Custom app development for paper documents in customs shipments
The paperwork for a customs shipment starts on the quay: a bill of lading, a certificate the driver brings along, a seal that is either intact or not. Right now that gets captured as a photo in a group chat or a pile on a counter, and it reaches the declaration hours later. Since May 2026, those documents have to be submitted via DMS, and a group chat is no longer a route.
Why the quay is the starting point
A customs declaration needs supporting evidence: invoices, origin declarations, licences and transport documents. Since mid-May 2026, declarants must submit those documents directly via DMS rather than by email. That changes where the document needs to end up and who is responsible for getting it there.
Some of that paperwork never originates in the office. A driver brings in a document, a seal turns out to be broken on arrival, a pallet doesn't match the packing list. Those moments happen at the dock and are currently recorded with a phone photo forwarded by message.
That worked as long as there was one mailbox where everything came together. Now that the document has to be linked to a declaration with the correct type and number, a loose photo is only half a step: someone in the office still has to work out which consignment it belongs to and what type it is.
If you operate under a simplified procedure, registering a shipment is itself the declaration. That is a different action at a different moment; see the app for registration on receipt.
How we build this
Here the shipment is the unit. If a document is recorded against the shipment at the moment it is in hand, submission becomes a technical step.
We look at what paperwork comes in, who accepts it and what happens to it next. At most companies that is three separate routes and nobody with an overview.
Scan the consignment or the number plate, photograph the document, choose the type. Three steps, and the link is made straight away.
A broken seal or a mismatched count isn't a document but an observation with consequences for the declaration. We deliberately keep these separate.
What has been recorded reaches the declaration where it belongs, ready to submit via DMS.
What the app does in practice
The app does little, and that little has to work at a dock. Which components you need depends on how much paperwork physically arrives.
Identifying the shipment without searching
Scan the consignment note, the container number or the number plate and the app knows which consignment it concerns. Choosing from a list at volume leads to the wrong link.
Recording a document with type and number
A photo of the document, the type alongside it and the number where possible. That last part is exactly what DMS requires and what a loose photo lacks.
Seal and count as a finding
A broken seal, a mismatched number of packages, damage to the cargo. That isn't a document but an observation with consequences, and it gets its own route with an owner.
Fully offline operation
At a dock, in a warehouse or at a terminal, the network drops out. Capture carries on with the actual time and synchronises afterwards.
See what documents are still missing
For each consignment, which documents are present and which are expected. That is the question that otherwise only gets asked back at the office, once the driver has already left.
Passing it on to the declaration
What has been recorded reaches the declaration via integrations. That side is covered on DMS software.
Who we build for
How much paperwork arrives physically determines the gain. Four situations.
Warehouses and cross-docking
High volumes of shipments per day and many drivers bringing paperwork along. Scanning the shipment is what separates a document linked to the file from a photo sitting in a group chat.
Freight forwarders with their own warehouse
You handle both the declaration and the physical processing. The gain is then twofold: less chasing and fewer declarations waiting on a document.
Manufacturers with their own imports
Few consignments, but special arrangements and certificates. Here it is less about volume and more about making sure the right paperwork goes with the right consignment.
E-commerce with return flows
Returns from third countries come with their own documentation. This is the flow where administration is usually set up worst; see also international e-commerce software.
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The app is an input channel for your declaration process, not a declaration system. What it records feeds into the administration from which the declaration and submission follow.
Why Appfront
A loose photo is only half an action
Since documents must go through DMS, the type and number count. We have users select these at the point of capture, because sorting it out afterwards costs more.
Link by scanning, not by selecting
At volume, picking from a list leads to the wrong consignment. We build recognition on what is printed on the paper or the container.
There is no signal at a dock
Offline is the starting point. An app that stops working there gets replaced by the phone in the trouser pocket, and then nothing is linked at all.
You would rather see missing paperwork now
For each consignment we show what is still expected, while the driver is still there. At the office, that means a phone call to someone who has already left.
Security and privacy
A device at a dock holds data on shipments, clients and values. If you work for several clients, they must not see each other's shipments, not even by accident in an overview. We therefore set permissions per client and per location, limit offline storage to the shipments of that service, and make sure a lost device can be disconnected remotely.
On the evidence side, the photo is the document. In a later audit, the question is which document belonged to the declaration at the time, and an image that could since have been replaced does not answer that question. We therefore record image, time and employee in a tamper-proof way, and make any replacement a visible replacement alongside the original. The same applies to a finding about a seal: that is an observation with possible consequences for the declaration, and it must not be able to disappear quietly. How we handle security ourselves is set out in our information security policy; reports from outside come through our CVD policy.
Frequently asked questions about the customs app
No, and that is deliberate. The app records and links to the shipment; submission takes place from your customs declaration system or by your freight forwarder. This keeps responsibility for the declaration where it belongs, and the person at the dock does not need to know anything about DMS.
Because since mid-May 2026, documents for a customs declaration must be submitted directly via DMS rather than by email. A photo in a group chat or an email to a shared mailbox is no longer an acceptable route; the document must be attached to the correct declaration with the correct document type.
Yes, that is the starting point. Photo, integration and finding are stored locally with the actual timestamp and synchronised as soon as there is a connection. In warehouses and at terminals, having no signal is the normal situation.
That is a finding rather than a document, with possible consequences for the declaration and sometimes a reporting obligation to Customs. We therefore give it its own route, with an owner and a deadline, rather than letting it end up as a photo among the other documents.
They can, but it is rarely advisable. A driver works for another party, and you do not want shipment details on his device. What does work is for your own staff member to take in and record the document while the driver is still present.
No. Your freight or declaration system remains; we build the input channel for it. Two administrations covering the same shipment are guaranteed to drift apart, and with Customs that discrepancy is difficult to explain later.
This app is the physical side: paperwork and findings at the cargo. The DMS software concerns the declaration data set, the permits and the statuses after submission. The two share a single shipment administration.
That depends on the number of locations, which scanning format suits your shipments and which system it needs to connect to. Recording via scan and document type is usually quick to put into use; the overview of missing documents takes more effort. We give a reasoned estimate after the discovery phase.
Linking paperwork where it arrives?
Count how many customs documents last week arrived as photos in a chat or mailbox. That number now needs to be attached to a declaration via DMS. We build this as a standalone app and as part of a broader custom app development or custom software development project.