1- Route Optimizer

Schedule your jobs in record time by selecting all or some of your technicians for a day and let the Route Optimizer tool schedule your jobs.

Jobs which have already been scheduled can be rescheduled in order to minimize the travel time and the kilometers traveled, while taking into account job durations.

 

In the Schedule tab, click on "Optimizer" :

1. Choose the area to optimize by zooming in on the map and select your technicians.
2. Select the unscheduled jobs you wish to see scheduled.
3. Some jobs marked in red require skills that are not among those of the selected technicians or are supposed to be scheduled for other technicians.
4. Click on REVIEW SELECTIONS

Technicians and Jobs can be classified:

1. To make it easier to choose technicians, you can order technicians by distance from the central point on the map.
2. Similarly, each column heading in the job list can be used to order your jobs by job number, customer, job type, scheduling preferences and SLA limit.

Optimization preview

Before running the optimization, you can check the following points:

1. The number of technicians selected and their already scheduled tasks.
2. The number of unscheduled jobs selected, along with their job type and duration.
3. The cost that will be generated by this optimization in the form of credits.
4. Choose the optimization options:
   Type of distribution :
   - Spread the work over as many technicians as possible
   or - Minimize travel and the number of technicians
   Status of jobs to be scheduled :
   - Optimize scheduled and unscheduled tasks
   or - Keep scheduled tasks in place
   
   
5. Finally, if everything is OK: click on the Run Optimization button, otherwise click on Cancel.

Optimization result

The result of the optimization is a draft version of the optimal route, taking into account all your criteria.

1. The schedule view: displays the selected technicians with their jobs scheduled as drafts (yellow) and the optimized travel times in Blue.
2. Optimization details: displays the list of jobs that could not be scheduled, the duration of the request and its cost in terms of credits.
3. Warning message: when not all the jobs could be placed on that specific day or for those technicians, an orange message appears at the bottom of the Page: "We have found a solution, but it does NOT include all jobs".

At this stage you can adjust the proposal:

1. You can click on each of the jobs to move them or to choose "Revert" so that the job returns to its initial position if it was already scheduled, or so that it resumes the status "to schedule".
2. In the example below, the job was scheduled in draft mode by the route optimisation, therefore
3. by clicking on "Revert" the job returns to the"to schedule" list of jobs.

Optimization validation

When you click on SAVE, you confirm that the jobs have been scheduled.

Jobs "to be scheduled" disappear from the map (green picto) and appear as scheduled.

• Grey picto: 1 scheduled job
• Purple picto: if a series of scheduled jobs are at the same location

In the Schedule view, Jobs are now scheduled:

 

2- Travel Optimizer

Thanks to the Tour Optimisation option, you can also optimise your technicians' routes.

Click on your technician's line in the Day view of the Schedule:

First: The View Travel button (1) lets you view all your technician's travel times for the day: your initial schedule in miles, hours and Total (Arrival time - Departure time).

 

Secondly: Clicking on Optimize Travel (2) reorganises your journeys over the day, in Draft mode, so that you can modify them if necessary, and shows you the optimised journeys:

• • Current: your initial schedule in miles, hours and Total.
  • Optimised: the proposed schedule in miles, hours and Total.
  • Variance: The gain in miles, hours and Total.

 

All that remains is to press "OK" (3) to confirm this proposal and validate this provisional arrangement of all the interventions re-planned and still in Draft mode.

To confirm the proposal and definitively schedule the jobs :

Click on "Save changes" (4) or else "Discard" to return to the initial layout.

Each task can be moved manually as long as it is in draft mode.

After clicking on "Save changes" (4) :

Jobs are scheduled and Draft Mode is deactivated:

3- Adding a break time

In the general Configuration of your account you have the option to set up a reserved time slot, during which the Tour optimization will not schedule any job, for instance a Lunch Break. To do so:

• Click on Settings (1)
• Click on Scheduling (2)

You will then be able to enforce a break window (3)

This break will only appear when using the Route Optimization module:

You have the possibility to configure:

• the length of the break (1)
• The time frame during which the break can be taken (2)
• An activity that can replace that break (3)

Example of the Tour Optimization Result including a break:

• Placement of a MEETING (Unavailability activity) (1) which replaces the default break
• Optimization including a break (2) which is scheduled between 12PM and 2PM