New features included in this release

Set custom load/unload time on individual contacts or any pickup/delivery order

Easy to customize tables: Change column width and sort column order on a variety of tables 

Modify the account or account user on an existing order

Archive/Unarchive Account Users

New: Driver Information Profile

Enter address from ZIP/Postal Code using GPS Coordinates

Definitions

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

The Driver App is the same as the last release with one bug fix. You can find the Driver App version 1.19.645 on the stores.

Back Office

Load/Unload Time

Load and unload times can now be set at the contact level, on order templates, on orders and are visible on stops in Driver Stop List.  The load/unload times are added to each stop's base time to provide an estimate of the time it takes to get in the building and load/unload the vehicle for pickup and delivery.  Default base time is set at 8 minutes but can be changed. Simply request the change at [email protected], let us know the new base time and this will be changed for you. 

Set Load/Unload Time for Contact

1) Open Accounts

2) Select an Account then click on Contact on the top right of the the window. You can also change this on Users' contacts.

3) In the contact list, open or create a new contact then enter, in minutes, the time it takes to load or unload the order at this contact's address.

4) Click Save when done.

Set Load/Unload Time on an Existing Order Template

1) Open Orders

2) Click on Recurring Orders

3) Click on Manage Order Templates then click on a template name to open it

4) Open Pickup or Delivery Contact section by clicking Edit.

5) Enter load time in Pickup Contact section, enter unload time in Delivery Contact section then click Save.

Set Load/Unload Time in New Order Template

1) Open Orders

2) Click on Recurring Orders

3) Click on Manage Order Templates then click on New Template

4) Select account user then select pickup contact. The load time saved with the contact will default and you will be able to change it. 

5) Select delivery contact. The load time saved with the contact will default and you will be able to change it.  

Set Load/Unload Time on Orders

1) Open Orders

2) Click to open an existing order or create a new order.

3) When selecting the pickup/delivery contact, the load/unload time will be defaulted from the contact. This can be changed on the order.

Load/Unload Time on Stops in Drivers Stop List

1) Open Drivers on Dispatch Board, then click on a driver.

2) Open Stop list

3) The time indicated at each stop is the time driver takes to reach the building and to load/unload the order. 

Order Templates List/Recurrence List/Transaction List/Route Plan

The above lists can now be reordered and column widths can be manually adjusted. 

Once the list has been modified, the setting is kept and changes will be remembered when the page is reloaded.

Order List Sort Example

1) Open List

2) Click on a column to sort it in ascending order, click again to sort in descending order.

Change Column Width Example

1) Open List

2) Place cursor in header row at the edge of a column until a double headed arrow is displayed. Click and drag to change the column width.

Reset List Example

1) Open List

2) Click on Reset Columns.

Change Account/User on Edit Order

The account or user can be modified when editing an order. The order account can  be modified at any time before it is invoiced.

1) Open Orders

2) Open menu and select Change Order Account

Note: the Price List, Parcel Type Schedule, Extra Fee Schedule may change when an account is changed. The following may change on the order:

Service level: this may change the price and the pickup and delivery window
Parcel type: this may change the number of items and weight extra fees
Vehicle: this may change the price
Extra fees: this may change the extra fees and their price

Attributes:  the attributes that are selected on the order may change depending if the new account has different default attributes

Workflows: this may change the workflows that are assigned to the account

Notifications: this may change the default notifications that are set on the order

The system defined extra fees will be reset to 0 when changing the account if the Extra Fee schedule is different. Take a note on the Pickup and Delivery Wait time to reenter the quantities.

No verification is done on the required Reference Fields.

If price is invalid, the original price is kept on the order. 

3) A warning will be displayed:

4) Click on Save to confirm the change of account (and associated changes on the order) or click Cancel to return to the order without changing the account.

The changes cannot be undone once you click on Save.

Archive/Unarchive Account User

Account users can be archived/unarchived. 
When an Account user is archived, the user will no longer be able to login to Dispatch Science and CSRs will no longer see the Account user name in the list when creating/changing the account on an order. 

Users who are associated to an order template or used in the Account Driver order cannot be archived. An error message will be displayed when attempting to archive the user: 

Archive an Account User

1) Open Accounts

2) Open an Account

3) Click on Users

4) Open the user to archive and click on Archive button

5) Click OK to archive the user, Cancel to return to the user details without archiving the user

View Archived Account Users

1) Open Accounts

2) Open an Account

3) Click on Users

4) Check the Show Archived Users

Archived users will show with a beside the name

Unarchive Account Users

1) Open Accounts

2) Open an Account

3) Click on Users and show Archived users

4) Open the Archived user and click on Unarchive button

5) Click OK to unarchive the user or Cancel to to return to the archived user without unarchiving it

Create Order Using GPS Coordinates

Enter Address with Latitude and Longitude

When creating an order, if the contact pickup/delivery address cannot be found or does not exist, the latitude and longitude of the address can be used to geocode the address.

1) If the address is not found when creating an order, click on Enter address from ZIP/Postal Code

2) In the popup window, enter the ZIP code. This will place the pin at the center of the ZIP Code area in the designated city and state.

3) Enter Address Line 1, the city and state will already be filled in.

4) Enter the latitude and longitude and click Save.

Note:  the map can be dragged around with the mouse until the correct location is placed under the pin.

% Barcode

On the Account, you can setup to have an auto-generated barcode created with a template. % is used in the template as an unlimited number of characters. These characters are ignored during the barcode scanning by the driver. 

If the template uses the % and content of reference fields and the reference fields are left blank during order creation, the barcode would generate as % barcode template.

A % barcode template would scan as any and all barcodes which would prevent the drivers from scanning the orders.

This behaviour was changed. If a barcode template containing only a series of % would be created on an order because the reference fields were left blank on order creation, the barcode template will not generate. 

New Driver Information Profile

A new Driver Information Profile is available under Drivers. This profile will be used in the new Driver App which will be released as part of Version 1.21.
Drivers can be granted access rights to change their profile information according to the different sections selected in the Information Profile.
The Information Profile is then selected in the Driver Profile.

Setup of a Driver Information Profile

1) Open Drivers

2) Open Information Profiles

3) Click on New Information Profile to create a new profile or click on an existing profile to edit. 

4) Enter/Edit the name and select which section is hidden, is visible, is editable by the driver.

5) Photo section: 

Visible: Display driver photo on Driver App

Updatable: Allow driver to modify his photo

6) Basic Information Section:

Visible: Display first name, last name, other name, driver number, mobile number, preferred mode of communication, email, phone.

Updatable: Allow driver to modify his first name, last name, other name, mobile number, preferred mode of communication, phone, password.

7) Home Address Section:

Visible: Display address section

Updatable: Allow driver to modify his address (Address Line 1, Address Line 2, City, State, ZIP)

8) Vehicle Information:

Visible: Display plate number and vehicle description

Updatable: Allow driver to modify the plate number and vehicle description

9) Information Details Section

Visible: Display business name, gender, start date, birth date, other info 1 and 2, Emergency contact, number and other info

Updatable: Allow driver to modify gender, birth date, other info 1 and 2, emergency contact, number plus other emergency info.