New features included in this release

Improved user interface.

Contacts added at the account level to give access to all account users.

Notes on account, user, contact.

Warehouse mode for driver.

New warehouse worker user.

Extended validation radius for pickup and delivery.

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

Version 1.11.419 contains the new features for this release. For details, please see Release Notes for Driver App version 1.11.419.

User Interface

The user interface was changed on this release. The menu bar now shows in a white background. The application background is now gray and the tables show with a white background. 

The menu has changed and will show above the gray line. When a menu item is selected, the menu will be highlighted with a blue underline.

Back Office

Contacts at the Account Level

Contacts have been added at the account level while leaving the contacts at the account user level. 

When creating an order, CSRs will see a combination of the Account contacts and the Account user contacts and be able to select from either.

Create an Account Contact

1) Open the Account from the Accounts by clicking on the account name in the Account list.

2) In the Account details, a new menu item was added for contacts:

3) Click on Contacts to view the contact list associated to the account if any.

4) Click on New Contact, fill in the required contact name, phone number and address line 1. Fill in the optional email, address line 2, notes. Click on Save when contact information is ready to be saved.

Edit an Account Contact

1) Open the Account from the Accounts by clicking on the account name in the Account list.

2) In the Account details, click on Contacts

3) In the list of account contacts, click on the name of the contact you wish to edit.

4) Edit any of the fields and click on Save

Delete an Account Contact

1) Open the Account from the Accounts by clicking on the account name in the Account list.

2) In the Account details, click on Contacts to view the Account contact list.

3) In the list, click on the garbage bin at the complete right on the row of the contact to be deleted.

4) A confirmation message will be displayed. Click on OK to delete the contact, click on Cancel to return to the list without deleting the contact.

Note on Account

A note can be added to the Account. This note will be visible and read-only when creating an order.

Add or edit a note on a contact

1) Open Accounts then click on the Account name to open it.

2) Click on Edit beside the account name.

3) Enter the note in the Notes field and click save.

Note on Account user

When creating a new order, a note was displayed in the Caller section. This note was available when creating an order. The note is now showing on the Account User screen as well and can be modifed in the Account user detail or when creating an order.

Note on Account user contact and Account contact

A note can be added to the contacts on the Account or on the Account user. This note will be used when creating an order and selecting the contact on the pickup and delivery.

Add or edit a note on an Account Contact

1) Open Accounts then click on the Account name to open it.

2) Click on Contacts to open the Account contact list

3) Click on a contact to open the contact

4) Enter the note in Notes and save.

Add or edit a note on an Account User Contact

1) Open Accounts then click on the Account name to open it.

2) Click on Users to open the list of users for this account.

3) Click on the user contact list icon to open his list of contact.

4) Click on a contact to open the contact.

5) Enter the note in Notes and save.

Showing and using the new notes when creating an order

When creating an order, the pickup contact note and the delivery contact note show on the order. You can edit the note. The new information in the notes will be saved on the order.

Split fuel surcharge commission from delivery commission

The fuel surcharge commission was removed from the delivery commission. They can now contain two different commissions.

Enter or edit a fuel surcharge commission

1) Open Drivers > Payout Schedules and click on a Payout schedule to edit it.

2) Enter a commission on the fuel surcharge and save. 

Note: on upgrade, the commission on fuel surcharge is set the same as the commission on delivery to keep existing setup.

Setup 2 pickup/delivery radiuses

When driver picks up or delivers an order, the driver's geolocation is compared to the pickup/delivery address geolocation. If the distance is within the defined geofence, the driver will be able to pickup/deliver the order. If the driver is outside the geofence, he gets a message to contact his dispatcher. 

In some cases, when the address encompasses a larger area, the geolocation may be too small to allow the driver to do the pickup/delivery.

A second geofence can be setup with a warning. If the distance of the driver to the pickup/delivery geolocation is larger than the validation radius but still within the extended radius, the driver will get a warning but will still be able to pickup/deliver the order without having to call the dispatcher. 

These 2 geofence can be setup in the Driver Profile.  

Enter or edit validation radiuses

1) Open Drivers > Profiles.

2) In the list of profiles, click on the profile to edit. Default values are set at 200m/656ft and 500m/1640ft.

3) In the Address Validation section, change the validation radius (in meters or feet). This will change the distance at which a driver can pickup/deliver an order.

4) Change the extended validation radius (in meters or feet). This will change the distance at which a driver can pickup/deliver an order but receive a warning where he will need to acknowledge he is at the correct address.

5) Save the changes.

Note: The change will only come into effect when the driver logs out and logs back in the Driver App.

New Warehouse worker user

A new Warehouse worker is now available to be created. The Warehouse worker will be able to log in to the Driver App and will only get access to the Warehouse Mode and the Settings. 

The warehouse mode allows user to scan a barcode associated to an order to display route and order basic information.

Create a new Warehouse worker

1) Open Settings > Users

2) Click on New User

3) Enter the required first and last name, email address which will serve as the login on the Driver App, required phone and password then select the role Warehouse worker.

4) Click Save.
The new Warehouse worker will only be able to login on the Driver App and will see the Warehouse mode and Settings.

New Warehouse access for Driver

The warehouse mode can be made accessible to the driver from the Driver Profile. 

The warehouse mode allows user to scan a barcode associated to an order to display route and order basic information.

Enable Warehouse mode on Driver Profile

1) Open Drivers > Profiles

2) Click on a profile to edit it.

3) check the Access to Warehouse Mode and save.

Please note any changes done on the driver profile will only take effect on the driver next login. Please advise drivers to log out of the Driver App and log back in to see the changes.

Checkpoint setup

Checkpoints can be setup under Settings. The Checkpoint feature will allow the warehouse workers and drivers with warehouse mode accessibility to scan orders at different checkpoints. This will add in the order history that the order is now at a specific checkpoint. This checkpoint can be visible or not on the customer tracking page.

Create a new checkpoint

1) Open Settings>Checkpoints

2) Click on New Checkpoint

3) Fill in required fields: ID (must be unique), Display Name (En), checkpoint type.
Note: there are 3 types of checkpoints: Warehouse (only available to warehouse workers, Driver (only available to drivers), Warehouse and Driver (available to both warehouse workers and drivers)

4) Enter an optional French Display name, English and French description

5) Check the Visible on Tracking Page if this checkpoint should be visible on the customer tracking page

6) Enter an optional latitude and longitude. You can use Google map to find the latitude and longitude of an address.
Note: the Latitude and Longitude will be used to sort the list of checkpoints using the geolocation on the Driver App. The closer the location, the higher up in the list the checkpoint will be. The checkpoints with Latitude and Longitude will only be displayed if the Driver App is within 1000m/3280ft of the latitude and longitude entered.

7) Save.

Customer Portal

Contacts at the Account Level

Contacts have been added at the account level while leaving the contacts at the account user level. 

When creating an order, Account users and Account admins will see a combination of the Account contacts and the Account user/admin contacts and be able to select from either.

Note: Only Account admins can create, display, edit, delete account contacts. Account users will see them in their pickup and delivery list of contacts along with their own contacts and will be able to select them when creating an order.

Create an Account Contact

1) Login to the Customer Portal as an Account admin.

2) In Customer Portal, click on My Contacts. A new column has been added to the list to show if the contact is an Account contact or the current user contact.

3) Click on New Contact button to create a new contact.

4) Fill in the required contact name, phone number and address line 1. Fill in the optional email, address line 2, notes. Click on Save when contact information is ready to be saved.

By default, the contact will be created as an Account contact. This can be changed by unchecking the Account Contact checkbox a the bottom of the create contact form.

Edit an Account Contact

1) Open My Contacts.

2) In the Contact list, click on the name of the account contact you wish to edit.

4) Edit any of the fields and click on Save

Delete an Account Contact

1) Open My Contacts.

2) In the list, click on the garbage bin at the complete right on the row of the contact to be deleted.

4) A confirmation message will be displayed. Click on OK to delete the contact, click on Cancel to return to the list without deleting the contact.

Dispatch Board

Updated Driver Cell

The driver cell which shows in the Driver List and in the Dispatch Order to Driver (from order list, from order details from map order details, from lasso tool) has been changed to show the driver's vehicle as well as its last position update. The driver color is also displayed in the list.

The cell continues to show the driver picture if one was added, the number of orders assigned as well as the driver phone number and its status. 

Notes on Account, Pickup, Delivery 

When a note is added on pickup or delivery, the order, in the order list, will display an icon beside the pickup or delivery address. 

The content of the note will display in the order details under the pickup and delivery address along with the Account note.

The pickup and delivery notes will also show in the order details when opening from the map. 

Account API

Subscription

Subscription was added to the Account API. Subscriptions are similar to webhooks except that subscriptions will use one url callback for all orders of the account and it is possible to specify the events which will call the url. An account may have multiple subscriptions.

For more information, please see https://api.dispatchscience.com/