For operations dealing with controlled goods, such as pharmaceutical products, gas canisters or chilled or frozen food, maintaining visibility of items throughout the delivery or collection process is imperative to ensuring the integrity of the product. Office-based teams not only need to know exactly where products are at each point in the day, but also need to be confident that all drivers are following consistent processes to maintain product quality or comply with regulation.
Electronic proof of delivery (ePOD) systems provide real-time visibility of order progress, allow for the collection of accurate POD data and support consistent handling of goods. The fleXipod proof of delivery system includes flexible forms functionality that gives you even further control over mobile activities.
With the fleXipod forms functionality you can set up completely customisable questionnaires that your drivers complete using the fleXipod mobile application. This takes the responsibility away from your drivers to remember set procedures and instead guides them through centrally stipulated actions to ensure all of your required processes are followed.
Here a three ways that the fleXipod ePOD system can improve your controlled goods operation.
Each form created within the fleXipod central management console needs to be attached to a trigger point, in order for the mobile application to show the form at the correct time. Standard trigger points include actions such as logging into the app, opening a manifest or choosing a form from an ad hoc menu.
Two trigger points that are particularly useful for operations dealing with controlled items are:
Job outcome code triggers – Forms can be presented to the driver if they choose specific job outcomes codes, such as, ‘job failure – canister damaged’ or ‘job failure – sample contaminated’.
Specific item triggers – If specific items require more detailed data collection, such as those with a higher value, forms can be assigned to show on the mobile application whenever those items are being delivered/collected.
These advanced triggers allow tighter process control even across extensive product ranges where the potential complexity of data capture requirements is enormous. You can be confident that the required data is being collected, even in non-standard circumstances. The mobile application prompts the necessary actions meaning that your drivers do not need to remember procedures or ring into the office to clarify the data required.
There are a range of question types available with fleXipod forms, including checkboxes, free text, date/time and photo capture. This allows you to create custom questionnaires capturing exactly the data you need.
The numeric question type has advanced functionality enabling you to create specific workflows dependent on the figures your driver inputs into the app. The fleXipod mobile application can recognise if the decimal value entered falls within the acceptable range that has been specified in the central management console and prompt your driver to take different actions as a result.
Let’s think about an operation where drivers are delivering perishable goods or controlled pharmaceuticals. In these types of operation, recording temperature readings is an essential part of the delivery service. Guiding your drivers through the required workflows can help ensure process consistency and therefore customer service or regulatory compliance.
Here is an example:
| When the temperature entered is: | Change outcome to: |
| -2.00 to 1.99 | Ring the office for authorisation code |
| 2.00 to 8.00 | End form with successful debrief |
| 8.01 to 11.00 | End form and change debrief reason |
The fleXipod exception alerting functionality notifies your office-based staff of any non-standard circumstances recorded in the field. The alerts will be highlighted in the central management console so that your office-based teams do not need to manually review the real-time data stream to check for irregularities.
You can configure alerts for two outcomes:
When the driver answers a specified form question. For example, if the driver completes the first question in an ad hoc vehicle breakdown form.
When a driver gives a specific answer to a closed question. For example, if the driver answers ‘No’ in answer to, ‘Is the security seal unbroken?’
By directly alerting office-based teams to exceptions in the field, you enable them to respond quickly to problems which is particularly important for controlled goods operations where deliveries may be time-sensitive or subject to regulatory compliance. To provide office-based staff with further information, drivers can be prompted to take photographs in specified circumstances.
The fleXipod ePOD system has a range of flexible features to increase real-time visibility and process control for any mobile workforce. For more information about how fleXipod could help your business, get in touch today.
