The Dispatch screen shows you an overview of your 365 Booking & Dispatch system, including the active drivers, dispatched bookings, messages, shortcuts, and settings.
To access this screen:
- Click on the Booking & Dispatch button after logging into Autocab365.
Note: This button will show as greyed-out if you do not have access to the product.
Vehicle Summary
In the top left-hand corner, the following icons will provide you with a summary and status of your vehicles:
| Icon | Description |
| The number of active vehicles | |
| The number of vehicles with warnings | |
| The number of vehicles that are currently clear of jobs | |
| The number of vehicles that are busy | |
| The number of vehicles that are currently on a job | |
| The number of vehicles soon to be clear of a job | |
| The number of unavailable vehicles | |
| The total number of fleet vehicles |
Vehicle Queue
The left-hand section contains the vehicle queue and is useful for checking which vehicles are next in line for a booking:
- Callsign: The vehicle’s callsign.
- Zone: Which zone the vehicle is currently in.
- Time Clear: How long the vehicle has been clear of a booking.
Note: The 'Time Clear' time resets every time the driver swipes to complete a job.
Zones Grid
The middle section contains the zone grid and is useful for viewing how many vehicles are on-shift in a zone, as well as their status and queue order.
Note: Vehicles that are first in the queue order receive booking priority.
Descriptor: The zone shortcode.
Vehicle Number: A vehicle currently in the zone.
+5: Additional vehicles within the zone that are not being displayed.
Note: Additional vehicles can be viewed in detail by clicking on the + icon.
Toggle view
You can also toggle between the zones and map view.
Press the M key for the map, and Z key for the zones.
Note: You can zoom in on the map using your mouse, touchpad or the plus (+) and minus (-) keys to zoom in and out.
Driver Messages
The right-hand section contains driver messages and is useful for receiving from and sending messages to drivers.
Responding to Driver Messages
To respond to a driver message:
- Double-click on a message from the list, or press the Home key.
-
Type your reply or select a Standard Message.
- Then click Send.
Note: You can also click 'Send as Urgent' to display the message in red on Driver Companion.
Sending a driver message
To send a message to a driver:
- Press the F9 key and then the F1 key.
- Select the driver's Vehicle and enter the Message.
- Then click Send.
Active Bookings
The bottom section contains active bookings and is useful for tracking and managing active bookings.
Note: An ‘Active’ booking is a booking that is ready to be dispatched.
Modifying the Active Bookings Table
By right-clicking on the table header, you can modify the active bookings table with the following options:
- Auto Resize: Automatically resizes all the columns in the table so they are of an equal size in width.
- Rename Column: Allows you to override the default name of the column to a custom name.
- Reset Column Name: Resets the column name back to the default name.
- Hide Column: Remove the selected column from the table view.
- Customise Table: Select to open a menu where you can add new columns, edit column names and reset the table.
- Reset Table: Reset the table back to its default state.
When customising the table, there is a large number of columns that can be added. However, you can only have 30 columns in the table at a time. You must also have at least one column in your table.
Using Shortcuts
The bottom section also contains shortcuts that are useful for quickly executing certain functions.
Click here to view the shortcuts:
| Shortcut Key | Action |
| Space | Open the Booking form to create a new booking |
| B | Open the Advanced Bookings page where you can view upcoming prebookings |
| C | Cancel an active booking |
| D | Open the Dispatched Bookings page where you can view currently dispatched bookings. |
| E | Opens the Booking form where you can edit the selected active booking |
| F |
Opens a menu where you can view and to apply different active booking filters |
| H |
Place an active booking on hold |
| K |
Open the Driver Shifts page |
| L |
Highlight and centre on the selected booking on the map |
| M |
Change the zone view to the map view |
| R |
Release a held booking to the active screen |
| S |
Opens the Global Search modal where you can search and filter down bookings (This shortcut only works on the Dispatch Screen) |
| T |
Edit the dispatch due time of the booking. |
| V |
Opens the booking form as read-only where you can view the booking details |
| W |
Opens the Warnings screen where you can view warning alerts for bookings that are or might be running late |
| X |
Opens the Exchanged Bookings screen where you can view bookings from the Cab Exchange |
| Z |
Change the map view to the zone view |
| Home |
Read and reply to the most recent driver message |
| , |
View a list of all vehicles in your system |
| . |
View a list of all drivers in your system |
| F7 |
Opens the Vehicle Tracking screen where you can filter by Date, Booking ID and/or Vehicle ID to view a vehicle whereabouts |
| F8 |
Opens the Data Log History screen where you can view all data log records |
| CTRL + H |
Opens a modal where you set zones to hold or release active bookings |
| CTRL + I |
Opens the Zone IVR Control screen where you can toggle on or off IVR for that zone |
| CTRL + X |
Exchange a booking via Cab Exchange (Must be an Account booking) |
| Shift + L |
Opens the Locate Booking screen where you can locate an active booking, view its details, and request a vehicle for the booking |
| Shift + W |
Opens the Wall Status screen where you can view all currently active wall scenarios per zone |
| CTRL + S |
Opens the Global Search modal on any page or screen where you can search and filter down bookings |
Within sections and sub-menus, you can find further shortcuts. You can view these shortcuts within the bottom-menu or click the Keyboard () icon to open the shortcut menu.
Settings
You can access settings to control options in Booking and Dispatch, this also includes the ability to revert any customisations back to default.
To open the settings tab:
-
- Click on the User icon in the top right-hand corner.
- Click Settings in the dropdown menu.
-
App Configuration:
- Active Bookings Table: Enable to merge all currently advanced bookings into active.
- Audio Alert Volume: Adjust the volume of the audio alerts.
- CLI: Click to open and edit the Calling Line Identification (CLI) settings.
- Theme: Changes the theming of B&D to Dark or Light mode.
-
Notifications:
- Operator Messages: Enable or disable notifications for operator messages.
- Notification History Messages: Enable or disable notifications for notification history messages.
-
Resets:
- Forms: Resets all customised forms.
- Layouts: Resets all customised layouts.
- Tables: Resets all customised tables.
- Customisations: Resets any customisations applied in B&D.
-
App Configuration:
- Click on the User icon in the top right-hand corner.
Note: If the default theme is too bright, then you can instead use Dark Mode by clicking on "Toggle Dark Mode".
CLI Settings
From here you can also configure your CLI Settings:
- Extension: Enter your phone's extension digits.
-
Phone Type: Select which phone type to use.
- External: This is used for physical phone systems.
- Integrated: This is used to use our built-in softphone.
- Disabled: This is used to have the phone option disabled.
Emergency
If a driver triggers an emergency using the button in Driver Companion or their built-in vehicle panic button. Then the following warning will show on screen to call your attention to the emergency.