FCPlus Optimization module

FCPlus Optimization engine

Route optimization is the feature within the Task module that allows customers to optimize the routes for the vehicles to make the routes more cost- and time-efficient.

Optimization can be done in two ways:

Driver optimization - Tasks/orders are already assigned to the driver(s), and optimization is needed to determine the most time/cost-effective route for each driver to complete all tasks.
Dispatch includes all daily tasks and lets optimization decide who should do what and when. Initially, tasks are not assigned to anyone, and we need to distribute them between the available drivers to create the fastest/cheapest route per driver.

Optimization takes into consideration:

Vehicle type
Vehicle speed factor
Vehicle capacity
Vehicle or organization working hours
Driving starting point
Timeframe of task completion – if tasks are time-sensitive
Task capacity (how many tasks can be accomplished by one vehicle, e.g., how many parcels it can fit to deliver).
Drivers must be assigned to vehicles (if the driver is not assigned to a vehicle, the optimization engine will not display the driver among the available for task completion).

How to setup route optimization feature?

For initial setup - it is highly recommended to set up optimization for one vehicle, one driver, and one optimization profile to make sure the optimization setup meets your purpose.

To start optimizing the routes, please follow the steps below:

1. Create and define optimization profile

Customer portal Homepage –> Settings -> Optimization create new optimization route. Multiple profiles can be created depending on customer’s needs (e.g. profile for vehicles with snowplow and profile for tracks to take away the snow).

Things that can be set in the optimization profile:

Pick-up duration: how long does the vehicle take to perform the task at a particular address? (e.g. pick up parcel) Please note that duration can be set in 3 different parts of the process:

optimization profile
within task or
while running the optimization engine

Only one duration will be considered when optimizing. If the duration is set in all three places, the duration set within a task(s) takes priority.

Capacity – vehicle unit load. (e.g. vehicle can fit 100 parcels).
Max distance – distance vehicle can/should drive if a customer might want to limit the number of kilometers driven by each vehicle.
Optimization result speed factor – if set at 1 - means the vehicle drives at normal speed. If set at 0.5, the vehicle drives half as slow as the regular vehicle speed (e.g., a vehicle with a snowplow drives slower, so the factor can be 0.6 or even 0.5).
Break – break time when the vehicle is not operating. If applicable, the optimizer will count it in when optimizing the route.
Check tick marks for all vehicles you want to include under the optimization profile.

2. Set up drivers

For driver and his/her vehicle to be included as available when optimizing route(s) driver needs to be setup correctly. Customer portal Homepage–> Settings -> People -> Select driver. Make sure"Is User" and"Is Hauler" are ticked. Select and add vehicle under ‘Is Hauler’ section.

3. Assign optimization profile to vehicle

Customer portal Homepage–> Settings -> Vehicles -> Select vehicle -> Optimization tab (on right hand side).

Set up start and stop location – where vehicle will start their route and where they will finish. Start and stop locations are areas setup on the account.
Select relevant optimization profile.

4. Set vehicle working time

Customer portal Homepage –> Settings -> Vehicles -> Select vehicle -> Working time tab (on right hand side).

You can customize vehicle working hours or use organization working hours. Please note that if your organization's working hours are 9 AM to 5 PM, optimization will occur during that time frame. If drivers start earlier or finish later, you must configure working hours per vehicle under ’Use vehicle settings.’

5. Import tasks to be optimised or create tasks manually

Please note if you want to add an optimization section to manually created tasks, for optimization fields (as above) to appear you need to tick ‘Optimization’ in Fields when creating the task type. Homepage -> Settings -> Task Types -> Fields

Then when creating tasks, you can add Duration (same as pick up duration in step 2), timeframe – if task is time sensitive, etc. Task capacity refers to how many boxes driver might need to pick within one task. (if vehicle has capacity for 100 parcels and each task has 2 parcels, optimization will assign max 50 tasks to driver).

If you do not have optimization ticked on task types or you do not want to create tasks manually, you can import the tasks with optimization data. Use template located at FCPlus Tasks manual (under ‘Tasks Import’ section) and make sure columns are filled for time sensitive tasks:

timewindowbegin: timeframe starting time
timewindowend: timeframe ending time
servicetime: duration, if applicable

Below columns are optional based on customer needs:

quantity:vehicle capacity
quantity2: see above

6. Start optimizing

6.1 From Tasks module click ‘Start optimization’.

6.2 Use ‘Simple filter’ to bulk optimize tasks or ‘Advanced filter’ to optimize individually or by groups (e.g. for certain driver).

6.3 Select driver(s) who will complete the tasks.

6.4 Set next parameters

Specific route start time, if applicable.
Default service time (minutes) This is the same duration as steps 2 and 5; if already set in earlier steps, there is no need to put it again.
If your driver is already assigned and you want him/her to drive the route – tick Do not separate tasks from their current drivers.

Ensure the number of “task(s) selected for processing” matches the number of tasks you expected to optimize. If not – recheck your tasks for any tasks with missing/incomplete addresses.

6.5 Optimize

Check that all tasks are assigned and are no tasks assigned to NONE. If there are, that means that optimisation could not include all tasks due to capacity being exceeded, distance being exceeded, or organisation working hours or vehicle working hours do not match hours set for optimisation. Then, you need to recheck all settings and optimize again.

7. Review optimized task times and suggested route(s)

Once optimization is complete, you can see the optimization results under the ‘Planned tasks’ section.

For each driver, you will see the following:

Overall distance to be driven (in kilometers).
Driver start of working time and end of working time.
Tasks are listed in chronological order per optimized results.
Each task shows the expected start time and end time (taking into account service duration).
Right-click on the squiggly line next to the driver's name, and you can see the route drawn on the map.

NB! Address arrival and departure times are calculated by optimization engine including duration at address.

Business case example

I am a company that deals with waste management. I need to pick up trash in the mornings before rush hour. My company's working hours are 9 AM-5 PM. My drivers start working at 2 AM. I have 120 addresses to pick up trash from. Some houses are located near main roads, and to avoid traffic jams, I need to drive to them first so they can be serviced before 5 AM. Each vehicle's capacity is enough to pick up trash from 25 houses. My vehicles move a little slower than regular cars and have frequent stops. I have five drivers, and it does not matter which driver drives which route.

My optimization settings will be as follows:

Customer portal –> Settings -> Optimization:

Pickup duration – blank
Capacity – 25 (25 houses per truck)
Max Distance – blank
Optimized result speed factor – 0.7 or 0.6
Vehicle type - truck
Breaks – not ticked

Customer portal –> Settings -> Vehicles -> Optimization tab

The starting point will be an area where my company’s main parking lot is located
The endpoint will be an area where my company’s main parking lot is located
The optimization profile selected is the profile set above

Customer portal –> Settings -> Vehicles ->Working time tab

Because my org hours differ from actual vehicle work hours, I will set custom work time under ’Use vehicle settings’ for each vehicle - Mon- Fri, 2 AM – 9 AM.

I import tasks marking addresses near main roads as time-sensitive.

timewindowbegin: 2AM
timewindowend: 5AM

Service time (duration) will be the same for each address, so I set it up while optimizing as ‘Default service time (in minutes)’ =3

When running optimization engine I will select drivers who will drive the routes, select route start time as 2 AM as all drivers start at same time and set default service time to be 3 minutes as this I how long is needed to pick up trash at each address.

FCPlus Optimization module

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