Your role
Dispatcher
You turn bookings into journeys. Give each booking a vehicle and a driver, plan the riders' runs, send them out and follow them until they are delivered.
Steps differ for vehicle and equipment hire businesses and wholesalers and distributors.
As a dispatcher you plan the deliveries and trips, send them out and follow them to the door. Kila describes the role as: “Creates, assigns, dispatches, retries and cancels bookings and plans runs at their depot. No billing on account, settings or rates.” At Swift Haul Logistics, Hassan Mwinyi plans the Mombasa riders’ runs, gives trucks to cargo and truck hire, and sends failed deliveries out again.
When you sign in
Link to this section: When you sign inKila opens your home page: “Here is how Swift Haul Logistics is doing.” Bookings today by status counts what is to dispatch, on the way, delivered and failed, and names the bookings still without a vehicle or driver. Exceptions: failed, held, late, damaged or lost shows what went wrong.
Your work is in Sell › Bookings and dispatch. You have its Dispatch, Scan, Manifests, Runs, Cash on delivery, Exceptions, Performance, Vehicles and Rates tabs, and you can book with New parcel and New booking. The Settings tab is the owner’s.
Your day
Link to this section: Your day- Morning: plan the runs. On Runs, tap Plan a run, choose the Rider or driver and the Vehicle, and scan the parcels in the order the rider will deliver them. Tap Plan run: “Run RUN-000201 planned with 1 stop.” The run has its Run sheet to print, and the rider starts it from their phone.
- Dispatch the rest. Cards under To dispatch with No driver need you: give them a vehicle and a driver and tap Dispatch. See Dispatch a booking.
- During the day: failed deliveries. A booking the driver could not deliver comes back under Not delivered with the reason. Call the customer and tap Try again.
- Trucks and trips. Book cargo and truck hire, and give them a truck and its driver: see Book a trip.
For vehicle and equipment hire businesses
At a car hire business the dispatcher books the chauffeurs’ work, such as airport transfers, and can book hires too. See Send a chauffeur on a transfer.
For wholesalers and distributors
At a distributor Kila opens Trips and settlement on Dispatch. Plan each route’s trip, check the vehicle and driver, and tap Save the plan; the store checks the load and taps Loaded: issue the gate pass; then send it out to the driver’s phone. See Send a route’s run out.
What you can do
Link to this section: What you can do- Book parcels and trips.
- Give bookings a vehicle and a driver, dispatch them, send failed ones out again and cancel them.
- Plan runs for riders and drivers.
- Scan parcels in and out, and read the board, exceptions and performance of your depot.
At a logistics business: everything the role is allowed to do
Users and roles lists the role’s 5 permissions:
- General: View dashboard
- Delivery: View deliveries; Assign and dispatch deliveries; Scan parcels in and out at a depot and build and receive manifests
- Customers: View customers
At a distributor: everything the role is allowed to do
- General
- View dashboard
- Point of sale
- View sales
- Stock
- View stock
- Warehouse
- Manage bins, putaway and picking
- Customers
- View customers
- Delivery
- View deliveries; Assign and dispatch deliveries; Plan trucks’ trips, check their loads, issue gate passes, send them out and count them back in
- Field sales
- View vans, van days, visits and rep performance; Load vans and count them back in
- Distribution
- Take in market returns from outlets on the road, on delivery or at the depot; Record empties and crates out and back, and container deposits
What needs a manager
Link to this section: What needs a managerNo approval limits: anything that needs approval goes to someone else.
Needs a manager
- A price other than the rate’s. “Changing it needs the price override permission.” A branch manager or the general manager can change it.
- The settings: the kinds of booking, proof of delivery and billing are the owner’s, on the Settings tab.
Common questions
Link to this section: Common questionsWhy is Dispatch grey? The booking has no vehicle or no driver yet. Choose both under Vehicle and driver and tap Assign first.
A vehicle is missing from the list. Where is it? Vehicles in maintenance are not offered. The fleet officer puts a vehicle back with Available on the Vehicles tab.
Where do I see the parcels for a rider’s run? On Runs, open the run: its stops are listed in order, with each parcel’s stage.
- Dispatch a booking
- Send a route’s run out: at a distributor.
- Deliver on your phone: what your riders and drivers see.
- Logistics and field: how Kila works for couriers, transport and hire.