Driver Dispatch

At the heart of any transportation business is driver dispatch. Making sure as many loads are hauled as possible while maximizing efficiency and minimizing deadhead is the main goal of any dispatch office. Whether it is an owner operator working on the fly as loads are called in, or a large corporation with predetermined loads, making sure product gets from point A to point B as efficiently as possible is a daunting task. Over the years, Dispatch Commodity has worked to make a robust driver dispatch software solution to fit any bulk commodity transportation business. As we have grown, we have supported a wide range of hauling services with a variety of needs for their dispatching services.

  While it is important in the digital age to have access to live data for the most efficient dispatching, it is even more important to be able to interpret data easily and quickly in a user-friendly format. For a quickly growing transportation company, being able to swiftly train new dispatchers is invaluable. We developed our Dispatch Planner software with this in mind and gave an easy to read and simple to use graphical user interface. Loads are presented on a customizable and filterable grid and dispatches are made by dragging a load card to the desired driver. The Dispatch Planner, while simple on the surface for easy integration, offers a wide variety of features and customization for advanced users. For instance, enabling Estimated Cost of Time (ECOT) to run a given load will automatically size the load data card appropriately on the screen. Enabling the show deadhead feature will automatically calculate the deadhead between the drivers loads on the Dispatch Planner.

 Companies that are updating their software from an old system to Dispatch Commodity often desire a more minimalistic display of dispatch data. Our Dispatch Home page uses a grid style format that is completely customizable to fit the end users needs. We tie data from the loads to a dedicated grid system that can be sorted, filtered, imported, and exported for each individual dispatcher/user. This means that dispatchers can have the most relevant data all in one page to increase efficiency. Our Dispatch Home page also features a series of quick access buttons to make and or change dispatches as quickly as possible. One of our latest features even allows for dispatches to have a preferred destination enabled to automatically select a route based on what the location of origin is. This feature combined with our multiple dispatch feature enables dispatchers to create common dispatches en masse. Dispatchers can then select one load or multiple loads and selectively dispatch them to specific drivers all without needing to navigate to multiple pages.

Location information is a very powerful tool for a dispatcher. Dispatch Commodity’s Driver Map feature displays live location data to keep dispatchers up to date on load progress and make informed decisions. This view is a mix of a graphical representation of dispatching data and grid data making it useful for not only dispatchers, but also as a reporting tool for customers to see order progress in real time. As a bonus we also include a per load route map that marks GPS coordinates in relation to a specific dispatch for granular verification of delivery. Tracking driver locations allows us to also compare locations on a load-by-load basis to ensure that drivers are at the correct location and that drive time and any billable wait times line up when it comes to invoicing and payroll processing.

  Many companies have different ways of scheduling drivers, and this information can change the way a dispatcher handles the daily dispatching. Our driver scheduling feature allows for shift types and driver schedules to be entered and in turn can be linked to all the dispatching tools. For example, if there are different dispatchers working offsetting days, they no longer would need to go through any 3rd party scheduling software to see which drivers were working on a given day. Dispatch Commodity can reference these schedules and mark drivers as available or unavailable according to the entered schedule data. Schedules can also be changed in real time and reflect on the dispatching tools to prevent loads being dispatched to off duty drivers.

  As Dispatch Commodity continues to grow our client base we aim to adapt and accommodate client needs with even more features. We know that every business is diverse, and we want our software to be flexible enough to work for any bulk commodity transportation company. Let us help you and your company make the most out of your data and contact us today.