Proof of Delivery on TAM7 (iOS and Android)

TrackAbout Feature
Feature Name:	Proof of Delivery on TAM7 (iOS and Android)
In Module:	Proof of Delivery (Paperless Delivery)
Short Description	Proof of Delivery as it works for TAMobile 7
Available In:	TAMobile Android, TAMobile iOS
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Overview

COMPREHENSIVE DOCUMENTATION HERE - Media:Smartphone POD Training Material Customer.pptx

The Paperless Delivery Module for TAM7 (iOS and Android) allows drivers and dock workers to record deliveries to customers without starting with a paper copy of the order. After the delivery the data can be sent back into the business system.

Below are the high level steps in the process:

Orders can be created in TrackAbout or sent from your Business System through integration
Schedule your orders
Load your Truck and compare inventory to pending orders (Using Truck Load Module)
DOT truck manifest is created (Using Truck Load Module)
Driver makes deliveries with a smartphone
Driver prints/emails receipts if needed
Truck contents are unloaded end of day (Using Truck Load Module)
Truck is reconciled (Using Truck Load Module)
Delivery information is sent to business system (if integration is being used)

How does it work?

Proof of Delivery is broken into 4 phases:

Order Entry
Order Management
Deliveries/Returns/Transfers
Delivery Verification and Reconciliation

Set up and Getting Started

Proof of Delivery for TAMobile 7 requires subscription to our iOS/Android smartphone module. In addition, Proof of Delivery for TAMobile 7 works in conjunction with the Truck Load Module. If you don't already subscribe to these modules please contact your TrackAbout Sales Rep or support@trackabout.com

Order Entry

Billing Codes

Billing code are needed by some customer to help them bill properly based on asset ownership during paperless deliveries. A Billing Code is a short code that is used in some accounting systems for pricing of products for delivery and also for pricing of cylinder rental. This is not a permanent property of the asset. It is just the code under which the asset was transferred to the customer on a given order. Some gas distributors use the billing code in their accounting system to bill for the same type (e.g. product code/asset type) of asset differently based on whether or not that asset is owned by the target customer. They send TrackAbout this "billing code" via paperless delivery integration because they need it when actually picking which cylinders are going to get left with which customers and they need it to reconcile with their accounting system via invoice comparison later on.

Sample billing codes

GD = Gas Distributor (Company name code). Indicates that the customer is to be charged for the gas in the cylinder as well as for rental.

For these next three codes, the customer pays for the gas, but does not pay rent for the cylinder.

CO = Customer Owned
EX = Exchange
NR = Not Returnable

Why have both Ownership and Billing Code?

In an ideal world the Ownership and the Billing Code would be the same thing, but in practice we need two separate fields for this common case: Cylinders flow from the Gas Distributor (GD) to EX Billing Code and back again. A cylinder with an Ownership = "Gas Distributor ACME" could be delivered as either an "EX" or "GD" Billing Code. In either case when that cylinder is returned the Ownership must remain unchanged.

Notes

Billing codes currently are not required to be sent over with the Orders. However, if delivering an asset for which its classification is unknown, you will be required to select a Billing Code from a list when classifying the asset. Therefore, at least one Billing Code needs to be established.

There is a request to make it completely optional across the systems (Ticket 19091 and V1 B-04612).

Billing codes are setup by the TrackAbout support staff. There is currently no tools or API calls to set billing codes.

Orders Requirements

NOTE: These are the minimum requirements for POD functionality. These are not the minimum requirements for API integration. The API requirements can be found by going to the API documentation > Help and then going to the Validation section.

Order #
Customer Id
Location
- Determines which routes can be used
Route
Trip
- Puts orders into groups by Trip Number. Can be the entire route or a subset of the route. If only some orders are not populating, check the trip drop-down box at the top of the order list screen.
- A trip can be in any format, but trip numbers must be unique per day, per truck.
  - Trip Number Suggestions:
    - Planned delivery date
    - "AM and PM" for morning and afternoon deliveries
    - "1,2,3,..." Groups of deliveries by stops for Universities
    - Geographical area
- Preferable to bring it over with the Order during Integration. Can use the Order Planning page, which is cumbersome.
Order Date
Planned Delivery Date
- Should not be in the future. Only Planned Delivery date with today's date or older will be downloaded to the mobile devices.
- Order status displays on the Order Search page and on the Order Detail page. Note that there might be exception to this for customer using Custom Asset Info (CAI) and Custom Info Types (CIT).
Order Line Items
Billing codes currently are not required to be sent over with the Orders, unless they include hard goods.
- If delivering hard goods a billing code will be required for them, but not for regular line items.

Common Questions

For front counter orders, do we need to send a trip number?
If the order will be downloaded to the TAMobile 6 or TAMobile 7 apps, in POD, a trip number is required. If the client doesn't need to see the orders on the devices, but only on the website, the trip number is not required.

Is Billing Code require only for POD?
Billing code is only required for POD. If a customer is using Simple Delivery instead, sending a billing code can cause display issues on the TA end.

Order Management

Once your orders are in TrackAbout, you may schedule them and update them through the Order Planning page.

This page will allow you to group orders together by trip, truck and route, as well as modify the Planned Delivery Date. Orders must have an assigned Truck/Location and Route to show on a device.

Deliveries/Returns/Transfers

Setting up Drivers

First you will need to enable smartphone access for the user if not already enabled. You can do this by going to that user's profile page and checking the TAMobile Android/iOS box found in the Access section.
Then you will need to assign the user a Working Location, Truck, and Route (Note: Working Location and Truck can be changed from the smartphone once set up). These settings are in the user's profile page under TAMobile Android/iOS Settings.
- Working location - For drivers this is likely to always be the same as the location they are assigned to, but for administrators that move locations they are likely to switch locations for delivery. This helps filter Route choices and orders.
- Load Inventory for this Truck or Branch - Select the appropriate truck to download the unique assets to the smartphone. If the user doesn't do deliveries (will call, customer pickup, etc) select the branch they will be working out of. This will download the unique assets of a branch to the smartphone so that deliveries can be made without using the Load and Unload Truck functions.
- Route - Filters the appropriate orders to the smartphone.

Deliveries from the Dock/Branch

It is also possible to use paperless delivery features when making deliveries directly from a branch. These are normally deliveries that take place "on the dock".

The handheld computers only have information for assets in a branch's inventory which have been scanned on a record in the last X days ( this is a configurable value with a max of 180 days.) This is done to reduce the number of records that are sent down to the device, the assumption being that assets that have been inactive for so long will probably not be delivered. (This is an internal configuration, ask your TA Support team to update it for you).

A good way to find the assets that will be sent down is to use the "Only show assets that were on a record in the past X days" option in the Current Inventory page

Picking

(Note: called "Sort Trip Load" when adding this action to a mobile role)

This action is used to pick assets in preparation to be loaded onto a specific truck and trip using the smartphone. Assets to be picked are generated based off of the orders loaded onto the handheld for customer delivery. In order to use the Picking action, all orders must be initially routed with trips and trucks. Note: A trip is a collection of orders that will be delivered together on the same truck at the same time.

Refer to the Picking for information about how to use this feature.

Load Truck (with Trip)

The Load Truck process moves the assets from the branch to the Truck that is associated with the trip selected during the Load Truck action. The operator can either select from the list of available trips, scan, or begin typing the trip number. The operator will see the name of the truck that is associated with each trip number available to be loaded.

Summary Screen - The operator will see a summarized view of what has been picked and loaded on the truck, including both what was ordered and actually loaded. The operator can tap View Details to view a list of barcodes and products added. If this information is correct, the user can tap save. This will update the use state of the assets to In Transit.

Refer to the Load Truck page for more detailed information.

Delivery

The main POD delivery screen displays the following information for the driver:

Truck – Prepopulated from the truck assignment either on the web or from the hamburger menu.
Trip – If there is more than one trip, the user can tap on the Trip line to scan, type in, or select from the list of trips.
Order/Delivery details - Customer Number and ID, Order/Delivery Number, Summarized view of ordered and returned quantities, Order and Customer Comments. Note: All orders are displayed in routed delivery sequence.

(Note: User can tap the scan button here to scan a Trip, Order, or Truck Barcode.)

Main Screen - Operators will scan all deliveries and returns by tapping the yellow button at the bottom of the screen. Drivers do not need to tap the line item to begin scanning. TrackAbout will automatically recognize assets that have been loaded as "shipped" assets, and assets that are at a customer as "returned" assets. TrackAbout displays the following information to the operator for every order: (Note: Hardgoods cannot be returned, only shipped.)

Item Code and Description
Ordered Quantity per Item Code - Ship is the quantity to be delivered, Return is the quantity to be picked up. Note: If you are using Full/Empty Codes, the Full Code line will only show Ship quantities and the Empty Code line will only show Return quantities.
Actual Scanned/Added Quantity per Item Code
Bill (Billing Code): Will only be present for clients currently using billing codes for integration into external systems.

Delivering Scanned Assets - As assets are scanned, the lines are appropriately updated and as they are completed, will turn green and move to the bottom of the list.
Delivering Items by Quantity - When adding items (either hard goods/consumables or regular products) by product code and quantity only (without barcodes), tap on an existing line item to enter in the quantity for ships and returns. For hard goods/consumables, if fulfilling the line completely, the user can swipe to the left to complete the line.
Adding Items by Quantity not on the order - For products not listed on the main screen, the user may tap the Note button in the bottom right hand corner of the screen and click “Add Line Item” to search for product codes to add. Select the product code or hard good code then tap Next. Enter a quantity for ships and returns or use the ‘+/-’ buttons to increase or decrease quantities.
Comparing what was Ordered to what was Delivered/Returned - Once all items have been scanned/added, tap the Next button in the upper right hand corner of the screen to complete the final delivery steps. If all lines that were delivered/returned match the lines on the order you will automatically be taken to the delivery confirmation screen to get the customer’s signature.

NOTE: If there were returned assets scanned/added that were not part of the original order, TrackAbout will highlight the rows as green, as we assume all clients want their assets back. If the number of assets ordered does not match the number of assets scanned/added during Delivery, the operator will be alerted that there is a mismatch after tapping the Next button.

- Reason Codes - If the operator chooses to continue to save the Delivery action with mismatched lines, customers can choose to have a list of reason codes to select and assign to each mismatched line. The operator may tap on each mismatched line to assign the required reason code; once assigned, the line turns green.
Completing the Delivery - The Delivery Confirmation screen provides a summarized view of what was ordered and delivered/picked up. Enter the individual's name accepting the delivery and tap in the space provided to have them sign.

Next, the driver has the opportunity to add an email address to send a proof of delivery. A default email address be set on the customer's profile in TrackAbout.
The use state for all assets delivered will now be Delivered, and for returns will be Empty.

Unload Truck (with Trip)

When unloading a truck for a trip, the operator will be required to either scan or select a truck from the drop down menu, then scan/type in/select the appropriate trip. The operator will automatically be taken to the scan screen where they can scan assets to be offloaded.

Unloading Items by Quantity - When adding items (either hard goods/consumables or regular products) by product code and quantity only (without barcodes), tap the crossed-out barcode at the bottom of the screen to enter by item and quantity as in Picking and Delivery. Note: For customers using Full/Empty Codes, be sure to type in the empty product code for assets being returned.
Completing Unload Truck - Once finished unloading, tap Save in the upper right hand corner. The location of the assets will now change to the plant, but use states will remain the same.

Proof of Delivery Receipt

Delivery Verification

TrackAbout provides a delivery verification process to manage transactions being made with your customers. See Verification Summary

Verification is a method of simply stopping a record from appearing in the web page on which it is displayed. Invoices are the most common type of records which can be verified - they are verified in the Verifications page. However, there are other pages from which records are verified, such as the Lost Assets Found page.

Invoices may be automatically verified if the tracking data matches the data from the business system. If there are discrepancies between the business system's version of an invoice and the assets that actually got scanned on an invoice through TrackAbout, then that invoice will appear on the Verifications page. An invoice's appearance on the Verifications page gives you an opportunity to confirm, i.e., "verify," that the invoice is correct. Hitting the Verify button will not change the invoice in any way. It will simply cause it to no longer appear on the Verifications page.

Related Features

Truck Reconcilation