Ping feature
Since our first release of Lite Dispatch, a few other features just were added. The design of the app allows flexibility regarding the information sent back and forth. The new feature we want to present is called “Ping”/”Where is my workforce”. It is basically a feature all the field managers are asking for – find out right now where are my field users and what are they working on.
The scenario is presented below
- from the web interface/console the administrator sends a specific message with the intent to find the location of a specific user (or of all of them)
- the command is received on Lite Dispatch and (even if the application is not running) it will kick in a “find current location” process. Once the location is collected is sent back to the back-end. If the GPS is not enabled it will return a failure response with the reason “GPS disabled”
The feature is added as a supplement to the option where every change in the status of the field worker is collecting the location information as well.
Why is it important to find out at any moment where your field workers are?
- In any type of emergencies where you need to find out who is closer to a specific location, or
- the customers are calling regarding the time window
- to add a finer granularity to the daily route of a field worker
- analyzing later the dispatching algorithm for further improvements