Best Practices for Automated Appointments

Modified on Sat, 28 Jun at 2:15 PM

Best Practices:

Priority & Fallback: Reinforce that fallback is crucial for securing some appointment slot, even if the priority slot isn’t available. It prevents the appointment from being lost.
Use Relative Timing: Relative timing simplifies appointment scheduling for recurring lanes or pre-pulls.
Missed Appointments Automation: Enable this to avoid disruptions from no-shows.
Booking Delays: Set delays based on terminal congestion patterns. For example, if a terminal tends to release slots later in the day, a 2-hour delay can optimize results.
Time Buckets: Adjust time buckets to match your peak operational hours and align with port availability windows. Some terminals have inconsistent slot availability. Align buckets to when terminals are known to release new appointments.
Background Mode Consideration: When enabled, this allows unattended automation, but rules must be well-defined to prevent unnecessary bookings.

Here are some basic cases where you can use the feature to take actions you can take with the templates to be as proactive as possible.

Case	Suggested Action
Container on Hold	Enable booking appointments despite holds.
Driver running late	Manual Rescheduling via dispatch screen.
Priority Slot Becomes Available	Enable fallback & priority rescheduling to automatically secure better slots.
VIP Customers Manual Appointment Needed	Use manual booking on the Dispatch screen for individual or bulk loads to select/create the automation profile to be applied and immediately confirm the appointment booking (if available).
Pre-Pull or Scheduled Returns	Using the rules, leverage relative timing to align appointments with delivery and return milestones.