New features included in this release

Report on Order List

Vehicle capacity

Ability to create an order by setting an address on a map

Indicator on driver on Dispatch Board to see driver note

Verify order before invoicing option at Account level

Vehicle and driver maximum capacity

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

Back Office

Use Map to Geolocate an Invalid Address on an Order

When creating or editing an order, you can now use a map to geolocate an address not found by Dispatch Science.

1) Create an order (you can also edit an existing order)

2) In the Pickup or Delivery address section, click on +Enter address from Zip/Postal Code 

3) Required fields are Zip/Postal Code, Address Line 1, City, State/Province. 

4) Enter a Zip/Postal Code. If found, it will show in the available list. Select one of the entry and it  will automatically move the map to the center of the Zip/Postal Code, enter the city and the State\Province. You can then move to the correct address. If not found, enter  the city, State/Province and move the map to the address.

4) Enter an entry in Address Line. 

5) Click on Save. 

The map on the pickup/delivery will show the location entered on the map.

If the contact is saved with this geocoded address, it will be available the next time an order is created using the same contact.

Search on Order List

The search on order list has been improved, it is now faster and it searches by word so it is important to always start at the beginning of a word. For instance, if you are searching on the order number and your order numbers start with a OR (OR1234). When searching, make sure you enter the OR12... starting with the first letters of the word you are searching. 

You can now search by the following fields:

Order number, reference numbers 1, 2 and 3, pickup and delivery address line 1, Pickup and Delivery City, Pickup and Delivery Zip/Postal code.

If you need to search on the driver, please use the filter at the top of the column.

Reports on Order List

On the order list, a new Generate Report is now available. This will allow customized order reports, when requested by each customer, to be added to this page. 

Generate a Report

1) In the order list, use the filter to filter out the list of orders to use to generate the report then from the Generate Report, select the report that will be created.

2) A new window will open, a message letting you know how many pages are being generated will display and update as report pages are added:

Once all pages are generated, you will be able to view, print, export the report:

Return to page 1

Previous page
 
Next page

Last page

Print Preview 

Export -select the export file type from the available list.

 Print - you will be able to select the printer and other printing options

 Zoom in

Zoom out

Full page/Page width

 Search within the report

Generating Invoices

New options have been introduced on the Account for invoice generation. You can now select your invoice template file. Please contact [email protected] if you would like to have your own invoice template, include an example of your invoice and we will get back to you.

A new option was also added at the Account level to set the orders to Verify before Invoicing. 

Setup Accounts to Generate Invoices

1) Open Accounts and click on the Account Name to open its details.

2) In the Account Details, click on the Billing Options section Edit button.

3) In the Billing Options, setup the Billing Cycle, the Billing Method, decide if you want one order per invoice, select the taxes to apply to the invoice, its invoice template, the transaction method and the invoice delivery method.

a) Billing Cycle: select from the following choices where Daily will generate invoices automatically at the end of every day or Bi-Weekly, Monthly, Weekly where invoices will be generated manually. Your selection may be slightly different.

b) Billing Method: select from the following choices where By Account will be generating invoices which will be sent to customers for payment or Credit Card where customer will enter a credit card in Dispatch Science and the invoice will be paid, through Stripe, when the invoice is created (automatically at the end of the day or at the time an invoice is created manually).

c) Single Order by Invoice: check this option if every order should be on a separate invoices. Uncheck this option if orders are grouped on one invoice at the end of the billing cycle.

d) Verify Orders Before Invoicing: Check the checkbox if you want all orders for an account to be checked to verify before invoicing. An admin will have to review the orders and set the order to ready to invoice before it can be invoiced.

e) Taxes: select the tax to apply to the order total on the invoice.

f) Select your invoice template if you have different invoice formats by company otherwise, you will have one template available. Make sure a template is selected in the field.

g) Select to Print, Email or Print & Email the invoice. By default, this is set to print:

Note: When billing method is by credit card, only email and email&print will be available. 

When set to print, the invoices will not be emailed when generated. They could be emailed individually once they are generated.

When set to Email or Email & Print, invoices can be automatically emailed, if the option is selected when generating the invoices.

h) Click on Save when billing section is completed.

Note: There must be a billing cycle selected on the account when the order is created for the order to be invoiced. Any orders created before a billing cycle is selected on the account cannot be invoiced.

If an account is marked to be paid by credit card, the invoice amount will be charged to the credit card when it is generated, the billing method will show as credit card, the status will be set to Draft (Deposit). 

Manually Email Generated Invoices

1) Open Accounts and click on Invoices

2) Click on Send Email button.
A confirmation message will display indicating the invoice number and the account's contact email address.

3) Click Confirm to send the email or Close to cancel.

4) A message will display to acknowledge the email.

Driver Vehicle Capacity

The driver maximum vehicle capacity can be adjusted when a vehicle is associated to the driver and the vehicle has its maximum capacity entered.

1) Click on Drivers then click on a specific driver

2) Click on Edit in the Vehicle Information section

3) If the vehicle has not been setup for maximum capacity, the maximum capacity fields on the driver vehicle will be locked and show blank:

Once the vehicle is setup for capacity, the adjustment fields will be enabled.

If an adjustment is needed, enter the adjustment percentage for each capacity type (<100). 

When entering an adjustment, the Adjusted Value will automatically be calculated

4) Click on Save.

Dispatch Board

Driver Vehicle Capacity

When opening the driver on the Dispatch Board, the current vs maximum capacity will be displayed. The current capacity shows the picked up orders.

Driver Note on Dispatch Board

The driver note is now visible when hovering on the pencil beside the driver name from the list of drivers and also on the order details when driver is assigned and when dispatching an order. 

Driver Road and Driven Distance

The driver road is now displayed graphically when clicking on Stop List on a driver:

You will also get, at the top of the stop list, the total driving distance/driving time and (driving time with load/unload time). 

Administration

Vehicle Capacity

You can now enter the vehicle capacity. This information will then be transferred to the driver where you will be able to adjust the driver capacity. Once this is entered, the on board volume vs maximum capacity will show on the Dispatch Board when viewing the driver.

In a following release, the driver capacity will be taken into account when auto-dispatching orders.

1) Open Pricing then click on Vehicle. Click on a vehicle to edit it.

2) Enter maximum number of pieces that the vehicle can hold. The number of pieces is calculated using the Total Unit Factor on the Parcel Type. For more information on how to setup parcel type, please refer to Parcel Type on the Support site. 

Enter the maximum volume that the vehicle can hold. This will use the parcel type dimension.

Enter the maximum weight that the vehicle can hold. This will use the parcel type weight. 

3) Click on Save.

Note: Any capacity field left blank will be ignored by the Auto-Dispatch when this feature becomes available and won't be displayed on the driver.