Some calls have come in recently concerning the use of the Alarms feature in the dispatch screen, and how other RDS’s are using them in the operations world.  I thought I would take the opportunity this month to go into a detailed explanation as to how to configure them, what each alarm means, as well as cover some recent changes to the alarms feature that you might not be aware of.

First, let’s dive into configuration. The Dispatch Alarms are configured by going into Setup --> Dispatch Alarms, and clicking on the ‘Alarms’ tab. This will bring up the following screen:

Each line represents a different alarm that can be configured for use.

• Restaurant's target prep time vs. current time:  This alarm looks at the time the order is supposed to be prepared by the restaurant, and compares it with the current time.  If this time difference falls inside the minute threshold set, and the order has NOT YET BEEN FAXED, the alarm will trigger on the dispatch screen.  This particular alarm comes in handy if your operations have difficulty in getting orders faxed to the restaurant on time.
• Target Delivery Time vs. Current time:  This alarm looks at the target delivery time on an order, and compares it against the current time.  If this time difference falls inside the specified minute threshold, it will trigger the alarm in the dispatch screen.  This alarm comes in handy if you wish to be alerted for orders that are in jeopardy of being late, and your operations dictate a "heads-up" call to the customer.
• Driver waiting at restaurant:  This alarm looks at the driver's arrival time at the restaurant, and compares it against the current time.  If the difference falls outside the specified time threshold, an alarm will be triggered. This alarm is handy for operations that have repeatedly slow restaurants.
• Driver en-route to a customer for over X minutes:  In this case, the system compares the current time against the departure time from the restaurant.  If the difference falls outside the specified threshold, and the driver has not yet arrived at the customer's door, an alarm is triggered.
• No Driver Assigned within X minutes of the target delivery time.  With this alarm, the system looks at the target delivery time, and compares it against the current time.  If a driver has not been assigned to the order inside the specified threshold, an alarm will be triggered on the dispatch screen.
• The driver not at restaurant vs. target delivery time:  In this scenario, the system looks at the target delivery time, and compares it against the current time.  If no driver has arrived at the restaurant inside the specified threshold, an alarm is triggered.
• Driver not departed vs. Target Delivery Time:  In this case, the system looks at the time the driver arrived at the restaurant, and compares it against the current time and target delivery time.  If the difference falls inside the threshold, an alarm is triggered on the dispatch screen.  This is a handy alarm for operations that want to be alerted when a driver leaves the restaurant without enough time to complete the delivery by the target delivery time.

Obviously, it does not good to enable every item, as it will cause an alarm to trigger for nearly every single order.  From our experience in talking with other RDS's, it seems that most opt for enabling just the "Driver En-route" alarm.  It seems that the most common scenario is one where the driver will pick up the food from the restaurant, but then not know where the address is for the customer, and waste valuable time wandering around, too embarrassed to call in to the dispatcher for assistance.  If too many orders are on the board, even the most seasoned dispatcher might miss the fact that a driver has simply been "en-route" too long, and action needs to be taken.

In addition, two new features were recently added to the alarms that you might not know about.  The first is the addition of a new alarm condition:  the order being edited after being faxed.  In this case, the system will throw an alarm if the order has been edited after being faxed to the restaurant, allowing the dispatcher to quickly see which orders might need to be re-faxed.  This comes in handy in environments where the dispatcher might not be able to keep tabs on orders that have been changed by a CSR.

The other feature that has been added is the ability to turn off an alarm without changing the order status.  Previously, the only way that an alarm could be shut off was by altering the status of an order to satisfy the alarm trigger.  (Marking a driver as having arrived, for example, to shut off the "en-route too long" alarm).

This is no longer the case.  If you wish to turn off a particular alarm, it is now as easy as right-clicking on the order that has an alarm condition and selecting "Clear Alarm".  This tells the DMS system that you have acknowledged the alarm condition, but it no longer requires you to alter the status of the order in any way in order to clear it.

FAQ OF THE MONTH--

What's the deal with Chili's?  It seems that more and more calls are coming in wondering how other RDS's are still doing orders with Chili's after their corporate decision to terminate relations with the RDS industry at large. 

 For RDS's that still have Chili's on their menu, it tends to fall into two categories:

• The Chili's restaurant in their area is one that is NOT owned by Brinker, but rather a local entity or organization, and therefore can operate outside many of the established rule-sets dictated by the corporate office
• The RDS is opting to still include the Chili's menu in their menu guide, and simply marking up the menu price an additional 30% to cover the commission. 

It is still the case that Brinker has opted NOT to continue delivery relationships with the RDS industry at large.

DID YOU KNOW

You can now assign a different delivery fee to be charged on the internet vs. taken over the phones?  If you go to Restaurant --> Setup, and click on the Delivery Fees tab, you will see two additional columns for the setup:  Lunch Del Fee Web and Dinner Del Fee Web.  By default during the upgrade process, these columns are assigned the delivery fee values set up for normal order-taking, but now are broken out to allow for additional flexibility on the internet web ordering side.

Web Services...

The process of caring and feeding your own web server on your local network can be an expensive and daunting task.  Not many companies have the financial resources to purchase and maintain the hardware necessary to run a web server out of their office, in addition to the technical savvy necessary to keep it secure from hackers on the internet.

DataWedge created an On-Line Ordering engine to help solve some of these problems. Your restaurant and menu data is uploaded and hosted securely on a DataWedge professionally hosted internet server, away from your office internet connection - giving hackers no place to scratch away at your network.

DataWedge Sample Site.
The DataWedge system is a "pay-for-what-you-use" system.  This means for as little as $50 per month, you can have a professional web presence available on the internet including restaurant information, menus, and on-line ordering. Use of our templates and get on the internet in a matter of days!  For an example of a template site, you can click here, or click here.

Do you have an existing web site, but just want to include on-line ordering functionality?  No problem... our On-Line Web engine has the ability to be wrapped inside a frame.  Measuring only 720 pixels wide, you can easily integrate your own web site around an instance of an ordering engine, and have the ability to push DMS data out to the internet, and have orders push directly into your system.  To see examples of companies that have integrated their own web sites with our ordering engines, you can click here, or you can click here.

If you would like more information on our on-line ordering engine, please don't hesitate to contact us (208) 874-4185 .

Meal Monger...

Meal Monger represents our aggregated web site, aimed at being the target of national marketing campaigns.  Because DataWedge utilizes a "pay-for-what-you-use" billing system, it's in our best interest to drive as many transactions as we can towards your service. 

We currently employ an aggressive marketing campaign utilizing a "keyword match and click-through" model on Google.  We also have "re-marketing" campaigns designed for customer retention.  These marketing efforts are designed to bring existing customers back to your delivery service, and are typically sent out prior to holidays or major events.  Example mailers can be see by clicking here, or clicking here.

If you would like more information on being a part of Meal Monger, please contact us (208) 874-4185 .

Credit Card Processing...

DataWedge has teamed with Nova - the nation's second-largest credit card processing system - to provide a seamless charge authorization system that accepts a full range of bank and T&E cards.  The DataWedge/Nova partnership offers a number of advantages over other card processing alternatives:

• Low transaction/discount charges resulting from the purchasing power of one master contract for DMS clients
• Elimination of ICVerify as a card processing gateway.  DMS is certified with the NOVA system for direct data transmission to their system.
• The ease and efficiency of a "seamless" process from order entry to authorization to funds transfer into your account

If you would like to know how much you can save over your existing credit card services, please click here and fill out our request form

Off-Site Backup...

Too many times we have seen a client simply ignore the duties of backing up their system.  Make no mistake:  every single hard drive on the planet will eventually fail... it's only a matter of time.

DataWedge has pre-purchased the internet bandwidth and server capacity on the internet to offer off-site backup services to our clients.  For a small service fee of $35 a month, DMS can now upload an encrypted copy of your DMS Database to our internet server each night during the nightly maintenance routine. 

Each morning, our internet server then scans each upload and generates an e-mail notification that is sent back to each customer.  That means for roughly $1 a day, you can arrive at your office each morning and be notified that your data is safe and secure at an outside facility.

If you would like more information on this service, please contact us .(208) 874-4185

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