New features included in this release

Improved user interface for Driver information

Discount/surcharge on orders by account price list and service level

Attributes association on Account

Driver payout price list and extra fees at account level

Fuel Surcharge Calculation

PIckup up From field on orders

Viewing attachments on orders

Tenant and Customer API modification to include the Pickup and Dropoff notes

Webhook and subscription now include the unassign driver update

Tenant API modification to include parcel type

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 1.11.523 contains the new features for this release. Please see Driver App Release Notes.

Back Office

Driver Information User Interface

The user interface on the Driver information has been revamped to match what was done on the Order and the Account.  

Driver Details

1) Open Drivers menu and click on a driver name to open its details.

2) The driver details opens. The read-only view has been changed to more easily see the information as sections.

3) Edit each section:

The Driver details shows in 2 condensed sections allowing to see the information on one page

Driver Profile

A new option to deactivate screen capture on Android is available in the Driver Profile. This option is enabled by default upon deployment.

Enable/Disable Option to deactivate Screen Capture on Android

1) Open Drivers then open Profiles.

2) Open the profile associated to the drivers who should not be able to take a screen capture by clicking on the profile name.

3) Check/uncheck the Deactivate Screen Capture on Android feature checkbox to enable or disable it then click Save.

 Upon next login, the drivers associated to the profile will/will not have access to use the screen capture in the Driver App as setup in the Dispatch Science.

Account Order Profile

The user interface on the Profile has changed. It will now be displayed in sections to match the other screens. You can now setup 3 different types of reference fields: Free text, Accepted Value and Drop-Down. 

You can also allow or require your drivers to set any of the reference fields if needed. This can be done by the driver selecting or typing the information or by scanning the information in the fields.

Setup Account Order Profile

1) Open Accounts then click on Profiles

2) Click on an account order profile name

3) Click Edit on the Reference section to modify. This will open the Reference Details

4) In the Field Type, select Dropdown to change the reference field to a drop-down field on the Create and Edit Order and enter the items for the drop-down field in the Accepted Values field

5) To allow the driver to enter the information in the reference field from the Driver App, select, in Driver Update Options, if the entry by the driver is Optional, Required for Pickup, Required for Dropoff or Required for Pickup and Dropoff.

If Optional is selected, the driver will have the option to enter a value in the reference field and driver will be able to pickup or deliver the order regardless if they added a value or not.

If one of the Required is selected, the driver will need to verify a value is in the field BEFORE they slide the Request Pickup/Delivery on the Driver App otherwise they will get an error and they will have to fill in the required value. 

6) Select, in the Updatable by the Driver section how the field should be filled in: Not Updatable, Scanned Value, Free Text.

Please note there is no validation in this area. Ensure the combination of field selections do not prevent your driver from picking up/delivering the order.

If you select to have the field Not Updatable by the driver but set the driver update option to Required, only pre-filled orders will be deliverable. 

7) Click on Save when modification is done. 

This change should only be done when no orders are assigned to drivers otherwise the driver will not see the changes on the order unless they individually update the order by pulling in the driver app on the order in a stop.

Setup Attributes on Account

Attributes can be associated to accounts with a start/end dates or without a date. The attributes will be selected automatically when an order is created with the account but the CSR will be able to deselect any that do not pertain to the orders.

If dates are added, the attributes will only be added to the order in between the start and end date.

Note: If an attribute type is changed from order or from order and order to driver, the attribute will automatically be removed from all accounts. Changing the attribute back to order or order and driver will not undo the deletion.

Add an Attribute to an Account

1) Open Accounts menu.

2) Click on the Account name to open the account details and click on Attributes section Edit:

3)  Attributes can be filtered using the Search on the left hand side.

Only attributes of type Order or Order and Driver will show up in the list. Attributes of type Driver will be hidden.

4) Check the checkbox of the attribute to associate to the account. You can check several checkboxes to have multiple attributes selected on the account.

5) Once attributes are selected, enter an optional start and end date. 

When adding an attribute without a date, the attribute will always be checked on new orders created for the account.

When adding an attribute with a start date, the attribute will be checked on new orders created for the account from the starting date. Any orders created before the starting date will not have the attribute selected.

When adding an attribute with an end date, the attribute will be checked on new orders created for the account up to the end date. Any orders created after the end date will not have the attribute selected.

When adding an attribute with a start and end date, the attribute will be checked on new orders created starting on the start date and created before or on the end date. Any orders created before the start date or after the end date will not have the attribute selected.

6) Click on Save. To return to the account details, click on the account name in the breadcrumbs.

Edit an Attribute on an Account

1) Open Accounts menu.

2) Click on the Account name to open the account details and click on Attributes section Edit:

3) Change the date on the selected attribute, select additional attributes then click on Save.

Remove an Attribute from an Account

1) Open Accounts menu.

2) Click on the Account name to open the account details and click on Attributes section Edit:

3) In the list of selected attributes, click on the garbage can to the right of the attribute to remove it then click on Save to save the changes:

Setup a Driver Payout Price List and Extra Fee Schedule on Account

A different price list and extra fee schedule can be selected at the account level to be used to calculate the driver commission. 

When a driver payout price list/extra fee schedule is selected on the account, the commission of the driver will be as follow:

Commission on Delivery:  Commission on Delivery % as entered in the Driver Payout schedule will be used with the price calculated from the driver payout price list. If a price cannot be calculated with the driver payout price list, the account price list will be used to calculate the commission on delivery.

Commission on Fuel Surcharge: Commission on Fuel Surcharge % as entered in the Driver Payout Schedule will be used with the price calculated from the driver payout price list and the account fuel surcharge %. If a price cannot be calculated with the driver payout price list, the account price list will be used with the fuel surcharge % to calculate the commission on fuel surcharge.

Commission on extra fees: Commission on Extra Fee % as entered in the Driver Payout Schedule will be used with the price calculated from the driver payout extra fee schedule. If a price cannot be calculated with the driver payout extra fee schedule, the account extra fee schedule will be used to calculate the commission on extra fees.

Apply a Driver Payout Price List to an Account

1) Open Accounts menu.

2) Click on the Account name to open the account details and click on Pricing section Edit:

3) Select a Drivers Pay Rate Price list and/or Driver Pay Rate Extra Fees and click on Save.

New orders will calculate the driver payout as per explanation above. 

Note: If a delivery price or an extra fee price cannot be found using the driver pay rate list, the account price list/extra fee schedule will then be used.

Setup Discount/Surcharge on Account

Discounts and surcharges can be setup at the account level on the entire Account price list or at specific service levels. The account and surcharge is used to create a logical price list for the account thus reducing the need to create additional price lists. The discount/surcharge will be included in the calculation of the delivery charge and reattempt charge and not show as a surcharge/discount on the order nor on the invoice. 

Note: In this release, the discount/surcharge can be used on the price list/price list service level only.

Please see below, in Administration section, how to create discounts and surcharges.

Apply a Discount/Surcharge at the Account Level

1) Open Accounts menu.

2) Click on the Account name to open the account details and click on Pricing section Edit:

3) In the Pricing details, select the discount or surcharge to apply then click save:

Apply a Discount/Surcharge at the Account Service Level

1) Open Accounts menu.

2) Click on the Account name to open the account details and click on Pricing section Edit:

3) Click on Specify discounts per Service Level to open the section with all service levels associated to the price list

4) At the service level, select different discount/surcharge for each service level, leaving it at none when no discount or surcharge should be applied for specific service levels. Click Save when completed.

Note: To return to one discount/charge for all service levels, click on Same discount/surcharge for all Service Levels link.

Calculating Discount/Surcharge on the Order

When an order is created for an account where a discount/surcharge has been setup, the discount will be calculated as follow:

a) On price list with pricing method: Use vehicle type surcharge:

     For a discount: Price from price list derived from pickup address, delivery address, service level * (1 - discount percentage) - this will then be rounded, if percentage selected, by the rounding option.

     For a surcharge: Price from price list derived from pickup address, delivery address, service level * (1 + surcharge percentage) - this will then be rounded, if percentage selected, by the rounding option.

     Once the above is calculated, take the maximum of the new price discounted/surcharged or the minimum vehicle charge and add the vehicle surcharge

b) On price list with Separate price sheet per vehicle type

     For a discount: Price from price list derived from pickup address, delivery address, service level and vehicle * (1 - discount percentage) - this will then be rounded, if percentage selected, by the rounding option.

     For a surcharge: Price from price list derived from pickup address, delivery address, service level and vehicle * (1 + surcharge percentage) - this will then be rounded, if percentage selected, by the rounding option.

The price displayed for the delivery will include the discount/surcharge.

Modification to Order Details

Some modifications were done on the Order Details:

1) Reattempt charges, which were added on the Dispatch Board, were not visible on the Order Details 

2) When editing an order, system defined extra fees, weight, Nb of Pieces, Mileage, can no longer be deleted. The price can be changed but the extra fee itself will remain as they are linked to the order information.

The x beside those extra fees have been removed.

3) The Fuel surcharge will always be calculated and displayed as a separate line on the Order details when setup for calculated delivery price, delivery prices entered manually on the Dispatch Board order details, reattempt charges entered either manually or calculated from a service level.

4) A new Pickup From field has been added to the time. This field will be automatically calculated according to the pickup time and the service level selected but can be filled in manually by a CSR as well. This is used by the optimizer. 

5) Linked orders show in order details:

where

indicates the order has a linked order following it (continuation or return order). 

indicates the order has multiple linked orders following it. Click on icon to see the list.

indicates the order has a preceding order.

indicates the order has multiple preceding orders. Click on the icon to see the list. 

New Attachment Tab on Order Details

A new attachment tab has been added to the Order Details to show the pictures taken by the driver during the delivery of an order. 

Driver can take pictures and attach notes.

Note: The attachments are available internally only by CSR, dispatcher or an administrator. Account users and admins will not see the Attachment tab on the Customer Portal.

View attachments

1) Open the order from the Order List by clicking on the order Id:

2) From order details, click on Attachments tab to view the images added by the driver:

3) Click on the image to see the image and the notes attached:

4) You can download the image if needed by the customer. Right click on the picture and click on Save Image As.../Save picture as

Give the image a name and select where to save it. 

Order History

The addition, note edition, deletion of the image by the driver will be recorded in the Order History.

Dispatch Board

Modification to Order Details 

Some modifications were done on the Edit Pricing:

1) Reattempt charges, which were only visible through the price information (i), are now visible on the Dispatch Board, Order Details, Edit Pricing

2) You will be able to remove a reattempt charge if added by mistake by clicking on the x on the left of the Reattempt charge or edit the reattempt charge.

3) The system defined extra fees, if available on the extra fee schedule associated to the account, can now only be added once. The system extra fees are: Mileage, Weight, Nb of Pieces, Pickup Waiting Time, Delivery Waiting Time, Tip.

4) When added to the order, a system defined extra fee cannot be deleted as it is linked to information on the order. The unit price can be changed to 0 and this will change the extra fee to a 0$.

Please see information about Fuel Surcharge in Back Office section.

Dispatching Linked Orders 

When dispatching linked orders, return or continuation, if one order is already dispatched to a driver, Dispatcher will get a warning that the other order was already dispatched to another driver:

Click on Dispatch to dispatch the order to another driver or click on Cancel to cancel the dispatching.

The linked orders will show in the order details:

CONTOSO282 is a child order

CONTOSO282 is the parent order

If more there is a chain of orders linked together as continuation orders, the additional orders will show by cliking the if looking from the parent or if looking at a child order.

When dispatching multiple orders using the lasso tool, the following warning will be displayed to advise the dispatcher that there are linked orders in the list and that only the ones selected will be dispatched to a driver. 

Administration

Setup Discount/Surcharge

Discounts and surcharges can be setup and applied to an Account's price list. The discount and surcharge will then be used when calculating the delivery price when creating or editing an order.

Create a Discount/Surcharge

1) Open Pricing then click on Discounts/Surcharges and click on New Discount/Surcharge 

2) The new Discount/Surcharge window opens:

3) Select Type: Discount or Surcharge

Discount: amount or calculated amount will be reduced from price

Surcharge: amount of calculated amount will be added to price

4) Enter the name that will be displayed when selecting on the Account in the Display Name (EN)

     Enter an optional second language name in Display Name (FR)

5) Enter an optional longer description in Description (EN) and an optional second language description in Description (FR)

6) Select if the discount/surcharge will be a dollar amount or a percentage of the price

If Dollar($) is selected:

Enter the dollar amount in amount ($)

If Percentage (%) is selected:

Enter the percentage in Amount (%),

Select the rounding default (no rounding-will go to the penny, $0.25-will round to the previous or next $0.25, $0.50-will round to the previous or next $0.50, $1.00-will round to the previous or next $1.00. The rounding up or down is selected in the Rounding Logic.

Select the rounding logic (closest-will round to the nearest selected rounding default, round up-will round up to the next selected rounding default, round down-will round down to the nearest selected). 

For example, if the delivery price is $4.90 and the discount is 10% = $4.41

Closest with $0.25         = $4.50 as it is closer to $4.50 than to $4.25

Round up with $0.25      = $4.50 as it will round up to the next $0.25

Round down with $0.25 = $4.25 as it will round down to the previous $0.25

7) Select to which item this discount can be applied to:

Apply to invoice: the discount/surcharge can be applied to the Account and will be added/deducted to the invoice sub-total. 

Apply to price list: the discount/surcharge can be applied to the Account base delivery price which is found from the price list.
Note: if there is a minimum vehicle charge, the minimum will be used if the discounted/surcharged price is less than the minimum

           Vehicle surcharge is not affected by the discount/surcharge. The vehicle surcharge is added to the discounted/surcharged or minimum price.

Apply to extra fee schedule: the discount/surcharge can be applied to the Account extra fee.

Please note that in this release, the discount/surcharge is only available on the Price List.

8) Click on Save to create the new Discount or Surcharge

Edit a Discount/Surcharge

1) Open Pricing then click on Discounts/Surcharges then click on a Discount/Surcharge name in the list

2) The Discount/Surcharge Details opens:

All fields can be changed except the type and the application of the discount/surcharge.

3) Make necessary adjustment and click on Save or Cancel to return to the list without saving the modifications.

Delete an unused Discount/Surcharge

1) Open Pricing then click on Discounts/Surcharges then locate the discount/surcharge to delete and click on  to delete the item.

Click Ok to delete or Cancel to keep it.

Customer API

Addition of Pickup and Dropoff Notes

The customer API was modified to add in the Create order, Get order, and Update order. Please review https://api.dispatchscience.com/reference in Order section.

Status update on Unassign Driver

The webhook and subscription now have the Unassign Driver (driver_unassigned event) as part of the order status update.

Tenant API

Accounts and Parcel types

The tenant API was modified to add in the Create order, Get order, and Update order. Please review https://api.dispatchscience.com/reference in order section.