New features included in this release

• Global Address auto-complete and geo-located address management capabilities have been enhanced
• Order History tracking has been enhanced with new types of tracking breadcrumbs
• Driver deductions/additions management can now be maintained by Administrators  
• New delivery management options have been added to account profiles to increase the range of delivery possibilities
• The Dispatch Grid and Dispatch Map content filters have been enhanced
• Warnings are now displayed on the Dispatch Map and Dispatch Grid whenever a request is made to re-assign an already dispatched order or when attempting to dispatch a route that contains unoptimized orders
• Zone-based pricing has been enhanced with support for multiple zone definitions at the customer level
• Administrators can now enable or disable driver permissions for putting orders on hold
• Back-office now supports automatic inclusion of the customer account number in invoices numbering nomenclature
• The Extra Fees pricing interface has been simplified
• Invoice and report email sharing capabilities have been enhanced
• New ability to archive service levels

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

Attachment Section on Invoiced Orders

It is now possible to turn on the ability to modify the attachment on an order after it has been invoiced. To turn on this feature, please send an email to [email protected] and request activation of this feature. 

Global Address

When creating an order, the new Global Address auto-complete capabilities have been enhanced and

are now available in the list of addresses when information is typed in the Pickup and Delivery Address Line 1 field. Addresses that were used during order creation or added through the Enter address from ZIP/Postal code will be visible in this section:

1) Create or edit an order.

2) Start typing an address in the Address Line 1:

The list is divided in 3 sections: Contacts, History, and Suggestions.

Contacts will list all contacts matching the Address Line 1 entry.

History will list all addresses entered in orders that were created matching the Address Line 1 entry.

Suggestions will list all addresses that can be geolocated matching the Address Line 1 entry. 

Note: In History, you will also see the addresses that were created using Enter Address from ZIP/Postal Code.

Geolocated Addresses

It is now possible to edit the location of a geolocated address without having to create a new address in the address book.

How it works:

1) Go to the New Order > Create Order dialog

2) Start typing a location containing a geolocated address in the Pick-up Address or Delivery Address dialog boxes:

3) Select a geolocated address (one previously created using the "Enter address from Zip/Postal Code" feature)

4) Using the mouse, click and drag the map under the cursor until the new desired location is directly under the cursor

5) Click Save to save the new location

History 

New triggers have been added to the Order History. Order History now captures any changes to Order Attachments, as well as Ready At, Pick-Up Between, and Deliver Between times.

Order History can be reviewed in Order details:

and on the Dispatch Map:

Driver Management

It is now possible for administrators to create custom Driver Deductions/Additions inside the application.

1) Go to Settings > Deductions/Additions then click on New Deduction/Addition:

2) Give a DISPLAY NAME (EN) and/or (FR) to the Deduction/Addition, check either Addition or Deduction, check either % or $, enter the AMOUNT, then click Save:

It is now possible to apply the new Deduction/Addition on any Driver. 

3) To remove an existing Deduction/Addition, select an existing Deduction/Addition and click on Delete:

Note: an addition or deduction already assigned to a driver and overwritten will not be modified if the unit or amount is changed. However, the type will change on the driver if it is changed in this manner. 

Driver Management

It is now possible to require that a Driver contact dispatch to put an order on hold. 

1) Go to Drivers > Profiles. Select a driver profile and in General Options, check Force Driver to Call Dispatcher to Put an Order on Hold:

Account Order Entry Options

Two new delivery management options have been added to account profiles: 

1. An option to allow drivers to manually create new orders

2. An option to allow drivers to pick-up or deliver items that don't have a barcode

To enable or disable these options at the account level:

1) Go to Accounts select an existing one or create a new one, then click on the Edit button next to Order Options:

2) Check or uncheck the corresponding options, then click Save:

Note: These options are unchecked by default.

Dispatch Board

Dispatch Grid

It is now possible to display Routed orders on the Dispatch Grid.

1) Click the gearbox icon Grid tab:

2) The Board settings tool will slide in from the right. Check Include Routed Orders and click Apply:

3) Routed orders will now be visible on the Dispatch Grid

4) To show orders marked as Routed, a new column is available for display on the Order pane of the Dispatch Grid:

Dispatching Routes

A confirmation request will be issued on a route container when it is dispatched to drivers to ensure that dispatching can proceed even if not all orders are optimized or if there are still held orders. 
This will ensure the dispatcher is aware that some orders will not be optimized once dispatched.  

1) If one or several orders are either on hold and/or not optimized at the time a route is dispatched, a warning will be displayed:

2) The dispatcher can choose to dispatch the routes by clicking Yes. This will dispatch the routes but orders that were not optimized or were on hold at the time of the dispatch will not optimize on the driver's route even when held orders are released.

The dispatcher can choose not to dispatch the routes by clicking No. This will return the dispatcher to the route container where he will be able to release the held orders and wait until the route is optimized. 

Dispatching an Order

When an order is already dispatched and a dispatcher attempts to dispatch it again, a message will pop up warning him that that the order is already dispatched. Information on the warning will include date and time as well as current driver. 

Note: This message will only be displayed when dispatching orders one at a time. 

1) Dispatch an already-dispatched order from the Back Office Order list, the Dispatch Board order list, or the Dispatch Board grid view.

A warning will appear alerting the user that the order has already been dispatched and requesting confirmation of the reassignment: 

2) The Dispatcher can click DISPATCH to confirm the reassignment or CANCEL to cancel the request.

Administration and Back Office

Reports

Sending reports by email to one or many recipients is now possible:

1) Select any report and click on the email icon:

An email dialog box will appear:

2) Fill all the required From:, To:, CC: and Subject fields, then select the desired file format for the report by clicking on the Format dropdown, and add your text to the body. If you are sending to multiple recipients, separate email addresses with commas.

3) Click Send or Cancel.

Service Levels

Unused Service Levels can now be archived. This can be performed from the Service Level screen if the service level is to be archived in all Service Level Schedules in which it is used. 

If the Service Level is still used by other Service Level Schedules, it can also be archived from within the Schedule where it should no longer be visible.

Once archived, Service Levels can be unarchived. 

Archived Service Levels will still display in orders where they were used, however, they will no longer be available in the Service Level drop-down menu when editing an order or creating a new order. 

Note: Archival of a service level is not possible if it is used as the default service level for Drivers Order Creation or if it is used for a recurring order.

To archive a Service Level in all Service Level Schedules:

1) Open Pricing > Service Levels > Manage Service Levels

2) In the list of Service Levels, click on a Service Level Name

3) Click on Archive then confirm the archiving

A message will be displayed to indicate that the archiving was successful.

Note: if the Service Level is used as the default for an Account's Driver Order Creation, an error message will be displayed and the Service Level will not be archived.
 

To archive a Service Level in all Service Level Schedules:

1) Open Pricing > Service Levels then click on an existing Service Level Schedule

2) Click on a Service Level to display its details

3) In the Service Level details, click on Archive then confirm the archiving.

A message will be displayed to indicate that the archiving was successful. 

To unarchive a Service Level 

A Service Level can be unarchived. This will then allow this Service Level to be unarchived in the Service Level Schedules where it is available.

1) Open Pricing > Service Levels > Manage Service Levels

2) At the top of the list, check Show Archived Service Levels

The archived Service Levels will display a icon on the right of their ID

3) Click on the desired Service Level to edit, then click on Unarchive to confirm unarchiving

Note: This will then allow you to unarchive this Service Level in the desired Service Level Schedules 

Extra Fee Schedule

The Extra Fee Schedule screen has been enhanced for better navigation. 

When creating a new extra fee schedule, the list of extra fees appears empty. Click Add Extra Fee to launch a dialog box that will allow you to provide all necessary details about the extra fee:

When Rated extra fees is checked, this dialog box will appear:

When Sliding extra fees is checked, this dialog box will appear:

Settings

There is a new Zone Layouts menu in Settings. This menu allows for the creation of multiple custom zone maps that can be associated to different customers and pricing templates.

To create new zone layouts or modify an existing one, 

1) Go to Settings > Zone Layouts and click on New Zone Layout :2) Type the name of the new zone layout, then click on Save:

A new zone layout will be created.

3) To edit or delete an existing zone layout, click on the zone name and either edit its name or click on Delete to delete it:

4) Go to Pricing > Zones and click on the displayed Zone layout or on the downward facing chevron, then select the target zone on which you want to apply your new custom Zone definition file:

5) Click on Choose File to fetch the desired KML zone file. Open the file in your file explorer. The file will import and its name will appear, then click on Import KML File.

Zones defined in the KML file will appear on screen.

6) To edit the KML file, click on Download File, apply your edits using Google My Maps or a similar tool, and repeat steps 4 and 5.

Note: if there are no Included zones, this means that no KML zone file has been uploaded. A warning message will popup if you attempt to import a new KML file in the Zone.

Invoicing

It is now possible to integrate a client account number into an invoice numbering system. You must contact your Dispatch Science service representative to enable this capability. 

The invoice email is used to send the invoice to the customer. Once an invoice is cancelled, the Send invoice is no longer available. 

Hold Reason

When creating or editing a hold reason, you can now define if an order put on hold using that reason can be either dispatched, dispatched with a warning or prevented from being dispatched altogether.

1) Go to Orders > Options and either select an existing Hold Reason by clicking on it or click on New Hold Reason to create a new one:

2) Click on the DISPATCH OPTION dropdown menu and select either Prevent Dispatching, Allow with Warning or Allow:

3) Click on Save to save the Option: