take the required photos on their phone, then wait for the guard to verify them — the queue shows on YMS → Entries with a waiting count. Whether walk-ins are allowed, whether a phone code is required, and how long an unverified registration stays valid are set per warehouse in Appointment Settings, in the “Self Check-in & Gate QR” card — the same card where you generate, print, rotate or disable each warehouse’s gate QR poster. And if a confirmed truck simply never comes, the system marks the appointment as a no-show after the window plus the late grace period and notifies the client, the carrier and the warehouse, so the slot frees up in the reports without anyone chasing it.

Docklify features used in this article#

• Appointment booking wizard (carrier → activities → date & time, with a live summary panel) — WMS → Appointments → Make Appointment (/wms/appointments/make)
• Appointment list with filters, CSV export and row actions — WMS → Appointments → Appointment List (/wms/appointments/list)
• Appointment calendar view (day/week, by service type and hour) — WMS → Appointments → Appointment List → Calendar tab (/wms/appointments/list)
• Edit appointment (reschedule date/time, carrier, status, notes) — WMS → Appointments → Edit (/wms/appointments/edit)
• Cancellation reasons from Master Data reason codes — Master Data → Reason Codes (category: order cancellation)
• Client Portal dock appointments (book a window with live remaining spots, accept a proposed time or pick another) — Client Portal → Warehousing → Dock Appointment (/dock-appointments)
• Confirmation queue, capacity strip and warehouse confirm / propose / reject actions — WMS → Appointments → Appointment List (/wms/appointments/list)
• Slot capacity & confirmation settings (slot length, default capacity, hold release, warehouse overrides) — WMS → Appointments → Setting (/wms/appointments/setting)
• Appointment settings (carrier reschedule, grace period, notification email) — WMS → Appointments → Setting (/wms/appointments/setting)
• Assign / reassign a driver on a confirmed appointment (pick from the carrier’s driver list, or record a walk-in on site) — WMS → Appointments → Appointment List → expand a row (/wms/appointments/list)
• Save a booked-with carrier name into the carrier directory in one click — WMS → Appointments → Appointment List → expand a row (/wms/appointments/list)
• Driver gate QR and assignment inbox in the driver app (accept or decline, then show the QR at the gate) — Driver app (mobile) → TMS → My Appointments
• Gate verification for guards (scan the driver QR or short code, plate check, dock pick, entry ticket) — YMS → Gate Verification (/yms/gate-verify); waiting queue banner — YMS → Entries (/yms/entries)
• Self check-in & gate QR settings (walk-in policy, phone verification, unverified expiry, per-warehouse gate QR poster) — WMS → Appointments → Setting (/wms/appointments/setting)