System > Properties > Dispatching Options

What are the dispatching options?

This is a menu to customize how work orders and the dispatch window behave in Trash Flow to benefit how you work.

Why set the dispatching options?

The dispatch window was designed specifically for busy employees who are sending trucks and containers where they need to go. The hauling industry sees a lot of variance in how and when customers are billed, whether or not to charge for weight or rental, who assigns the work and when, etc. Because of this variation Trash Flow tries to allow for as many of these scenarios as we can.

Dispatching will go more smoothly if certain information has already been entered in Trash Flow. Before you begin using the dispatch window in your company’s daily operations, confirm that the following tasks are completed.

How do I set the dispatching options?

Dispatching will go more smoothly if certain information has already been entered in Trash Flow. Before you begin using the dispatch window in your company’s daily operations, confirm that the following tasks are completed.

1. All drivers have been added to the list of employees.
2. All containers have been entered.
3. All current customers who might require work orders have been entered.
4. All customers with containers at their location have container placement(s) created with the corect address, size specifications, rates, and terms.

Once that’s done click System > Properties > Dispatching Options and check Enable Dispatching?. Choose whether you want to Dispatch Work Orders by employee names or trucks. Unless you have more than one dispatcher and each dispatcher is responsible only for certain drivers, leave the Dispatcher as the default, generic *Dispatcher. You can also set a default driver if you wish.

What other dispatching options are available?

• Most users will want Display uncompleted WO's on following days? checked; this option makes work orders remain on the dispatch list until you mark them as completed.
• The option to Assign start_end times when financially completing WO's? requires a bit more explanation. (If your drivers use the TeleRoute mobile app NEVER check this box.) If the dispatcher is in regular contact with the drivers throughout the day and wants to manually record what time they start and finish jobs, the option should be unchecked. However, if you do not need to track the drivers' movement in that level of detail, put a checkmark here; this will mark the job as being physically completed when you bill the customer for the work.
• Unassign uncompleted work orders at end of day takes all uncompleted jobs off the drivers’ schedules at the end of the day and moves them back to being unassigned. You should check this if you want to redo the driver schedules every day; if unchecked the work will stay assigned to that same driver until it is finished.
• Checking COD Customer Message notifies users whenever they create a work order for a customer who is flagged as Cash On Delivery and acts as a reminder that payment must be received before leaving a container with that customer.
• Default Container Search Choice affects users who track boxes by serial number. Trash Flow’s default when adding a container to a customer is to search for containers that are the correct size and currently available. The other options are to search for all containers OR all available containers regardless of size.
• The checkboxes for each day of the week should reflect which days you work. Trash Flow uses this to calculate the display on the Dispatching button of the main program window: how many work orders are unassigned, how many are scheduled for today, and how many are scheduled for tomorrow.
• Use Existing container in workorders? should not usually be checked. This option is only for users who manually assign a container to a customer account before completing the work order.
• Default Estimated Pull Date Days Out is used by haulers who track container serial numbers and use the estimated availability date on the Terms tab of container placements. This option lets you choose a default value: when you bring someone a container, how many days will they have it before the box is emptied?

Setting options for the dispatch window on your computer

The options above will apply to all computers that use Trash Flow, but you can also set options specific to your own computer.

If you often find that you are not able to complete all the work your customers have requested in a given day you may want to set priorities for the work orders.

1. In the dispatch window click Edit > Priority Terms. By default, Trash Flow lists task priorities as Lowest, Less than Normal, Normal, More than Normal, and Urgent. If you want to use these descriptions as is, click OK; otherwise, change the descriptions as desired and click OK.
2. Click Edit > Loads per day. Enter the No. of loads that you believe this driver should normally be assigned in a day, then enter the number of extra loads each driver can be assigned before being considered Over limit. Click OK to save your changes.
3. If you want to track what times your drivers are completing the jobs and they don't use TeleRoute you have two options. From the Edit menu you can switch between Display Start or End button and Display Start/End button. The “Start or End” option lets you mark two times on each work order: a start time for when the driver arrives at the site and an end time for when the work is done. The “Start/End” option only lets you mark one time on a work order, usually the time that the job is finished.