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In today's RDS
operations, the
dispatcher is
constantly spending
time on the
telephone just to
confirm the status
of the fax that was
just sent over to a
restaurant.
A
large bulk of a
dispatcher's time is
no only spent on the
phone with the
restaurant, but also
spent waiting on
hold while the
restaurant goes to
verify the status of
the fax that was
sent over.
Many times during my
random tour of an
RDS, I hear the
dispatcher have to
explain WHO they are
over the phone to a
new restaurant
employee.
Through a little
questioning, we
found that RDS order
volumes seems to
follow the "80/20"
rule.... that is,
80% of the business
seems to flow
through 20% of the
restaurants.
(Individual results
may, of course,
vary).
Thanks to the
debugging help of
two of our RDS
customers, DMS now
has the ability to
page restaurants via
a 2-way (SNPP) pager
help automate the
confirmation
process. Now,
beginning in DMS
builds 667 and
above, if the
Restaurant paging
system is activated
in DMS (Setup -->
Assisted Dispatch),
and a pager number
is entered for the
restaurant (Setup
--> Restaurants),
DMS will send out a
page to the pager
upon completion of
the fax.
This page contains
the question:
"Did you receive
order number (12345
version X) from (RDS
Company)", with the
canned-response
answers of: "YES",
"NO", and "PLEASE
CALL REGARDING THIS
ORDER."
As soon as the order
is faxed to the
restaurant, the
order is
"auto-confirmed" on
the DMS dispatch
screen. If the
person at the
restaurant answers
"YES", no additional
action is taken in
the software.
If the person
answers "NO" or
"CALL ME", the order
is changed to an
"UNCONFIRMED and
UN-FAXED" status in
dispatch, and a
sticky note is sent
to the dispatcher to
alert him/her of the
issue.
If no response is
received from this
page within five
minutes, a sticky
note is also sent to
the dispatcher.
This paging system
can be turned on or
off per restaurant
(depending upon
whether or not you
enter in a pager
number in restaurant
setup).
Following the
"80/20" rule, the
idea is to put a
2-way pager on the
hip of persons at
restaurants that
generate the most
call-confirmation
volume.
While you can
certainly arm the
restaurant with a
Nextel radio for a
2-way paging
solution, it's
probably not the
best solution
cost-wise.
The two RDS's
utilizing this
system so far have
opted for 2-way
pagers from Skytel.
(http://www.skytel.com).
Skytel provides an
external SNPP
messaging gateway
required for
communications.
For more information
on pricing and pager
details, you can
contact Eula Bloom
at 800-217-1005.
Since she has worked
with an existing
system before, she
now knows exactly
what is required for
any additional
services wanting to
utilize this system.
If you have
questions regarding
this new feature in
DMS, please don't
hesitate to contact
us!
FAQ OF THE
MONTH
As more and more
persons are starting
to utilize the Rapid
Rewards Program in
DMS to create
loyalty programs in
their RDS
operations, people
are also wondering
how to manually
adjust the current
number of points a
particular customer
has.
As point thresholds
are crossed, DMS
will automatically
redeem points and
make a log entry
into the Rapid
Rewards Log.
However, if a manual
adjustment is
required, you can
always to go the
Customer Entry
Screen, and change
to the "Rapid
Rewards" tab in the
lower-right hand
corner of the
screen. This
will allow you to
change the rewards
program the customer
currently belongs
to, as well as the
current number of
points they
currently have.
DID YOU KNOW
DataWedge now has
a download manager
available to help
you download and
update your DMS
program? You
can download this
file from:
dlmanager.exe.
Simply copy this
file into each
\DMS2000 folder on
each workstation.
This program
contains all of the
release notes for
each build/patch of
DMS, and helps
facilitate the DMS
upgrade process.
If you have
questions, please
feel free to contact
us!
DID YOU KNOW
DataWedge now has
WEB SITE
ADMINISTRATION PAGES
for your on-line
ordering engine.
From these
administration
pages, you can add
black-out dates (for
holidays and
specific time
ranges), change your
email address
destination and
more! For help
in setting up your
account, please
Contact us!
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