This guide explains how to set up Deputy for a logistics, distribution, or freight business. Deputy brings scheduling, attendance, payroll, communication, and reporting together in one place. It covers how to structure Locations and Areas, manage team access, prepare payroll workflows, review scheduling and attendance settings, and plan your rollout.

Before you read

Target audience: This article is for users with System Administrator access.
Free trial: If you haven't signed up for Deputy yet, see Creating an Organization and Getting Started with a Free Trial. When signing up, select Logistics, Distribution & Freight, or the industry that best matches your business.
Returning to your trial: If you've already signed up, log in at once.deputy.com to continue setting up your account.
Watch Deputy in Action: Before you start, watch Deputy in Action to see how Deputy works and what you'll be setting up throughout this guide.

This article covers:

Choose your organisational structure
Review Location settings before rollout
Set access and approval responsibilities
Prepare payroll and scheduling workflows
- Reporting and workforce visibility
Run day-to-day logistics workflows
Quick add-on and plan check
Five-step onboarding checklist
Avoid common logistics set-up mistakes
Get more help

Choose your organisational structure

In Deputy, Locations can represent depots, warehouses, distribution centres, branches, regions, driver teams, or mobile operations. Areas usually represent the work being performed, such as drivers, warehouse, dispatch, forklift, picking, packing, loading dock, linehaul, local delivery, admin, or travel.

Choose a starting model that reflects how your business manages depot coverage, drivers, warehouse teams, labour reporting, payroll export codes, and approval responsibilities.

Business type	Suggested starting structure	Logistics Area examples	Things to consider
Mixed depot operation Drivers, warehouse, dispatch, and admin in one operation	Depot as the Location, with Areas for work types or teams	Drivers, Warehouse, Dispatch, Forklift, Loading Dock, Admin	Keeps depot-level visibility together while still separating driver and warehouse labour.
Separate warehouse and driver teams Larger operations with different managers or clock-in rules	Warehouse and driver teams as separate Locations only when they need separate settings	Pick/Pack, Forklift, Local Delivery, Linehaul, Dispatch	Useful for different permissions, approvals, or attendance workflows, but can reduce whole-depot visibility.
Courier or mobile driver team Drivers starting from different depots, yards, or loading points	Region as the Location, with Areas for route types or work types	Local Delivery, Airport Run, Express, Overflow, Linehaul	Mobile clock-in and GPS capture may be more practical than fixed kiosk clock-in.
Warehouse-only operation Fixed-site warehouse or distribution centre	Warehouse as the Location, with Areas for departments or work types	Receiving, Picking, Packing, Forklift, Dispatch, Returns	Kiosk or tablet clock-in is usually the cleanest starting point.

When you plan your structure, consider:

Depot and work-type reporting: Use Areas for coverage, labour reporting, route types, warehouse teams, dispatch, and costing detail.
Mobile and fixed-site workflows: Warehouse teams may use kiosk or tablet clock-in while drivers use mobile clock-in with GPS capture.
Export codes: Check whether payroll, accounting, transport, warehouse, or costing systems need Location or Area codes.

For a complete overview, see Organisations, Locations and Areas.

Review Location settings before rollout

Location settings control many of the defaults used for scheduling, clock-in, timesheets, approvals, and reporting. Review these settings before go-live so each depot, warehouse, distribution centre, region, or driver team works the way your team expects.

Key settings to review include:

Review the physical address and map pin: Accurate depot and warehouse details are important for kiosk clock-in, mobile clock-in, GPS capture, and geofencing.
Review Areas and Training Tags: Areas can represent drivers, warehouse, dispatch, forklift, picking, packing, loading dock, linehaul, admin, or route types. Training Tags can help manage licences and role suitability.
Review scheduling settings: Confirm default shifts, break settings, schedule start day, open shifts, shift swaps, shift offers, notifications, and shift locking.
Review timesheet settings: Confirm kiosk clock-in, mobile GPS, photo capture, employee timesheet edits, break settings, rounding, timesheet auto-approval, unscheduled shifts, and missed clock-in workflows.

Geofencing should be reviewed carefully if drivers start from different depots, yards, customer sites, or loading points.

For a complete overview of every Location setting, including General, Areas, Scheduling, Timesheets, Notifications, Public Holidays, and Preferences, see Creating your Locations.

Set access and approval responsibilities

Access decisions should be made during set-up. The right access model helps managers control scheduling, timesheet approvals, payroll visibility, labour cost access, depot reporting, and day-to-day exceptions.

Logistics role	Recommended Deputy access	Common responsibility
Drivers	Employee	View shifts, clock in and out, request leave, and review updates
Warehouse workers	Employee	View shifts, clock in and out, request leave, and review updates
Dispatch leads and warehouse team leaders	Supervisor	Review attendance, coverage, driver exceptions, and daily issues
Depot managers	Location Manager	Manage rosters, approvals, labour visibility, and depot activity
Payroll and administrators	Advisor or System Administrator	Review approved timesheets, payroll exports, and employee records
Operations leaders	System Administrator	Manage account settings, structure, integrations, and access

Most logistics businesses use Supervisor access for dispatch leads or warehouse team leaders who approve time but should not see wage costs. Use Location Manager access for depot managers who need labour cost visibility, roster cost visibility, or broader depot reporting.

For a complete overview, see Deputy access levels and permissions.

Once you've set access levels, add your team members and assign them to the Locations where they work. For a complete overview, see Adding team members.

Prepare payroll and scheduling workflows

Logistics payroll can include ordinary hours, overtime, weekend work, public holidays, shift penalties, driver allowances, meal allowances, travel allowances, forklift allowances, higher duties, long shifts, split shifts, breaks, and leave. Pay Templates and Pay Rate Builder can support your pay conditions, while Leave Policies control the types of leave available to team members and how leave is managed in Deputy.

You can process payroll using Deputy Payroll where available, or connect Deputy to a supported third-party payroll provider.

Click to expand for each payroll option.

Deputy Payroll (AU)

Deputy Payroll (AU) is Deputy's integrated payroll option for Australian businesses. It keeps scheduling, attendance, approved timesheets, and payroll within Deputy, so you can move from worked hours to a pay run without exporting timesheets to a separate payroll provider.

Set-up includes your business and payroll details, pay calendars, superannuation, deductions, extra earnings, and team member payroll information.

For a complete overview of setting up and using Deputy Payroll (AU), see Getting started with Payroll (AU).

Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor (US)

Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor (US) connects Deputy workforce management with Paycor payroll. Deputy manages scheduling, time tracking, leave, pay rates, and approved timesheets, while Paycor can be used to handle payroll functions such as tax filings, banking, and year-end processing.

Approved timesheets can be exported directly from Deputy to Paycor, reducing the need to manually re-enter worked hours.

For a complete overview of how Deputy and Paycor work together, see Getting started with Deputy Payroll enabled by Paycor (US).

Third-party payroll integration

If you already use another payroll provider, you can keep Deputy focused on scheduling, attendance, timesheets, and pay calculations, then send approved timesheet data to your existing payroll system. Deputy supports payroll integrations including Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks, ADP, and other providers, with the exact workflow and data available depending on the integration you use.

For a complete overview of the available payroll connections, see Payroll integrations.

For more information on Leave management, see:

Keep payroll testing simple

Run a test export before your first live pay run. Focus on:

Driver and warehouse shifts: Confirm ordinary hours, shift penalties, allowances, and pay rates appear as expected.
Breaks and overtime: Test missed breaks, overtime, long shifts, split shifts, weekends, and public holidays where applicable.
Area and costing detail: Confirm that team members working across driver, warehouse, dispatch, or forklift Areas export correctly.

Reporting and workforce visibility

If labour reporting by depot, driver team, warehouse team, dispatch team, route type, Area, or work type matters, use Areas, Area export codes, and consistent naming conventions. This keeps reporting cleaner, simplifies payroll exports, and improves workforce visibility.

Common reports include:

Schedule, timesheet and sales comparison: Compare scheduled and actual hours and wage costs, and review cost variance where relevant.
Attendance & absence: Review no-shows, late arrivals, missed clock-ins, break exceptions, and early departures by Location, Area, or team member.
Schedule adherence by team member: Compare scheduled hours with actual hours worked and identify the cost variance when team members work outside the original schedule. (Requires Analytics+)

Qualifications, licences, and Training Tags

Training Tags help prevent team members from being scheduled into Areas where they are not licensed, trained, or approved to work. They can support decision-making, but they do not replace formal compliance review.

Common logistics Training Tags include Forklift Licence, HR Licence, MR Licence, HC Licence, Dangerous Goods, First Aid, Driver Induction, Fatigue Management, Warehouse Trained, Dispatch Trained, and Site Induction.

If your business needs to collect onboarding documents, store employee records, manage policy acknowledgements, right-to-work checks, licences, or certification expiry dates, Deputy HR can help support those workflows. Deputy HR requires an add-on.

Run day-to-day logistics workflows

Clocking in: fixed-site and mobile teams

Most warehouse teams use kiosk or tablet clock-in with photo capture. Drivers often use mobile clock-in with GPS capture where depot-based kiosk clock-in is not practical.

For a complete overview, see Using Deputy across different devices.

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Manage shift patterns and changes

Logistics schedules often differ between warehouse teams, drivers, dispatch, linehaul, and mobile delivery teams. Use roster templates where possible for repeated coverage, then adjust for route changes, delivery demand, depot requirements, and absences.

Open shifts, shift offers, and shift swaps can help fill gaps, but they should be reviewed carefully where licences, driver availability, fatigue-sensitive work, or supervisor coverage matters.

For a complete overview, see open shifts, shift offers, and shift swaps.

Break management and tasks

Breaks should be reviewed carefully for long shifts, warehouse coverage, and driver workflows. Confirm whether breaks are scheduled, clocked, rounded, or reviewed manually before payroll approval.

Task management can help standardise depot opening checks, vehicle checks, equipment checks, loading dock checks, warehouse close-down tasks, handover tasks, dispatch follow-ups, and supervisor review tasks before payroll approval.

Communicate with your team

News Feed and Messaging can help managers share route changes, depot updates, urgent driver communication, shift changes, warehouse coverage needs, dispatch announcements, and operational notices.

For a complete overview, see News Feed and Deputy Messaging.

Quick add-on and plan check

The following add-ons and plan options may be useful as your use of Deputy grows. To check what is included in each plan or add-on, see our pricing plans.

Do you need to...	You may need...	Common fit
Store onboarding records, licences, policy acknowledgements, or employee records	Deputy HR	Businesses that need employee records and documents connected to rostering and workforce operations
Create custom reports, schedule emailed reports, and review overtime, driver attendance, depot trends, or warehouse labour	Analytics+	Managers or operators who need deeper workforce and labour reporting
Use larger messaging groups, more message history, or team-based communication	Messaging Plus	Businesses that need communication for drivers, warehouse teams, dispatch, depots, regions, or mobile teams
Process payroll from approved Deputy timesheets where available	Deputy Payroll	Businesses that want payroll connected more closely to Deputy scheduling, attendance, and timesheet approvals
Set up custom roles, additional Location hierarchy, and more detailed permission controls	Deputy Pro	Businesses with complex depots, regions, approval layers, or reporting requirements

Five-step onboarding checklist

These stages apply whether you are evaluating Deputy, testing it with one depot or team, or rolling it out across your full business.

Set up your structure: Create your Locations and Areas, choose naming conventions, and review any required export codes.
Add your team and schedules: Add drivers, warehouse workers, managers, payroll users, and administrators, assign access levels, set up pay details, and create your first schedule.
Test your workflows: Test kiosk clock-in, mobile clock-in, GPS capture, breaks, missed clock-ins, open shifts, shift swaps, and notifications with a pilot group.
Review timesheets and payroll: Approve pilot timesheets and test driver shifts, warehouse shifts, forklift shifts, overtime, allowances, public holidays, missed clock-ins, and payroll export.
Go live: Train supervisors and managers, publish the live schedule, and roll Deputy out to the rest of your team.

For a guided onboarding checklist, open the Help menu by selecting the ? icon in your Deputy account, then select Start here.

Avoid common logistics set-up mistakes

Common mistake	Why it causes problems
Treating drivers and warehouse staff the same	Driver and warehouse teams often need different clock-in, approval, scheduling, and payroll review workflows.
Hard geofencing drivers too aggressively	Drivers may start from different depots, yards, loading points, or customer sites.
Not separating operational Areas	Reporting becomes unclear when driver, warehouse, dispatch, forklift, loading dock, and admin work are mixed together.
Not testing driver versus warehouse pay rules	Allowances, overtime, breaks, and classifications may behave differently across teams.
Not using Training Tags	Can create unsuitable rostering decisions or extra manual checks where licences or skills matter.
Waiting until payroll day to review exceptions	Missed clock-ins, long shifts, allowances, and break issues are harder to fix at the end of the pay cycle.

Get more help

During your trial, use the Action Bar to access setup help without leaving Deputy.

From the Action Bar, you can:

Select Start here to open Deputy Essentials, where you'll find bite-sized videos and guided walkthroughs to help you set up your business at your own pace.
Select Ask an expert to connect with an SMB Consultant.
Select the ? icon to open the Help menu and access support options.

You can collapse the Action Bar or drag it to another position on the screen.

Help Centre

For help and support, see Get help and request support from Deputy.