New features included in this release

• Searches on orders now support filtering by account name
• Outstanding or unapplied transaction balances are now displayed in the account transactions list 
• Fuel surcharge parameters adjusted to calculate based on order pick-up date instead of order-entry date
• It is now possible to assign different starting or ending locations for each zone within a route plan
• New ability to maintain your own vehicle equivalency rules for improved auto-dispatch vehicle selection 
• Additional fields available via Odata 

 

Definition

The release notes refer to different sections of the application:

Back Office: Where Customer Service Representatives (CSR) create and edit orders, create accounts, review drivers, etc.

Dispatch Board: Where Dispatchers assign orders to drivers, get notifications for invalid orders, etc.

Auto-Dispatch: This section refers to the automated order assignment setup and its process.

Administration: This section is in the Back Office but refers to sections only an administrator will use like Settings and Pricing.

Customer Portal: Where account users log in to create orders, view their order history, enter a credit card, etc.

Tracking site: Where customers enter a tracking number like the order ID or a reference number to view the status of their order.

Account API: API provided to your accounts to create, update and get orders. For documentation, please follow this link:https://api.dispatchscience.com/
Tenant API: API provided to you to create orders for your accounts, retrieve invoices and change invoice status. For documentation, please follow this link: https://api.dispatchscience.com/  

 

Driver App version

Features from this release that affect the Driver App require the latest version of the Driver App. Ensure app users are configured for automatic updates from the App Store or Play Store. Please see Release Notes for Driver App.

Back Office

Orders

Orders searched using the magnifying glass now includes support for search by account name and number

How it works:

1) Go to Orders and click on the search field:

2) Type an account name and click on the magnifying glass. The list of orders will only display those associated with that account:

 

Routed Orders

It is now possible to override the default starting or ending locations on routes by adding more warehouses and associating them to specific zones. Different pick-up or delivery locations can be assigned by zone, or across multiple zones. This feature is particularly useful for clients that have more than one warehouse.

How to associate different start and ending locations to specific zones:

0) Before starting, for the most efficient use of the optimization algorithms, it is important to have a clear understanding of which warehouses to associate with which zones for either route start, route end, or both. The following assumes that you have already created a route plan and uploaded your KML file that maps-out all your zones.

1) In Orders > Routes > Route Plans, select a route plan. You will notice that is is now necessary to click on Zones to assign drivers or select a color for the orders that will be displayed for that zone. Click on a zone:

2) A new dialog box will appear. Apply a color and a Default Driver, then, if the warehouse associated with the zone is different from the default warehouse address for either the route's starting or ending address, check Override Pickup Warehouse or Override Delivery Warehouse:

3) Input the correct warehouse address:

4) Click Cancel cancel the operation or Save.

Routed orders that are picked up or delivered in this zone will start at the warehouse you added.

Administration

Transactions

A new column called Balance has been added to the Accounts > Transactions list. By clicking on it, transactions are sorted from largest to smallest, or vice-versa.

Fuel Surcharge

Prior to this release, calculations for fuel surcharge amounts to apply on orders were based on the date orders were entered. With this release, the fuel surcharge calculation is now based on the date of order pick-up. Furthermore, it is now possible to specify start dates to each fuel surcharge schedule, thus allowing you to accurately reflect the fuel price fluctuations. Finally, there is a new option to manually recalculate fuel surcharges based on the delivery date to address exceptions such as orders delivered following an extended hold..

Click HERE to review how to apply fuel surcharges.

How to apply different start dates for Fuel Surcharge calculations:

1) In Pricing > Fuel Surcharge, select a surcharge (or create a New Surcharge, give it a name, save it and click on it):

2) If the surcharge is calculated as a Percent, you will see a Start date, a Surcharge % and a Base Surcharge checkbox. Click on Add Surcharge:

3) Select a START DATE for the surcharge and specify a Surcharge % for each vehicle type for which surcharges will apply, then click Save :

4) A new line will appear outlining the start date and surcharge % for each impacted vehicle type. Click Save once you've finished editing your surcharge table:

The same process applies when a Fuel Surcharge is applied on a per distance basis.

To manually update a Fuel Surcharge on an order that has already been picked up, go to Orders > Edit order, click on the shortcut dropdown menu and select Recalculate Fuel Surcharges:

A popup will appear asking to select a date for which to associate the surcharge. Click RECALCULATE to apply the rate or CANCEL:

The fuel surcharge calculation that was set in Pricing>Fuel Surcharges for the selected date will apply and the price on the order will be adjusted accordingly.

Vehicle Equivalency Table

Background:

Vehicle types are selected during Order Entry:

To manage your custom vehicle equivalency table:

1) Go to Pricing>Vehicles>Vehicle Equivalencies. By default, you will now see that all available vehicle types have a 1-to-1 equivalency. In this example, the company has fleets of Bikes, Box trucks and Cars:

2) You can delete a vehicle type by clicking on the corresponding trashcan symbol. A confirmation screen will popup:

3) Click OK to confirm or Cancel. If you click OK, the list will no longer show the deleted vehicle type and orders that specify that vehicle type will be auto-dispatched to any vehicle type (subject to weight, volume, and unit constraints).  

4) To reinstate a vehicle type on the equivalency list, click on New vehicle equivalency:

5) Select the vehicle type you want to add to the list from the dropdown:

6) Since each vehicle is equivalent to itself, it will always be pre-checked. Check additional vehicle types if you want auto-dispatch to match them as well when they are identified in the order, then click on Save.

7) To edit equivalencies for vehicle types that are already listed, click on the vehicle type you want to edit:

8) Follow step 6 to add or remove vehicle type equivalencies.

9) If you don't want auto-dispatch to match any vehicle type at all, delete all the vehicle types in the list. When you do so, auto-dispatch will behave in the same way as when Match Vehicle Type in Settings > System > Optimizer was unchecked in previous versions:

In the current version, this general option has been removed and replaced by the Vehicle Equivalency:

Example:

To ensure efficient use of compatible or capable vehicles that are not explicitly specified on orders, Dispatch Science's auto-dispatch algorithms will automatically assign orders to drivers of either cars or box trucks for all orders where the Vehicle Type is CARS, since both a car and a box truck can deliver such an order. In the case of an order where the Vehicle Type is BOX TRUCK, the algorithm will not assign the order to a car or other inequivalent vehicle. In this way, Dispatch Science abstracts the vehicle selection for pricing purposes from the vehicle selection for execution. 

OData

OData now captures account discounts on service levels and on the accounts themselves.

See Extracting Information from Dispatch Science to Excel using OData for details.