Managing jobs

Consigns puts your hazardous waste jobs on a clear jobs board, so you can see where each job is up to. This guide covers the flow from creating a job through to completion and archive.

The jobs board

Your jobs board is laid out in columns, one per stage. Each column tells you what needs to happen next, and a job moves along as your team works:

• Drafts - new requests land here. Check the details, then move them on when they are ready.
• Confirmed - details checked. Assign a driver and vehicle to move it forward.
• Driver assigned - a driver and vehicle are attached and the job is ready for collection.
• Collected - collection is done and the waste is on its way to the receiving site.
• At receiving site - waiting for the receiving site to confirm receipt and complete their part of the note.
• Completed - fully signed off. These jobs appear in your reports and can be exported any time.

There is also a Receiving site rejected column for the rare case where the site could not accept the waste, so you can see the reason and decide what to do next. You move a job between columns by dragging it or using the job card.

Creating new jobs

Click Waste In in the menu (or New job on the jobs board) to open the guided form. If the waste is leaving your own site instead, use Waste Out: the same form, but it starts from your site and takes the amount off your permit balance when the job completes. It asks one question at a time and covers the collection address, the receiving site, the customer, the collection date, the waste and its EWC code, whether it is hazardous, and how much there is. A simple job only takes a minute, and the bar at the side shows how far through you are. The full step-by-step is in the Getting started guide.

If you have saved the customer or their site before, you can reuse those details instead of typing them again. See the Customers and sites guide.

Editing job details

While a job is a draft, you can click the job card and edit any detail. Once the job leaves draft, some details are locked to protect the record, including the consignment code (more on that below).

If you need to change something on a job that has moved on, open it from the board and use the edit options that are still available, such as reassigning the driver.

Assigning drivers

To assign a driver, open a confirmed job and choose a driver. The driver must already be in your team with the driver role. Once assigned, the job appears in their driver view and moves to the Driver assigned column.

You can assign the job to a different driver any time before it is completed.

Why does my consignment code look like that?

Consigns gives each hazardous waste job a consignment code in the format the Environment Agency requires, for example ABOILS/00001. It is made of two parts:

• Six characters from the producer's company name. Consigns takes the first six letters or numbers of the producer name, makes them capitals, and removes spaces and symbols. So "AB Oils" becomes ABOILS. If the name is shorter than six characters, the gap is filled with the letter Q (for example "AB" becomes ABQQQQ).
• A five-digit running number that goes up by one for each job, so no two jobs share a code.

Some jobs also have one extra letter on the end (V, F, D or P) for a special kind of collection, such as waste off a ship or fly-tipped waste. That letter comes from the "special kind of collection" answer in the new-job form.

The code is built from the producer on the job, not your own company name, so the same code prints on the paperwork. You can change the code by hand while the job is still a draft. Once the job leaves draft the code is locked, because it is a legal reference that must not change.

That is how codes work in England. The other UK nations do it differently, and the new-job form asks which country the collection is in so the right rule applies. In Wales the first part of the code is your premises code from Natural Resources Wales, not the producer name. In Scotland special waste travels on a SEPA consignment note with its own code, like SB1234567, which you type in from the note. In Northern Ireland the code comes from the NIEA note.

Repeat jobs, Waste Out and return movements

Open a job and you can Duplicate it: a fresh draft of the same job, copying the customer, waste and receiving site. Use this for a standing arrangement where you collect the same thing again.

When waste moves on from your own site to somewhere else, book a Waste Out job from the menu instead. It starts from your site, you pick where it is going, and when the job completes your permit balance goes down by the amount that left.

If a receiving site rejects a load, open the rejected job and use Create return movement. The site that rejected it becomes the new collection point and the waste travels back.

For collections that repeat on a fixed pattern, set up a repeat job instead, so the next draft is ready without copying by hand. See the Scheduling guide.

Searching and filtering

Search and filters help you find jobs quickly. You can search by:

• Customer name or address
• Consignment note number
• EWC code or waste description
• Driver name
• Date range

Use filters to show jobs in one status or date range. This helps when preparing for Environment Agency inspections or answering customer questions.

Completed jobs and records

Recent completed jobs stay on the board so you can see what finished, then move down the board out of your way. Every completed job stays searchable and keeps its consignment note, so you can find it later for a customer query or an inspection.

The Hazardous Waste Regulations ask you to keep your records for at least three years. Consigns keeps your job records and consignment notes for you, so you are not storing paper.

The collection request form

Consigns gives you a collection request form that customers can fill in to ask for a collection. When they do, a new draft job appears on your jobs board with their details already filled in.

You can give it your own logo and colours, and add it straight to your website. See the Branding and request form guide.