Schedule Form
The Schedule form is the primary dispatcher's dashboard that gives you the big picture of the order schedule for two weeks and is a start page for working with the other Dispatchers' Forms. It presents you with visualized projected delivery windows and scheduled orders for the locations served by your company. You can move orders and get real-time complementary information from the other forms, which helps you to determine the optimal delivery time.
The form is flexible and customizable. You can adjust the list of locations to your needs be means of various filters, create handy filter sets, and then change the time scale to see a different level of detail.
Available locations and tag filters depend on your workplace settings. For more information about these settings, see Employees.
You are also provided with alerts to insufficient data and evaluation of the accuracy of automatic calculations.
You can use the keyboard to work with the form. For the list of keyboard shortcuts, see Keyboard Shortcuts for Dispatchers' Forms.
Interface Tour
The Schedule form can be divided into several working areas, as shown in the following illustration.
Quick Filters
Use this area to filter the list of locations. You have flexibility to show or hide filters, so that you have an easily accessible filter set that suits your needs.
The number of locations within the filter is displayed beside each filter. The number changes as you apply other filters.
Additionally, you can use items in the Legend as filters.
When you apply several quick filters, AND logic is used between them. It means that each new filter further narrows down the location list.
example
Let's say we want to view only locations with reliable inventory information that have orders planned for tomorrow. To do it, we need to apply filters "System OK" in the Legend area and "Tomorrow" on the Quick pane. As a result, the location list contains only locations that have both "System OK" status and orders for tomorrow.
| To... | Do the following: |
|---|---|
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Show or hide a filter on the Quick Filters pane |
Click the icon in the upper-right corner of the pane and click the filter in the list. Checked filters appear on the Quick Filters pane. |
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Apply or clear a quick filter |
Click the filter on the Quick Filers pane. Applied filters are blue, inactive filters are grey. |
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Filter locations by status or inventory status |
Click an item in the Legend area. Applied filters are highlighted with black. |
Filters by Customer Tags
Use this area to filter the list of locations by customer tags. For more information about tags, see Customer Tags.
You can show or hide tags on the Tags pane, so that you have a set of tags you are most likely to filter by. You can also hide the whole pane when you don't need it for your work.
When you apply several tags as filters, OR logic is used between them. It means that each new tag you apply potentially adds locations to the list, as opposed to Quick Filters that further narrow down the list.
example
Let's say we want to view locations served by Dayton Truck Terminal. To do it, we filter by tag "Dayton Truck Terminal". Then, if we apply "High sales" tag as a filter, all locations with this tag from any terminal are added to the list.
| To... | Do the following: |
|---|---|
|
Show a tag on the Tags pane |
Click Tags, hover over a tag group and select a tag in the submenu. |
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Hide a tag on the Tags pane |
Click the close icon on the tag -or- Click Tags, hover over a tag group and click the checked tag within the group. |
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Show or hide the whole Tags pane |
Click the arrow icon next to Tags. Applied filters are highlighted with black. |
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To apply or clear a tag as a filter |
Click the tag on the Tags pane. Applied filters are highlighted with darker shade of blue. |
location List
Locations are listed in alphabetical order by their names. You can select to have location IDs displayed instead of names, or both of them. Changing the format does not change the order of locations.
You can also search for a location in the list by its ID or name, regardless of the format you selected for the list.
If a location is shown in grey, it is an indicator that the location's inventory or projected order schedule has been automatically updated since the page was loaded. It is recommended to click Refresh and view the latest data.
| To... | Do the following: |
|---|---|
|
View the location's name, ID, and status |
Hover over the location in the list. |
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Change the format of locations in the list (ID, name, or both) |
Above the Location List, expand the Ship To list and select a format in it. |
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Search for a location in the list |
In the Search field above the Location List, enter a full a partial location ID or name and press Enter on the keyboard. |
Time Scale
Time Scale consists of two rows:
- Upper row shows days.
- Lower row shows hours. Day and night hours (AM and PM) are visually distinguished by color.
The total period available for viewing is 14 days starting from the present moment. When you open the Schedule form, 7 days are visible on the page, but you can browse through the whole period.
You can magnify and shrink a view depending on what you want: to focus on a specific period or get the big picture. When you magnify a view, you see shorter time period in smaller time units. When you shrink a view, you see longer time period in larger time units.
| To... | Do the following: |
|---|---|
|
To browse through the whole 14-day period |
Pan to the left and right or use horizontal scroll bar. |
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Magnify a view |
Click the plus icon to the left of the Time Scale. |
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Shrink a view |
Click the minus icon to the left of the Time Scale. |
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Fit one day on the screen |
Click this day in the Time Scale. |
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Magnify to the maximum (1 hour interval) |
Click a time unit in the row with hours. |
Orders
For every location, all projected, confirmed, and hard orders scheduled for the nearest 14 days are shown. For more information about orders types see Order Types.
The percentage displayed on the order indicates the accuracy of the projected order and depends on the amount and quality of data used for calculation. For confirmed and hard orders, the percentage is not displayed.
Colors of the order indicate product types ordered. If there are several products in the order, the amount of colors shows their ratio in the order. See the color explanation in Product Type Color Codes.
| To... | Do the following: |
|---|---|
|
To view the order's details (type, date, product types and their amount) |
Click the order once. The order type is shown in the upper-right corner of the dialog displaying details: "P" — projected, checkmark — confirmed, "h" — hard, note icon — completed. |
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To open the order on the Order form and highlight it on the Drivers form |
Double-click the order. |
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To change the order's delivery time |
Drag the order horizontally. You can only move the order within the delivery window. As you move it, it is simultaneously moved on the other Dispatchers' Forms. |
Delivery Window
Rows in the schedule are filled with different colors depending on the projected inventory level for this location. The primary aim of the colors is to show you delivery windows - periods when the location can accept a load. Every delivery window starts with "Can go" period (in light green) and usually ends with "Run out" period (in red). For more information, see About Delivery Window and About Inventory Levels.
The color codes for inventory levels are explained in the Legend in the left part of the page.
The projected inventory level is calculated based on the latest information about the location's inventory and the inventory statistics for the previous periods.
Delivery windows on the Schedule form are calculated for product type "Regular". You can see inventory levels for other product types and more detail on the Order form.
Refresh
The Refresh button appears in the lower-left corner of the page when any location or order related data have been changed automatically or manually, and the schedule has been recalculated based on the newest data.
Click Refresh to see the updated schedule.
When you click Refresh, only the schedule itself is updated. Your settings, including filters, Time Scale, and Location List, remain the same.
Summary Information
Additionally, for every 12 hour period (AM and PM), you can see the following information:
- Maximum loads. The maximum number of loads your company can deliver during this period. This number depends on the driver's schedule and available trailers.
- Unassigned orders. The number of orders that are currently not assigned to a driver and require dispatcher's attention. You can view them and assign to a driver on the Drivers form. For more information, see Unassigned Orders.
- Planned/Confirmed Loads. The number of orders with type "projected" is in green; these orders require review and confirmation. The number of orders with types "confirmed" and "hard" is in orange.
