Delivery note processing

A delivery note is a document that shows which goods belong to a package. It often contains information such as sender, recipient, contact details, order number, lines, quantities, description, delivery date and sometimes a shipping date.

The delivery note is usually sent with the package or shared separately by email. The receiving party uses it to see what has been delivered at that moment. A good delivery note helps prevent misunderstandings about delivered goods.

A delivery note is different from an invoice. An invoice is an official document with price information, VAT, payment details and payment terms. A delivery note usually contains no payment details.

What should be on a delivery note?

A delivery note usually contains the following information: the seller’s company details, the recipient’s details, contact details, order number, delivery note number, goods, quantities, product codes, description and possibly a shipping date.

Additional information can also be included. Think of comments, weights, barcodes, QR codes, serial numbers, product numbers or a space for a signature.

The content differs per organisation, type of product and process. There are no fixed legal requirements for the content of a delivery note. For automatic processing, what matters most is that the quantity, a clear description and the order details can be recognised.

In many situations, a delivery note is not mandatory in the way an invoice can be. Even so, it is often advisable to include one, especially for physical goods, business orders, returns or multiple packages.

A delivery note makes it clear what was delivered and when. That helps the customer, the receiving location, finance and later also invoice checking.

Rules can differ by industry, country, type of product or transport situation. For services, a delivery note is usually less relevant than for physical goods. Questions such as “can I be fined?” or “which legal requirements apply here?” are best assessed by your financial or legal adviser.

You usually include a delivery note when goods are physically shipped or delivered. The delivery note is then inside the package, on the box or sent separately by email.

Including a delivery note is especially useful when the contents need to be checked. Think of multiple items, partial shipments, returns, dropshipments or deliveries where it is not immediately clear which order they belong to.

When you include a delivery note, you make it easier for the receiving party to see straight away what has been delivered. If a supplier does not include one, receiving, inventory or invoice checking quickly leads to extra investigation.

Even when it is not mandatory, including a delivery note can prevent a lot of investigation work. The receiving party knows sooner what has been delivered, and the receipt can later be linked more easily to the order or invoice.

You can create a delivery note in Excel, in accounting software, in an ERP system or with specialised software. For simple orders, creating a delivery note in Excel yourself can be enough, but with larger volumes this quickly becomes manual and error-prone.

How do you create a basic delivery note? You state who is sending the goods, who they are for, which order number they belong to and which goods are included. When creating many delivery documents, automation is often more reliable than making a file manually each time.

A good delivery note contains clear information about the seller, customer, order, goods, quantities and description. You can add details such as contact details, a shipping label, the date or space for a signature.

ImageCapture is not intended for creating or designing a delivery note. The software helps after it comes in, so that data is recognised, linked and recorded digitally.

A simple delivery note example contains the seller’s company details, the customer’s details, an order number, a delivery date, lines, quantities and a clear description of the goods.

For example: order 4500123 is delivered with 10 units of item A, 5 units of item B and 2 boxes of item C. If one item is missing, that is visible immediately.

In practice, every delivery note looks different. Some are short, others contain barcodes, QR codes, product numbers, comments, weights or shipping information. That is why recognition at header and line level matters.

A good delivery note states at least what is being delivered, who the goods are for and which order they belong to. That makes it clear more quickly what is in the package.

Optional details on a delivery note are product numbers, barcodes, QR codes, weights, comments and sometimes prices. Product numbers can make it easier to link the delivery to the item.

Product numbers and payment details do not serve the same purpose. Product numbers help recognise goods. Payment details normally belong on the invoice.

A delivery note can also include a space for a signature. That can be useful when an organisation wants to record proof that goods have been received.

In practice, the terms delivery note, packing slip and proof of delivery are often used interchangeably. They usually refer to information that belongs to a receipt and shows which goods or products were included.

A proof of delivery is more often used as evidence that something has been delivered. The term packing slip is also common, depending on the industry or software.

For ImageCapture, what matters most is the data on the document. Think of lines, quantities, product codes, order number and delivery information.

A delivery note shows what is in a package or delivery. An invoice is an official document with price information, VAT, payment details and payment terms.

A consignment note relates more to transport and the agreements between sender, carrier and recipient. A consignment note can be mandatory in some transport situations, but that does not automatically apply to every delivery.

A shipping label is used to send a package. It contains the data the carrier needs, such as the address, barcode and sender. A pick list is usually used internally to collect or prepare products, whereas the receipt information often travels with the goods to the receiving party.

When shipping goods, each of these documents has a different role. The order confirmation comes earlier in the process, the pick list helps internally, the shipping label helps the carrier and the delivery note helps at receipt.

To check a delivery note, you compare the delivered goods with the order information or receipt registration. Pay particular attention to product codes, quantities, order number and any discrepancies.

Checking manually works at low volumes, but becomes error-prone with many orders, multiple packages or changing layouts. Someone then has to read, compare and record data again and again.

ImageCapture automates this check as far as possible. The software scans or imports the information, recognises the data, links it to the right order information and makes discrepancies visible for further review.