Vehicle Maintenance Module: Track Tasks, Logs & Automated Service Alerts

You might have noticed that the "Inspections" category on the lefthand menu has been renamed "Vehicles" with a new subcategory "Maintenance":

The Maintenance subcategory is broken down into three sections:

• Tasks: these are recurring actions that need to be completed 

• Task Types: these are similar to categories. You'll define each task type so your tasks stay organized. Think: oil changes, tire rotation, inspection, etc.

• Logs: this is a list of all the completed tasks

How it works:

First, you'll want to create your different task types (Vehicles > Maintenance > Task Types).

Next, you'll want to create your first Maintenance Task. Go to Vehicles > Maintenance > Tasks and click the plus sign to create a new task.

Once you select a vehicle from the drop down menu, the current mileage will populate in the help text below Mileage threshold:

The Mileage threshold and Date threshold fields determine when a task is due.

To receive email notifications, complete the Notification Settings section:

Back on the Tasks list view page (Vehicles > Tasks), you'll see a list of all active tasks, including their status (scheduled, overdue, past due): 

To edit or complete a task, click the edit button next to the task. To edit the task, you can update the mileage and/or date threshold, and/or manage your notification settings.

To complete the task, click the Add Maintenance Log button at the top of the page:

From here, you'll be able to log the date, mileage, add notes, attach receipts or documents, and schedule the next maintenance task.

Tasks and maintenance logs will be tracked on the vehicle level too. Go to Vehicles > Vehicles. Click the pencil icon next to the vehicle to open the vehicle page. You'll notice a new field at the top where you can add an image:

At the bottom of the page, there will be two new sections - Tasks and Maintenance Logs:

You can add new tasks, new logs, or view them by clicking on the Type or Task Type:

Additional Improvements

• With upcoming holidays, keep in mind that at stopSuite a week goes from Monday to Sunday. If you cross the week threshold, for example, move a Monday route to the previous Sunday, you will need to create a cancelled route to prevent duplicate routes and reminders!

• We've added a User Invitation Button section to the direct email module. We hope this provides a little more flexibility for sending out different user invitations emails/

• You can now preview the "Almost Finished" page (the final page that comes after a customer has selected service and completed the checkout). To view this, go to Settings > Registration > General. There's a button at the top of the page.

• You can now require customers provide their phone number on the first page of the sign up form. To enable this setting, go to Settings > Registration > General.

Multiple Service Location Images with Captions & Reordering

Multiple Service Location Images

That's right! You can now add up to five service images per service location. To add additional images, go to the service location page and scroll down to the new section titled Driver App Settings. Click the + Add Image button:

Once you add an image, you'll see some new features:

1. You can use the horizontal arrow to re-order the images.

2. You can use the diagonal arrow to expand the image.

3. You can add a caption to help provide additional context to that specific image.

4. You can delete the image by clicking the trash can icon.

Currently, only drivers using the Beta version of the app will be able to see multiple images. Once we push this version of the app live this week, drivers using app version 2.39+ will be able to see all the images. Encourage your drivers to update their app if they haven't done so already!

From the app perspective, when the driver clicks on a stop with a service image (and notes), they will be able to see the number of service location images, an arrow to scroll forward (or back), the caption (if there is one) and the service notes:

Sign-up Form Filtering, Special Services Management & Enhanced Customer Alerts

Special Services Update

We've added a new list view page for special services (Routes > Special Services). This page will allow you to view all special services that have been created, including historical records. Click the pencil icon next to the special service to view more info.

In addition, we added an edit button next to the special service on the route detail page. We also added a notes field to the service skip:

Sign-up Form Updates

On the main sign-up form if you have plan filters enabled (Settings > Registration > General), after a customer enters their address they will be prompted to select a billing frequency on the first package before viewing available plans. The billing frequency filter will only show on the first package.

In addition, we've added the ability to filter by package service types on the sign-up form too. This is helpful for clients who have one service offering (trash, recycling, compost, etc.) but offer different container sizes. Customers can now filter down the plans based on their preferred bin size. The service type filter is available on all packages with multiple service types.

To enable the service type filtering, go to the service type (Services > Service Types) and add an image (if you want) and an image caption. If you don't add an image, only the image caption will be presented:

Next, go to the package group (Services > Package Group) and Enable service type filters:

We've added a new setting on the team user level for new customer notifications. Previously, you could opt-in to new customer alerts on the service area level. This alert would send you a copy of the welcome email that the customer receives, which admittedly didn't provide team members a lot of the pertinent info you'd want to see like customer details, subscription, driver actions, etc.

To receive this email, go to Team > Team Users. Expand the Settings and scroll down to Email Notifications - Customer Support and enable the New customer alerts:

The email will include links to the customer, their Stripe account, and more:

Image Sharing in Customer Chat & Upcoming Routes on Portal Dashboard

Send Images via Customer Chat

If you have SMS mode Chat Enabled set up (Settings > Twilio Integration), you now have the ability to send an image via chat! You'll notice a new + button next to the text field where you can either upload a new image or view recent stop images for quick access:

Adding an image to a customer chat is only available when sending an individual text. You cannot upload an image to a mass SMS message.

And important to note, MMS messages cost slightly more to send than an SMS. Here's Twilio's pricing.

Upcoming Routes on Portal Dashboard

We have a new feature that allows you to display upcoming routes on the customer portal dashboard:

To enable this, go to Settings > Customer Portal > General: Show upcoming routes on portal dashboard.

This feature is especially helpful if you've turned on the Subscription start window feature which allows your customers to select a start date in the future. To review those settings, go to Settings > Registration > General:

Additional Improvements

• You can add extra service time to a customer's location when they require more time than the standard service type allows. You'd use the base service time for customers with special requirements that take longer to service. For example, a customer whose containers are on the fourth floor and require you to check in with a receptionist first. The base service time is automatically included in your route's total time, giving you a more accurate time estimate. To add a base service time, go to the customer's location change page and scroll down to the Routing/Optimization Settings.

• You can add or remove location types in bulk from the Customers > Locations page. As a reminder, location types are a way of categorizing locations (such as school, office building, coffee shop, etc.).

Driver App Dashboard Update: Enhanced Route Preview & UI Improvements

• The dashboard of the driver app has been slightly updated! Today's Routes are always displayed and Upcoming and Past Routes now have their own collapsible module. 

• You can preview the route by tapping on the route. This will show the start time, total time, progress, and service totals. It's also where you'll now click to launch the route.

• Today's routes will show the start time instead of the date. All past and future routes will show the date (instead of the time).

• Quick submit buttons now have a spinner to provide feedback that the app is thinking!

• The keyboard no longer blocks the chat window.