Dispatch Rules

When a driver calls in mid-route with a problem, someone has to decide what happens next: answer it, gather the details, or get a human on the phone. Dispatch rules let you make that decision once instead of every time. Each rule describes a situation and tells Viki what to do when a driver brings it up.

You'll find them under Operations → Dispatch. The page has two tabs, Calls and Rules, and a New rule button in the header. If your Dispatch page still shows History and Rules tabs with a Create New Rule button, your company is on the earlier version of the page; ask support to move you to the current one.

A rule has two halves: when it applies, and what Viki does about it. The "when" is a phrase written the way a driver would say it, such as "I can't get into the delivery area." Viki matches on meaning, so a driver saying "the gate code doesn't work" still lands on your access rule. The "what" is your instructions: what to tell the driver, what to ask, and whether the call ends with a human.

When no rule matches, Viki answers from your company's general knowledge, and the call is labelled General knowledge on the Calls tab.

Press New rule on the Rules tab or in the page header. The editor is laid out as a sequence of sections, with a call preview beside the form that updates as you type.

Name. Enter a Rule name, such as "Issue with Access Code." This is how the rule appears in lists, on calls, and in suggestions, so make it recognizable.

When a driver says… Type a phrase into Add a driver phrase and press Enter. Each phrase becomes a chip you can remove. One phrase is plenty, because Viki matches meaning rather than keywords.

Viki does. Write the Instructions in the order you'd give a new dispatcher. Background Viki can use (optional) holds context she can draw on during the conversation without following it step by step.

Viki asks. Press + Add a question for each detail Viki should collect, such as the van number or the address where the issue happened. Each question has an answer type: Text, Yes / no, Number, or Limited options, where you type out the exact choices Viki accepts. Tick several if a driver can legitimately give more than one answer. Questions work on their own: the answers are saved on the call and read back on a hand-off whether or not either switch below is on.

Then… Two independent switches. A rule can ask questions and do neither, one, or both.

Press Save rule to keep the rule, or Cancel to leave without saving. Check for overlaps compares the rule against your other rules and quotes the driver phrases that could fire either one; when overlaps are found, the editor shows the other rule beside yours so you can adjust the phrases on either side, save changes to the other rule, or dismiss the warning. Saving never waits on this check. The check also runs on its own after you save, and any overlap it finds appears as an Overlap chip on the rule's row in the list.

On an existing rule of your own, Delete rule removes it for good after a confirmation. On a default rule you have customized, Reset to default returns to voiceERP's version.

The Rules tab has two sections. Your rules are the rules your company wrote; Viki checks these first. Default rules come from voiceERP and are shared across companies.

You can edit a default rule just like your own. Saving keeps a copy for your company, and that copy takes over on your calls while the default stays as it is for everyone else. The rule then shows a Customized chip, and its editor gains the Reset to default button. Customized defaults can be reset but not deleted.

Every row has an On switch. Turning a rule off keeps it in the list with an Off chip; turn it back on any time. Turning a default rule off does not create a company copy.

Each row also shows the trigger under When a driver says, a flow of what happens under Viki does, and a Calls · 30 d count that opens that rule's own list of calls. Use Search rules by name to find a rule quickly. The gear icon opens Automatic checks, where the Weekly rule suggestions and Overlap warnings switches live; both are on by default and are covered in the Dispatch Rule Suggestions and Access Locations article, along with the Suggestions and Access locations sections at the top of the tab.

The Calls tab is the record of what Viki did. Five stats sit across the top for the date range you pick with From and To, which default to the last 7 days:

Narrow the list with the All, Handed off, Handled by Viki, and Follow-up open filters, or by picking a Rule or a Driver. Calls are grouped by day. Each row shows the driver's name and a two-part chip: the left half names the rule that fired (or Access for an access-location lookup, or General knowledge when no rule applied), and the right half says who resolved the call, Viki or Dispatch. A Processing chip means the call just ended and Viki is still writing it up.

Select a call to open its detail pane. You'll see Viki's leg of the transcript with the rule and hand-off markers, the recording, and, when the call was forwarded, the dispatcher's leg as well. Below the transcript are the Summary, What Viki collected (the answers to the rule's questions), and any Follow-up. Work a follow-up here: add Notes and press Resolve Task when it's handled, or Reopen Task if it wasn't. A Driver profile button jumps to the driver, and when a driver called about a place Viki didn't have on file, a Save this location? card lets you save it as an access location straight from the call.

Follow-ups also appear as Dispatch Follow-Up items on the Admin Tasks page, each linking back to the call that created it, and in the Viki Activity section of the end-of-day report with the rule that produced them and whether they're still open.

Dispatch rules govern what happens when drivers reach out to Viki; rostering, Online Drivers, and Route Assistance are covered in their own articles.