These features are available on your Test site as of the evening of February 4 and on your Production site on the evening of February 11.New Features in This Release
- Rollout of the new Dispatch Boards
- Credit card preauthorization enhancements
- Multi-company improvements for drivers
- Customer Portal Self-Serve Improvements
- Other minor enhancements
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Driver App
- BackOffice
- Dispatch Board
- Self-Serve
- Optimization
- Administration
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.
OData: Data fields and variables saved in OData
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/
Scripting: Custom script building abilities and functions within Dispatch Science
Driver App
Set Order on Hold in Offline Mode
A driver will now be able to set an Order On Hold when in Offline mode. This is transparent to the Driver.
This feature will only be available when using Exception codes and not the legacy Hold Reasons.Popup Displayed Instead of Toast Message on Error During Login
When logging in to the Driver App, if there is an error, it was displayed at the bottom of the login screen as a Toast message:
This was changed to show in a popup message for clarity:
BackOffice
Login Pages
On the Login Page for Back Office, you can now show the password using the eye icon:
Orders
Navigate from an Order to the Dispatch Board
In this release, you will no longer navigate to the legacy Map Board when clicking on the dispatch icon (
) in the Order details or when selecting Navigate to order on Dispatch Board, instead you will navigate to the New Map Board:
1) In Order details, click on 
to navigate to the Order on the Dispatch Board:
In Order list, from an Order menu, select Navigate to order on Dispatch Board:
2) If you have a new Map Board, the first Map Board will open in a new tab and the Order will show on the right panel.
If you do not have a Map Board, you will be directed to the Board list. A message will be displayed to create a Map Board:
To create the Map Board, close the message by clicking on the x.
Click on the Add board button:
Enter a Board name, select Board Type Map, enter an optional description and click on Create.
Return to the Back Office tab and reopen the Order by clicking on the icon or the menu item and it will refresh the tab with the Map board and the selected Order.
Credit Card as Billing Option on Account's Orders
When no credit card is set on the Account or the User, depending on the setting in the Account's Credit Card Option, a dialog box will display asking the internal user to enter the credit card instead of displaying the error message on the Order:
Account's Credit Card option set to Account:
Account's Credit Card option set to User:
Clicking on Add Credit Card button will create the Order and add the Credit Card.
Clicking on Cancel will close the popup and return to the Order creation screen and the Order will not be created.
Account Setup with Pre-Authorized Hold
It is possible to setup an Account to have a pre-authorized hold on the Account/User credit card when an Order is created. For more information on how to set this up, please see Setup Pre-Authorization.
Create an Order with a Pre-Authorization Hold
When creating an Order with a Pre-Authorized hold setup on the Account, the following dialog box will show after clicking Create Order:
- Account with Credit Card Setup by Account with a Credit Card and Pre-authorization:
- Account with Credit Card Setup by User with a Credit Card and Pre-authorization:
When creating an Order with a Pre-Authorized hold setup on the Account but no credit card entered, the following dialog box will show after clicking Create Order:
- Account setup with Credit Card Setup Account without a Credit Card:
- Account setup with Credit Card Setup User without a Credit Card
User can then enter the credit card and it will be saved on the Account/User, the Order will be created, a pre-authorization will be held on Stripe, the Pre-Authorization hold will show in the Order history:
Pre-authorized hold are only done during Order creation. No Pre-authorization hold will be done on Orders that are reactivated once they were cancelled or after delivery. Cancelled Orders automatically has the pre-authorization amount cancelled. The pre-authorization amount will then be automatically cancelled and the funds will be released in a few days, depending on the credit card type. The pre-authorization amount will not change when Order price changes, either by adding extra fees, changing the vehicle, the service level, the pickup/delivery addresses, adding items or changing the weight.
If the pre-authorization amount is less than the Stripe minimum (0.50) or more than the Stripe maximum (1,000,000), the pre-authorization will be skipped and the Order will be created. In the Order history, you will see an entry to indicate that the Pre-authorization has been skipped:
If the card is declined for any reason during the pre-authorization process, the user will be returned to the Order screen and the Order will not be created. An error message will be displayed:This will not block the Account.
Automatic Invoice Generation for Orders with Pre-Authorizations
When Orders set with Pre-Authorization and Billing Cycle set as system defined After Delivery are delivered or at the end of day for delivered Orders with Billing Cycle set as system defined Daily, their invoice will automatically be generated.
Once Invoice is generated, the following will happen:
- Invoice with an amount less than or equal to the pre-authorization will be paid using the pre-authorizated held amount and the remainder of the amount will be released. A payment will be created with the amount and applied to the invoice.
- Invoice with an amount greater than the pre-authorization will be have a payment done using the pre-authorized held amount. This payment will be created with the amount and applied to the invoice as a partial payment.
A second payment will be done using the same credit card for the remainder of the invoice amount. This second payment will be created and applied to close the invoice.
The user-s will receive 2 emails, one with partial payment and one with the rest of the payment with a balance of 0. - If pre-authorization has lapsed or has been cancelled by the credit card or in Stripe, upon invoice generation, Dispatch Science will attempt to pay using the pre-authorization hold but since it was cancelled or released, the payment will be done on the credit card and a payment will be created and associated to the invoice. Since the pre-authorization was not cancelled through Dispatch Science by cancelling the Order, no payment will be created for this failed attempt. You can review Stripe to see the released pre-authorization to see the reason.
- If the second payment fails, the payment will be created and marked as cancelled with the fail reason and the invoice will remain open. The account will be blocked and no other Orders will be able to be created by and for any users.
As a reminder, cancelling a credit card payment will only cancel it in Dispatch Science, it will not cancel in Stripe. In order to cancel the payment in Stripe, you need to login to Stripe and manually cancel the credit payment.Order Templates
Pricing Zones on OrderTemplates
The Pricing Zones is now showing on Order Templates when using Pricing by Zone:
If the price is manually adjusted, the zones are no longer visible since the zones are not used to calculate the delivery charge.Drivers
Drivers List
In the Drivers List, the Role has been added as a column.
If user does not have access to Roles as part of his right, the column will show as text:
If user has access to Roles as part of his right, the column will show as a link that, when clicked, will open in a new tab the Driver role:
Clicking on the link will open the role if the user has access:
Driver Details
Driver's Company
If Dispatch Science is configured to use multiple Companies, Additions/Deductions of type $, are added/deducted on the Driver Settlement for that default Company. This is done to ensure an Addition/Deduction of type $ is only added/deducted once per Settlement when Drivers work for multiple Companies.
If the Driver made no deliveries for the default Company, the additions/deductions of type $ will not be added/deducted to/from the Driver Settlement.
You can now setup a new default Company at the Driver level to allow adding/deducting these $ type additions/deductions.
Select a Different Company on the Driver than the Default Company
1) Open Drivers then open the Driver to update.
2) Navigate to the Additions/Deductions section at the bottom of the page:
3) Edit the section
4) You can now select a new default Company for this Driver and this will override the default Company setup in Settings>Company for this Driver only. All $ type additions/deductions will then be added/deducted from this Company's Settlement when Driver has deliveries in this Company for the Settlement period.
Driver must have unsettled delivered Orders for the Accounts associated with this new default company with delivery date in the Settlement period for the settlement to be generated.Settlements
Under Drivers>Settlements
A new 
has been added when generating Settlements to explain which Orders will be available to be settled:
Accounts
Pre-Authorization on Credit Card Payment
A Pre-Authorization hold can be taken from the Account or User credit card when Orders get created.
If you have Stripe setup on your tenant, you can request to have the pre-authorization feature enabled by contacting submitting a request via support.freshdesk.com. If you do not have Stripe setup on your tenant, you can setup an account with Stripe and provide the information to Dispatch Science Support and have both enabled at the same time.Pre-authorizations are held between 5 to 7 days depending on the card type:
- Visa: 4 days and 18 hours
- Mastercard : 7 days
- American Express: 7 days
- Discover: 7 days
In the Billing Options, you can set up a pre-authorization hold when the Billing Method is set to By Credit Card, either by Account or by User. Setting the Billing Method to By Credit Card with a Pre-Authorization Hold will automatically adjust the Billing Cycle field to After Delivery and the Invoice Separated By field to Order.
The Billing Cycle field can also be set to the automatic Daily where Orders are invoiced daily at the end of the day. If you do not have the automatic system defined Daily billing cycle, you can request to have this setup by emailing Support.
Once an order is created, a pre-authorization hold will be placed on the credit card of either the Account or the Account User, depending on the settings in the Account’s Billing Options. On delivery or at the end of the day depending on the billing cycle, upon invoice generation, the pre-authorization hold is used to pay the invoice while releasing any amount left over on pre-authorization hold.
Setup Pre-Authorization
1) In the Account's Billing Options, the following options must be set in order to enable the Pre-authorization hold setting:
- Billing Method: By Credit Card
- Billing Cycle: Daily (system defined) or After Delivery (system defined)
- Invoice Separated By: Order
2) The Apply Pre-Authorized Hold in the Pre-Authorization Hold section will be enabled once the above 3 selections are specified:
When Billing Cycle is the system defined After Delivery or a Pre-authorization is setup, the Verify Orders Before Invoicing will automatically be set to Off and be disabled. In the Overridable Driver Options section, the Override 'Require Order Verification on Extra Updated by Driver's Settings will be checked, the Require Order Verification on Extra Updated by Driver will be unchecked and the section will be disabled. On the Account's Orders, the Verify before Invoicing and Verify for both found in the Order menu will be disabled. Any API endpoint calls attempting to change an Order to Verify before Invoicing will fail. Any scripts attempting to change an Order to Verify before Invoicing will also fail. This is done to ensure that invoice are generated in a timely fashion to ensure that pre-authorization will not fail due to its time constraint.
3) Check the Apply Pre-authorized Hold checkbox and this will enable the Pre-authorized Factor and Maximum Amount fields.
4) Enter the pre-authorization Factor (a number between 1.00 and 100.00 where 1 is the actual Total Order amount at Order creation).
This calculates the pre-authorization amount to be held on the credit card by multiplying the Total Order amount by a specified factor. The factor helps ensure that the pre-authorized amount is sufficient to cover any additional fees and taxes that may be added after the Order is created and when the invoice is generated.
5) Enter a Maximum Amount if you want a maximum amount to be pre-authorized.
If the calculation of the pre-authorized amount with the factor is greater than the maximum amount, the maximum amount will be used as the pre-authorized hold.
Upon Invoice generation, the invoice will be paid using the pre-authorized amount. If the invoice total is less than the pre-authorized amount, the total will be paid and the remainder of the pre-authorized amount will be released. If the invoice total is equal to the pre-authorized amount, the total will be paid by the pre-authorization hold. If the invoice total is greater than the pre-authorized amount, the pre-authorized amount will be used to partially pay the invoice. Another credit card payment will be done on the same credit card for the invoice total remainder and the user will be sent 2 emails, one with the pre-authorization amount and one with the additional payment. You will see 2 payments for this invoice in your transactions. If the pre-authorization amount is less than 0.50 or more than 1,000,000 (minimum and maximum Stripe amounts), the pre-authorization will fail. The second payment will also fail if it is below the minimum or higher than the maximum amounts.
4) Click Save.
Dispatch Board
Dispatch Board Grid Board and Map Board
New Map Boards
In version 1.69, the next generation boards were introduced. You were able to create a new Map Board that showed as a tab on the Grid Board (
). You could then navigate between grid and map boards and, similar to the grid boards, have multiple map boards with different filters.
In this release, when you click on Dispatch (
), you will automatically be directed to the Boards and all boards, be it grid or map, will automatically show in the horizontal board list if one of the board is set as default:
If no board is set as default or if no board has been set, you will be directed to the Board list where you will be able to select an existing board or create a new board:
Home Icon
When opening the Map Board and selecting a Driver then opening the stop list tab or when opening a Map on a Grid Board then selecting a Driver and the stop list tab, the Map filters to show the Driver workload with the rainbow road.
In addition, if the Driver has the Return Home option checked in his Driver Options, the Home location will show as an a Home icon in the Driver color (
)on the map.
On the Map Board:
On a Grid Board Map:
Lasso Feature
The Lasso functionality allows you to select multiple Orders at a time either by dragging and dropping the pins into the lasso box or by drawing a shape around the pins to add to the lasso box. Once Orders are selected, from the Lasso box, you can dispatch/unassign these orders. This feature was added to the Map Board.
Viewing Orders:
On the Drivers pane with a Driver open and Order list tab selected:
Bounce Feature
The bounce feature allows you to see either both stops when hovering over the Order or the corresponding pickup or delivery associated to the stop you are hovering over.
On the Map Board, the bounce feature is now enabled in the Orders and the Driver Order List.
Order Status Update
On the Map and Grid Boards, when an order's status is updated, the Order status will update as soon as the success is sent back rather than wait for the automatic refresh of the Boards where it could take 15 to 30 seconds.
The actions that will trigger an automatic update are:
- Order Dispatched
- Order Unassigned
- Order Picked up
- Order Delivered
- Order set on Hold
- Order Released
- Order Cancelled
- Order Reactivate
(There may be a delay when on segmented Orders) - Accept Suggestion
- Never Suggest or Do not suggest to This Driver
- Exception code added
- Convert Routed Order to On Demand
- Move Order to a Route
- Set Order at Checkpoint
- Edit Order Attributes
Self-Serve
Login Pages
On the Login Page for Self-Serve, you can now show the password using the eye icon:
Import Contacts
A Self-Serve user with access to create Account Contacts or User Contacts, can now upload contacts from a CSV file.
Upload Account Contacts
To upload Account Contacts, the self-serve user must have edit access to the Account Contacts as part of its role. To be able to import contacts with a latitude and longitude, user must have access to the Add Address From Postal/Zip Code permission.
1) Open My Contacts then click on Import menu and then Import button:
2) Click on Download Template to download the Import contact template file
3) Fill in the Template file and save. This should be saved as a CSV file.
Address Line 1: required
Address Line 2: optional, this would be a suite or apt number
Company: optional
State/Province: required
City: required
Zip/Postal Code: required
Address Latitude: optional, must have access to the Add Address From Postal/Zip Code permission as part of role to enter a value in this column
Address Longitude: optional, must have access to the Add Address From Postal/Zip Code permission as part of role to enter a value in this column
Notes: optional
Load/Unload Time (min): optional, this would be the number of minutes to add to each stop above the default number of minutes setup on the Tenant
Account Id: required, Account Id where the contact should be added. The account id will show in the list provided. If user has been given access to more than one account through a Master account, several accounts would show in the list otherwise only one account would be displayed
Name: required, this will be the name of the contact
Phone Number: required
Email: optional, if used, this must be a valid format for an email
Language: required, en=English, fr=French, es=Spanish
4) Drag and drop the file in the dialog box or click on Select a file then navigate to the file location, select it and click Open.
5) Click on the Upload button.
If user has no access to edit contacts of type accounts as part of its role, the following will be displayed and the import will not be performed:
If the user omits the Account Id and has no access to edit the user contacts, the following will be displayed and the import will not be done:
If the user omits the Account I and has access to edit the user contacts, the contacts will be imported as user contacts rather than account contacts.
Upload User Contacts
To upload User contacts, user must have edit access to the User Contacts as part of its role. To be able to import contacts with a latitude and longitude, user must have access to the Add Address From Postal/Zip Code permission.
1) Open My Contacts then click on Import menu and then Import button:
2) Click on Download Template to download the Import contact template file
3) Fill in the Template file and save. This should be saved as a CSV file.
Address Line 1: required
Address Line 2: optional, this would be a suite or apt number
Company: optional
State/Province: required
City: required
Zip/Postal Code: required
Address Latitude: optional, must have access to the Add Address From Postal/Zip Code permission as part of role to enter a value in this column
Address Longitude: optional, must have access to the Add Address From Postal/Zip Code permission as part of role to enter a value in this column
Notes: optional
Load/Unload Time (min): optional, this would be the number of minutes to add to each stop above the default number of minutes setup on the Tenant
Account Id: Leave empty
Name: required, this will be the name of the contact
Phone Number: required
Email: optional, if used, this must be a valid format for an email
Language: required, en=English, fr=French, es=Spanish
4) Drag and drop the file in the dialog box or click on Select a file then navigate to the file location, select it and click Open.
5) Click on the Upload button.
If user has no access to edit contacts of type user as part of its role, the import will assume that the import should be done at the Account level and an Account Id is required therefore the following will be displayed and the import will not be done:
If user has no access to edit contacts of type account as part of its role but entered an account id in the file, the following will be displayed and the import will not be done:
If user has no access to edit contacts of type account or user, the Import menu will be hidden:
Order Creation on Account Setup with Pre-Authorization
Pre-authorization can now be set on the Account. For more information on how to set this up, please see Setup Pre-Authorization.
Create an Order with access to Credit Card Permission
Without a credit card associated:
1) Create a new Order and click on Create
If credit card setup is by Account, you will be asked to enter the Account credit card:
If credit setup is by User, you will be asked to enter the User credit card:
2) Enter the credit card, it will be associated to the Account/User depending on the setup on the Account and the Order will be created.
Optimization
Route Optimization
In the Route Optimization, when Orders have a common pickup or delivery hub, the hub is usually the same as the configured Route warehouse. This allows to speed up the optimization and enforces the desired routing shapes where Orders are grouped together for a common pickup or delivery.
This behavior has been extended to include hubs that are near the Route warehouse but not at the exact same geolocation or address. If the Route warehouse and the hub are within a minute travelling time, they will be considered together and will be done one after the other according to the grouping setup in the Accounts.
Administration
Service Level Schedules
Found under Pricing>Service Levels
Delete a Service Level Schedule from the List
You can now delete a Service Level Schedule if it is not used in an Account or a default Service Level Schedule and you have the permission to do so.
To setup the permission to delete a Service Level Schedule, please review Delete Service Level Schedule permission link.
1) Open Pricing and Service Levels
2) In the list, you will now see a trash can (
) to the right end of the row.
3) Click on 
and then click on Delete to confirm:
4) If the Service Level Schedule is a default, you will see the following error message and the Service Level Schedule will not be deleted:
If the Service Level Schedule is used on an Account, you will see the following message with the list of Accounts where the Schedule is used:
If the Service Level Schedule is not a default and not used, then the Service Level Schedule will be deleted:
Delete a Service Level Schedule from the Service Level Schedule Details
You can also delete a Service Level Schedule if it is not used in an Account or a default Service Level Schedule from the Service Level Schedule details.
1) Open Pricing and Service Levels
2) Click on the Service Level Schedule to delete
3) Click on the Delete button then click Delete to confirm.
4) If the Service Level Schedule is a default, you will see the following error message and the Service Level Schedule will not be deleted:
If the Service Level Schedule is used on an Account, you will see the following message with the list of Accounts where the Schedule is used:
If the Service Level Schedule is not a default and not used, then the Service Level Schedule will be deleted:
Extra Fee Schedule
Found under Pricing>Extra Fees
On the Extra Fee Schedule details, the Extra Fee list will now show both the Extra Fee name and the Extra Fee ID in parentheses:
When opening the Extra Fee, both the Extra Fee name and ID are now displayed:
Roles
Found under Settings>Configurations>System>Roles
Delete Service Level Schedules Permission
To allow internal users to delete a Service Level Schedule, role must have a minimum of view access to Service level schedules and action right on Service level schedules-Delete.
This right is automatically selected on Roles of type Internal Admin.Script Rules
Found under Settings>System>Script Rules
Script Rules Table Script Link
In the Script Rules Table, the Script column now shows as a link to easily navigate to the corresponding script.
Clicking on the link will automatically open the Script in a new tab:
Script Rules Details Script Link
In the Script Rule details, a new link icon has been added beside the Script drop-down field.
Clicking on the link will automatically open the Script in a new tab:
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