Permit management
The route of travel on a permit is just text on a page. Offload turns it into turn-by-turn directions on the driver's phone or tablet, so the driver follows the exact path the state approved and off-route incidents stop being a question of interpretation.
New to permits? The back office scans and confirms permits on the desktop (see Scan and confirm a permit), and drivers scan and check them in the field (see Permits and your route). Common questions are answered in the Permit FAQ.
How it works
The core permit workflow has three steps:
- 1
Upload
Get the permit into Offload, either from the desktop or from a driver's phone or tablet in the field. - 2
Review
Verify the extracted details, the plotted route, and the applicable curfews against the original PDF. - 3
Confirm
Lock in the route. Once confirmed, the route is ready to push to navigation, and the permit's status updates on the load.
The Permits page (/permits) is the workspace view of all of this: one row per jurisdiction per load, with the workflow status, permit numbers, and expiry dates, opening on the jurisdictions a load is about to enter without approved coverage.
Two statuses: the jurisdiction and the permit
Permit work is tracked at two levels, and reading them right is the key to the whole surface:
- Jurisdiction status is the workflow state of an obligation: one state (plus its local jurisdictions) on one load's route, and where your team is on covering it. It moves through Permit needed, Application in progress, Update required, Needs review, and lands on Permit approved, Annual permit, or Legal load. This is the status you work the day against.
- Permit status is the state of one permit record: No permit required, Application needed, Pending, Approved, or Archived. A jurisdiction can hold several permits (an initial permit, a replacement after a route change, stacked local permits), each with its own status.
The jurisdiction status answers "is this stretch of the trip covered?"; the permit status answers "where is this particular document?". One obligation is often covered by the newest of several permits, which is why the two statuses exist separately.
Workflow models
Offload supports a few patterns for who uploads and confirms permits, so teams can use whichever fits their operation:
- Office-first - the back office uploads permits and the driver reviews and confirms before navigating.
- Driver-first - the driver uploads permits in the field and confirms all the way through navigation.
- Double confirmation (coming soon) - both the back office and the driver confirm before the load goes active.
These aren't separate features to toggle. They're conventions a team adopts based on how it wants to divide work between the office and the road.
Upload
There are two ways to get a permit into Offload:
- Desktop upload - dispatchers and back-office users upload a permit PDF or image from a load in the web app.
- Mobile or tablet scan - drivers scan permits in the field. See Permits and your route for the driver flow.
Upload each permit as its own document. Don't combine multiple permits into a single PDF, though a single multi-page permit is fine as one file. Once uploaded, Offload runs AI extraction in the background. When it finishes, a banner reads "Smart Scan Is Complete. Permit is Ready for Review."
Review
The review screen is built for checking Offload's work against the source PDF. The original permit renders in a resizable pane right next to the map, and a layout toggle switches that pane between side-by-side (next to the map) and stacked (below the map), so you can read the route off the permit and watch it plot in real time.
The reviewer's checks are split across three tabs: Details, Route(s), and Curfews.
The Route(s) tab plots the written route on the map, and the original PDF stays in view in the side pane for line-by-line comparison.
- Extracted details - the Details tab surfaces dimensions, weight, effective dates, and escort requirements in plain language. Every field is editable.
- Permitted route - the Route(s) tab plots the written route as numbered, interactive steps on a map. Walk through them, confirm or ignore each step, drag a misplaced waypoint to the right intersection, or double-click the map to add a missing one.
- Applicable curfews - the Curfews tab ties each extracted curfew to the states, cities, and counties it applies to, with editable time windows and restriction status.
AI extraction is a starting point, not the final word. Review every field against the actual PDF before confirming. If Offload extracted something wrong, edit it. The user is always the final authority.
Confirm
Each route has its own orange "Confirm Route" button. Confirming every route is what unlocks the Curfews tab, so the route shape is settled before curfews get tied to it. Confirming a step (waypoint) is optional and never blocks confirmation; it's just a way to track what you've reviewed on a long route.
To save the whole permit, use the page-level button: "Confirm & Save" on a new permit, or "Save Changes" when editing an existing one. At that point:
- The route is ready to push to navigation.
- Curfews surface in context as the driver moves through each zone.
- The permit's extracted dimensions and weight are color-coded against the load (green where they match, red where they exceed it), so dispatch can see whether the permit covers the load.
- The permit's status updates on the load.
Saving is a first-pass commit, not a permanent lock. Edits don't lock; you can come back and adjust later.
Updating or removing a permit
Permits change. The state issues a correction, dates get extended, dimensions get revised, or the route shifts. Bring the new permit in while keeping a clean record of the old one, since prior permitted routes are useful reference for future loads.
To replace a confirmed permit:
- 1
Archive the old permit
Set the existing permit's status to Archived. It stays in Offload as a historical record without driving navigation. - 2
Upload the new permit
Run it through the standard upload, review, and confirm flow. Its status should end up Approved. - 3
Reorder the routes
Drop the archived route from the sequence and place the new one in the right order on the load's permits and routing view. See Route planning for working with the route sequence. - 4
Notify the driver
Have the driver refresh their Routes tab, or resend the dispatch, so they pick up the updated route.
If a permit was uploaded by mistake (wrong file, duplicate scan, attached to the wrong load), delete it from the three-dot menu on the permit card.
Deleting removes a permit and its route entirely. For a permit that was valid but has been replaced by a revised version, use the Archived status instead. It keeps the permit and its route as a historical record. Delete only permits that should never have been there.
Multi-state and multi-jurisdiction moves
Multi-state moves typically need a separate permit per state. Upload and review each one individually. Once they're confirmed, every permitted route for the load shows on the load's permits and routing view.
Some loads also need city or county permits on top of the state permit. Offload handles them the same way (upload, review, confirm), with one important caveat.
Offload stitches sequential permit routes together automatically, but it cannot stitch overlapping ones. If a state permit covers a full leg and a city permit covers a 12-mile stretch in the middle, both cover that stretch, so they overlap. Cut one route off where the next begins so they run sequentially: end the state route at the city boundary, run the city route through, then resume the state route at the exit. That produces a clean state-to-city-to-state chain Offload can stitch into one navigable path.
Permit statuses (load-level)
Every permit carries a status that tells dispatch where it stands:
- Application Needed - required for this jurisdiction but not yet applied for. Not ready to move on this leg.
- Pending - submitted, awaiting issuance. Still not movable on this leg.
- Approved - issued, uploaded, reviewed, and confirmed. The route is ready to push to the driver.
- No Permit Required - this jurisdiction doesn't require a permit for this load. A clear "we checked, we're good" signal.
- Archived - a historical permit kept for reference but not driving the current load. Used when a permit has been superseded.
Permit status appears at the top of every load page, as a column on the loads page, and on project pages. Wherever a load shows up, its permit status shows up with it.
Driving the route
Once a permit is confirmed and saved, the route is ready to follow on the Offload mobile or tablet app: turn-by-turn navigation that activates only on the permitted path, off-route alerts to both driver and dispatch, and points of interest (rail crossings with owner contacts, low bridges, tunnels) surfaced along the way. See Permits and your route for the driver flow, and Route planning for how the same route is planned and adjusted.