---
title: "Guide: Setting Up Your Shipment Statuses"
description: "Shipment Statuses are the stages a shipment goes through from creation to"
url: https://sistrack.com/en/docs/organization/guia-estados-de-envio/
category: organization
section: docs
updated: 2026-07-15
---


*Markdown version for agents. This page on the web: https://sistrack.com/en/docs/organization/guia-estados-de-envio/*


# Guide: Setting Up Your Shipment Statuses


## What are Shipment Statuses?

**Shipment Statuses** are the stages a shipment goes through from creation to
delivery (or cancellation/return): "Order received," "Picked up," "Out for
delivery," "Delivered," etc. Every order is always in exactly one status,
and that status is what your customers see when they track their order and
what tells the courier what action comes next in the app.

This guide covers how to create, edit, reorder, and keep your status flow
healthy. If you're looking for something more specific:

- Want to start from a flow already built for your industry? See
  [Shipment step templates by industry](/en/docs/organization/plantillas-pasos-de-envio/).
- Already have your statuses and just want to change which stage an order
  moves to when the courier confirms the action? See
  [Customizing the status flow](/en/docs/orders/personalizar-flujo-estados/).

---

## Getting to the section

From the side menu, go to **System → Shipment Statuses**. There you'll see
the full list of your statuses, in the order they appear in the flow.

**Permissions**: by default, only **Admin** and **Super-admin** profiles
can create, edit, reorder, or delete statuses; **Manager** can view them
without modifying them. If your organization has customized a profile's
permissions, this may vary — what governs it is the assigned permission,
not the profile's name.

---

## Your default flow

When you create your account, Sistrack already comes with 7 statuses
configured (received, pickup, out for delivery, delivered, retry, return,
and cancellation) — you don't need to create anything to start operating.
See the full detail in
[Shipment step templates by industry](/en/docs/organization/plantillas-pasos-de-envio/#plantilla-estándar-mensajería-local).

---

## Create a new status

1. From **Shipment Statuses**, click **New Status**.
2. Fill in the basic data:
   - **Name** (e.g., "Quality check") — what your users see.
   - **Subtitle** (optional) — a short description.
3. Scroll down to the **Special Configuration** section. In there you'll
   find, in this order:
   - **Canonical type** — chosen using the guided wizard (see below).
   - **Default next stage** — which status the order moves to; see
     [Customizing the status flow](/en/docs/orders/personalizar-flujo-estados/)
     for the full detail on this field.
4. Turn on the **notifications** you want to send by email when an order
   reaches this status (to sender, recipient, or both).
5. Save. A preview on the right shows you how the status will look as you
   fill in the form.

### The Canonical Type wizard

The **Canonical type** is what tells the system what your status means in
Sistrack's universal language — it's used for automatic notifications,
reports, and compatibility between different parts of the system. Instead
of choosing directly from a long list with technical terms, the system
guides you with two simple questions:

1. **"What happens to the shipment at this status?"** — choose between
   *Still in progress*, *Delivered*, or *Closed without delivery*.
2. **"At what point of the journey does this happen?"** — this second
   question only appears if you answered *Still in progress*, and lets you
   choose between *Pre-shipment*, *First mile*, *Trunk transit*, and *Last
   mile*.

With those answers, the system shows you a handful of options with simple
descriptions (for example: *"The courier already has the package in
hand"*). If you need the technical detail for integrations, each option has
a collapsible text with the industry-standard equivalent — but you don't
need to read it to configure your flow.

> ⚠️ **Use only one status per canonical type.** The system lets you create
> two with the same type, but it's not a good idea: it wouldn't be able to
> tell which one to move the order to. It's even worse with "Delivered" and
> "Picked up" — as soon as you assign that type to a second status, the
> first one **stops working** as your delivery or pickup status, without
> warning you. Recurring moments (for example, passing through several
> distribution centers) are logged as events in the history, not as
> separate statuses.

---

## Edit an existing status

Click **Edit** on any status in the list. You'll be able to change its
name, canonical type, next stage, and notifications.

> ⚠️ **Changing your delivery status's canonical type asks for extra
> confirmation.** If the status you're editing is the one you use as
> "Delivered," changing its canonical type would prevent couriers from
> completing deliveries until another status has that type. The system
> explicitly warns you before letting you save that change.

---

## View a status's detail (read-only)

If your role has view-only access, or you simply want to review a status
without editing it, click **View Details**. You'll see the same
information as in Edit (canonical type, where it moves to next, configured
notification channels) but without being able to modify it.

---

## Reorder your statuses (drag and drop)

From the list, drag any status to its new position using the drag handle.
The new order saves automatically.

> 💡 **Made a mistake?** After reordering, a temporary notice appears with a
> button to undo the change — you don't need to manually redo the drag if
> you change your mind.

The order in the list is purely visual (it defines, for example, "step 3 of
7"). Don't confuse this with "which status the order moves to," which is
configured separately — see
[Customizing the status flow](/en/docs/orders/personalizar-flujo-estados/).

---

## Delete a status

Click the row's actions menu → **Delete**. The system asks for confirmation.

Two cases where it **won't let you delete** a status:

- **It's your last active status** (all others are final ones like
  "Delivered," "Canceled," etc.). Without at least one active status, new
  orders would be born already closed — create another active status
  first.
- (If the status you're trying to delete is your "Delivered" status, the
  system **will** let you delete it, but it clearly warns you that
  deliveries will be frozen until you define another status with that
  type.)

---

## The health indicator for your flow

Above the status list you'll see a panel telling you whether your flow is
complete or needs attention. If everything's in order, you'll see
**"Your flow is complete and functional."** If something's missing, you'll
see **"Your flow needs attention"** with detail on each pending point:

| Notice | Severity | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| **Missing a "Delivered"-type status** | Critical | Couriers won't be able to complete deliveries and orders will be frozen. | Create a status with the "Delivered" canonical type (the notice's own button takes you straight there with that option preselected). |
| **Only final statuses** | Critical | New orders would be born already closed and couldn't move forward. | Create at least one active status (for example "Order received"). |
| **Missing a "Failed delivery"-type status** | Recommended | Delivery attempts that don't complete won't move the order anywhere. | Create a status with that type. |
| **Statuses with no exit for the app** | Recommended | One or more active statuses don't have a next action defined for the courier — when reaching it, the app shows them no action button and only you can move the order from the panel. | Configure its "Default next stage" (see [customization guide](/en/docs/orders/personalizar-flujo-estados/)), mark the status as final if it actually closes the cycle, or leave it as-is on purpose if that stage requires a manual decision from you. |
| **Recommended: a "Created"-type status** | Recommended | The system can infer where your orders are born, but it's clearer if you define it explicitly. | Optional. |
| **Recommended: a "Picked up"-type status** | Recommended | Without it, pickups can't move the order automatically. | Optional. |

Each notice has a direct action button when applicable, so you don't have
to manually search for what's missing.

> 💡 **The panel warns, it doesn't block.** Not even critical notices stop
> you from saving changes or operating — they're a diagnostic so you know
> what your flow is missing. You'll see the consequence of ignoring a
> critical one in your operation (deliveries that can't be completed), not
> in an error message while configuring.

---

## Confirm the canonical type

If at some point the system assigned a canonical type automatically (for
example, when migrating historical data), you'll see a **"Needs review"**
mark on that status. Two ways to resolve it:

- **One by one**: from the row's menu, **Confirm type** — if the assigned
  type is correct, one click is enough.
- **All at once**: the **Confirm all** button confirms all statuses that
  already have a type assigned, in one go. Ones that don't have any yet
  remain pending — you do need to review those individually from Edit.

---

## The interactive flow diagram

The **View flow** button opens a visual diagram of all your statuses and
where each one moves to. It's useful for reviewing your entire flow at a
glance, especially if you have retries or jumps between non-consecutive
stages.

- **Lines** between statuses show the configured transitions — if a status
  has no line coming out of it (and it's not a final status), you'll see a
  notice right there indicating it's missing a transition.
- Lines that **go backward** (for example, from "Not delivered" to "Out for
  delivery") represent a retry.
- Click any status in the diagram to see its detail and, if you have edit
  permission, directly change which status it moves to — without leaving
  the diagram.

---

## Frequently Asked Questions

### Can I have two statuses with the same canonical type?

The system doesn't stop you, but it's not recommended: it wouldn't be able
to tell which one to move the order to when an event of that type occurs.
With "Delivered" and "Picked up" the consequence is concrete and silent —
the last status you assign the type to becomes the one the system uses, and
the previous one stops serving that function. Recurring moments (several
distribution centers, several customs checkpoints) are logged as events in
the history rather than separate statuses.

### What happens if I leave a status without a canonical type?

The status will keep working for your users, but it won't appear in grouped
reports or trigger automatic notifications that depend on the canonical
type. We recommend always assigning one.

### My flow has a "status with no exit" notice but it's intentional — do I have to fix it?

Not necessarily. That notice warns that, upon reaching that status, the
courier won't have an action button in the app and only you'll be able to
move the order from the panel. If that's exactly what you want (for
example, a stage that requires your manual review before continuing), you
can leave it as is — the notice stays as a reminder, it doesn't block
anything.

### Can I delete my "Delivered" status?

Yes, but the system will clearly warn you: as long as no other status has
the "Delivered" type, couriers won't be able to complete deliveries and
those orders will be frozen. Make sure to create the replacement before (or
right after) deleting it.

### Does confirming the canonical type change anything about my orders?

No. Confirming just tells the system "yes, this type is correctly
assigned" and removes the pending-review mark — it doesn't move orders or
change any other data about the status.

### What's the difference between "order in the list" and "next stage"?

The order in the list (drag and drop) is purely visual — it defines what
step number you see on screen. The "default next stage" is what actually
determines which status an order moves to when the courier confirms the
action from the app. You can have a tidy visual order while also having
transitions that skip steps or go backward (like a delivery retry).

---

## See also

- [Shipment step templates by industry](/en/docs/organization/plantillas-pasos-de-envio/)
- [Customizing the status flow](/en/docs/orders/personalizar-flujo-estados/)
- [Logging events](/en/docs/orders/registrar-eventos/)

