By automating delivery data collection and document generation, DispatchTrack is now able to streamline key financial workflows and significantly reduce last mile logistics costs.

DispatchTrack, the leading provider of elevated customer experience and end-to-end optimization in last mile logistics, announced automated functionality for settling with delivery drivers and invoicing clients after a completed delivery. Now, users who choose to set up the Billing and Settlement feature within their portals can automatically generate the right invoice for each client and the right settlement (i.e. payment) for each driver based on what was documented on the day of delivery. This functionality gives retailers, 3PLs, and other enterprises the ability to decrease manual accounting effort and rework while getting paid more quickly—ultimately optimizing last mile costs significantly.

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Because DispatchTrack’s end-to-end last mile logistics solution already captures a complete record of every delivery, the software is perfectly positioned to integrate with complex and often error-prone invoicing and payment workflows. As drivers perform deliveries in the field, the driver mobile app tracks their locations and the time they take at each stop. For each delivery, drivers can capture pictures, video, and notes in addition to customer signatures for proof of delivery. This means that the factors that can impact client invoices (e.g. access charges, credits for damage, etc.) are already being captured and logged in DispatchTrack with full visibility. From there, we’re able to help back-office staff to document and integrate different billing and settlement rules for different contracts based on any number of route or stop parameters, such as:

• delivery zip code
• delivery zone
• order weight
• order volume
• time taken
• scheduled time taken
• and more

The result is that users are able to automatically generate invoices and driver settlements based on the data captured on the day of delivery. Rather than manually tracking down all of this data in disparate systems and entering into accounting software by hand, DispatchTrack customers with the Billing and Settlement feature enabled can simply double check auto-generated documents before exporting them via .csv file.

“For every delivery run, 3PLs—and other enterprises that might be working with 3PLs—have to settle with their drivers and invoice (i.e. “bill”) their clients. The faster they can do this, the more they can speed up cash flow and improve driver/client relationships,” said DispatchTrack CEO and founder Satish Natarajan. “Unfortunately, the process currently used by most logistics businesses is incredibly inefficient. Entering data and generating documents by hand isn’t just slow—it’s more likely to result in errors that can slow down the process even further. That’s why we’re so thrilled to be able to offer this functionality to anyone who wants to streamline their invoicing, improve their cash flow, and, frankly, save money.”

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Traditionally, invoicing and driver settlement processes have been made even more complex by the fact that different drivers are paid different amounts, or even paid using different parameters—with the same going for clients who need to be invoiced. Luckily, when implementing this functionality in a particular instance, DispatchTrack is able to work with the 3PL or other enterprise to create customized logic for each client or driver agreement. When a user wants to run a client billing or driver settlement report (i.e. generate the billing and settlement documents), the system automatically utilizes the correct logic for each delivery. After the user has checked the generated documents for accuracy, they can easily export them via .csv file, enabling easy interworking between DispatchTrack and the relevant functionality in the user’s accounting software.

Multiple large-scale clients in the 3PL and furniture delivery space have already implemented this functionality within their DispatchTrack instances. The feature, which is a paid add-on to Dispatchtrack’s base subscription, represents a significant milestone for the platform, offering its users a huge potential for ROI: a human might be able to process 75 invoices per day (with a 5% error rate), but automation enables users to do many times that in number with near-perfect accuracy. Current DispatchTrack customers can contact their sales reps to learn how and why to enable this feature within their own portals.