11/18/2021 Release - Route Optimization With: Time Windows, Departure Location, Departure Time, Drive Time, Job Duration, Traffic, and more

The items mentioned below will be available on or after November 18, 2021. To see these new features you will need to do a hard refresh in your browser. Here's how to Get the Latest Version of ServiceCore.

Route Optimization

The next chapter in route optimization will factor in additional constraints that are applied to jobs and destinations on daily routes. This means that route optimization will now take into account:

  1. Departure Time
  2. Departure Location
  3. Drive time between each stop
  4. Service duration of each job and destination
  5. Appointment times (access hours) of each job
  6. End location
  7. Traffic (based on the average traffic for that day and area for the past two years)

Why is this so special?

Here are a couple of scenarios to better describe how route optimization will work smarter and harder for you from now on:

When Route Optimization Will Work When Route Optimization Will Fail
The new route optimization will put stops in an optimal order. For example, if you have a combination of jobs and destinations like this:
  • Your driver is leaving the yard
  • During rush hour at 8:00am
  • To drive to a job that's 30 minutes away
  • And the job has an appointment time of 8:30am to 9:30am
  • And the job will take 30 minutes to complete
In this case, you're good to do. Your driver will make it to the job site at 8:30am to complete the 30-minute job before the time window closes at 9:30am. Then your driver can move on to the next job or destination on the route. ServiceCore handles all of these calculations and ordering of stops so you don't have to do it all yourself.
Also, the new route optimization will let you know when you won't make it to a job on the route in time. For example:
  • Your driver is leaving the yard
  • During rush hour at 8:00am
  • To drive to a job that's 30 minutes away
  • And the job has an appointment time of 7:30am to 8:30am
  • And the job will take 30 minutes to complete
We'll let you know the route optimization can't be completed with the current route and job constraints. Your driver won't make it to the job site in time to complete the 30-minute job before 8:30am. In this case, you can change the departure time to be earlier in the morning, or adjust the appointment time to offer a longer time window to get the job done.

 

What else is impacted by this change?

Route Optimization from the Schedule

When you click "Optimize Day" from any view of the schedule, you'll see a few more options, including:

  • Departure Time
  • Departure Location

These two pieces of information will be used to calculate the optimized route. Here's a screenshot of what this will look like:

Screen_Shot_2021-11-02_at_11.19.16_AM.png

Saved Routes

To make these improvements to route optimization, there has been a slight change to how the starting location for saved routes will be handled. When you Create a Route in Settings > Schedule > Routes, you will now be required to choose a starting Location and Departure Time for each route.

Screen_Shot_2021-11-18_at_4.34.13_PM.png

Learn More

To learn more about route optimization, please visit these additional help articles:

Improved

  • Recurring Invoices: When you create a new recurring invoice, or edit an existing recurring invoice, at least one email address will now be required in order to submit the form if the "Preferred Communication" field is set to "Email".

Fixed

  • Ready for Invoice > Jobs: The Accounting > Ready for Invoice > Jobs list has been updated to no longer show completed "Destination" jobs.
  • Edit Payment Form: An issue has been fixed on the "Edit Payment Form" where invoices that were selected on page two or higher would become uncheck upon submitting the form. If invoices are selected on the form, and those invoices appear on page two or higher, when saving the payment form, the invoices will stay selected in the invoice list, and the invoices will retain their links to the payment that was edited.
  • Complete Job Form: The job completion pop-up has been updated to no longer display two vertical scroll bars in certain web browsers.

Webinar

Webinar for PROs: Costs & Efficiencies

webinar (Facebook Cover)-1

Join ServiceCore as Pete, the host of Get Flushed, partners with John Gadeken to discuss: inflation, pricing, and inefficiencies in waste companies.

Pete's webinar with ServiceCore last December, "Trends for 2021", was so accurate that we just had to set up another webinar with him to see what other valuable information he has to share. The last 10 minutes will be a live Q&A, so bring any questions!

The Details

  • Who: Everyone in the portable toilet industry
  • When: Wednesday, December 1st from 1:00PM-1:45PM MT (and via recording)
  • Where: Online
Book Your Spot

 

Coming Soon

Please find our coming soon information at its new home: Coming Soon: New Features and Improvements.

 

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