Most construction docket software records what happened on site. Docketbook prices the work, has both companies accept it, and ties it to the order it was performed against, on the day it happens.
That difference decides whether you end up with a record or a log. A log is one company's version of events. A record is one both companies agreed to at the time, and it is the only version that survives a dispute six weeks later.
These seven checks tell you which one you are buying.
Docketbook locks them at the order. Line items, quantities, rates and reference numbers are loaded and accepted by both companies before any docket can be created against them, so nothing on the job gets priced after the work is done.
Most systems run the other way around: capture the docket, apply a rate later, argue about the rate at invoice time. Docketbook also lets an order sit waiting before the supplier has even joined, so a new subcontractor's first day on site is not their first day of rate negotiation.
This is what makes the productivity reporting usable. Numbers built on rates locked before capture can be forecast against. Numbers built on rates applied afterwards can only be explained.
“The order sets the commercial foundation of the contract for all parties. Creating dockets aligned to the order, and invoices that three-way match, is the key to eliminating disputes and payment delays.”
— Mark Shepherd-Smith, CEO, Docketbook
Every Docketbook line carries a timestamp, a GPS location, the signature of whoever accepted it, and an audit log of what changed and when.
That matters most on variations and unapproved work, where the argument is rarely about the rate and almost always about whether the work happened at all. Evidence captured at the time closes it. A spreadsheet rebuilt at month-end reopens it, and the same evidence is what makes progress claims move faster, because there is less left for the contract administrator to query.
This is the check most platforms fail, and it is the one that decides everything downstream. A docket approved inside your own system, by your own people, is an internal audit log.
Docketbook is bilateral. The receiving company sees each docket and accepts or rejects it across the company boundary, while the crew who did the work are still on site. Rejection is where the difference shows: a supplier who learns on the 30th that a docket from the 3rd was rejected has lost every option except an argument. On Docketbook, they hear the same day, while someone still remembers.
Docketbook builds it from accepted dockets. The order, the docket and the invoice have to agree on quantities, rates and reference numbers before anything is sent, and every invoice line drills back to the dockets behind it.
So the invoice stops being a negotiation. It is the sum of what two companies already agreed to, thirty times over. Matching orders, dockets and invoices is not a faster way to have the argument. It removes the reason the argument happens.
Docketbook posts approved dockets and invoices into Xero and MYOB for subcontractors and plant hire operators, and connects by API to enterprise ERPs including JobPac, COINS and Viewpoint. Cost codes, PO numbers and line items stay intact, so the ERP holds committed cost rather than a lagging version of it.
Materials are where Docketbook goes further than most. Concrete and quarry dockets arrive by direct integration from Holcim, Boral, Heidelberg, Barro, Adbri, Hytec and others, which means the highest-volume dockets on a civil job land without anyone keying them.
Recording start and finish times is the easy part. Construction rates are not flat: shift loadings, allowances, wet weather, break interpretation, first aid. Software that leaves that interpretation to an administrator has moved the admin, not removed it.
Smart Dockets apply rule sets the supplier defines and attaches to the order. A crew leader enters start, finish and break, and Docketbook produces the line items the contract actually calls for. Smart Crew Dockets do the same across an entire crew from one leader's entry.
Docketbook is a network, not a licence. A supplier signs up once and carries that account across every head contractor they work with, instead of maintaining a separate system per client.
That is why adoption holds where single-company rollouts stall. Docketbook Connect brings your suppliers onto the same record, and Docketbook's own team runs the onboarding rather than leaving it to your contracts administrator. The supplier gets a return of their own, which is the only reason anyone keeps using something a client asked them to install.
"Docketbook is used across hundreds of projects by thousands of suppliers, all connected and working together. Docketbook streamlines processes, eliminates waste and creates stickiness. All of which help in a hyper-competitive industry like construction" — Mark Shepherd-Smith, CEO, Docketbook
Docketbook is built for Australian civil and infrastructure work where a head contractor runs multiple suppliers against purchase orders and subcontractors: plant hire, labour hire, bulk materials, survey, haulage. The common factor is a commercial relationship that crosses company boundaries, which is exactly where paper and internal-only systems break down.
Start your evaluation with your own last twelve months. Where did the disputes come from? Rates applied after the fact, quantities nobody accepted at the time, or dockets lost between the site and the office. Docketbook is built to remove the first two at the point they happen.
Book a demo to see the order, the proof and the invoice sitting on one record; both companies agreed to.
Construction docket software records proof of work, deliveries and time on site, then links those records to the order they were performed against and the invoice they are claimed on. Most platforms pair a mobile app for site crews with a web dashboard for the office.
The useful distinction is whether the record is shared with the other company or held inside your own.
Docketbook locks rates at the order before any docket can be created and requires both companies to accept each docket on the day it happens. Most docket systems capture the record inside one company and price it afterwards.
The practical difference is what you are left holding. Docketbook produces a bilateral, contemporaneous, costed record. An internal system produces a log, which is one party's account of what happened.
Three things: it was created at the time the work happened, it carries verifiable detail such as a timestamp, location and signature, and the other party accepted it. A docket missing any of those is one company's version of events.
Every docket carries all three by default, and the audit log shows what changed and when.
Yes. Docketbook posts approved dockets and invoices directly into both, which suits subcontractors, plant hire operators and other supply chain businesses running their accounts in one of them.
Larger head contractors generally connect an enterprise ERP instead, including SAP, JobPac, Pronto and Coins. Read more about Docketbook's accounting integration.
Smart Dockets are rule sets attached to an order that interpret raw docket times against the contract. They apply shift loadings, allowances, wet weather conditions and break rules automatically, so field entry stays simple while the commercial output stays correct.
Smart Crew Dockets extend the same interpretation across a whole crew from a single entry by the crew leader.
Yes. Site crews use the Docketbook mobile app to create dockets and capture signatures, and office staff work in the web dashboard to review, code and approve them.
Both sides see the same record rather than two systems kept loosely in step.
Digital dockets accelerate the invoice approval process by eliminating missing paperwork and reducing disputes. Verified, three-way matched invoices are processed faster because all supporting documentation is already linked.
Docketbook users report reducing invoicing time from three hours to under 30 minutes, which means suppliers and contractors get paid sooner.