Keep planners and customers informed with ETAs in Mandata TMS

When dealing with customers daily, a lot of time can be spent going backwards and forwards providing updates on the status of deliveries. As companies start to grow, this demand becomes even larger.

The ETA system in a Mandata TMS provides a haulier’s customers with automatic, custom-built messages sent via email or SMS informing them about the current status of their delivery.

ETAs to suit your business requirements

When turned on in the system, ETAs can be tailored to your company’s unique requirements. Users can build their own custom messages to send out to customers at various trigger points such as:

  • When the driver sets off on their delivery
  • When the driver is delayed by a predetermined amount of time chosen by the haulier
  • When the driver is a predetermined amount of time away from the stop
  • When the driver has completed the delivery

In addition, ETAs can be disabled at set times, or days of the week at the haulier’s discretion.

Mandata ETAs

Image above showing the setup screen in Mandata Go TMS (ETAs can also be set up within Enterprise TMS)

 

Custom messages sent out automatically

Once the trigger points are set up in the haulier’s TMS, bespoke messages can be tailored to the trigger point in question. For example, when the driver sets off, the haulier can set a message to inform the customer that the driver has left the collection point, they have five stops before the customer’s delivery, and it is expected to arrive at 14:00.

These messages can be crafted for any of the trigger points, with personalised variables (or merge fields) so that they can be sent out to multiple customers at once, with each message tailored to that customer’s ETA and information.

ETAs keeping planners up to date

Once the ETAs are turned on in the system, they will automatically be calculated and display in the TMS after the driver pushes the job from their Manifest app through to the Navigation app. This will then update the ETA in the TMS.

This allows planners to have a clear view of the progress of all their drivers and if they’re on time for their deliveries.

If a driver takes a wrong turn or suffers another delay such as traffic.

If the delay is significant (and the option is turned on in the TMS) this will then trigger an automatic email keeping the customer informed of the situation and providing them with a new ETA.

ETAs are an optional benefit for Mandata TMS customers to use. It is set up inside the TMS for both Mandata Go TMS and Mandata Enterprise TMS and is free of charge, it only requires users to have a valid ManifestsPlus license in order to access both the Manifest app and Navigation app.

 

Like to know more about ETAs for your haulage business? Contact our team to see how you can keep customers better informed with ETAs from Mandata.

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