Rails and Order Throttling

Introduction

This article is intended to describe how the Olo Rails product interacts with our order throttling tools and how settings can be optimized for the best customer experience.

To begin, we recommend reviewing our Order Throttling Strategies Overview article. 

Order Submission Flow

Marketplaces submit orders to Olo at the time the order should be prepared. Olo then validates the order to ensure the desired time slot has not exceeded order throttling capacity.

If the desired time slot has not exceeded throttling capacity, the order can be submitted successfully, pending other factors (e.g., the store is open, the POS connection is healthy, no items are 86ed, etc.).

If the desired time slot has exceeded throttling capacity, there are two potential paths:

1. If ASAP throttling is not configured, Olo will notify the marketplaces that the desired time slot is not available and ask that a new time slot be selected. Marketplaces do not currently allow customers to select a new time slot, so the order will fail. The customer will then be notified that the order is canceled.
2. If ASAP throttling is configured...
1. And a time slot is available within the average window, the order will be automatically reassigned to the first available time slot. The marketplace will be notified of an extended prep time and will then notify the driver and customer.
2. And a time slot is not available within the average window, Olo will notify the marketplace that the desired time slot is not available and ask that a new time slot be selected. Marketplaces do not currently allow customers to select a new time slot. As a result, the order will fail. The customer will then be notified that the order is canceled.

Throttling Strategies

You can learn more about available order throttling strategies using the links below:

• Order Throttling Strategies Overview
• Throttling Strategy: Make Time Minutes per Window
• Throttling Strategy: Orders per Window
• Lead Time Strategies vs Order Throttling Strategies

Tools

ASAP Throttling

A description of the ASAP Throttling tool and how to use it is available here. It is only compatible with the Make Time Minutes per Window throttling strategy. 

Olo highly recommends that brands utilize ASAP throttling with larger overflow windows (e.g., 45-60 mins) to reduce Rails order failures. Longer overflow windows will have the greatest impact on order failure reduction.

To enable ASAP throttling, reach out to your Deployment Manager or Customer Success Manager.

Tips to Reduce Throttling-Related Order Failures

There are three primary recommendations to reduce throttling-related order failures for Rails.

1. Utilize ASAP throttling with the largest overflow window you deem practical
2. Review your throttling settings and increase capacity where you're able
3. Consider disabling scheduled orders on marketplaces around high-volume days

Considerations

Scheduled Orders

Most marketplaces submit scheduled orders to Olo when it is time to prepare the order, rather than when the order is placed.

For example, if a customer places an order on June 1st at Noon and they want the order delivered on June 2nd at 6:00 PM, the marketplace will submit the order to Olo between 5:00-5:30 PM on June 2nd (depending on the estimated make time).

For this reason, scheduled Rails orders are not able to reserve a time slot and may be canceled if the desired time slot has exceeded capacity at the time the order is submitted to Olo.