Logistics software development for hauliers and 3PLs

• Job entry and bookings

  Customers book by email, spreadsheet, phone, portal or EDI. Each job is keyed into the TMS, and pallet network jobs also go into the network's system (Palletline offers online job entry, Pall-Ex an API). The RHA's 2024 Conditions of Carriage require customers to give detailed weights and contents.

• Tachograph downloads and driver admin

  Vehicle units are downloaded at least every 90 days and driver cards every 28, the data kept 12 months and infringements acted on. Licences are checked, usually every three months, and Driver CPC needs 35 hours of training every five years.

• Walkaround checks and inspections

  Drivers do a walkaround check at least once every 24 hours in service and report defects in writing. Safety inspections normally fall every 4 to 13 weeks, each with a brake performance assessment, and records are kept at least 15 months. Timely inspections and driver defect reports actioned are both earned recognition KPIs.

• PODs, clausing and invoicing

  The driver captures a signature or a photo as proof of delivery. The office matches it to the job and raises the invoice. A customer quoted by Mandata says that with paper, waiting for drivers to return paperwork could take weeks.

• GVMS and border paperwork

  Each vehicle through a GVMS port, between Great Britain and the EU or from Great Britain to Northern Ireland, needs a goods movement reference (GMR), even when empty, holding every declaration reference for the load. Since 31 January 2025 the carrier is responsible for the safety and security declaration on EU imports into GB.

• Haulage TMS: Mandata, Microlise

  Transport management and ePOD. Mandata offers its API to software vendors by partnership, with no public documentation; Microlise publishes partial documentation on its developer portal, with keys from each customer's technical contact.

• Telematics: Webfleet, Samsara

  Vehicle tracking and driver data, with published APIs: WEBFLEET.connect, and Samsara's REST API with a token or OAuth 2.0.

• Tachograph analysis: TruTac, Tachomaster, Descartes Smartanalysis

  We found no public API for any of them, so we would agree access with the vendor or connect through a TMS that lists them, as Mandata does.

• Pallet networks: Pall-Ex, Palletline

  Pall-Ex's NexusAPI creates and amends consignments, prints labels and returns PODs with images, for shareholder members and customers, spec on request. We found no public API for Palletline.

• Warehouse and order systems: Mintsoft, Linnworks

  Mintsoft, a cloud WMS for 3PLs, handles orders, stock and client billing and has a REST API. Linnworks manages marketplace orders and stock and publishes API documentation.

• Order intake hub

  Reads jobs from booking emails, spreadsheets, a portal and retailer EDI, flags missing weights or references, and pushes each job into your TMS and, where needed, the pallet network's system, such as Pall-Ex's NexusAPI.

• ePOD to invoice

  Takes PODs from your ePOD app, keeps each clause with its photo, applies rates and fuel surcharge, and posts the invoice, POD attached, to Sage or Xero. For 3PLs, it bills storage, handling and shipping per client.

• Transport manager's dashboard

  Downloads due, infringements to act on, working-time averages, licence-check and Driver CPC dates, open defects and the inspection schedule, in one view, with records kept to DVSA's standard for electronic systems.

• GMR builder

  Collects MRNs and transit references from shippers, checks the set is complete before the vehicle leaves, creates or updates the GMR through HMRC's Goods Vehicle Movements API, and gives the driver a document checklist.

• Drivers' hours and tachographs

  Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 and Regulation (EU) No 165/2014, as assimilated: 9 hours' driving a day (10 twice a week), 56 a week, 90 a fortnight. Since 1 July 2026 they also cover goods vehicles over 2.5 tonnes carrying goods between the UK and EU for hire or reward, or on own account where driving is the driver's main activity, which need a Smart Tachograph version 2.

• The Road Transport (Working Time) Regulations 2005

  A 48-hour weekly average over a 17-week or 26-week reference period, no more than 60 hours in any one week, and records kept for two years after the period ends. They extend to Great Britain only.

• Goods Vehicles (Licensing of Operators) Act 1995

  Under their operator licence, operators keep maintenance records for at least 15 months. DVSA's Guide to Maintaining Roadworthiness (updated 28 April 2025) accepts electronic records only if the system is tamper-proof, with an end-to-end audit trail, date and time stamps, digital authentication and hard-copy output.

• UK GDPR and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025

  The ICO treats telematics data on driver activity as personal information and expects a DPIA before analytics that draw inferences about drivers. The Act's changes to automated decision-making rules came into force on 5 February 2026.

• Bespoke software development
• Business automation and integrations
• AI automation

Other industries: Self-storage.

Sources

Every rule, date and figure on this page comes from the sources below, checked on 31 October 2026. Rules change: check anything that matters with the source or your adviser.