Tasks in Orbit Cockpit

Orbit Cockpit shows drivers the tasks that belong to their tour and its stops, opens them on arrival and, for blocking tasks, holds the tour until the work is done.

Overview

A delivery rarely ends with the handover alone. Someone has to count the exchanged pallets, photograph the loading bay or confirm a seal number. In Orbit these jobs are tasks. When a task belongs to a Tour or one of its stops, the driver works it off in Orbit Cockpit, and Orbit MissionControl and Orbit Connect show the result straight away. Tasks come from Task Templates or the Orbit API, so the driver never creates one.

This article is for drivers and for the operators who set tasks up. The fields a form can contain are covered in Task Forms.

Key highlights:

• Tasks where the work happens: stop tasks sit on the stop, tour tasks sit in the tour details
• Opened on arrival: when the driver arrives at a stop, its open tasks open one after another
• Guided forms: steps, prefilled values and photos taken with the camera
• Blocking tasks hold the tour: the driver cannot start, move on or finish until they are completed or skipped
• Skipping on your terms: the driver can skip only the tasks you mark as skippable, and the skip is recorded

Where Tasks Appear

Orbit Cockpit shows the open tasks of every tour that is Assigned or Running, as long as the task belongs to the tour itself or to one of its stops. Tasks on other objects, such as a Shipment or a Load, are handled in Orbit MissionControl or Orbit Connect.

Tour tasks appear in the tour details, in a section called Tasks. They cover work that is not tied to one address, such as a vehicle check before departure.

Stop tasks appear in a Tasks section on the stop screen. In the stop list of the tour details, each stop with open tasks shows a count such as 2 tasks, highlighted when one of them is overdue.

Each row shows the task name, a Blocking badge where it applies and, for a task with a due date, Due by or Overdue since followed by the day and time. Overdue tasks come first, then tasks by due date, then tasks without one. A task that is completed or skipped anywhere, in any Orbit app or through the API, leaves the list.

Which Tasks a Driver Sees

A driver sees a task when both of these are true:

• The task is assigned to them: to the driver's carrier, to their carrier team, or to the driver personally. Tasks assigned to your own operations team never reach Orbit Cockpit.
• Their role allows viewing tasks: the managed roles for carrier users already do. If you use custom roles, make sure the driver's role allows viewing tasks and acting on them. See Roles and Permissions.

Otherwise the driver sees no Tasks section, and no task holds their tour.

The Task Sheet on Arrival

When the driver taps Arrived at a stop, Orbit Cockpit opens that stop's open tasks in a sheet, one after the other. The header shows the task name and where it belongs, for example Stop 2 · ACME Ltd or Tour · TUR-4711.

The sheet opens by itself once per task. If the driver closes it with ×, the remaining tasks wait in the stop's Tasks section. Tap a row there to open a task at any time.

Complete a Task with a Form

In Orbit Cockpit:

1. Open the task from the arrival sheet or the Tasks section.
2. Read the step. The progress line shows where you are, for example Step 1 of 3 · Handed-over pallets.
3. Check the prefilled values and correct any that do not match what happened.
4. Tap Next. Use Back to return to an earlier step.
5. On a photo step, tap Take photo to open the camera. Depending on the form, a second button offers Choose from gallery or Choose file.
6. If the form ends with a Summary, check your entries. Tap Edit to change a step.
7. Tap Submit.

The first step of a form, with the quantities filled in from the loads at this stop.

Prefilled values come from the task template, and the driver can change every one of them. Photos upload while the driver carries on with the form. A counter such as 2 of 5 shows how many photos a field holds and accepts, and tapping a photo opens it large with Remove photo. While uploads are still running, Submit waits with Uploads are still processing….

When Orbit rejects a value, the form shows Submission failed: check the highlighted values. and marks the field. Closing a form that holds entries asks Discard your entries? first, because discarding removes everything entered, photos included.

Confirm a Task Without a Form

Some tasks only need a confirmation, such as "Hand the delivery note to reception". The sheet shows the description and one button.

1. Open the task.
2. Read the description.
3. Tap Complete.

Stop Tasks Need an Arrival

A stop task can only be completed after the driver has arrived at its stop. The driver can open it earlier and even fill in the form, but Submit and Complete stay disabled with the hint You can do this once you have arrived at the stop. After the driver taps Arrived, the button becomes available and nothing entered is lost. Tour tasks have no such condition.

Skip a Task

The sheet header shows Skip when the task is marked as skippable.

1. Tap Skip.
2. Read the question Skip this task? Orbit Cockpit tells the driver that the dispatcher will see the skip.
3. Tap Skip to confirm, or Cancel to go back.

A skipped task leaves the list and no longer holds the tour. Skipping does not wait for the arrival, so a driver can skip a stop task before reaching the stop.

Blocking Tasks

A blocking task holds the tour until it is completed or skipped. Each time the driver moves the tour on, Orbit Cockpit checks for open blocking tasks and opens them instead of carrying out the tap.

Driver taps	Blocking tasks that must be done first
Start Tour	The tour's blocking tasks
Arrived	The tour's blocking tasks
Continue (leaving a stop)	The tour's blocking tasks and those of the current stop
Complete Tour	The tour's blocking tasks and those of the last stop

The tasks open one after another. A notice at the top of the sheet reads Complete this task to continue. With several tasks it reads Complete all 3 tasks to continue. and shows the position, for example 1 of 3 · Next: Seal check.

A blocking task opened by the departure tap. The tour continues once it is done.

After the last blocking task, Orbit Cockpit carries out the held step by itself, so the driver does not tap again. If the driver closes the sheet instead, the tour stays where it is and a message says Task still open. The next tap on the same button opens the tasks again.

An Internet Connection Is Required

Completing or skipping a task needs an internet connection. Orbit Cockpit does not complete tasks offline. Without a connection the attempt fails with Completing failed or Submission failed. Please try again., and the form keeps its entries so the driver can tap Submit again later.

The blocking check works from the task list already on the device, so it applies with or without a connection. An open blocking task therefore holds the tour until the connection returns and the task is done. If a tour's task list has never loaded, Orbit Cockpit shows Tasks not loaded and asks the driver to check the connection.

Example

Spaceport Shipping Co. delivers building materials across Vienna and swaps pallets at every drop. Its operations team sets up a template that puts a blocking "Pallet exchange" task on each dropoff stop, with the quantities prefilled from the loads and a photo step for the empty pallets taken back. Mohammad taps Arrived at ACME Ltd and the task opens. The form says 17 Euro pallets, but the customer kept two, so he enters 15, taps Next, photographs the returned stack and taps Submit. His next tap on Continue takes the tour on to the next stop, and his dispatcher sees the completed task with its photos in Orbit MissionControl.

FAQ

Why does the driver not see any tasks? Check that the task belongs to the tour or one of its stops, that it is assigned to the driver's carrier, carrier team or to the driver, and that the driver's role allows viewing tasks. Tours that are not yet Assigned or already finished show no tasks.

What happens if the driver closes a blocking task? The tour stays where it is and Orbit Cockpit shows Task still open. The next tap on Start Tour, Arrived, Continue or Complete Tour opens the task again.

Can a driver skip a blocking task? Only if the task is marked as skippable. A skipped blocking task no longer holds the tour, and the dispatcher sees the skip.

What if a dispatcher completes the task in Orbit MissionControl? The task disappears from Orbit Cockpit and no longer holds the tour. The same applies to tasks completed in Orbit Connect or through the Orbit API.

Does a completed task create a document? It can. When the task template links a document template, Orbit renders a PDF from the completed task with the Document Engine. Task Templates explains the setup.