Recording journeys
Add and review logbook entries on the web, write business purposes that hold up, and check odometer continuity.
A logbook entry is one journey. Each entry carries enough detail to support an ATO or IRD audit. Drivers usually record journeys in the mobile app (see The driver logbook in the mobile app); this page covers entries on the web.
Entry fields
| Field | Description | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Date | Date of the journey. | Yes |
| Vehicle | The vehicle used. | Yes |
| Driver | The person who drove. | Yes |
| Start and end time | When the journey started and ended. | Yes |
| Start and end odometer | Odometer readings in km. | Yes |
| Distance (km) | Calculated from the odometer readings. | Automatic |
| Journey type | Business, Private, Home to Work or Unclassified. | Yes |
| Business purpose | Why the journey was made. | For business journeys |
| Destination address | Where the journey went. | Optional |
| Source | How the entry was created. | Automatic |
| GPS coordinates | Start and end positions and the route. | Automatic (mobile app and telematics) |
Journey types
| Type | Colour | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Business | Green | A journey for work, with a specific business purpose. |
| Private | Red | A personal journey. |
| Home to Work | Amber | Travel between home and a regular place of work. Generally treated as private for FBT. |
| Unclassified | Grey | Waiting for the driver to classify it. |
Entry sources
| Source | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Manual | Entered by a person on the web or in the mobile app. |
| Booking | Created from a booking. |
| Telematics | Created from a trip recorded by a telematics device. |
| Geofence | Classified automatically from geofence zones. |
Add an entry
Open Logbook Entries
Go to Logbooks → Logbook Entries and select New Entry.
Fill in the journey
Choose the vehicle and driver, enter the date and start and end times, and enter the start and end odometer readings. The distance is calculated for you.
Classify it
Choose the journey type. For a business journey, enter a specific business purpose. Add the destination address if you have it.
Create the entry
Select Create Entry.
Writing a business purpose
The ATO requires specific business purpose descriptions. Vectis checks each purpose and shows a quality indicator:
| Indicator | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Green tick | Detailed and specific. |
| Yellow warning | Generic words found, such as "business", "work" or "meeting". It may not pass an audit. |
| Red cross | Missing, or shorter than 10 characters. |
Good examples: "Client meeting at ABC Corp re: Q3 contract renewal", "Site inspection at 42 Smith St warehouse", "Delivered parts to Northern Service Centre".
Weak examples: "business", "work trip", "meeting", "driving".
Trip plans as pre-journey evidence
A business purpose written after a journey is the weakest thing a logbook carries. The purpose check can reject a purpose that says nothing, but it can't tell a remembered reason from an invented one.
A trip plan can. It records a destination and purpose against a booking before the journey, with a server timestamp. Where one exists, the logbook entry cites it.
What a plan shows
- That a purpose and destination were stated before the vehicle moved, and when.
- Whether the purpose the driver recorded afterwards matches the plan. The audit document shows "Same as planned" or "Differs from the plan — see journey record".
What a plan does not do
- It measures nothing. A plan's estimated distance never reaches a logbook entry, even when no odometer reading was taken.
- It creates nothing. A planned journey that was never driven produces no logbook entry. Entries come from completed telematics trips or from a person.
- It classifies nothing. The planned purpose is offered to the driver to confirm or edit. If nobody accepts it, the journey stays unclassified and still blocks period validation.
- It doesn't replace the driver's own record. Both tax authorities require an account of the journey undertaken. The plan corroborates that account.
How the citation behaves
- The citation is copied when the entry is created. Editing, unlinking or cancelling the plan afterwards never changes what an existing entry cites.
- Only a plan recorded before the journey began is cited. A plan written afterwards is a reconstruction, not evidence of intent.
- No citation is added inside a validated, locked period. The journey is still recorded in full, but the filed percentage was not calculated from evidence added later. Reopen the period to correct it.
Where you see it
| Place | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Mobile classification queue | The planned purpose prefilled in the purpose field, labelled with the date it was planned. The driver can edit it. |
| Mobile entry detail | A "Planned" row, separate from "Purpose". |
| Web entry detail | A "Planned before the journey" panel above the recorded purpose. It is read-only: accepting the plan is the driver's act, not a manager's. |
| Logbook Detail report | A "Pre-Journey Evidence" section, separate from the journey table and with no distance column. |
Odometer continuity
Vectis checks odometer readings for continuity:
- the end reading must be at least the start reading;
- each entry's start reading should be at least the previous entry's end reading;
- gaps between entries are flagged with a banner such as "X gaps detected in odometer sequence".
Find and update entries
On Logbook Entries you can filter by vehicle, driver, date range, journey type and source.
To classify several entries at once, select them and use Mark as Business or Mark as Private in the bulk action bar. The business use percentage of any linked logbook period is recalculated.
Entries with GPS coordinates show a map with a green start marker, a red end marker and the route, where one was recorded.