A guide to every feature in the controller console. Tap a heading to open it. You're currently in the Dashboard view — the Map view has the same features in a different layout. Move between sections using the left-hand menu.
Getting started
Signing on as a controller
Click Sign On in the top bar, choose your name, and enter your password to begin your shift. Your name then shows at the top. Click it again to sign off at the end of your shift. Forgotten your password? Any admin can set you a new one in the Database → Controllers tab.
Locking the console
The padlock button locks the screen so nobody can use the console while you step away, without signing you off. Unlock it to carry on where you left off.
Switching between Dashboard and Map views
Use the Map View / Dashboard View button in the top bar to swap layouts. Both have exactly the same features — the Dashboard shows cards and stats, the Map view centres on a live map. Pick whichever suits your screen.
Day / night theme
The moon/sun button switches between a light and dark colour scheme — handy for night shifts.
Voice alerts (spoken updates)
The speaker button turns spoken alerts on or off. When on, the console reads out events as they happen during your shift — a rider heading to collect, a pickup, a delivery. It only announces things happening live, so signing in won't read out old jobs.
Activity feed & text size
The scrolling feed at the top shows the current jobs and what's happening with them right now. Use the A− / A+ buttons to make that feed's text smaller or larger; your choice is remembered on that device.
Riders & the fleet
Signing riders on
Use Sign On Rider on the Dashboard, or go to the Fleet view, to bring an available volunteer on shift. They then appear in the fleet and are ready to be given jobs.
The rider menu (break, send home, locate)
Click a rider's card in the Fleet view to open their menu. From there you can put them on a break, send them back to base or another location, view their next-of-kin (NOK) details, or sign them off when their shift ends.
Send to base / location
In the rider menu, use Send to Base/Location to direct a rider to a chosen hospital or base. If the rider has a home location saved, you can also send them home at the end of their shift.
Fleet Vehicles & allocation
The Fleet view's Vehicle Allocation section lists your bikes and cars (managed on the Vehicles tab of the Database). Allocate a vehicle to a rider for their shift; the vehicle they used is recorded against every job they complete, and the allocation clears when they sign off.
Suggested rider
For an unassigned job, the console suggests the nearest free, suitable rider — taking distance and whether the load suits a bike or a car into account. Click Assign on the suggestion to accept it, or assign anyone you like manually. It's only a hint; you're always in control.
Rider status at a glance
Each rider shows a clear status chip — ✓ FREE, ● BUSY, ⏸ BREAK — using a symbol as well as colour so it's readable at a glance and for colour-blind users.
Jobs
Logging a new job
Open the Log Job view (or the Create New Job shortcut), choose a Pickup and Destination, click the description box to pick the items, set the Priority if needed, add any Notes for the rider, then press Generate Job. The job appears in Active Jobs as pending. You can also type a ward/department into the optional box to add it to the location name. For a place that isn't on your locations list β a one-off job offered to the group, or a relay handover β tick Relay / one-off job at the top of the panel. That swaps the location dropdowns for free-text boxes, so you can type any pickup and dropoff and give a postcode to put it on the map. The job runs exactly like any other and is tagged RELAY / ONE-OFF on the board so it's clear it wasn't a regular run.
Choosing items / description
Clicking the description box opens the item selector. Tick common items (e.g. bloods, samples, milk) or type a custom item in the "Other" box. If you don't yet know what's being carried, tick Items unknown and the rider confirms the actual items when they collect.
Job priority (Urgent)
Set a job's priority to 🔴 Urgent when it's time-critical. Urgent jobs jump to the top of the board, pulse red, show a red URGENT badge everywhere (including on the rider's phone), send the rider an unmissable "URGENT" alert when assigned, and are tagged Urgent in the reports. Routine is the default. Use Urgent sparingly so it keeps its meaning.
Notes & standing directions
Add free-text Notes when logging a job (access codes, "ring on arrival", etc.) — the rider sees them on their phone. If a location has standing directions saved (on its Database record), they fill the notes in automatically, and you can add to them.
what3words on a job
You can add a pickup and/or delivery ///what3words address to pinpoint the exact door. Choose one from a location's mapped points, or type one in. The rider gets a tap-to-open ///link.
Assigning a job to a rider
Click a free rider in the Fleet view, then choose a pending job to assign it to them. The rider sees it instantly in their Volunteer Portal (with a push notification). Assign several to one rider and they queue.
Rider confirm / decline (acceptance)
When you assign a job, the rider gets Confirm and Can't do it buttons on their phone. Until they accept, the job shows a bold amber ⏳ AWAITING ACCEPTANCE line so you know they haven't confirmed yet. The moment they tap Confirm you get an alert and a chime, and that line turns green: ✓ [rider] ACCEPTED (with the time). If they decline, you get an amber alert with their reason and the job goes back on the board to reassign.
Tracking: pickup & delivery
As the rider progresses, confirm Pickup and then Delivery (normally the rider does this in their portal with a signature; an Admin can also close a job). Each step is time-stamped. When delivery is confirmed the job moves into the completed records. A job's time badge turns amber after 30 minutes and red after an hour, so a job that's waiting stands out.
Signatures (offline-safe)
Riders capture a signature at pickup and at delivery in their portal. If they're out of signal, the signature is saved on their phone and uploads automatically when they're back online — nothing is lost. View signatures by opening a job's details from the job list or Job History.
Unassign or Close a job
Unassign takes a rider off a job (it goes back to pending) and stands them down. Close records a job that won't be completed the normal way — e.g. "nothing to collect" or "stood down" — with a reason, so it still appears in the records. Cancel removes a job entirely.
Scheduled Jobs
Use Scheduled Jobs to set up runs in advance. Pick the pickup, destination, items, an optional rider, and a time — for a single date, or across many days at once (pick weekdays and a "repeat until" date, or add individual dates). Each becomes a pending job automatically ahead of its time, and you can Start Now from the board.
Planning & records
Shift Rota
The Shift Rota view shows the 4-week rota. Click a 4-hour block to book a rider or driver, or use + add under Controllers to book a controller. Page through weeks with Previous / Next, and export to CSV. To add your own shift, use the Volunteer Portal.
Job History & reports
The History view shows all server-archived completed jobs. Filter by time range, search by job reference, rider or location, and export as a printable report, CSV, or Excel (.xlsx). Each record includes the times created/collected/delivered, a job number, the vehicle used, the priority, and running-cost/savings figures. An Admin can correct a record or add a past job — the original archive is never overwritten, and every edit is logged.
Cost & savings (Rates)
Reports show what the runs cost to run versus what a commercial courier would have charged — i.e. the money volunteers saved. Set the per-mile and call-out rates on the Database's Rates tab; sensible UK defaults are used until you do.
Volunteer stats
A recognition report totalling each volunteer's completed jobs, miles and rostered hours, and how long since their last job (flagging anyone not active for 30+ days — worth a check-in). Exportable to Excel.
Vehicle checks in reports
Riders submit a pre-ride vehicle check (POWDER for bikes, a car list for cars) from their portal. The Dashboard home shows whether each in-use vehicle has been checked today, and any reported issue is flagged so you can act on it.
Snapshot
The camera button creates a plain-text summary of today's live situation (riders, active jobs, and jobs completed today) that you can copy and paste, e.g. into a handover message. Previous days aren't included — look those up in the History view.
Shift handover notes
The 📝 button leaves a note for the next controller (e.g. "the fridge at Ward 4 is broken"). It stays pinned on every console until a controller taps Acknowledge. Who left it and who acknowledged it is recorded in the change log.
Change log (Admins)
Admins can view a running log of who did what and when — jobs created, assigned, unassigned, cancelled and closed, riders signed on/off, rider confirmations and declines, handover notes, and database changes. It's your "what happened on that shift?" record.
Export CSV / Clear List
In the Fleet view, Export CSV downloads a copy of the current shift's completed jobs — a good end-of-shift backup. Clear List only clears the on-screen list; the data stays safely archived on the server.
Database
Volunteers (riders & drivers)
On the Volunteers tab you add and edit people: name, callsign, next-of-kin, an optional photo, a 4-digit PIN, and an optional home location by postcode (used for "Send Home"). Mark someone inactive to keep their history without showing them on shift. Controller/Admin access is granted on the Controllers tab. You can also import many volunteers at once from a CSV file.
PINs & Reset PIN
Riders log into their portal with their name and a 4-digit PIN that you set on their volunteer record. When editing someone, leave the PIN blank to keep their current one. The Reset PIN button puts a forgotten PIN back to 1234.
Controllers, admins & passwords
On the Controllers tab you add controllers, grant admin rights, and set or reset passwords. Leaving the password blank when editing keeps the current one. The main Admin account is protected — it can't be deleted or have its password changed by other admins.
Locations, departments, directions & what3words
On the Locations tab you add hospitals, surgeries and bases with their coordinates and an optional ///what3words. For large sites add departments (e.g. Pathology, Maternity) that appear as sub-options when logging a job. You can also save standing directions for a site — access notes that auto-fill a job's Notes whenever that site is used. (The searchable ///what3words directory, with CSV import, is in the Map view.)
Vehicles & MOT/service reminders
On the Vehicles tab you manage the fleet of bikes and cars (name, type, registration, notes). Add MOT, service and insurance due dates to get amber "due soon" and red "overdue" reminders, and optionally record which volunteer a vehicle is kept with (its custodian). These are the vehicles you allocate to riders for their shifts.
Rates (cost & savings)
On the Rates tab (admin) set the per-mile running cost for bikes and cars, and the courier per-mile and call-out rates. Reports use these to show your running cost and the money saved versus a commercial courier.
Other
Incoming hospital requests
Hospitals can submit a delivery request themselves at trent.arterybb.uk/request.html, using an access code a controller gives them — there is no login. New requests pop up on the console with an alert and a repeating chime, and a 📥 Requests button appears bottom-right while any are unanswered. Accept turns one into a job on the board ready to assign; Decline asks for a reason the requester sees. Either way the ward's own page follows the run (accepted → collected → delivered) while they keep it open. Only pass the access code to clinical staff, and tell them it is for requests, never for emergencies — those still come by phone.
Volunteer Portal
The motorbike button opens the Volunteer Portal — the phone view riders use to see their jobs, navigate, capture signatures, do a vehicle check and book their own shifts. There's a separate Help button inside the portal too.
Version number
The small version (e.g. v2.27) shown in the corner confirms which release you're running. If you ever report a problem, mention this number.
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