Overview
A Service in MotionTools represents the actual Service that is offered and fulfilled by the Operator. Services requested by customers are called Bookings, while Services that are fulfilled by drivers are called Tours. A typical approach for operators to increase efficiency, is to bundle multiple bookings into optimized tours and only then assign those tours to a specific driver or organization.
Services can come in different shapes and colors, which is why MotionTools allows to configure various aspects of a Service to better reflect reality:
- Service types
- Name & Description
- Standard configuration
- Dispatching
- Stops
- Proof of completion
- Capabilities
- Supervised operations
- Pricing
- Customer-facing experience
Details
Service types
MotionTools differentiates between customer facing services, called booking services and driver facing services, called tour services. In a standard configuration, there typically exists on booking service and one tour service. The following features and descriptions of a service largely apply to both types of services. However, there are some differences which is why we will soon introduce dedicated articles that will explain the differences between those two types in more details.
Name & Description
Each service has a name and a internal as well as external description, to ensure that both internal staff as well as external customers and drivers will understand what a service is about. These values can be translated into all languages that are enabled. The name and description are used e.g. in the customer portal to ensure that customers understand what they are booking.
Standard configuration
By default, there is only one booking and one tour service configured — these are called the “default” serviced. To find out which services exist on a tenant, you can go to the "Settings => Services" as an admin user in the dashboard or request the service configuration via API here.
Dispatching
Manual dispatching
Operators can use this feature to drive the behavior of newly created bookings and tours. Manual dispatching is configurable per service and scheduling mode.
If enabled, all new bookings or created tours will be going into the "on hold" status per default, rather than being automatically made visible to drivers.
Learn more about the manual dispatching here.
Scheduled bookings matching lead time
The lead time defines when the system will convert an unclaimed scheduled booking into an instant booking. Lead time is subtracted from the scheduled time, which is the designated start time of a booking or tour.
Stops
On the service level, an Operator can decide how many stops are required as a minimum and allowed as a maximum (up to 250) to be able to create a booking or tour. This can be helpful for certain types of transportation services if a minimum amount of stops is required to make the job worthwhile.
Proof of completion
Proof of stop 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.
Capabilities
Capabilities enable operators to offer booking options that align with their service offerings. For example, you can offer a vehicle size capability for the delivery service, with multiple choices such as a Small truck, a Medium truck, and a Large truck.
The capability options selected by a customer can impact the drivers that will be eligible, as well as the price of the booking. You can read more about capabilities here.
Supervised operations
There are two modes of cancelation policies that can be chosen from per Service: supervised and unsupervised, which are tied to ‘Supervised operations’ setting in the Services-Settings.
If you don't want to allow customers and driver to cancel bookings or tours themselves, please active the "supervised mode".
Dispatcher will still be able to cancel bookings and tours, however, if customers or drivers want to do it, they need to contact a dispatcher first.
Customer-facing experience
If services are enabled, customers can see different services in the Webbooker. Based on the selection of the service, details and bookings options of each service (e.g. Capabilities) are automatically adjusted. Customers can only see services of the type "booking".
