Understanding ATL in Consignment Instructions
What is ATL?
ATL stands for Authority To Leave. It indicates that a delivery does not require a signature upon receipt. Instead, the driver has the authority to leave the consignment at the delivery location.
How Does ATL Appear in Delivery Special Instructions?
When a consignment is created in Transvirtual, the special instructions section may automatically include the text "ATL" or "Authority to Leave" if the system determines that a signature is not required for that delivery.
This happens based on a specific setting in the system that controls whether the consignment requires a signature or not.
The Role of the "Show Signature Required" Setting
In Transvirtual, there is a global setting under Global Setup > Consignment Related Rules called "Show Signature Required". When this setting is toggled ON (Yes):
An extra toggle appears on the consignment creation page labeled "Signature Required" .
This toggle allows the user or system to specify whether a consignment requires a signature upon delivery.
What Happens When This Setting is ON?
If Signature Required is set to Yes , the consignment will require a signature, and no ATL text will be added.
If Signature Required is set to No or left unspecified, the system assumes Authority To Leave (ATL) applies.
As a result, the system automatically adds "ATL" or "Authority to Leave" text into the delivery special instructions .
Why Does ATL Appear Even When Not Specified in the Import File?
Some customers have noticed that consignments created via import files (EDI) show ATL in the special instructions even though the import file does not explicitly include ATL.
This is because:
When the "Show Signature Required" setting is enabled globally or on the customer card, the system expects a signature required flag.
If the import file does not specify that a signature is required (or leaves it blank), the system defaults to no signature required , which means ATL .
Therefore, the system automatically inserts ATL into the special instructions to reflect this default.
How to Control or Remove ATL from Special Instructions
If you want to prevent ATL from being added automatically, you have two options:
Disable the "Show Signature Required" setting globally
This removes the signature toggle from consignment creation and stops the system from adding ATL automatically.
Override the setting on a per-customer basis
In the customer card, under consignment related rules, set the signature required toggle to No or disable it specifically for that customer.
This allows you to keep the global setting enabled but exclude certain customers from the ATL default.
Testing and Troubleshooting Tips
To test how ATL behaves in your account, create a consignment manually or via import with the signature required toggle set to No or left blank.
Check the special instructions to see if ATL is added.
You can also copy import rules between accounts for testing purposes, but always do this in a test environment to avoid affecting live data.
Download raw import files from existing consignments to understand what data is being sent and how the system interprets it.
Summary
ATL (Authority To Leave) means no signature is required on delivery only (not available on pickups).
ATL appears automatically in special instructions if the system setting for signature required is enabled but the consignment is marked as not requiring a signature .
This behavior applies both to manual consignment creation and EDI imports.
You can control this by toggling the Show Signature Required setting globally or per customer.
Testing in a controlled environment helps clarify how these settings affect your consignments.