Start Travelling on Start Time

The start address can also be considered as the finish address if the (service) engineer returns to this address. To record the travel information from the last activity on the route to the finish address, a travel activity is created with zero activity duration with travel duration and travelling times specified.

Start Address of the Route

The Start Address of Route parameter defines the start location for the route of the engineer. This parameter can be set to:

• At Company Address
• At Department Address
• At Employee Home Address
• At First Activity (default value)

The possible scenario:

• At Company Address: The route starts at the company address. The travel time from the company to the first activity and the travel time from the last activity to the company are planned separately. Therefore, ‘travel activity’ (the time taken by the engineer to travel to the first activity) is included in this scenario.
• At Department Address: The route starts at the (service) department. The travel time from the department to the first activity and the travel time from the last activity to the department are planned separately. This option is applicable when the Department is an attribute of the group or activity set. Note: If Department is not an attribute for a group, the ‘travel activity’ is not included.
• At Employee Home Address: The route starts at the Employee's home address. The travel time from employee’s home to the first activity and the travel time from the last activity to the employee’s home are planned separately. Note: This option is applicable only when an engineer is allocated to the group, in which case, the ‘travel activity’ is included.
• At First Activity: The route starts at the first activity and ends at the last activity. The travel time before the first activity and travel time after the last activity are not considered for planning. The ‘travel activity is not included in this scenario.

Calculation of a route and travel times

A route is constructed based on the locations of the activities of a group. Optionally, a start address can be defined for a route. When location address is not specified or when the GPS coordinates are not defined for the location address, the activity cannot be part of the route. As a result, the activity cannot be planned.

The Start Travelling on Start Time and the Start Address of Route parameters are used to determine the route in these ways:

• Calculate the shortest route

  When the Keep Sequence of Activity Sets and the Respect Earliest Start Time/ Respect Latest Finish Time check boxes are cleared, the shortest route between all locations is calculated without checking if the activities start before the earliest start time, or end after the latest finish time. Consequently, an activity can always be planned. This option is used when a route is planned for the first time. The shortest route is defined and all the activities starting before the earliest start or ending after the latest finish time are considered.

• Calculate a time constrained route

  When the Keep Sequence of Activity Sets check box is cleared and the Respect Earliest Start Time or the Respect Latest Finish Time check box is selected, the shortest route between all locations is calculated, considering the earliest start and latest finish time of the activities. When the activity duration is not compliant with the earliest start time and latest finish time, a message is displayed and the activity is removed from the route.

• Calculate a route without changing the order of the activities in the group.

  When the Keep Sequence of Activity Sets check box is selected, after updating the route, a planner can calculate the route again without the route being modified. This option is used when route planning is almost complete.

  In this scenario, the Respect Earliest Start Time or the Respect Latest Finish Time check box can be selected or cleared. If the Keep Sequence of Activity Sets check box is cleared, all the activities, including the one which starts before the earliest start time or end after the latest finish time, are planned. If the Keep Sequence of Activity Sets check box is selected, all the activities that start before the earliest start time or end after the latest finish time are not considered during the planning.

  Note: The time constraints are considered only when the Respect Earliest Start Time or the Respect Latest Finish Time check box is selected.