Overview of Dispatch Configuration - 365 Management

The Dispatch Configuration screen is where you can control how your system deals with dispatching work to your drivers.

This is useful for ensuring the dispatching of jobs is fair and efficient, this will also mean fewer complaints from your drivers.

To access this screen:

1. Click on Dispatch Configuration from the Dispatch dropdown menu.
   
   

The following settings can be configured:

General Settings

The General Settings tab contains settings that are important for overall dispatch functionality as they will affect your drivers and bookings globally.

• Hold NAK'd Bookings: Enable to 'Hold' bookings on the active screen that have been NAK'd.
• Enable Dispatch To NAK Zone: Enable to allow bookings to be dispatched to vehicles in the NAK zone. 
• Soon To Clear Mode: Select if vehicles are manually or automatically set to 'Soon to Clear' when entering the booking destination zone. 
• Default Split Booking Mode: Select which vehicle type should be used when splitting a booking. 
• Booking Priority Order (m): Bookings within this range in metres will be given priority. 
• Maximum Nearest Dispatch Distance (m): The system will not dispatch a booking to vehicles that are outside of this range when in a backup zone using 'Nearest Vehicle'. 
• Nearest VS Longest In Zone Tune Distance (m): If a vehicle is within this radius and has been waiting longer than the nearest vehicle, then it will be given priority. 
• Follow On Bookings: Enable to allow follow-on bookings for vehicles that are already busy and select a dispatch mode, e.g. Manual. 
  • None: Disables Follow on Bookings, and drivers will not receive any follow on bookings. 
  • Manual: Enables follow on bookings, but can only be dispatched by an operator.
  • Automatic: Enables Follow on bookings, they are dispatched automatically.
  • Manual and Automatic: Enables Follow on bookings, they can be dispatched manually by an operator or automatically.
• Enable Booking Release Code: Enable to allow operators to set a booking release code for certain bookings. 
• Enable Zone Grouping: Enable to allow zones to be grouped together. 
• Callback Mode: Select which booking typer callback is enabled on.
• Booking Priority Order: This allows you to fine-tune the booking priority order. 
• Shortest Waiting Backup Zone Price Threshold: Any 'Shortest Waiting' backup zones will be changed to 'Longest Waiting' if they exceed this price. 
• Nearest Vehicle VS Longest Waiting Minutes: If a vehicle has been waiting for longer than the set time, then it will have booking priority over the next nearest vehicle. 
• Dispatch Modes:
  • Multi Pickup: Enable to allow multiple pickup locations on a booking. 
  • All Jobs Are Multi Pickup: Enable to dispatch all jobs as multi pickup jobs.
• Priorities:
  • Account Bookings Priority: Set the priority level for account bookings (E.g. 0-9).
  • Advanced Booking Priority: Set the priority level for advanced bookings (E.g. 0-9).
  • IVR Bookings Priority: Set the priority level for IVR bookings (E.g. 0-9).
  • Mobile App Bookings Priority: Set the priority level for mobile app bookings (E.g. 0-9).
• Times:
  • Limit Work Time: Set how long a driver can be in the 'Limit Work' status when using the limit work command.
  • Dispatch Booking Penalty Time: Set how long after receiving a booking, a driver must wait before they can accept another. 
  • Cancel Booking Penalty Time: Set how long a driver must wait if they have cancelled a booking. 
  • Soon To Clear Time: Set how long a driver can remain in the 'Soon to Clear' status. 

Bidding

The Bidding tab contains settings that are used to control how the system selects drivers to dispatch bookings to if they have successfully bid on a booking.

• ASAP Bidding:
  • Bidding Mode: Select which mode the system will use for allowing bidding on ASAP bookings. 
  • Enable Bidding List: Enable to provide drivers with a list of bookings they've bid on. 
  • Show Bidding List Duplicates: Disable to hide bookings with the same text.
  • Booking Bid Expiry Time: Set how long the system will wait before a driver's bid on a booking expires.
  • Vehicle Bid Expiry Time: Set how long the system will wait before a vehicle's bid on a booking expires.
    • Allow Bidding While Busy: Enable to allow bidding on other jobs when already busy on a job. 
      • Off: Disables bidding on other jobs whilst already busy on a job.
      • Manual Mode: Allows drivers to bid on other jobs whilst busy. Provides access to the 'To Bid' menu while busy, which is an unsafe practice while driving. We recommend that you use the Bid Offer Mode option instead,
      • Bid Offer Mode: Allows drivers to bid on other jobs whilst busy on a current job. Job offers are given if the driver is 'Soon To Clear' and within backup zones.
  • Bid Busy Hold Time: If a driver is busy when they bid on another job, the system will wait this amount of time before reallocating the job if still busy. 
  • Bidding List Fields: Select which fields should be displayed on the bidding list to drivers. 
  • Bidding List Max Bookings: Set the maximum number of bookings to show on the bidding list. 
  • Maximum Bidding Distance: Set the maximum distance a driver can be from a job before they cannot bid on it. 

• Active Booking Bidding: This section contains your bid for active bookings settings. 
  • Enable Bidding for Active Bookings: Turn on to allow drivers to bid for active bookings within Driver Companion. 
  • Limit Number of Bookings Shown: Set how many bookings should be displayed (1-10).
  • Enable New Active Booking Notification: Turn on to show a push notification to off-app drivers so they know a new active booking is available to bid on.
  • Default Job Selection Recipe: Select a special job recipe if you want to filter which active bookings can be bid on. 

• Prebook Bidding:
  • Enable Bidding for Prebooking: Toggle to enable or disable bidding for pre-bookings. 
  • Show Held Prebookings?: Enable to display 'Held' prebookings to drivers on Driver Companion. 
  • Limit Number of Bookings Shown?: Toggle on and enter a value to limit the maximum number of bookings available to bid on in Driver Companion.
  • Add Callsign to Booking: Select if pre-bookings should display the vehicle callsign, driver callsign or both. 
  • Enable New Prebooking Notification: Toggle if pre-booking notifications are off, only shown when a driver is 'Clear', or always shown.
  • Booking Offering Order: Allows you to specify the order in which drivers are able to bid on a pre-booking.
  • Booking Recipes: Select the job selection recipe for pre-bookings.
    • Special Booking Recipe: Choose the recipe from the drop-down list.
    • Restrict Bids?: Enable to implement a specific restriction on bidding for the recipe. 
      • Restriction Rule: Input how many bids are available to place on an hourly basis.
  • Default Booking Offering Order: Select which offering order will be used by default for pre-bookings. 

Route Calculation

The Route Calculation tab contains settings that control how the system calculates the route for your bookings.

• Route Calculation:
  • Mode: Select which mode the system will use for calculating booking routes. 
  • Mode for ETAs: Select which mode the system will use for calculating booking ETAs. 
  • Google API Key: Enter the Google API key if using Google mode. 
• Route Calculation Variations:
  • Start/End Point Tolerance For Route (m): Set the tolerance allowance for CostMaster to provide alternative start/end points for booking routes. 
  • Max. Route Length For Variations: Set the maximum length an alternative route can be compared to the original route. 
• Route Calculation Options:
  • Use Quickest Route For Journeys Further Than (km): Set how far a journey can be before the system will automatically use the quickest route over alternatives. 
  • Objective: Select if the system should use the shortest or longest route. 
  • Ignore Times: Enable to avoid roads that cannot be used at certain times. 
  • Display Calculated Route On Map: Enable to display the calculated route on the operator's map view. 

Advanced

The Advanced tab allows you to add custom data channels to the system. 

Add data channel

To add a new data channel:

1. Click on the Add button on the right-hand side. 
   
   
2. Enter the data channel details.
   
   
3. Then click Create.