The Captain Dispatch app has three modes so that you can choose the setting that is most applicable for your business flow. We recommend familiarizing your team with the manual mode so that they understand how the system works, and toggling to Copilot or Autopilot after this training is complete.

The bar at the top of the map section will indicate which mode you are on. To switch between modes, click on this bar and select your preferred mode.

To assign deliveries to your drivers, click on the blue “Dispatch” button to go into dispatch mode and you’ll be able to select the order(s) you wish to dispatch. You can either select these orders from the list on the left sidebar, or from their location directly on the map. Select the orders you wish to dispatch in the sequence you want them delivered. The screen will show a line indicating the route. Once you are happy with the route, click on the driver you wish to assign the job(s) to.

As you click the “Assign” button, the driver will receive a notification on their Driver app that they have been assigned a job. As long as they are “On Duty”, their app does not need to be open to receive these notifications.

When the driver clicks on “Accept”, the Dispatch screen updates the order column in real time to show the order(s) has been accepted and the Driver app shows the sequence in which the actions are to be performed. During the course of the delivery, the Dispatch app icons will change colour to indicate the status of each order. As the driver clicks “Items Collected” for each order on their list, the icon on screen will change from red to green.

Once out on the road, the Dispatch screen will show the live location of your driver(s). Once delivered, the order will disappear from the Dispatch screen and the driver will be tracked back to the store with a time estimate of when they will be available to start the next delivery.

The next step up from MANUAL is COPILOT mode. In this mode, the Captain system will create suggested grouping routes to group the orders to the customers in the most efficient way possible. When in COPILOT, the button will turn orange. You will see in the suggestions column order groupings based on (1) active orders in the system; (2) the location of drivers on duty; and (3) business rule settings, such as maximum orders per trip and goal delivery time. If you are happy with the grouping, simply click the blue “accept” button and the orders will be dispatched accordingly. If you would prefer to send the driver on a different route, you can still manually dispatch using the blue Dispatch button in the bottom right. [Note: if you would like to leave the Captain team feedback on a specific set of groupings, please click the chat icon in the top right corner of the pop up]

If you want Captain to automatically dispatch orders to your drivers, you can switch to the third dispatching mode option: AUTOPILOT. When in AUTOPILOT, the button will turn green. The same pop-up box that you saw in COPILOT will appear in AUTOPILOT, but there is no requirement to press the blue “accept” button. AUTOPILOT will determine the best grouping using exactly the same logic as copilot and automatically assign the orders once the auto-dispatch threshold is met. This threshold reflects the number of minutes after an order has been received that it can be dispatched — you can change the threshold at any time in the Autopilot settings. Once an order is close to this threshold, a timer will appear in the suggested route box that is an analogue countdown to dispatch.
​
When in AUTOPILOT mode, you can still manually dispatch or press the blue accept button. Moving up in automation modes retains the abilities for mode(s) before.

Definitions:

COPILOT and AUTOPILOT are designed to make the same, or better, decisions as humans. It looks for the best result for the system as a whole. This means that Captain will take all available information relating to current and scheduled orders and checking every combination of routes. The route that best suites the current state of your delivery system and the company-level parameters will be selected and presented on the screen.

Initially, some routes may not be exactly what you want, and we will work with you to find the settings that give the desired dispatch habits. It is recommend that you spend some time using COPILOT and confirming that the settings work to your liking before shifting to AUTOPILOT. The customizable settings for COPILOT and AUTOPILOT are:

It is important to note that our automated assignment system will make the best decision based on any given state of your delivery requirements at the current time. In instances where it is impossible to obey all the rules (for example you only have one driver available and suddenly 10 orders come in at the same time), then the suggested solution will be the one which gets closest to fitting all your rules.

You may find that some settings are permitted but because of an overlap in effect, they cannot be obeyed simultaneously. For example:

These settings suggest that the restaurant wants to maximize how many orders are grouped together in a single route while at the same time designating that the maximum job route time should only be 10 minutes. While contradictory settings are permitted, the system will attempt to get as close as it can to them but ultimately some will not be obeyed. COPILOT and AUTOPILOT harness the most benefit in complicated situations. To adjust any of your store's settings, please contact your Captain rep.