Journey Management

A journey (route) is a collection of locations to be visited by a vehicle within a specific timescals such as a day. It may be a 'milk-round' type journey where a defined set of customers is visited on a regular basis, or it can be an ad hoc journey where orders and customers can be assigned on a one-off basis.

Unique Features

There are a variety of features within this module that make it unique in the marketplace. Some of these include:

Journey types - multiple types of journey are supported
Multiple journeys per customer - this provides total flexibility and enables a complete visit schedule to be displayed for each customer
One-off visits - orders and one-off visits are automatically removed from a journey once they have been marked as complete
Distribution groups - for large organisations, journeys can be organised into logical groups (such as regions) to facilitate ease of management
Roll forward - the next cycle date for all journeys can be moved forward to cope with public holidays or other breaks in journey cycles
Journey instance - each time a journey is used, the activity for the journey/date combination is saved and can be queried at any time
Suspend a visit - an individual visit on a journey can be suspended for a defined period of time, e.g. a school closed for the Summer.

The remainder of this page contains further information on the features and functions of the journey management module.

Types of Journey supported

Journey management can be used to manage drivers, sales reps, merchandisers, service engineers and customer service personnel. To support each of these staff, different types of journey are used. The types of journey available include:

Order driven - orders can be assigned for delivery to specific vehicles
Van sales - a regular set of customers are placed on journeys which are used on pre-determined frequencies
Asset installation - journeys in which equipment is installed for customers
Asset collection/swap - used when sets of equipment have to be replaced or swapped on customer sites
Service - in addition to response work, preventative maintenance jobs can be assigned days or even weeks in advance
Sales - reps can be assigned fixed visit patterns to maximise sales
Asset audits - periodic equipment audits can be undertaken to verify that equipment is present at the location it should be and that it is being well maintained
Customer care - customer service staff can be assigned rotas of customers to visit to monitor service levels

Irrespective of the type of journey used, additional visits can be assigned at any time. For example, an order can be assigned to a journey for immediate delivery, and the details can be transmitted wirelessly to a handheld device used by a driver working on the journey.

Attributes of a Journey

When a journey is being created, a variety of attributes can be set including:

Description - helps to differentiate one journey from another
Duration - a journey can last for a day or can span several days
Repeat interval - the frequency with which the journey is used
Type of journey - see the information above on the types of journey available
Distribution group - organises the journey into a logical geographical grouping for ease of management and maintenance
Defaults - the primary driver and vehicle are specified
Capacity - maximum number of customers and/or assets that can reasonably be serviced are specified

The journey itself is repeated automatically at the frequency specified when it was created.

Assigning Orders to Journeys

A list of outstanding orders (orders which have not yet been delivered) for the distribution group selected can be displayed. A list of available journeys to service the orders can then be generated based on criteria input.

Individual orders can then be assigned to specific journeys. There are a suite of functions available to assist with the process of assigning orders to journeys including:

Overdue orders highlighted - these are orders whose requested delivery date has not been met
Display order details - the details of any order can be displayed including products and quantities requested
Reschedule - change the date on which the order needs to be serviced - this is normally in response to a request from a customer
Cancel - a customer may no longer wish to receive an order and so the order can be cancelled
Mark fulfilled - when an order has been delivered but the paperwork has not yet been received, it can be marked as 'fulfilled' to remove it from the display
Change assignment - an order can be moved from one journey to another for fulfillment, or it can be 'Unassigned'

Assigning Customers to Journeys

Customers can be assigned to journeys is a variety of ways:

Copy from one journey and paste onto another
Cut from one journey (ie. remove the customer from that journey) and paste onto another
Copy an entire journey to create a new one
Generate a list of customers that need to be assigned to journeys and assign them
From a customer view, add the customer to a journey manually

Lists of customers that need to be assigned to journeys can be generated using criteria such as:

Active customers that have not been assigned to any journeys
Customers in a specific territory (distribution group)
Customers with a specific status such as prospect, active account, historic (inactive) account
Customers with assets that need sanitisation/scheduled maintenance

Once the list has been generated, customers may then be assigned individually or in groups to journeys.

Reports

Examples of reports that can be generated from information processed through this module include:

Journey Sheets - printed for drivers who are not using handhelds to show them where they have to go
Journey List - all active journeys are listed along with associated drivers, vehicles and schedules
Jourey Visits - lists all customers on a journey along with their address details
Journey Visits (with Assets) - in addition to listing all customers on a journey, all assets associated with those customers are displayed
Depot Daily Visit Activity - control report that summarises visit and stock activity for a depot
Journey Instance Analysis - lists all times a journey was used for a specified date range and show summary information on visits and stock activity
POD Return List - every product return recorded against a journey is listed
Missed Journey Visits - lists all visits that were 'missed' for a specified period
Unproductive Journey Visits - lists all 'unproductive' visits for a specified period

Request a Demo