Settings Configuration Guide
Properly configuring your Klau settings ensures optimal route optimization, accurate scheduling, and seamless team collaboration. This guide walks you through every setting and explains how each affects your daily operations.
1. Settings Overview
Access your settings by clicking the Settings gear icon in the main navigation sidebar. Settings are organized into logical sections for easy navigation.
Who Can Access Settings?
Full access to all settings, including billing, team management, and integrations.
Can view company hours, service times, and dump sites. Cannot modify billing or team settings.
Read-only access to view current settings.
Impact on Optimization
Many settings directly affect how Klau's optimization engine calculates routes. Changes to operating hours, yard location, dump sites, and service times will immediately impact future route calculations. Always verify your settings before running daily optimization.
2. Company Hours
Your operating hours define when drivers can be scheduled for work. The optimizer will never schedule jobs outside these windows, ensuring realistic and achievable routes.
Setting Daily Operating Hours
Navigate to Settings > Company Hours to configure your weekly schedule. For each day of the week:
- Start Time: When drivers can begin their first job (e.g., 6:00 AM)
- End Time: When drivers should complete their last job (e.g., 5:00 PM)
- Closed: Toggle to mark days when your operation is closed
Different Hours per Day
Many haulers operate shorter hours on Saturdays. Set Saturday to 6:00 AM - 12:00 PM to reflect half-day operations. The optimizer will automatically limit Saturday routes to fit within this window.
Holiday Handling
For holidays, navigate to Company Hours > Exceptions to add specific dates where your normal hours do not apply. You can set reduced hours or mark the day as fully closed.
Driver Overtime Considerations
The optimizer respects your end time as a hard constraint. If you want to allow some flexibility for finishing in-progress jobs, add a 30-minute buffer to your end time (e.g., set 5:30 PM if you want drivers done by 5:00 PM). This gives the optimizer room to schedule the last job while accounting for realistic completion times.
3. Yard Configuration
Your yard is the operational hub of your business. Accurate yard configuration is essential for route optimization and container tracking.
Primary Yard Address
Navigate to Settings > Yard to set your primary yard location. Enter the complete street address and verify the map pin is positioned correctly.
Why Accurate Yard Location Matters
Every route starts and ends at your yard. The optimizer calculates drive times from your yard to the first job and from the last job back to the yard. An incorrect yard location can result in inaccurate ETAs and suboptimal route sequences. Take a moment to verify the map pin matches your actual yard entrance.
- Yard Operating Hours: If your yard has specific gate hours (different from your dispatch hours), set these to prevent the optimizer from scheduling yard-dependent activities outside gate hours.
- Container Storage: Klau tracks containers stored at your yard. The inventory system uses this as the baseline for available equipment.
- Yard Capacity: Set your maximum container storage capacity to receive alerts when approaching limits.
4. Dump Sites
Dump sites are critical waypoints in roll-off operations. Properly configured dump sites enable the optimizer to build efficient chains and maximize net value.
Licensing & Material Constraints
Unlike other software, Klau understands that dump sites don't care about container size—they care about material licensing. You must configure which materials each facility is licensed to accept.
- Strict Filtering: If a job has a specific material (e.g., Concrete), the optimizer will only consider sites licensed for that material.
- General Waste: Jobs without a specific material are routed to general transfer stations that have no material-specific restrictions.
Adding Dump Site Locations
Navigate to Settings > Dump Sites and click Add Dump Site. Enter the following information:
- Site Name: A recognizable name (e.g., "Metro Transfer Station")
- Address: Full street address for accurate geocoding
- Hours of Operation: When the dump site accepts loads
- Materials Accepted: Select which waste types are accepted (C&D, Municipal, Recycling, etc.)
Dump Fees & Preferences
Set average dump fees per site. While the optimizer primarily focuses on drive time, it can use fee information to break ties between equally efficient options. Mark preferred sites to have the optimizer favor them when multiple options exist.
Material Pricing & Tipping Fees
Define the price per ton (or pound) for each material accepted at the site. Klau uses this pricing to calculate the economic value of each disposal option, balancing driving costs against disposal savings.
Economic Site Selection
The optimizer doesn't just look for the closest dump. By providing material pricing and your truck operating costs (see Section 5), Klau can determine if driving an extra 15 miles is worth it to get a better disposal rate.
5. Truck Operating Costs
To enable economic optimization, Klau needs to know how much it costs to keep your trucks on the road. This setting turns "minutes of drive time" into "dollars of operating cost."
Operating Cost per Minute
Navigate to Settings > Company to set your Truck Operating Cost per Minute. This value should include:
- Driver wages and benefits
- Fuel and DEF consumption
- Maintenance and tire wear
- Insurance and depreciation
A typical industry baseline is $2.00 - $3.00 per minute. Accuracy here ensures Klau makes profitable decisions when choosing between different disposal facilities.
6. Optimization Strategy & Features
Fine-tune Klau's strategic optimization engine to match your business goals. These settings control how the engine evaluates risks versus rewards.
Choosing Your Strategy
Navigate to Settings > Optimization to select your company's default strategy level:
Prioritizes ETA reliability. Applies heavy penalties to routes with high historical drive time variance.
The recommended default. Optimizes for efficiency while maintaining high confidence in arrival times.
Maximizes daily net value. Willing to accept more schedule variance to squeeze every dollar out of the routes.
Advanced Optimization Toggles
- Use Future Value: (Recommended) When enabled, Klau runs Monte Carlo simulations to "look ahead." It might choose a slightly less efficient job now if it positions the driver for a high-value chain later in the afternoon.
- Risk-Aware Selection: When enabled, Klau uses historical SMS drive time observations to identify "fragile" routes. If a specific highway segment is consistently delayed on Friday afternoons, Klau will penalize that route option.
7. Service Time Defaults
Service times represent how long each job type takes to complete on average. Accurate service times lead to realistic schedules and achievable driver workloads.
Default Minutes per Job Type
Adjusting for Your Operation
The defaults work well for most haulers, but you may need to adjust based on your specific circumstances:
- Urban Operations: Tight job sites in cities may require longer placement times. Consider adding 5-10 minutes to delivery and pickup times.
- Rural Areas: Wide-open job sites with easy access may be faster. Consider reducing times by 5 minutes.
- Experienced Drivers: If your team is highly experienced, you may be able to reduce times across the board.
- Dump & Return: This includes drive time to/from the dump site plus unload time. If your primary dump site is far from your typical pickup zones, consider increasing this value.
Start Conservative, Adjust Over Time
It's better to overestimate service times initially. Underestimating leads to unrealistic schedules and frustrated drivers. After a few weeks of operation, review your actual completion times in the Reports section and fine-tune your defaults accordingly.
8. Team Management
Klau supports multiple users per company with role-based access control. Properly managing your team ensures secure access and smooth collaboration.
Inviting Team Members
Navigate to Settings > Team and click Invite User. Enter their email address and select a role:
Full access to all features including settings, billing, team management, and integrations. Reserve for owners and operations managers.
Can manage the dispatch board, create and edit jobs, communicate with drivers, and run optimization. Cannot access billing or team settings.
Read-only access to the dispatch board and reports. Ideal for accounting staff or stakeholders who need visibility without edit access.
Managing User Access
- Pending Invitations: Invitations are valid for 48 hours. Resend or cancel from the Team page.
- Changing Roles: Click on a team member to edit their role. Changes take effect immediately.
- Removing Members: Click the remove button next to a user. This immediately revokes their access.
- Transfer Ownership: The company owner can transfer ownership to another Admin from the Team settings.
Security Best Practices
Immediately remove access when team members leave your company. Review your team list monthly to ensure only active employees have access. Encourage all users to use strong, unique passwords and consider requiring two-factor authentication for Admin accounts.
9. Integration Settings
Klau integrates with popular industry tools to streamline your workflow. Configure integrations to automatically sync data and reduce manual entry.
EnCore Connection
Connect your EnCore account to automatically import customers, sites, and orders. Navigate to Settings > Integrations > EnCore and enter your API credentials. Klau will sync data every 15 minutes.
Webhook Configuration
Send real-time updates to your internal systems. Configure webhook endpoints to receive notifications when jobs are created, updated, or completed. Webhooks use HTTPS POST with JSON payloads.
API Keys for Developers
If your team builds custom integrations, generate API keys from Settings > Developer > API Keys. Each key can be scoped to specific permissions and has an optional expiration date.
10. Notification Preferences
Stay informed about critical events without being overwhelmed. Configure which notifications you receive and how you receive them.
Notification Types
Email Notifications
Daily dispatch summaries, weekly performance reports, and billing alerts.
SMS Alerts
Critical alerts only: driver SOS, major delays, or system outages.
In-App Notifications
Real-time updates for job status changes, driver messages, and optimization results.
Driver Communication Settings
Configure how Klau communicates with your drivers via SMS:
- Morning Dispatch: Automatically send the day's route summary to each driver at a specified time.
- Job Reminders: Send reminders before each scheduled job (configurable lead time).
- Completion Confirmations: Request drivers to confirm job completion via SMS.
- Language Preference: Set per-driver language preferences (English or Spanish) for automated messages.
11. Billing & Subscription
Manage your subscription, view usage, and update payment methods from the billing settings.
Viewing Your Plan
Navigate to Settings > Billing to see your current plan details:
- Plan Status: Trial Period or Active Subscription
- Platform Fee: $149/month (waived during first 14 days)
- Per-Job Cost: $0.30 per optimized job
- Next Invoice Date: When your next payment is due
Usage Tracking
Monitor your usage to understand costs and plan appropriately:
Payment Methods
Add or update payment methods from Billing > Payment Methods. Klau accepts major credit cards and ACH bank transfers for annual subscriptions.
Upgrading or Downgrading
Changes to your plan take effect immediately. When upgrading, you'll be charged a prorated amount for the remainder of your billing cycle. When downgrading, the reduced rate applies at your next billing date. Contact support for Enterprise plan changes.
12. Developer Settings
Build custom integrations and automate workflows using Klau's API. Developer settings are available to Admin users.
Creating API Keys
Navigate to Settings > Developer > API Keys to manage your keys:
- Click Create New Key
- Enter a descriptive name (e.g., "ERP Integration" or "Custom Dashboard")
- Select permissions: Read Only, Read/Write, or Full Access
- Optionally set an expiration date
- Copy the key immediately - it will only be shown once
Testing vs Production Keys
Create separate keys for development and production environments. Use test keys during integration development - they have lower rate limits but won't affect live data. Switch to production keys only after thorough testing.
Webhook Endpoints
Configure webhook URLs to receive real-time notifications. Test your endpoints using the "Send Test Event" button before going live. Webhooks include a signature header for verification.
Security Considerations
Never expose API keys in client-side code or public repositories. Store keys in environment variables or secure secret managers. Rotate keys regularly and immediately revoke any keys that may have been compromised. Enable webhook signature verification to ensure requests are genuinely from Klau.
13. Referral Program
Earn rewards by referring other haulers to Klau. Our referral program benefits both you and the companies you refer.
Finding Your Referral Code
Navigate to Settings > Referrals to find your unique referral code and shareable link. Your code is displayed prominently at the top of the page.
How Referrals Work
Share your referral link with another hauler
They sign up using your referral link
Both of you get the $149 platform fee waived for a month
Tracking Referral Rewards
The Referrals page shows your complete referral history:
- Pending Referrals: Companies that signed up but haven't converted yet
- Completed Referrals: Successful referrals that earned you credit
- Total Earnings: Cumulative credits applied to your account
- Available Credit: Current credit balance to apply to future invoices
Settings Quick Reference
Before Your First Optimization
- 1. Verify yard address on map
- 2. Add all dump sites with hours
- 3. Set company operating hours
- 4. Review service time defaults
Monthly Review Checklist
- 1. Audit team member access
- 2. Review usage and billing
- 3. Check API key expirations
- 4. Update dump site hours if changed