IMPORTANT: Release 1.29 contains major enhancements to the Dispatch Science Notifications. Its implementation affects all notification templates that contain attachments. These notification templates will need to be manually updated to link default reports to the affected notification templates.

New features included in this release

• It is now possible to fully customize the layout of Notifications in Dispatch Science. This means that you can add any kind of formula, content such as text, graphics, tables, media, or introduce external forms like a driver star rating system, to your notifications.
• When a dispatcher sets an order as Picked up or Delivered, he can immediately set the proof of pickup or delivery time and recipient name from either the Dispatch Map or Dispatch Grid
• Dispatchers no longer have to navigate between the route map and the drivers to review the stop sequence of a route: The Dispatch Map now also displays the stop sequence of a route in addition to the pick-up and delivery points.
• Two new types of Dispatch Science user roles have been created: Limited Access CSR and Limited Access Dispatcher

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 and Administration

Notifications

A new level of personalization, called Content Templates has been added to the Notifications in Dispatch Science. This capability affects both the Back Office and Administration sections of the application.

Content Templates are templates that are used with notification templates. They include a flexible self-service HTML text editor with access to a wide variety of order-related information within Dispatch Science. It allows administrators to create their own email or SMS notification templates for use in alerting customers, their clients, or staff of activity captured in Dispatch Science.

What follows is a summary of the capabilities offered by this new feature along with important updates to the product's user interface. 

A separate Notifications User Guide is planned for more advanced users.

Navigation Changes

1) There is now a new sub-menu in Accounts > Notifications. In the new interface Content Templates now appears.

Old Interface:                                                                   New Interface with Content templates sub-menu:

2) The Notifications The Notification Templates interface has changed. 

Old Notifications Templates Interface:

New Notifications Templates Interface:

IMPORTANT: THE OPTION TO SPECIFY AN ATTACHMENT HAS BEEN REPLACED WITH THE ABILITY TO OVERRIDE DEFAULT EMAIL OR SMS CONTENT WITH CUSTOM CONTENT AS DESCRIBED BELOW. IF YOU CURRENTLY HAVE NOTIFICATION TEMPLATES THAT CONTAIN ATTACHMENTS, YOU MUST UPDATE THEIR ASSOCIATED CONTENT TEMPLATES TO ENSURE THAT RECIPIENTS CONTINUE RECEIVING THEIR ATTACHMENTS.

The new interface now includes a Default Content group of standard notifications. By default, these standard notifications are identical to those already available in previous versions of Dispatch Science. However, the templates themselves have been moved to the new Content Templates menu and can now be edited, and new ones can be created using the built-in editing tool.

In the new Interface, It is now possible to issue customized email and SMS notifications that are different from one recipient to another. This means that you can even create fully customized notifications that differ from customer to another. Simply choose a custom template by clicking on the associate dropdown below the Override SMS content or Override Email Content columns.

3) The Content Templates interface:

The first 15 templates are identical to those already available in previous versions and are pre-populated in the Default Notifications templates. 

Note: If your notifications were previously customized by Dispatch Science, they will be migrated without change as Default Content Templates in version 1.29.

Each major Event Type is described in the middle column and the Content Type, or delivery mechanism is identified in the third column.

To customize a Default content template:

1) Click on any Default content template to launch the template editor:

2) In the template editor, you can change the name of the template, and apply edits of your choice. 

You can edit the template names. 

The list of content variables specific to Dispatch Science that you can specify are called Properties and can be found in the Insert>Properties menu:

By clicking Help?, you will obtain the full list of the available properties that you can use in your template:

The body of the template can use the below properties. Some values can be null; be careful when using them.

When you select a property to insert, the associated HTML codes will automatically be inserted in the editor. For instance, if you select Delivery Address in the Properties dropdown, the following lines of code that determine a delivery address will automatically be inserted in the editor:

3) If you want to create custom CSS stylesheets for your page, you can do so in the Stylesheet section of the editor:

Note: Knowledge of HTML is required to use this function.

4) If you need to associate an attachment to your content template, scroll to the bottom of the editor where you will find the Attachments menu:

5) Select your report from the REPORT dropdown list and a format from the FORMAT dropdown. 

Click +Add Report if you want to add additional attachments to the notification. 

Click on the to remove a report from the list.

THIS IS WHERE YOU CAN REASSOCIATE YOUR ATTACHMENTS IN THE NEW INTERFACE.

6) When you have finished editing your template, click on Validate:

7) Click on Preview to review either the content in each language:

A preview of the notification will appear. For instance, in the case of a basic default "Driver arrived at delivery destinationnotification, a basic notification page will be shown in a new browser tab:

Here is a sample of how far you can take your notifications using the self-service notification template editor:

8) Click Save to save the content template or Delete to delete it.

To create a new content template, go to Accounts>Notifications>Content Templates:

1) Click on New Content Template to launch the HTML template editor:

2) Give the new content template a NAME, select an EVENT TYPE from the dropdown menu, and select a CONTENT TYPE by checking either Email or SMS, then click on Create:

The list of all 15 available notification event types is the following:

1. All
2. Order Created
3. Order Picked Up
4. Driver Arrived at Pickup
5. Driver Arrived at Delivery
6. Order Delivered
7. Order Cancelled
8. Order on Hold
9. Order Released
10. Start of Pickup Window
11. End of Pickup Window
12. Pickup ETA
13. Start of Delivery Window
14. End of Delivery Window
15. Delivery ETA

Changes to Notification Templates also affect the behavior of Notifications for Recurring Orders. Users must now select a template from the existing drop down list of existing Notification Templates.

How it works

1) Go to Orders > Recurring Orders, and click on Notifications:

2) Click on the Notification Template drop down menu and select the template you intend to use for the recurring order. 

Note: If the notification template you want to use is different from those already available in the system, you may need to create a new one. If none are s, the application will use the account's default notification template.

Dispatch Board

Dispatch Map and Dispatch Grid

When a dispatcher sets an order as Picked up or Delivered, he will be immediately be offered to add Proof of Pickup or delivery time and name on either the Dispatch Map or Dispatch Grid

On the Dispatch Map:

1) Click on any order to view ORDER DETAILS, then scroll to the bottom section of ORDER DETAILS. Click on the 3 dots to view the associated dropdown menu:

2) Click on either SET PICKED UP or SET DELIVERED:  

The current time will be displayed along with a NAME box for data entry. Adjust the pickup or delivery time if required and add a proof of pickup/delivery name. Click SET PICKED UP/SET DELIVERED to complete the process:

Click CANCEL if you wish to cancel your action.

NOTE: if no name is typed, the displayed name will be NULL:

On the Dispatch Grid:

1) Click on any order to view Order Details (order details will slide out from the right when you click on any order), then scroll to the bottom section of Order Details. Click on the 3 dots to view the associated dropdown menu:

2) Follow the same steps as shown above for the Dispatch Map.

Dispatch Map

Routes

Route information displayed on the map has been enhanced to include the stop list when clicking on a route

1) Click on any route and, in addition to pick-up and delivery icons, the map will also display the stop sequence: 

Administration

Users

Two new types of user roles with limited access have been created: Limited Access CSR and Limited Access Dispatcher. Limited access CSR and Dispatcher users will not have access to the Accounts and Drivers functions of Dispatch Science. Dispatchers with the No Price role will see their capabilities further reduced as they too will no longer have access to the Accounts and Drivers functions:

Order Import

A confirmation email will be sent to the user who did the import on the Order Import and the Tech support email added to your site when: orders have been successfully imported into Dispatch Science; were imported but contain warnings; or have failed to import. 

NOTE: To ensure that your internal support team is also alerted when batch orders are being imported, please send an email to support@dispatchscience.com to provide a Tech Support email address.