Stops

Overview

A Stop represents one or multiple tasks that need to be completed at a certain Location. A stop can have a primary task, like a pickup or drop-off of a package and secondary tasks, like completing a checklist or collecting a proof of completing. A stop can be defined by customers as part of a Booking and can also be planned into Tours by dispatchers. Stops that are exclusively added to a tour without being part of a booking are called custom stops. Stops are eventually executed by Drivers using the Driver App.

We will now go into more details of various aspects of a stop:

• Types
• Location
• Contact details
• Timeslots
• Additional information
• Proof of completion
• Custom content
• Metadata
• Additional concepts

Details

Types

Stops can either be a Pickup, which indicated that a driver has to pick something up at this stop. Or it can be a Drop-off, which indicates that a driver has to drop something off at this stop. Additional types of stops like 'tasks' are planned. 

Location

Each stop has a location/ address associated with it, which in itself consists of multiple attributes:

• Street name and House number (required)
• Postal code (required, configurable)
• City (required)
• Geo-coordinates (required, will be optional soon)
• Location name (optional)
• Contact at location (optional, configurable)
• Additional information (optional, configurable)

Details on geo-coordinates

The exact location of a stop is not defined by the address but by geo-coordinates, which are expressed as lat/lng values (e.g. lat: 53.551085, lng: 10.3824).

Details on location name

This is the name of the location, which can be a publicly known place or point of interest, e.g. like an airport or a mall.

Contact details

The First name, Last name, Email and Phone number and required fields to fill in when making a booking. If the ‘Use contact details of the user account’ box is checked, these fields will be replaced by the details of the Customer who was first entered when making the booking.

Timeslots

In certain types of operations, it is desired to perform deliveries or other types of jobs within a specific timeframe. This can help to improve the efficiency of the operations, especially if the timeslot was selected by the customer.

On MotionTools, it is possible to indicate that a certain stop is supposed to be completed in a certain timeframe. Please read more about timeslots in this dedicated article.

Additional information

Additional information on a stop e.g. floor, suite, apt number can be added. This text field allows up to 280 characters. Up to 10 photos of the items to be transported can also be uploaded for planning the booking optimally.

Notes and photos are available on per stop basis for ease of customers to explain what needs to be done on each individual stop.

Proof of completion

Proof of completion is asked at each stop. The proof consists of at least one of the following three items: text comment, signature sign-off, or one or multiple photos. Learn more about proofs of completion here.

Custom content

This function will allow drivers to receive last-minute delivery instructions, and only admins will have this permission.

For example:

• A booking or a tour is created and scheduled for tomorrow. The recipient at the drop-off stop gets notified that the delivery has been scheduled.
• The recipient requests to admins to leave a package at a neighbour’s, or leave it at the front door because no one’s home at the time of delivery.
• The admin then adds a note to the booking stop to inform the driver about the last-minute instructions.

Metadata

Metadata can be added to stop, to basically save any information for any primarily internal purpose. Metadata is mainly visible to Admins, in some cases also to Customers. If a task or instruction needs to be highlighted to drivers in the driver app, please use our Custom content feature instead. Please read more about metadata in a dedicated article.

Additional concepts

Besides the above mentioned features, MotionTools offers additional ones that are closely related to stops. Please explore them by viewing the dedicated articles: Groups, Places, Geofencing & Priority flag.