Appointments Releases

Summary

• Appointment Request Timeslot Selection

• eModal Improvements

  • Fixes for- Screenshots and Manual Booking flow

  • Improve auto booking performance

• Deadline Date Control
• Set Maximum Capacity by Port and Day

Appointment Request Timeslot Selection

Estimated release: Apr 26, 2025

*Note- images may be slightly different once launched

What was released? 

In the new flow for manually triggering an automated appointment request, users can once again specify the exact Dates & Times they want included in the request before it is sent to the terminal.  In addition, it will be faster for users to make the desired timeslot selections compared to the previous version. 

Why is this important? 

In V1 of automated appointments, users were able to specify timeslots to include in the booking request but this was not available in the initial release of V2, so was considered a feature gap.  However, even in the V1 version, the process was inefficient- requiring a lot of ‘clicks’ to complete the process.  With this release, we wanted to… 

• Bridge any gaps between the old and new version of the appointments system, so there were no features ‘missing’ when the user transitions to the new version

• Reduce the number of ‘clicks’ it would take for the user to select their desired timeslots by providing multiple options to select many timeslots at once 

How do I use it? 

• When manually triggering an automatic appointment request, a timeslot selection modal will appear.  Suggested timeslots will already be selected based on the hours enabled in the Maximum Appointment Slots setting for that Port.

• Users can then select, edit, or remove those timeslots individually, or there are a number of ways to “bulk” apply new selections:

  • Templates: selecting a Template from the dropdown will update the timeslot selections to align with the Time Preferences of that Template.  Any eligibility criteria, or “Rules”, from the Template will not impact the selections.  

  • Bulk selection: using the “Adjust Time & Day Preferences” button will allow users to specify which dates and time frames they want selected.  These selections will be applied to the timeslots after clicking “Apply”

    • Maximum date range is the next 7 days 

    • Note- the “Date Range” dropdowns will be dates rather than days of the week 

• Row selection: using the checkboxes to the left of the Dates, users can select or deselect the whole row.  

  • If none or only a few timeslots for that day are selected, clicking the box will select all timeslots for that day

  • If all timeslots for that day are selected, clicking the box we de-select all timeslots for that day 

  • The same controls for Fallback and Priority can be used for the row selection as well 

• Other functionality: 

  • Users can set individual timeslots or a whole row of timeslots to be a Priority option or Fallback option.  Left click to set as Priority.  Set as Fallback by Right clicking or holding the “CTRL” button while left clicking

  • “Book even if past LFD” toggle

    • By default, timeslots will not be selected if past the “Deadline Date” (LFD, Per Diem LFD, or cutoff).  If this is toggled on, timeslots past the Deadline Date will be automatically selected 

  • Template Details - once a Template is selected, a “Template Details” button will appear.  Clicking on this will allow the user to view the settings of the selected Template

• If multiple Loads are selected- 

  • The “book past LFD” toggle will not be available

  • Only Templates where the Timing Preference is “First Available” will be found in the Template dropdown

• The new request will not be sent to the terminal until the user clicks “Save” and the request will include exactly the timeslots that the user has selected. 

eModal improvements

• All of the below features are dependent on the user’s eModal credentials being up to date in PortPro

• Manual Booking flow

  • The “Manual Booking” flow was not working for eModal terminals for some customers depending on which “version” of eModal they use- they would see “No appointment slots available” rather than the actual slots available at the terminal.  

    • It is possible that this issue will still be present for a few customers based on their security settings on the eModal website, we are still working to resolve this

•  

• Terminal Screenshots

  • Estimated release: Apr 26, 2025

  • Since 3/25 the screenshot functionality for eModal terminals has been unavailable to customers, and for about a month prior to that the feature was not working.  This functionality is now turned back on and will be working properly so long as the entered eModal credentials are valid 

  • In addition, the overall auto booking performance for eModal terminals should be improved 

“Deadline Date” Control 

What was released? 

A Template toggle to control whether or not appointments should be booked if they are after a “Deadline date” (LFD, Per Diem, Cutoff)

Why is this important? 

From customer feedback, we have found that some customers want the automation to book the first available appointment regardless of whether it is past LFD (or other deadline date) while others do not.  This gives further control over the appointment selection logic - providing greater flexibility and potentially improving appointment automation success rate.

How do I use it? 

• This toggle is applicable when the Timing Preference of a Template is set to “First Available Appointment” and controls the scenario of no appointments being available until after the “Deadline Date”.  

  • The “Deadline Date” will depend on the type of appointment 

    • Import Pickups = LFD

    • Import Returns = Per Diem LFD

    • Export Returns = Cutoff Date

• If the first available appointment is after the Deadline date…

  • … and the user wants the system to book the appointments, then turn this toggle ON

  • … and the user do not want the system to book the appointments, then leave this toggle OFF

• Recommendation

  • For Import Pickups - really varies by customer (will see the most variability here)

  • For Import Returns - ON 

  • For Export Returns - OFF

  • For Export Pickups - NA (no applicable deadline date) 

Set Maximum Capacity by Port and Day 

What was released? 

Users can set different Appointment Slot Maximums based on the Port and by day of the week. 

Why is this important? 

Previously, the Maximum settings applied across all days and all Ports.  However, this did not support the following common scenarios:  

• A Carrier’s hours of operation and number of Drivers scheduled will often vary depending on the day of the week.  For example, in LA/LB, it is common for Carriers to schedule Drivers in the following manner, which results in varying capacities depending on day of the week

  • Mon-Thurs: 1st & 2nd shift

  • Fri: 1st shift only

  • Sat: 1st shift only, and with fewer drivers  

• For Carriers who work across multiple Ports, it is unrealistic to use the same Driver pool across the different regions.  Because of this they may have more capacity in one region compared to another and want to set their maximums based on the number of Drivers per region.

How do I use it? 

• By navigating to Appointment Settings > Maximum Appointment slots, users can see the maximum number of appointments they currently have set.  

• By clicking on an individual time slot, users can update the maximum number of Pickup and Drop slots they want to allow

• These maximums only apply when the system is calculating the acceptable timeslots in an automatically-triggered booking request.  The system will allow users to exceed these limits when manually triggering a booking request, booking a timeslot through the “Manual Booking” button, or manually setting the appointment themselves. 

*Upon initial launch, all maximum capacity values will default to 20 pickups and 20 returns per timeslot.