Logistics and field

A logistics business moves goods or people, keeps goods for others, or hires out vehicles and equipment. A customer books a delivery, a trip or a hire; you give it a vehicle and a driver, or hand over the item; it is delivered with proof, or comes back; and it is billed, at the desk or on the customer’s account.

How Kila works for a logistics business

• The main screen is Bookings and dispatch (Sell › Bookings and dispatch): “Book parcels, deliveries, trips and hires; scan them through the depots; dispatch runs to riders and drivers; follow each one to the door.” Its tabs are your day: Dispatch, Scan, Manifests, Runs, Cash on delivery, Exceptions, Performance, Storage, Vehicles, Rates and Settings, as your business and your role need them.
• Your day revolves around the booking: a parcel with its tracking number, a trip such as cargo or an airport transfer, or a hire. Each one moves across the dispatch board from To dispatch to On the way, then Delivered or Not delivered. A hire goes from Booked to On hire to Returned.
• The words Kila uses: a sale is a booking, a branch is a depot, your staff are drivers and a product is an item.

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Kila treats these kinds of business as logistics businesses:

• Courier & delivery
• Transport
• Warehousing
• Equipment or vehicle rental

A day at a courier

1. Book at the counter. Parcels from walk-ins and merchants, priced from the rate cards: Book a parcel. Loads and trucks: Book a trip.
2. Scan them through the depot. The hub clerk scans each parcel in, and seals the ones for other depots on a manifest: Hub clerk.
3. Send them out. The dispatcher plans the riders’ runs and dispatches the rest: Dispatch a booking, Dispatcher.
4. Deliver with proof. Riders deliver from their phones and collect any cash on delivery: Deliver on your phone. Customers follow their parcel on its public page: Let customers track a parcel.
5. Count the cash in. The COD cashier counts the riders’ cash on delivery in and prepares what is owed to each merchant: COD cashier.
6. Bill the accounts. Account customers are billed as their bookings are delivered, or once a month: Bill account customers.
7. Watch the day. The owner’s home page shows the bookings by status, the exceptions, the cash on delivery and the vehicles.

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For vehicle and equipment hire businesses

A day at a car hire business. The rental desk books hires on the calendar, hands cars over with the checklist and the deposit, and takes them back with any late and damage charges: Book a hire, Hand over a hire, Take back a hire. Chauffeurs take airport transfers from their phones: Send a chauffeur on a transfer. The Hire tab lists every car with what it is doing: “Late returns are charged the daily rate for each day after 2 hours’ grace.”

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The home page’s cards

Kila arranges a logistics owner’s home page with these cards. Each shows when its feature is on and your role may see it:

• Bookings today by status
• Exceptions: failed, held, late, damaged or lostNot for: Equipment or vehicle rental
• Cash on delivery with riders and owed to merchantsOnly for: Courier & delivery
• On time and first attempt todayNot for: Equipment or vehicle rental
• Vehicles out, available, in maintenance
• Items on hire due back; overdueOnly for: Courier & delivery and Equipment or vehicle rental
• Revenue today; fuel and maintenance this month
• Customer balances on account
• Payments waiting for confirmation
• Approvals and reviews waiting
• Licences, permits and returns due

Who does what

Role	What Kila says it is for
Owner	Full access to the business, including billing.
Dispatcher	Creates, assigns, dispatches, retries and cancels bookings and plans runs at their depot. No billing on account, settings or rates.
Booking clerk	Books parcels at the counter, quotes, takes payment on their shift and prints waybills and labels. No dispatch or cancelling.
Hub clerk	Scans parcels in and out at the depot and builds and receives manifests. No money.
Driver	Their own runs: pick-up, proof of delivery, cash on delivery and failed deliveries with a reason.
COD cashier	Counts riders’ cash on delivery in and prepares remittances to merchants for a second person to approve. No rates or settings.
Fleet officer	Keeps the vehicles, their papers and running costs. No bookings or money.
Rental desk agent	Books hires, hands items over and takes them back with the checklist, deposits and charges. Waiving a late charge needs a manager.

A logistics business has Kila’s standard roles too, such as general and branch managers, the accountant and the delivery officer. The owner gives each person their roles under Administration › Users and roles. A warehousing business is also offered a Warehouse clerk.

Tasks for logistics businesses

• Book a parcel and Book a trip
• Dispatch a booking
• Deliver on your phone and Set what proves a delivery
• Let customers track a parcel
• Bill account customers
• Send a chauffeur on a transfer
• Book a hire, Hand over a hire and Take back a hire
• Add a vehicle and Record a vehicle’s running cost
• Set your rates

Set up a logistics business

Kila’s set-up list for a new logistics business, in order. Kila ticks each step off from what you record:

1. Business details and KRA PIN
2. Depots
3. Vehicles and drivers, or items for hire
4. Rates and rate cards by zone and weight
5. M-Pesa till or paybill
6. Proof of delivery, cash on delivery and messagesNot for: Equipment or vehicle rental
7. Business and merchant accounts
8. First booking

How your business works is set on the Settings tab of Sell › Bookings and dispatch, by the owner: the kinds of booking you take, the proof of delivery, how bookings are billed, the vehicle types and running costs, the hire rules and the parcels. “These start from your business profile. What you change here applies to this business only.”

Reports that matter here

Operations › Performance shows how deliveries went: Delivered, On time, First attempt and the Average time to deliver, with Why deliveries failed, Delivered by rider and By service level. The rest are under Money › Reports. Start with these:

Report	What Kila says it shows
Daily sales	Sales, refunds, VAT and margin for each day.
Sales by branch	Each branch side by side: sales, refunds and margin.
Sales by product or service	What sells: quantity, revenue and cost for every product and service.
Customer debt ageing	What customers owe on account, by how long it has been due.
Expenses	Spending by category and branch, with VAT and approval status.

Common questions

Where do I see what each vehicle earns and costs? On the Vehicles tab: this month’s revenue, costs and what is left after costs, for each one. See Record a vehicle’s running cost.

Can customers see where their parcel is without calling? Yes, on its public tracking page, from the link on the waybill: Let customers track a parcel.

Who may change prices? The owner and the general manager set the rates and rate cards. At the counter, the charge comes from them, and changing it needs the price override permission. See Set your rates.

Try it in the demo

These demo businesses run as logistics businesses, with made-up data. Each link fills in the person’s email: add the demo password the Kila team gave you.

• Swift Haul LogisticsCourier and transportSign in as Ibrahim Abdullahi (owner) (opens in a new tab)
• Safari Car HireCar hireSign in as David Mutua (owner) (opens in a new tab)