How a Texas Delivery Company Runs Dispatch, Payments and Invoicing from One Google Sheet
Ambit Express was running its operations across Google Sheets, QuickBooks, Shipday, PayPal, and more. We linked them all, so the team now runs the whole delivery workflow from one spreadsheet.
Ambit Express, a delivery company in Texas, was running its operations across Google Sheets, QuickBooks, Shipday, PayPal, Google Contacts, Twilio, Workstream and its website forms. None of them were connected. Sutra Analytics linked them all, so the team now runs the whole delivery workflow from one spreadsheet with a few button clicks.
The Client
Ambit Express provides custom delivery services for businesses. Customers book deliveries, and a network of freelance delivery partners carries them out. Brady Reaves, CEO, leads the company.
How the business works:
Partners submit their availability a week ahead. Every delivery's details, such as pickup, drop-off and timing, are stored in a Google Sheet. For each order the team calls or texts partners to ask if they can take it. Once one confirms, the delivery is assigned, the partner completes it and updates the status, and payment follows a few days later. Each step used a different tool, and most of the work was manual.
What was slowing them down
Information lived in separate tools that were not connected.Partner applications were processed manually. Availability had to be checked by hand for every order. Each order meant calling or messaging partners one by one until someone agreed. Delivery data, driver pay and customer invoices were managed in different places.
What we built:
1. Partner onboarding
- Freelance partners apply with their details, license, vehicle type and PayPal information.
- Applications now flow continuously into a Google Sheet, where the team can compare candidates side by side.
- Accepted partners are updated in Workstream as employees and moved automatically to a dedicated availability sheet.
Applications used to be processed by hand. Now they import continuously, so the team never copies anything in. They compare partners in one simplified view and decide based on: the area and region the partner applied for, vehicle type, Ambit Express's current requirements, and other details from the application.
2. Weekly availability
- A form on the client's website is texted automatically to all active partners every Saturday and Sunday.
- Partners enter their availability for the coming week, and the responses are stored in a separate sheet.
- Only partners who submitted availability appear in the delivery sheet's driver dropdown.
3. A delivery sheet that works like an app
- In one click, the team can create a full month of rows for a single client.
- Each row holds the full delivery record, including delivery date, date received, time, pickup and drop-off, region, rate structure code, week, driver, driver pay, driver notes, status, wait time, dispatch time, and a driver-confirmed checkbox.
- When a new order arrives, the team fills in the details and opens the driver dropdown. It lists only the partners who said they were available at that date and time.
- The team contacts a partner, ticks the confirmed checkbox when they agree, and moves to the next partner if they decline.
4. One-click Shipday dispatch
- Two menu buttons, Create Order and Assign Order, read the details already entered in the row, create the order in Shipday and assign it to the confirmed driver.
- The driver then handles the delivery and updates its status as it progresses. No re-typing.
5. Driver payments through PayPal
- Driver pay is assigned automatically by each partner's rate structure and delivery count.
- The sheet totals each partner's pay from their per-delivery rate and number of deliveries, and one click sends the payments through PayPal.
6. QuickBooks invoicing
- Menu buttons handle Create Customer, Refresh Customers List, Create Invoice and Send Invoice to Customer.
- The team enters the details once and clicks.
7. A growth path for drivers
- Partners are promoted and paid more after completing a set number of deliveries.
- Twilio sends encouraging SMS messages when they are close to the next level and when they reach it.
- The availability form also shows each partner's status and level on a roadmap-style view, which keeps them engaged.
8. Year-end reconciliation
- At year end, the system builds a reconciliation of every partner's payments.
- It ranks partners from highest to lowest paid with their delivery counts, shows total payouts and total deliveries, and flags payment errors or losses.
💡 Details that make daily work easier: Old records lock automatically after a set time preventing accidental edits | Rate tables are managed automatically and assigned by driver grade | Time fields are formatted automatically | Color coding separates upcoming, near-term and completed deliveries | Separate logs are kept for every action.
The outcome:
Platforms that once sat apart now work together, and the Ambit Express team handles onboarding, availability, dispatch, driver pay and customer invoicing from one familiar spreadsheet. The team keeps working in Google Sheets, and the tools behind it do the rest.
Benefits for Ambit Express
Time saved: no manual availability checks, no re-typing orders into Shipday or QuickBooks, and no hand-calculated driver pay | Faster dispatch: the driver dropdown shows only available partners | Fewer errors: details are entered once and reused across platforms | Smoother payments: driver pay and invoices follow the same data | Better driver retention: levels, higher pay and Twilio messages keep partners motivated | Clear visibility: year-end reconciliation, color-coded delivery statuses and detailed logs | Safer data: old records lock automatically, and every action is logged.
Key takeaways
- A spreadsheet your team already knows can be a powerful control center when it is connected to the right tools.
- Buttons that trigger multi-platform actions remove repeated data entry.
- Automated driver recognition and clear logs support both retention and accountability.
Is your business running on disconnected tools?
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