Case Study
MKW – Pick-up & Delivery App
A custom in-house application to organize and manage pickup & deliveries and driver resources.
Background
MKW processes hundreds of vehicles each month. These vehicles are brought in and are shipped out in various methods with various stakeholders requesting specific times and varying methods of transport. MKW has drivers that pickup/drop off these vehicles and also customers will pick up/drop off vehicles themselves. Before the pick-up & delivery app they were using a group chat to try to manage dispatch, drivers & pick-up/delivery status.
The Challenge
Tracking and dispatching these vehicles was a challenge especially due to coordinating with production and customer timelines. Spreadsheets were attempted but it was difficult to properly get status based on production timelines.
Objectives
The objectives of the project were as follows:
Objective 1
Create a dispatching system that ties into their ERP in order to coordinate with production.
Objective 2
Utilize this functionality to automatically update Order records and notify users.
Objective 3
Eliminate manual entry of incoming vehicle inspections and replace with entry into the system to update related records.
Objective 3
Create a simple user interface so that all the stakeholders, included the drivers, could easily use the application.
Our Process
Blueprint
Blueprint the flow of requests and a vehicle’s lifecycle from pick up at a customer to drop off at said customer.
Collaborate & Confirm
Meet with key stakeholders to ensure all variables and scenarios were accounted for in our blueprint plan.
Build & Design
Build out the data structure, user roles and permissions and inputs the build out the front-end tabs & pages.
User Interface & Ease of Use
Create a centralized dashboard for the Logistics team to process, dispatch, inspect and record delivery information.
Key Highlights
The MKW Pickup & Delivery Dispatch Application was designed to be powerful yet easy for everyone to use.
User Dashboard
Map View Tracking
Organized List Views
Order & Operations Integration
Results
Drastic reduction in team member time spent searching for vehicle history or status and real time status available for customers.
Increased visibility for production to know when and what vehicles are arriving or arrived so they can plan and adjust the production schedule accordingly.
All information regarding pickup and delivery organized into a single tool and truth and a simple way for sales reps to input pickup request that instantly notifies Dispatch & Operations and drops into their list of request.
Real-Time Order Status Integration into MKW’s Fleet Management Portal so that fleet & leasing customers can see all of their order statuses in their dashboard without having to call or email for it.
Reflection
Looking back now the MKW team can’t imagine trying to manage their vehicle pickup & delivery operation without their ERP integrated application. It has organized, integrated and streamlined this part of their business offering in a way that can grow and scale with them.
MKW has gone on to request additional custom functionality and internal applications due to the benefits and lessons from the pickup & delivery app.
