Big Logistics update: new opportunities for order management

The new year starts with new enhancements. We’re happy to announce that Logistics order management service has been greatly improved! Gurtam released the service a year ago, and since then Logistics has become very popular among Wialon users. We considered all your reviews and suggestions left on Wialon forum and implemented the best ones in the new service version. Let us introduce Logistics 1.8.

Orders

Orders Import

Now the orders can be imported to the system both in .csv and .xlsx format which simplifies the import procedure and makes it flexible.  After the import, you can easily make any changes in the table of orders. To edit any field of the table just click on it and make the necessary changes. A multiple editing feature is also supported in the table. To use it, indicate flags in the lines where similar information should be provided. Afterwards, edit any field of the table – identical changes will be applied to the corresponding fields of the chosen lines.

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We also added order templates to the new Logistics version so that you could save your time and arrange orders import more efficiently.

Order Properties

The updated Logistics module allows for more flexible work with orders. Now you can mark them with custom tags and then sort by given properties (e.g. by product category). Being marked with identical tags, orders can be bound to a definite warehouse, which ensures prompt search for the needed orders to distribute further.We now distinguish 2 order types:

• Single. This type of order has a fixed delivery interval and it is moved to history after its delivery. You can indicate a delivery interval for more than one day now. The feature is designed for planning orders that take more than twenty-four hours to be delivered.

• Permanent. This type of order is marked with delivery working hours only and is not bound to a specific date. Permanent orders can be used over and over with no need to create them. The feature will serve those businesses having permanent delivery points.

Route Planning and Distribution

New order properties brought us to enhanced planning opportunities. Here are the new flexible filters you can use for prompt order selection:

• by order type: single or permanent;
• by time interval: specify time interval (up to several days) to choose the necessary orders;
• by warehouses: sort the orders by geofences or tags, relates to specific warehouses.
• by tags: sort orders by custom tags.

Please note: sorting by warehouses in the route planning mode refers to order selection only, not to distribution.

 Also, for permanent order it’s highly important to indicate a date which is needed for further distribution.

 In the updated Logistics, while planning routes you can check distribution settings with no need to open general settings of the service. You can also change distribution settings at any stage of route building. Yet your general settings won’t be changed – the chosen parameters will be applied only for those orders you’re working with at the moment.

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Delivery Route Management

We’ve added an option to compare estimated (bold line) and actual (thin line) routes in real-time mode. The new feature allows a dispatcher to check courier performance.

Also, now a dispatcher can download and look through files, attached to an order by a courier throughout the delivery process.

Notifications

Logistics module has a flexible notification system to inform a customer on a courier’s arrival. The corresponding message can be sent automatically on a mobile number/ e-mail provided upon order creation. You can use custom notification templates to fill in the necessary information using special tags, for example, Locator link which allows to track courier’s arrival on the map.

In Logistics 1.8 the notification system has been significantly improved, this time for a courier fulfilling a delivery. We supported 9 notification types:

• Route creation – a dispatcher built a new route;
• Route deletion – a dispatcher discarded a route;
• Contact information has been changed – a dispatcher changed a phone number, email, etc.
• A file has been attached – a dispatcher attached a file to an order;
• A file was deleted – a dispatcher removed a file from an order;
• Order parameters have been changed – order information was changed, e.g. weight;
• Exceeded delivery time – a courier exceeded estimated delivery time;
• Exceeded uploading time – a courier exceeded estimated uploading time;
• Route deviation – an estimated track differs from the actual.

Notifications for couriers have text templates and flexible settings – you can apply various tags to inform a courier on order changes. We implemented push-notification technology; therefore, to receive them a courier should utilize Logistics Mobile app (App Store/Google Play).

Reports

Logistics reports have become more flexible. The implemented drag&drop feature in report tables generation allows for simple customization.

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We added information on temperature in reports for those businesses engaged in refrigerated transportations. Also, there are new table columns “Driver” and “Customer name” which allows for more comprehensive analysis of delivery performance.

Settings

Logistics setting have become more intuitive. Notifications settings can now be found in a separate tab. Distribution settings have been also redesigned.

 We removed “Actual orders” flag which is now active by default. To distribute “old” orders, please update the date in “Properties” tab.

 In distribution mode we added an opportunity to set “initial warehouse”, “intermediate warehouse” and “final warehouse” for determining which warehouses are to be involved in distribution. In case any warehouse is not set, the system will exclude it while distributing the orders.

 To help you gain insight into the new Logistics functions, we added brief explanations and tips to the interface.

Logistics Mobile

Web Logistics goes hand in hand with the mobile service version Logistics Mobile (App Store/Google Play), intended to make courier performance more efficient. Therefore we extended the functionality of the mobile app to bring new opportunities for interactions with customers and dispatchers during and after delivery:

• To confirm delivery, a courier now has an opportunity to attach a photo with customer signature to an order. Apart from signature, there will be customer name, delivery time and date indicated on a photo;
• We added various push-notifications (see the details above in “Notifications” paragraph);
• Weight information has been added to order card;
• American and British Imperial systems of measurements were added to the app.

We hope the new Logistics functionality will allow for more efficient order management.  We’re waiting for your reviews and suggestions at Wialon forum and are ready to implement the best ideas in the next Logistics update.

 Have a nice day!