Choosing a delivery date and time in Track & Trace

Receivers can have the option to choose a date and time slot for home deliveries in Track & Trace. It is necessary to set the latest time by which they have to make their choice and which dates and time slots they are able to choose from.

In order for receivers to be able to choose their delivery time, distribution routes and route groups covering the geographical area where the receiver addresses are located must be available.

Once the receiver has selected a date and a time slot, the order is updated with this information and the route optimisation and assignment of the shipment can be carried out in dispatch. If automatic route optimisation is used, the route sequence is updated with the updated dates and times.

Step 1: Decide whether the choice of delivery date should be optional or mandatory

Click on Settings > Home delivery settings and select Allowed to change date or Date change mandatory. The Change delivery date button is displayed in Track & Trace.

To allow the receiver to easily choose the proposed delivery date, select Confirm date. The Confirm delivery date button will be displayed on Track & Trace, which the receiver can click on to accept the delivery date already on the order.

Step 2: Decide the latest time by which the receiver must choose a delivery date

Set a deadline for the receiver using a combination of two fields in the home delivery settings. A timer counting down the time left for the receiver to make a choice is displayed on Track & Trace.

Number of days before scheduled delivery that deadline closes: Enter the day on which the receiver must select the delivery date based on the last delivery date on the order. Stated as a negative number. "–2" means that the receiver must select a date two days before the last delivery date. "0" means the same day as the last delivery date on the order.
Last possible time for changing date: Enter the time of day by which the receiver must select the delivery date.

If the receiver does not choose a date before the deadline, the delivery date will be the date on the order.

Tip

It is possible to filter out orders in which the receiver has not selected a date in order check, for example in order to send a reminder. Add the Date selected column, find the orders you want to view and then filter on “False” in that column.

Example

If the last delivery time on the order is 7 pm on 15 November, and you enter “-1” in this field and “10:00” in the above field, the receiver must choose a delivery date before 10 am on 14 November.

Step 3: Decide which dates and times the receiver should be able to select

There are two main ways of presenting dates to the receiver. Either they can postpone delivery for a number of days (Via upcoming dates), or possible dates can be retrieved from distribution routes that match the receiver's postcode (Via routes). To allow receivers to be able to choose their delivery time, the Via routes option must be selected.

Via upcoming dates

Enter how many days the receiver should be able to postpone the delivery by in the Number of days the delivery date can be moved forward field, and choose whether they should be able to receive a delivery on Saturday and Sunday. The dates are displayed in Track & Trace.

Via routes

Select a route group from the drop-down list. The delivery dates displayed in Track & Trace are retrieved from the routes in the route group that matches the receiver’s postcode. If [Default] is selected, the route group entered in the customer registry (the Details tab) will be used for the customer on the order.

To also allow receivers to be able to select a time slot for delivery, select Show time slot for selection. The time slots are the times in the Delivery tab of the Routes window, which are the times for delivery from the terminal to the postcode areas.

Finally, enter the number of days by which the receiver should be able to postpone delivery in the Number of days the delivery date can be moved forward field. As the delivery dates are retrieved from the routes, this means that the value you enter here is not necessarily calendar days. For example, if a route has deliveries on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the value “1” is entered, the delivery day is postponed by two calendar days, for example from Monday to Wednesday.