Customizing the Dispatch Grid

The Dispatch Grid can be customized to fit the needs of your company and can be adjusted based on the individual roles of users in your company based on whatever information is most vital to their assigned tasks.

Navigating to Grid Setup

1. Click on the ‘Dispatch‘ icon in the toolbar.
2. Click ‘Grid Setup‘ from the Dispatch screen.
3. The following pop-up will feature five tabs:
   1. Grid Setup
      1. Determine the columns of data that are to be present, the width of each column, and the order in which the columns appear.
   2. Date/Time
      1. Determine the date and time format, and the start and end time of the dispatch grid day.
   3. Conflicts
      1. Switch the assignment conflict reminder on or off.
   4. My Prefs
      1. Determine the preferences for the individual system user including hiding jobs in certain statuses, enabling iGrid controls, and more.
   5. Company Prefs
      1. Determine certain preferences that will apply for everyone in the company such as flagging reservations, and Driver Anywhere settings.

Grid Setup

You can drag and drop the different options (columns) to meet your needs. Dragging the option (column) to the top of the list will place the column to the left-hand side of the dispatch grid while dragging it to the bottom of the list will place the column to the right-hand side of the dispatch grid.

A check in the box to the left of the option (column) label activated the column in your dispatch grid while no check in the box will remove it from your dispatch grid.

The ‘px’ number box tells the grid how wide the column needs to be, measured in pixels. The smaller/larger the number the smaller/larger width of the column will be.

Date/Time

1. Select the desired ‘Date Format‘ from the drop down list.
2. Select the desired ‘Time Format‘ from the drop down list.
3. Choose how often the dispatch grid will refresh to show current statuses of trips for that day from the ‘Refresh Dispatch Every:‘ drop down list.
4. Select and set to ‘Yes‘ if the Dispatch grid is to refresh automatically after a payment is taken.
5. Select the ‘Start Time’ and ‘End Time’ of the Dispatch Grid Day that best fits the company’s business.
6. Click the ‘Update Dispatch Grid Fields’ button.

Conflicts

Enabling this feature (ON) creates a pop up advising if there is a conflict (Driver or Car) between two or more trips.

My Prefs

In the “Please select which statuses you would like to exclude by default when the grid loads” dropdown, choose any Statuses that are not to be shown on the Dispatch Grid. For example, if "Done" trips are not to be shown select "Done" from the drop-down list.

Selecting 'YES' to enable iGrid options places a down arrow icon on the far left of the Dispatch Grid which functions identical to the action of 'right mouse click' on a PC or MAC.

NOTE: This is required for iPad or other tablet devices where the 'right click' action is not possible.

Selecting “Yes” to highlight airport runs and/or VIP/VVIP Passenger status allows you to assign a color that those items while be highlighted in on the dispatch grid.

Showing Driver Contact, Passenger Contact, Billing Contact, Booking Contact, Car Information, or Affiliate Contact on hover will display the appropriate information within the dispatch grid when the mouse point is placed over the respective section.

Select the Default Mapping Link that is desired from the drop down list. Select from direct links to Google Maps or Yahoo Maps.

Table Grid Setup

Select the color desired for the text in the grid display. Default is black (#000).

Select the color desired for the borders in the grid display. Default is white (#FFFFF).

Enter a value for the size of the font and select if the value entered is in either pixels (px) (default), or points (pt).

Enter a value for the height of each row in the grid display, and select if the value entered is in   either pixels (px) (default), or points (pt).

HELPFUL HINT: the Row Height should be larger than the Font Size at a minimum 2 pixels or 2 points.

The text overflow selection controls how fields that have text that exceeds the size of that particular field will appear on the grid.

• Hide Excess Text will allow only what can fit in the grid field size as determined in Grid Set Up.
• Show All Text will automatically adjust the Row Height so that the complete text of that field can be shown.

Enabling Batch Update places a check-box on the far left of each row to allow you to update multiple trips at once with the same value.

The fields that can be changed via Batch Update are

• Status
• Vehicle Type
• Driver1
• Car1

When selected in a Dispatch Grid the Batch Edit window below will appear. Any changes made will apply to all selected (check box) trips when 'Batch Update Trips' is clicked.

The Status Color Coding selection controls how the dispatch row is color coded based on the status.

• Select Entire Row (default) to color the entire row based on the Status with the exception of cells in columns for Vehicle Type or Car which may have their own specific color coding.
• Select Status Column Only to make the color coding for the Status only appear in the cells in the Status column.

 Company Prefs

Note: In order for the ‘Flag’ options to appear on the Dispatch Grid the column titled ‘Special System Notification Flags’ must be selected in the Grid Setup step above.

1. Flag Reservations With Outstanding Balances:
   1. Select "YES" or "NO": Selecting "YES" puts the flag code "" in the flag column of the Dispatch Grid if the reservation is not paid in full.
2. Flag Reservation with Meet and Greet:
   1. Select "YES" or "NO": Selecting "YES" puts the flag code " " in the flag column of the Dispatch Grid if the reservation has a Meet and Greet requested.
3. Flag Reservations With Child Seats:
   1. Select "YES" or "NO": Selecting "YES" puts the flag code "" in the flag column of the Dispatch Grid if the reservation has Child Seats requested.
4. Flag Reservations Booked Less Than:
   1. Selecting an option from the drop-down list puts the flag code " " (Last Minute) in the flag column of the Dispatch Grid if the reservation was created less than the number of hours selected before pickup time.

Other Company Prefs

1. Select "YES" or "NO" for “Display DO and Spot Time in Quick Edit Form”:
   1. Selecting "YES" adds the Drop Off Time and Spot Time fields to the Quick Edit Form accessed by right clicking the trip in the Dispatch Grid, or selecting the iGrid control icon, and selecting the "Quick Edit" option.
2. Flag Driver Rejected Reservations:
   1. Selecting "YES" adds a column to the dispatch grid on the left side that will be color coded....
      1. Gray if a trip has been dispatched and the driver has not accepted or rejected it
      2. Red if a trip has been dispatched and the driver has rejected it
      3. Green if a trip has been dispatched and the driver has accepted it

3. Enable Driver Anywhere Messaging:
   1. Selecting "YES" enables sending a driver a message from the Dispatch Grid through Driver Anywhere by right clicking the trip in the Dispatch Grid, or selecting the iGrid control icon, and selecting the option "Send to DA".

Click the “Update Dispatch Grid Fields” button to save any changes.