Gate Management Overview

Gate Management turns the yard boundary into a recorded event. Every asset that enters or leaves passes through a gate, and each crossing captures who brought it, what was on the paperwork, what the seal said, and where the asset was put. Those crossings open and close a visit, which is what later becomes a dwell figure and a billable line.

Without it, Yard Spot knows where assets are. With it, Yard Spot knows how they got there, how long they have been there, and what that stay should cost.

Get This Feature

Gate Management is an optional add-on and must be enabled for your organization by your Yard Spot account manager. Once enabled, an Admin can configure gates and capture forms straight away.

Key Concepts

Concept	Description
Gate	A named crossing point, optionally tied to a site and to a default yard location. A gate is inbound, outbound, or bidirectional.
Check-in / check-out	The two operator actions that record a crossing. Check-in opens a visit; check-out closes it.
Visit	One stay in the yard, from gate-in to gate-out. Carries dwell time and the billable line items for that stay. See Visits & Dwell.
Capture form	A configurable set of fields an operator fills in at the gate. Defined per direction, with optional per-gate overrides.
Carrier	A reusable profile for the trucking company or driver bringing the asset. A profile can also be a visitor.
Seal	The security seal number recorded on entry and re-verified on exit. A mismatch is flagged, not blocked.
Capacity	The number of assets a yard location can hold. A full location soft-blocks a check-in until the operator acknowledges it.
Exception	A recorded deviation — a capacity override, a seal discrepancy, a required-field override, or a gate-out with no matching gate-in.

Where to Find It

Day-to-day gate work happens on the Gate screen in the main navigation. Configuration lives in Admin Configuration.

Area	What it's for	Who sees it
Gate screen	Select a gate, then check assets in and out. Shows the live on-site list and the recent crossing feed.	Admin, Dispatch, Gate
Gates	Create and edit gates; activate or deactivate them.	Admin
Capture forms	Build the field sets operators fill in on entry and exit.	Admin
Carriers	Manage carrier and visitor profiles. Operators can also create one inline at the gate.	Admin to manage; Gate and Dispatch can create inline
Billing codes	The catalog and mapping rules that turn a visit into GL-ready lines.	Admin

If your facility has no gate configured, the Gate screen shows guidance rather than an empty selector — configure a gate first.

How a Crossing Flows

1. An operator selects the gate they are working.
2. Check-in — identify the asset, pick the carrier, complete the capture form, record the seal, and assign a destination (a specific location, or simply "in facility").
3. Yard Spot appends a gate_in event to the asset timeline and opens a visit.
4. The asset appears in the live on-site list and on the map.
5. Check-out — locate the asset, complete the exit capture form, and re-verify the seal.
6. Yard Spot appends a gate_out event, closes the visit, and works out its dwell and billable lines.

The closed visit is what Reporting & Billing reads.

Getting Started Checklist

1. Create your gates — at minimum one, with the right direction.
2. Set capacity on your locations if you want full-yard warnings at the gate.
3. Build your capture forms for entry and exit.
4. Add your carriers, or let operators create them inline as they go.
5. Define billing codes so visits resolve to GL codes rather than UNMAPPED.
6. Give your gatehouse staff the Gate role — see User Management.

Roles

Action	Roles
Check assets in and out, view the activity feed	Sysadmin, Admin, Dispatch, Gate
Create and edit gates, capture forms, billing codes	Sysadmin, Admin
Create a carrier inline at the gate	Sysadmin, Admin, Dispatch, Gate
Edit or delete carrier profiles	Sysadmin, Admin
View billing and visit reports	Sysadmin, Admin, Dispatch