PDM Portal (order tracking system)

The following information (where available) can be displayed on the order tracking page:

• Enable PDM Portal: turn the service on or off altogether
• Show order items: The items in the order
• Show contact for the entity that is managing the order: Phone number and email address of the entity
• Show order progress:
  • Show completed/failed/cancelled tasks: A list of tasks already completed for the order
    • Show outcome category: The outcome category for the completed/failed/cancelled task (e.g. if the order is marked as Failed because the recipient was not in to receive a delivery, the outcome "Contact required but not present" can be displayed).
    • Show contact name: The name of the customer present as recorded when the task was completed (e.g. the person that received the delivery)
      • Show contact signature: The signature of the person present as captured when the task was completed
  • Show current task: The next task to be handled in the order
    • Show assigned user's name: The name of the PDM user assigned to handle the task (e.g. the driver assigned to make the delivery)
    • Show assigned user's contact number: The phone number of the PDM user assigned to handle the task (this is added in their user account profile)
    • Show assigned user's last known location (on map): allows customers to see where the PDM user (i.e. driver) is in relation to their address on a map
    • Show estimated time of arrival: A calculation of when the PDM user (i.e. driver) will arrive at the task location if the task is on a route
  • Show pending tasks: Any future tasks for the order
    • Show assigned user's name: The name of the PDM user assigned to handle the task (e.g. the driver assigned to make the delivery)
    • Show assigned user's contact number: The phone number of the PDM user assigned to handle the task (e.g. the driver's number assigned to make the delivery)

When a customer follows the tracking link to the PDM Portal website the ETA for the current task is calculated at that moment in time based on the latest data available.

For the ETA to be shown, the following requirements must be met:

• The current task is on a route
• The route has been marked as "started" by the user
• The route has been fully optimised
• If the user has completed a task out of optimised sequence the route has been successfully re-optimised
• If a task has been removed from the route or a new task added after the route was started, the route has been successfully re-optimised
• Statistical information on all tasks not yet completed on the route (and sequenced before the task being viewed) is available

The ETA for the task being viewed is calculated by summing the estimated travel time to each task sequenced before the task being viewed with the estimated time to complete each task. This time period is added to the time that the last task on the route was completed (or if no tasks have yet been completed, to the time the route was started) to provide the ETA for the task being viewed.

The ETA is displayed as a time window (e.g. 10:00-11:00). The ETA calculated above is the mid-point of that window (e.g. 10:30). The length of the window can be adjusted in the Administration screen in PDM Web.

To ensure that the ETA is available and remains accurate we recommend that your driver follows the optimised sequence for the route. If he needs to perform a task out of sequence, or a task gets added or removed from the route, he should ensure that the route re-optimises successfully. The app also requires a stable internet connection to ensure the latest changes to the route are being synchronised quickly with the server so that the most up-to-date information is available for the calculation of ETAs.