Bilty Software: How a Goods Transport Company Runs on It, From Counter to Delivery

Bilty software is the system a goods transport company books every consignment in, from the counter where the bilty is written to the counter where the goods are handed over — and every rupee in between. Done properly it replaces four registers at every station (bookings, loading, arrivals and cash) with one record that every station reads, so the owner can see at any moment which goods are where, which vehicle is carrying them, and which station is holding whose money.

This article walks through a working day on it, station by station, and ends with the numbers an owner should be able to read off the screen every evening. If you are still deciding whether you need software at all, the last section is for you.

What is bilty software, exactly?

A goods transport company in Pakistan — a "goods adda", a forwarding agency, a cargo company — takes goods in at one of its own stations, carries them on a vehicle (usually hired) to another of its stations, and hands them to the receiver there. The paper that ties it together is the bilty: the receipt and consignment note written at booking.

Bilty software is any system that writes that bilty and then follows it: onto a vehicle, off the vehicle, across the counter, and into the accounts. The difference between software that helps and software that does not is almost entirely in the "follows it" part. Printing a neat bilty is easy. Knowing, three weeks later, that bilty LHR-00412 arrived one carton short and its To-Pay freight was collected in Karachi on behalf of Lahore, is the actual job.

Step 1 — The booking counter

The sender arrives with goods. The clerk writes:

• the sender and receiver, with phone numbers (and the receiver's CNIC if the company takes it at booking),
• each goods line: description, packing (carton, bundle, bag, drum), quantity and weight,
• the destination station, and whether the goods are collected there or delivered to a door,
• the freight, any extra charges (labour, packing, local pickup), and whether it is Paid now or To-Pay by the receiver.

The software numbers the bilty with the station's own code — LHR-00413, KHI-02210 — so a number read over the phone says where it was booked, and prints it in copies: one for the sender, one that travels with the goods, one for the office. A QR code on the sender's copy opens the tracking page.

Two controls matter here. The package count on the bilty is what every later station will count against, so it has to be right. And a Paid bilty's freight goes straight into that station's cash, so the evening count at the counter starts from a figure the software already knows.

Step 2 — Loading and the challan

When a vehicle is going to Karachi, the loading clerk makes a loading challan: the vehicle number, the driver, the kiraya (hire) agreed for the trip, the advance paid now — and the bilties going on board. Every bilty on the challan moves to "in transit" the moment the vehicle is dispatched, and the sender and receiver can be told by SMS that their goods have left.

The advance is paid from the loading station's cash; the balance (bakiya) is owed to the driver at the far end. Written on paper, this is where money goes missing: an advance paid twice, a balance paid at a station that never recorded it. On software the challan carries both figures, and the station that pays the balance does it against that challan.

Step 3 — Receiving at the destination

The vehicle arrives. The receiving station unloads it bilty by bilty, not by eye: for each one, all packages there, some short, some damaged, or the whole consignment missing. The driver's balance is cleared once the load is accepted. Receivers are told their goods have arrived.

This step is the one most registers skip, and it is the one that decides every claim that follows. A shortage recorded at unloading, with the vehicle and driver named, is a dispute about one trip. A shortage discovered when the receiver comes to collect, two days later, is an argument nobody can win. More on this in stopping cargo loss between loading and delivery.

Step 4 — The delivery desk

The receiver arrives with the bilty number and CNIC. The clerk finds the bilty, collects any To-Pay freight, and hands the goods over — or sends them out with a rider for door delivery, the rider collecting the To-Pay at the door into a ledger the office approves at the end of the day.

The rule the software enforces is simple and saves a fortune: goods with To-Pay outstanding are not handed over until it is paid.

Step 5 — The accounts between stations

Karachi has just collected Rs. 3,400 of freight that belongs to Lahore, which booked the goods. Karachi also paid a driver's Rs. 18,000 balance on a challan Lahore wrote. Neither is Karachi's money or Karachi's cost — and on paper, both are usually forgotten by the time anyone reconciles.

Bilty software keeps an account between every pair of stations: what each has collected or paid on the other's behalf. The stations settle it — weekly, usually — and the balance goes back to zero with a record of how.

What should the owner see every evening?

If any of those takes a phone call to three stations to answer, the business is running on memory rather than on records.

Do you actually need software?

A single-route company with two stations and one clerk each can run on well-kept registers, and should, if the registers balance. Software starts paying for itself at the third station, or when vehicles are loaded for several destinations at once, or when To-Pay freight becomes a large share of income — because that is when money starts sitting at the wrong station, and a register cannot show it.

Where Irsaal fits

Irsaal for Goods Transport is built around exactly this day: bilties with station codes and QR tracking, loading challans with kiraya and advance, receiving bilty by bilty, the delivery desk with To-Pay collection, a cash book per station and the inter-station accounts — plus SMS or WhatsApp alerts to senders and receivers and a website where customers track their bilty and send booking requests. Plans are sold by the number of stations; see pricing, and the trial takes no card.

Frequently asked questions

What is bilty software?

Bilty software is a system for goods transport companies that writes the bilty (the consignment receipt) at the booking counter and then tracks that consignment onto a vehicle, through unloading and across the delivery counter, together with the freight, To-Pay collection and each station's cash.

Is bilty software the same as courier software?

No. Courier software handles thousands of small parcels delivered to individual doors. Bilty software handles consignments booked between a transporter's own stations, carried on hired vehicles and usually collected at the destination office, with Paid or To-Pay freight.

Can each station see only its own bookings?

In a properly built system, yes: staff are tied to their station and see its bookings, arrivals and cash, while the owner sees every station together.

How do customers track a bilty?

The bilty number (or a QR code on the receipt) opens a tracking page showing when the goods were booked, dispatched, arrived and delivered. Good systems also send an SMS or WhatsApp message at each of those steps.

Does it work without a computer at every station?

Cloud-based bilty software runs in a web browser, so a station can work from a laptop, a desktop or even a phone, and every station sees the same records the moment they are saved.