Feature of the month: Tours
WHAT’S NEW?
We’ve introduced a dedicated Tours page and revised the Operations page by dividing the Backlog into separate Incoming and Outgoing sections. The Incoming section now shows bookings, while the Outgoing section shows tours. The changes to the Operations page are already available, and we plan to roll out the Tours page to all tenants in November.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
Since introducing the concept of tours, we've noticed that the difference between bookings and tours can be difficult to grasp, especially for new dispatchers. However, tours are a crucial component of MotionTools. They play a significant role in managing delivery operations, and their importance can’t be overstated.
From now on, tours will be considered as a separate entity rather than a subtype of bookings. Here's a way to look at it: a booking represents the customer request, while a tour is a - typically optimized - task assigned to a driver to fulfill that customer request.
WHAT’S NEXT?
Over the next months, you'll notice that the Bookings page has lost some functionality related to tours to emphasize the difference between bookings and tours. At the same time, you'll see tours becoming more visible on the dashboard, along with new tour-specific features designed to enhance the efficiency of delivery operations.
More features and updates
Offline mode in the Driver app
The Driver app now allows drivers to complete a stop even without being connected to the internet. If the app loses connection as a driver approaches a stop, it automatically switches to offline mode. It then saves all actions performed on a stop, including collected proofs of stop completion, on the device. These are then uploaded to the backend once the connection is reestablished.
Support for time windows when optimizing a route
Our Optimize Route feature now takes into account the time window of each stop. The optimization engine works to ensure all stops are visited within their respective time windows, minimizing the driver's time spent on the road. We plan to roll out the feature to all tenants in November. Once rolled out, simply add the earliest and latest arrival times to stops to take advantage of the time-aware optimization. Learn more about route optimization in the Help Center.
New Home Page on the Dashboard
The all-new Home page for dispatchers is a complete overhaul of the previous version. It now features an onboarding section to help first-time users get started with MotionTools and a row of quick actions for easy access to frequently used functions like creating a new booking. Most importantly, the Home page now includes a metrics section that gives dispatchers an overview of the current state of bookings, tours, packages, and drivers across all service areas. We'll be rolling out the new Home page to all tenants in November.
Metadata on stops is now editable
We keep expanding the range of stop attributes that can be edited after creation. In October, we introduced support for metadata editing directly from the Booking Details page. Learn more about the stop editing functionality in the Help Center.