The best way to contact us about a technical problem is to send an e-mail to support@digitalwaybill.com with a detailed description of your and your contact information (phone number and availability, if you prefer to be contacted by phone. You can also call us at any time at (800).575.3510. If no one is available to take your call immediately, leave a message and we'll return your call as soon as possible.
Our support agents will frequently use Remote Assistance to troubleshoot the problem, which allows them to take control of your system and perform the necessary troubleshooting steps. This can be accessed through 'Remote Assistance' from the 'Discover' menu within the program, or you can navigate to www.dwlogin.com from your web browser. Remote Assistance is our default remote desktop tool, but we can also create a Screen Connect session for you if the the first method doesn't work. Of course, our support agents will walk you through this process if necessary.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Setting Up Digital Waybill on Multiple Machines
Your main Order Panel is designed to be installed on one computer and left there; you really don't want to have the main panel installed on more than one machine at a time. However, Digital Waybill offers a few options for using the system on more than one computer. Some of them are designed for portability for a single user, and others are designed to allow multiple dispatchers at once. We'll outline the various options below.
If you've installed Digital Waybill on one computer and want to be able to access it remotely, we recommend third party remote desktop software called LogMeIn Free. There are a number of free remote desktop solutions out there, and you can pick the one you're most comfortable with, but LogMeIn is simple and easy to set up and works through any full-featured browser. A common use for LogMeIn is to access your office computer from home, or from another location when you're out of the office. To set it up, go to www.logmein.com and select LogMeIn Free from the products menu. You'll need to register for an account and install a small program on your main computer. Once this is done, you'll be able to securely access and take control of your main computer from any other computer with internet access. This type of remote desktop software will give you full access to the slave computer, not just Digital Waybill. However, only one person will be able to control the computer at any given time.
LogMeIn is really designed for remote access for a single user. For multiple simultaneous users, we've integrated some helpful features into Digital Waybill to allow for this. You can set up as many Order Entry Screens as you'd like. This is designed for offices who have call takers (employees who are taking calls and entering orders), but don't need any dispatching or other functionality. Basically what they'll see on these Order Entry Screens is the same window that pops up when you click 'Enter New' in your order panel. However, they won't be able to do anything else from the secondary computers.
If you need full-fledged simultaneous dispatching, give us a call to set you up with a Remote Panel. This requires an additional license, but allows for complete dispatch panels to be set up simultaneously on other computers. These Remote Panels have two limitations: they can't access the accounting functions via the 'Invoices' button, and they won't be able to edit prices or other settings in the 'Settings' window. These two functions can only be accessed through the main panel. Remote dispatchers will be able to access customers and driver lists, if you choose to allow that.
If you've installed Digital Waybill on one computer and want to be able to access it remotely, we recommend third party remote desktop software called LogMeIn Free. There are a number of free remote desktop solutions out there, and you can pick the one you're most comfortable with, but LogMeIn is simple and easy to set up and works through any full-featured browser. A common use for LogMeIn is to access your office computer from home, or from another location when you're out of the office. To set it up, go to www.logmein.com and select LogMeIn Free from the products menu. You'll need to register for an account and install a small program on your main computer. Once this is done, you'll be able to securely access and take control of your main computer from any other computer with internet access. This type of remote desktop software will give you full access to the slave computer, not just Digital Waybill. However, only one person will be able to control the computer at any given time.
LogMeIn is really designed for remote access for a single user. For multiple simultaneous users, we've integrated some helpful features into Digital Waybill to allow for this. You can set up as many Order Entry Screens as you'd like. This is designed for offices who have call takers (employees who are taking calls and entering orders), but don't need any dispatching or other functionality. Basically what they'll see on these Order Entry Screens is the same window that pops up when you click 'Enter New' in your order panel. However, they won't be able to do anything else from the secondary computers.
If you need full-fledged simultaneous dispatching, give us a call to set you up with a Remote Panel. This requires an additional license, but allows for complete dispatch panels to be set up simultaneously on other computers. These Remote Panels have two limitations: they can't access the accounting functions via the 'Invoices' button, and they won't be able to edit prices or other settings in the 'Settings' window. These two functions can only be accessed through the main panel. Remote dispatchers will be able to access customers and driver lists, if you choose to allow that.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Zone Sets & Zone Pricing
You can create a price table with all of your zones by adding a 'Zone Based' price list, and choosing the relevant zone set. If you'd like to confine your price list to only one zone (that is, all the orders will have an address in that zone as either the pickup or delivery address), you can select the 'Single Zone' option and select your base zone from the drop-down menu. From there, it's simply a matter of filling in all the rates per zone and service type.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Mobile App for Customer Ordering
You might have noticed that the 'Mobile App' has been enabled as a feature on your order panel. This allows your customers to place orders with you directly from your Android or Apple device. The first step in setting customers up with mobile ordering is to install the Quick Entry ordering client on their machines.
From here, have the customer click the Android icon in the bottom left, which will prompt them for an e-mail address to send login credentials. The app can then be downloaded from the Android Marketplace or the Apple App Store (pending Apple's approval, which will hopefully occur in the upcoming few weeks), and after logging in using the e-mailed information, your customers will be able to place apps from their phone.
From here, have the customer click the Android icon in the bottom left, which will prompt them for an e-mail address to send login credentials. The app can then be downloaded from the Android Marketplace or the Apple App Store (pending Apple's approval, which will hopefully occur in the upcoming few weeks), and after logging in using the e-mailed information, your customers will be able to place apps from their phone.
Monday, March 14, 2011
Placing Routed (Multiple Stop) Orders
Besides placing 'Point A' to 'Point B' orders, Digital Waybill also supports orders with multiple stops. There are a few features you can take advantage with these multiple stop orders, but to get started, you'll want to click 'Enter New' from the main dispatch pane. This is where you normally enter phone orders. If you click where it says 'Charge To:' right below the 'Pickup At:' heading, you'll change the order type to a routed order.
From here, once you've picked the customer and cost center to charge to, you can add as many delivery addresses as you need. Note that the first stop is usually considered the pickup address, and each subsequent stop can be either a pickup or delivery. To add a new stop, enter the address information. Click <Add New Stop> to set the current address as a stop and create a new one.
Once you've placed the order, you may notice a new 'Optimize' button has appeared next to the 'Directions' button. You can use this to optimize your route: just pick either 'A To Z' or 'Rountrip', and Google Maps will determine the most efficient driving route for your driver to take.
One last thing you can set up for routed orders is routed pricing. By default, the system calculates each leg of the route separately, as if it were its own order. However, you can access the 'Route Pricing' settings the same way as the 'Advanced Driver Pay'. Then, just set the price list of your choosing for each leg of the order. This might require you to create an additional price list or two. For instance, if the first leg of the order was charged normally, but each additional leg was and extra $5 with a slightly discounted mileage, you would create a distance price list with a $5 base charge and the applicable mileage charge, and apply from Stop 2 to Stop X (Stop 1 to Stop 2 is the first leg, which you would set from the standard list).
From here, once you've picked the customer and cost center to charge to, you can add as many delivery addresses as you need. Note that the first stop is usually considered the pickup address, and each subsequent stop can be either a pickup or delivery. To add a new stop, enter the address information. Click <Add New Stop> to set the current address as a stop and create a new one.
Once you've placed the order, you may notice a new 'Optimize' button has appeared next to the 'Directions' button. You can use this to optimize your route: just pick either 'A To Z' or 'Rountrip', and Google Maps will determine the most efficient driving route for your driver to take.
One last thing you can set up for routed orders is routed pricing. By default, the system calculates each leg of the route separately, as if it were its own order. However, you can access the 'Route Pricing' settings the same way as the 'Advanced Driver Pay'. Then, just set the price list of your choosing for each leg of the order. This might require you to create an additional price list or two. For instance, if the first leg of the order was charged normally, but each additional leg was and extra $5 with a slightly discounted mileage, you would create a distance price list with a $5 base charge and the applicable mileage charge, and apply from Stop 2 to Stop X (Stop 1 to Stop 2 is the first leg, which you would set from the standard list).
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Surcharge Sets
The base price for an order will be determined by your price lists in one of three ways (flat rate, zone table, or mileage). Once the base price has been calculated, surcharge sets give you a lot of extra flexibility to add additional charges and otherwise modify the price. They work very similar to price lists: you can create as many surcharge sets as you want, and each customer will be assigned a default surcharge set to be charged from. Just make sure you assign the surcharge set to the customer, otherwise they won't be calculated. You can assign price and surcharge lists in the customer details window.
To create a surcharge set, navigate to 'Settings', 'Pricing', and 'Surcharge Sets'. Select 'Add Surcharge Set' and pick a name to create your set. From here, we'll break down surcharges by type and show you how to customize the surcharges to your liking.
Weight Charges
Select 'Add Charge' to create a weight price list. If you're going to have different rates for different service types or package types, you'll need to add multiple charges. Otherwise, you can create all of your ranges within one charge. There are two different ways to create weight charges, and one important option that you may find useful.
-If you're going to be charging per pound, say 10¢ for example, you would create a weight range from 0-10000 lbs at .10 per 1 lb. You can create multiple ranges at different rates, but it's important to note that these ranges are cumulative by default. That is, it will calculate each range separately according to the rates that you've set, and add them together at the end. More on this below.
-If you have ranges, for example 0-100 lbs is $10 flat, 100-200 lbs is $15, and 200-300 is $18, you would create the ranges as follows
a) from '1 to 1 lbs', '10 per 1 lb'
b) from '101 to 101 lbs', '5 per 1 lb'
c) from '201 to 201 lbs', '3 per 1 lb'
This may seem a little confusing. What we're actually doing here is setting it up so that as soon as a package exceeds one lb, it will be calculated at $10 once. When the package weight hits 101 lbs, the system will add on $5, one time, so that the total surcharge will give the correct value of $15. Similarly, once the package weight exceeds 200, the system will add on an additional $3 to give you the correct rate of $18.
-You can combine these rates into a single pricing scheme. For example, if you created two ranges:
a) from '1 to 1 lbs', '20 per 1 lb'
b) from '100 to 10000 lbs', '.10 per 1 lb'
The surcharge set would charge a flat rate of $20 for the first 100 lbs, and then add on 10¢ per pound after that.
-It's important to understand the 'Apply Charge For Entire Order' option, as it can completely change your pricing. Normally, weight ranges are cumulative; that is, they're calculated separately and added together at the end. So if your ranges were 0-100 lbs at 20¢ per lb, 100-200 lbs at 15¢ per lb, and 200-300 lbs at 10¢ per lb, a 300 lb order would have a $45 dollar charge. The system gets $20 for the first 100 lbs, $15 for the next 100 and $10 for the final 100 and adds them together. However, if you check 'Apply Charge For Entire Order', the current weight range will override all the others. So in this case, a 300 lb order would be charged at 10¢ per lb for the entire order, giving you a total of $30 (instead of $45).
Piece Charges
Piece charges work the same as weight charges: you create ranges using the two methods outlined above, and you can use a price override by checking the 'Apply Charge For Entire Order' option.
Fuel Surcharges
Fuel surcharges can be calculated as a charge per mile, a percentage of base price, or a percentage of total price. Once again, you can create different fuel surcharges for different service/package types. The 'Driver Commission Override' allows you to exclude a driver from receiving fuel surcharges as part of his commission (0%), give the driver the full surcharge (100%), or anything in between. Otherwise he will use his standard commission percentage. One thing to note about fuel surcharges (and all other surcharges, for that matter): changing the rate won't retroactively adjust previous orders unless you recalculate. So if you change the fuel surcharge percentage every week to account for gas prices, your old orders from last week will still keep the proper charge from that week, as long as you don't 'Recalculate' the price in the price window.
Package Type Charges
Package type charges allow you add an additional flat rate for any combination of package and service types. Usually we try to integrate these differences into the base price list, but package type charges give you an easy and flexible way to add and change flat charges at any time.
Miscellaneous Charges
Miscellaneous charges are anything else that might be added on to an order. This might include wait time, extra manpower, oversized package, frozen goods, or whatever other additional charges your courier company use. These charges are added manually after the order has been placed, and are different from all the other surcharge types listed above, which are added automatically at the time the order is placed. To create a charge, just pick a name and enter in the value. To add this charge to the order, highlight the order and click on the order price in the bottom right of the dispatch window. Select the plus ('+') button in that window to pull up a list of miscellaneous charges. You can add any of these charges, at any time, in any quantity. For example, if your wait time charges were 50¢ a minute, you could add a 'Wait Time (per minute)' charge and change the quantity to 20 for 20 minutes of waiting. Just click 'Save and Close' when you've added all of your charges. You can also change the name, quantity, and price for any of the price components manually at any time by clicking on that field.
To create a surcharge set, navigate to 'Settings', 'Pricing', and 'Surcharge Sets'. Select 'Add Surcharge Set' and pick a name to create your set. From here, we'll break down surcharges by type and show you how to customize the surcharges to your liking.
Weight Charges
Select 'Add Charge' to create a weight price list. If you're going to have different rates for different service types or package types, you'll need to add multiple charges. Otherwise, you can create all of your ranges within one charge. There are two different ways to create weight charges, and one important option that you may find useful.
-If you're going to be charging per pound, say 10¢ for example, you would create a weight range from 0-10000 lbs at .10 per 1 lb. You can create multiple ranges at different rates, but it's important to note that these ranges are cumulative by default. That is, it will calculate each range separately according to the rates that you've set, and add them together at the end. More on this below.
-If you have ranges, for example 0-100 lbs is $10 flat, 100-200 lbs is $15, and 200-300 is $18, you would create the ranges as follows
a) from '1 to 1 lbs', '10 per 1 lb'
b) from '101 to 101 lbs', '5 per 1 lb'
c) from '201 to 201 lbs', '3 per 1 lb'
This may seem a little confusing. What we're actually doing here is setting it up so that as soon as a package exceeds one lb, it will be calculated at $10 once. When the package weight hits 101 lbs, the system will add on $5, one time, so that the total surcharge will give the correct value of $15. Similarly, once the package weight exceeds 200, the system will add on an additional $3 to give you the correct rate of $18.
-You can combine these rates into a single pricing scheme. For example, if you created two ranges:
a) from '1 to 1 lbs', '20 per 1 lb'
b) from '100 to 10000 lbs', '.10 per 1 lb'
The surcharge set would charge a flat rate of $20 for the first 100 lbs, and then add on 10¢ per pound after that.
-It's important to understand the 'Apply Charge For Entire Order' option, as it can completely change your pricing. Normally, weight ranges are cumulative; that is, they're calculated separately and added together at the end. So if your ranges were 0-100 lbs at 20¢ per lb, 100-200 lbs at 15¢ per lb, and 200-300 lbs at 10¢ per lb, a 300 lb order would have a $45 dollar charge. The system gets $20 for the first 100 lbs, $15 for the next 100 and $10 for the final 100 and adds them together. However, if you check 'Apply Charge For Entire Order', the current weight range will override all the others. So in this case, a 300 lb order would be charged at 10¢ per lb for the entire order, giving you a total of $30 (instead of $45).
Piece Charges
Piece charges work the same as weight charges: you create ranges using the two methods outlined above, and you can use a price override by checking the 'Apply Charge For Entire Order' option.
Fuel Surcharges
Fuel surcharges can be calculated as a charge per mile, a percentage of base price, or a percentage of total price. Once again, you can create different fuel surcharges for different service/package types. The 'Driver Commission Override' allows you to exclude a driver from receiving fuel surcharges as part of his commission (0%), give the driver the full surcharge (100%), or anything in between. Otherwise he will use his standard commission percentage. One thing to note about fuel surcharges (and all other surcharges, for that matter): changing the rate won't retroactively adjust previous orders unless you recalculate. So if you change the fuel surcharge percentage every week to account for gas prices, your old orders from last week will still keep the proper charge from that week, as long as you don't 'Recalculate' the price in the price window.
Package Type Charges
Package type charges allow you add an additional flat rate for any combination of package and service types. Usually we try to integrate these differences into the base price list, but package type charges give you an easy and flexible way to add and change flat charges at any time.
Miscellaneous Charges
Miscellaneous charges are anything else that might be added on to an order. This might include wait time, extra manpower, oversized package, frozen goods, or whatever other additional charges your courier company use. These charges are added manually after the order has been placed, and are different from all the other surcharge types listed above, which are added automatically at the time the order is placed. To create a charge, just pick a name and enter in the value. To add this charge to the order, highlight the order and click on the order price in the bottom right of the dispatch window. Select the plus ('+') button in that window to pull up a list of miscellaneous charges. You can add any of these charges, at any time, in any quantity. For example, if your wait time charges were 50¢ a minute, you could add a 'Wait Time (per minute)' charge and change the quantity to 20 for 20 minutes of waiting. Just click 'Save and Close' when you've added all of your charges. You can also change the name, quantity, and price for any of the price components manually at any time by clicking on that field.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Flat Pricing
Flat pricing is the simplest pricing scheme, dependent only on service type. When you create a new flat price list, you'll see each service type and its corresponding rate in the table.
You can also tie the this flat rate sheet to a specific zone set by selecting the 'Apply only to specified zone set' option. With this selected, the flat rates will be applied only within the selected zone set; otherwise, the price will rollover to the 'Rollover Pricelist', which you can choose at the bottom of the price window.
You can also tie the this flat rate sheet to a specific zone set by selecting the 'Apply only to specified zone set' option. With this selected, the flat rates will be applied only within the selected zone set; otherwise, the price will rollover to the 'Rollover Pricelist', which you can choose at the bottom of the price window.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Distance Pricing
Distance pricing takes advantage of our Google Maps integration to calculate the driving distance between pickup and delivery. You can use flexible options for base rates, minimums, and mileage charges over different ranges to achieve a price scheme to your liking.
Ranges allow you to set different rates for different legs of the journey. Say, for example, I wanted to charge a a base rate for the first 30 miles, a mileage charge from 30 to 100, and a higher mileage charge thereafter. The three sample ranges shown above of '0-30', '30-100', and '100-unlimited' would allow me to do this. Click on a range to set costs for that range.
Package/Service types allow you to customize the price very specifically. This allows you set different rates for each combination of package type and service type. Keep in mind, each of these combinations is at '0' by default, so you'll have to methodically go through every combination that you use and make sure it's filled in. If you want to change multiple service or package types at once (e.g. if all of your package types have the same minimum), hold down control and select all the package/service types that you would like.
Within each package/service combination, the price is broken down into 3 components.
1. Minimum: After the price for a certain range is calculated, Digital Waybill will check this leg of the price against the minimum. If it doesn't meet the minimum, the price for that range will be automatically bumped up to meet it.
4. Base Price: As soon as an order enters a given range, the base price is added to the order.
5. Price/Mi: The price per mile is added on to the base price within that range.
You can use all three of these components when designing your price list. Be aware that the minimum and base price are two different things. The full base price is always added as long as the order qualifies for that range. The mileage will be added second, and finally the system checks to see if it's reached the minimum. For example, in the range '0-20 mi' with 'Minimum = $15', 'Base Price = $10', and 'Price/Mi = $1', a 2 mile order would be calculated like so:
-The order is more than 0 miles, so the base price of $10 gets added right from the start.
-For the 2 miles, the system will add on an addition $2.
-Finally, the system checks the minimum. $12 doesn't qualify, so the price will be bumped up to a final price of $15.
One last, very important thing to note is that mileage ranges are cumulative, not overriding. We talked a little bit about this while explaining the new surcharge options, but weights and surcharges have an override option; distance does not. What this means is that for any given order, each leg (range) of the trip is calculated separately, and they're added together at the end. The current range will not override previous ranges. For example, if you had ranges from '0-10', '10-20', '20-30', and '30-40', a trip of 40 miles would calculate the first ten miles of the trip using the '0-10' specifications. It would then set this subtotal aside, calculate the next ten miles of the trip using the '10-20' rates, and set that total aside. After calculating each leg separately, it would add each subtotal together to get a final base price at the end. What it won't do for a 40 mile trip is take the '30-40' rates and apply them to the whole trip. This consideration is very important and may require you to make a few calculations when setting your pricing. Of course, you can always give us a call and we'll be happy to walk you through the process.
Package/Service types allow you to customize the price very specifically. This allows you set different rates for each combination of package type and service type. Keep in mind, each of these combinations is at '0' by default, so you'll have to methodically go through every combination that you use and make sure it's filled in. If you want to change multiple service or package types at once (e.g. if all of your package types have the same minimum), hold down control and select all the package/service types that you would like.
Within each package/service combination, the price is broken down into 3 components.
1. Minimum: After the price for a certain range is calculated, Digital Waybill will check this leg of the price against the minimum. If it doesn't meet the minimum, the price for that range will be automatically bumped up to meet it.
4. Base Price: As soon as an order enters a given range, the base price is added to the order.
5. Price/Mi: The price per mile is added on to the base price within that range.
You can use all three of these components when designing your price list. Be aware that the minimum and base price are two different things. The full base price is always added as long as the order qualifies for that range. The mileage will be added second, and finally the system checks to see if it's reached the minimum. For example, in the range '0-20 mi' with 'Minimum = $15', 'Base Price = $10', and 'Price/Mi = $1', a 2 mile order would be calculated like so:
-The order is more than 0 miles, so the base price of $10 gets added right from the start.
-For the 2 miles, the system will add on an addition $2.
-Finally, the system checks the minimum. $12 doesn't qualify, so the price will be bumped up to a final price of $15.
One last, very important thing to note is that mileage ranges are cumulative, not overriding. We talked a little bit about this while explaining the new surcharge options, but weights and surcharges have an override option; distance does not. What this means is that for any given order, each leg (range) of the trip is calculated separately, and they're added together at the end. The current range will not override previous ranges. For example, if you had ranges from '0-10', '10-20', '20-30', and '30-40', a trip of 40 miles would calculate the first ten miles of the trip using the '0-10' specifications. It would then set this subtotal aside, calculate the next ten miles of the trip using the '10-20' rates, and set that total aside. After calculating each leg separately, it would add each subtotal together to get a final base price at the end. What it won't do for a 40 mile trip is take the '30-40' rates and apply them to the whole trip. This consideration is very important and may require you to make a few calculations when setting your pricing. Of course, you can always give us a call and we'll be happy to walk you through the process.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
Installing the Quick Entry Client (As a Customer)
Besides using the online ordering shown below, your customers can also download a standalone program, called the Quick Entry client, that will allow them to place orders from a shortcut right on their desktop (without having to navigate to the website and log in). There's a few ways to install this program on your computer: you can have you customers go to the login page and download it directly with the 'Download' button, and they can also download it after they've logged in by clicking the link at the bottom of the screen. The easiest way to get your customers ordering with the Quick Entry, though, is to invite directly from Digital Waybill. You can find detailed instructions here.
Once your customer has downloaded the installation file, they can run it to install the program. If they downloaded it from the login page, they'll have to enter their customer ID and password; otherwise, it will already have their information stored in the program files and they won't even need to log in.
The Quick Entry client has all the functionality of web-based ordering (pickups, deliveries, 3rd party addresses, order history and tracking) along with the added features of optional GPS tracking, and the ability to place routed orders with multiple stops. All of these options can be accessed from the navigation bar at the top.
An important note: because the Quick Entry client operates independently of any web browser, your customers might need to open their firewalls for the client to work properly. You can usually do this by either adding an exception for the program (DigitalWaybill.exe) or opening port 8818 on their computer.
Once your customer has downloaded the installation file, they can run it to install the program. If they downloaded it from the login page, they'll have to enter their customer ID and password; otherwise, it will already have their information stored in the program files and they won't even need to log in.
The Quick Entry client has all the functionality of web-based ordering (pickups, deliveries, 3rd party addresses, order history and tracking) along with the added features of optional GPS tracking, and the ability to place routed orders with multiple stops. All of these options can be accessed from the navigation bar at the top.
An important note: because the Quick Entry client operates independently of any web browser, your customers might need to open their firewalls for the client to work properly. You can usually do this by either adding an exception for the program (DigitalWaybill.exe) or opening port 8818 on their computer.
Online Ordering (As a Customer)
Customer online ordering is an essential part of the Digital Waybill system, and we've created a couple different ways for your customers to place orders from their own home or office. Customers can log in through their web browsers and place orders online, or they can download a standalone program that will run from a shortcut on their desktop. Web-based ordering is extremely easy to set up and start using. (Tomorrow we'll talk about the standalone Quick Entry client).
Complete order history and order tracking with all details for every order made by that customer are also available from the navigation menu.
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