Dispatch Express started out as an idea to simplify. To simplify the previously complicated process of managing job tickets wirelessly. We've seen many vertical market applications out there that were difficult to manage and even more difficult to learn. Most of these applications had a huge footprint, needed tons of expensive hardware and software and required massive retraining of the employees.
Dispatch Express manages the process of getting job tickets from the operator's desktop computer onto the Mobile Data Computers (which reside in the vehicle of the employee). A typical job ticket includes To and From addresses, instructions on what to do at those destinations (be it pickup a person or an item or dropoff groceries), and the time/date information. The process is started by entering a Job Ticket into Dispatch Express. The ticket is then sent (either automatically or manually) to the employee in the field (driver). The driver then sends statuses back that signify the progress of the job. Thus the central office is kept abreast of the situation in the field and can make adjustments because of it.
Typical customers for this software include trucking, taxi, courier, limo, pickup & delivery and other companies. The size of companies that purchased the system was on average from 5 to 20 employees. These companies were attracted by the fact that very little technical expertise was required to run this application, as opposed to competing software many of which required RDBMS and various other servers. The customers typically didn't have an IT department.
Dispatch Express is an application that is easy to use because the interface is simple, yet powerful. The advanced features reveal themselves as necessary. An average user will never have to deal with complexity. The jobs are logically divided into Reservations and Active Jobs. Dispatch Express also contains managers for Vehicles and Customers. Other modules of the application allow the user to send text messages, view completed jobs, modify program settings and create new orders. Because the functionality of the application is so logically and clearly separated, the users had no problems getting used to it. Most of them needed very minimal training - literally 5-10 minutes.
Dispatch Express was written in Visual Basic 5. Because it was designed to be simple to use and install, the requirements for it are very small. Standard PCs will do. At the same time the application is multiuser and capable of supporting up to 15-20 concurrent users. To communicate wirelessly, Dispatch Express utilized 3rd Party Plugin architecture of Fleet Management 2000, which in turn was able to use several different wireless data providers.
