Dynamic Scheduling – Session 2

In this session we will go over the settings that need to be enabled/set in VendMax to begin utilizing the Dynamic Scheduling Interface. (DS)

1. Vending Equipment Types (Master File) – Dynamic Schedule Settings tab

This is where we define “Global” parameters/thresholds for each “Equipment Type”.  This is the highest level of the hierarchy for DS. Setting parameters at the Site, National Account, Customer, Location and POS will override the VEQ Type table.

• Sold Out Columns – Columns setup in the plan-o-gram.  Note:  Plan-o-grams set up as Space To Sales with multiple physical columns in the machine will be considered one column.

• Sold Out Products – Products in the plan-o-gram.  Note: Plan-o-grams with multiple columns with the same product will only be counted as one sellout.

• Percent Depleted – Percent the Point of Sale is depleted.  Note: This is based on the Global Setting “% Filled uses Par (No=Capacity)”.

• Sales ($) – Based on units vended times vend price. (FYI. You can add a field for remote dex $ to the left side (near last remote dex date), but this is not shown in 7-day block).

• Number of Days – The maximum number of days between services that is acceptable.   Consideration for this setting might be spoilage or non-communicating remote device. This is also used if physical inventory is required monthly, etc.

• Core Products Sold Out – The number of sold out products in the planogram which are designated as Core Products. Core products are defined on the Product table and can be overridden at the Site, National Account, Customer, Location, and POS levels. Note: Plan-o-grams with multiple columns with the same product will only be counted as one sellout.
• Enabled – Selecting this box will use the threshold.  Note:  A Min Value, Max Value, and Weighting will be required.

• Min Value – This is the minimum threshold that you want before the POS is scheduled. When the minimum threshold is reached, the dynamic scheduler will raise a yellow flag. DS will schedule the POS when any min value is reached.  (As long as target POS for the route is not exceeded).

• Max Value – This is the maximum tolerance you would allow. When the maximum threshold is reached, the dynamic scheduler will raise a red flag. DS will increase weighting and thus priority on POS that have surpassed Max values.

• Weighting – How important is threshold ‘X’?  Give it a value up to 100. Note:  The total value of the weighting of all thresholds must equal 100.  The dynamic scheduler will determine if the status of your Points of Sale is within selected thresholds and use the weighting values to prioritize and generate the service schedule accordingly.

Machine Type Examples

Snack

Threshold	enabled	Min	Max	Wghting	Notes on settings
Sold Out Columns	c
Sold Out Products	þ	2	3	40	Rational is that customer’s care most about sold outs.
Percent Depleted	c
Sales ($)	c
Number of Days	þ	25	30	20
Core Products	þ	1	1	40

Beverage                              • 20z closed front machines

Threshold	enabled	Min	Max	Wghting	Notes on settings
Sold Out Columns	c
Sold Out Products	þ	2	2	35
Percent Depleted	c
Sales ($)	c
Number of Days	þ	34	45	25
Core Products	þ	1	1	40

Beverage Glassfront         • Cold Bev glass front machines

Threshold	enabled	Min	Max	Wghting	Notes on settings
Sold Out Columns	c
Sold Out Products	þ	2	3	35
Percent Depleted	c
Sales ($)	c
Number of Days	þ	30	45	25
Core Products	þ	1	1	40

Beverage Fountain            • Hot Cup

Threshold	enabled	Min	Max	Wghting	Notes on settings
Sold Out Columns	c
Sold Out Products	c
Percent Depleted	c
Sales ($)	c
Number of Days	þ	14	14	25
Core Products	c

Generic                                 • Combo machines

Threshold	enabled	Min	Max	Wghting	Notes on settings
Sold Out Columns	c
Sold Out Products	c
Percent Depleted	c
Sales ($)	þ	$125	$200	75
Number of Days	þ	25	30	25
Core Products	c

** Specific thresholds selected will be very operator specific. Each operator has a unique way of doing business and the goals they have for Dynamic Scheduling.

• If using Space to Sales in Points of Sale then use the “Sold out Products” parameter instead of “Sold Out Columns”. They’ll both give you the same info because in Space to Sales a “Column” is a “Product” but it reads better saying “Sold Out Products” in this situation.
• Set “Percent Depleted” fairly aggressively to realize merchandising opportunities. Try to set % depleted close or above 40. 
• Focus on $ and sellouts for snack, and beverage.  Set days as high as you can.
• Use Core products sparingly.  Core products should be top brands which drive the machine sales.  Try setting Core product sold out to ‘1’ and Product Sold Outs to ‘2’ or higher.

2. Products (Master File) – Main tab.

Identify products as core products company-wide.  This indicates the importance of the product in the planogram.

3. Site, National Account (MasterFile) – Misc Tab.

Dynamic Scheduling parameters can be set and over-ridden at the Site, National Account, Customer, Location, and POS levels. 

The DS thresholds can be set by clicking on the Dynamic Scheduling Parameters button.  The popup allows you to set thresholds based upon the type of equipment. The “Overridden” column indicates the level at which the dynamic scheduling parameters have been changed.

To override the thresholds, double click on the VEQ type and click the Override from VQT checkbox.

To modify the list of core products, check the Override core products checkbox and use the add/remove buttons.

4. Customer, Location (Master File) – Misc Info tab

• Schedule Priority – Identifying the priority for specific customers if necessary or leaving it at the default. Some customers demand their service be more prompt than others.

Higher Level (Normal) – Higher Level indicates that this is already set at the

“Customer” or “Location” level. (ie a higher level in the Vendmax Hierarchy)

Normal – Used in most all circumstances.

High – Used for “High Priority” customers. “High Priority” gets preference before

the rest of the schedules. If the POS weight is greater than zero, then “High Priority”

POS would get serviced ahead of the rest of the POS.  In addition, they would be

scheduled even if the total number of POS to be serviced is greater than MAX

Target.

The second rule is unlikely to be broken, unless there are way too many “High

Priority” POS needs a service, or regular-priority POS have not been serviced for a

long time, resulting in very high weight rankings.

• Dynamic Scheduling Parameters – DS thresholds can be overridden at the Customer and Location levels as well as the Site, National Account and POS.
• Core Products  – Core Product list can be modified at the Customer and Location levels, as well as the Site, National Account and POS levels.
• Dynamic Scheduling Note  – This is a free form text area to enter notes which can be viewed on the DS dispatch screen. This note is available for all POS assigned to the customer or location.

5. Routes (Master File) “Main tab”

• Enable Dynamic Scheduling – Choosing this option allows Points of Sale to be scheduled dynamically. This option must be chosen for each route individually to enable Dynamically Scheduled Points of Sale.

• Schedule Lead Time (Hours) – This determines how far in advance a Point of Sale can be scheduled. Essentially, how long will it take to next reach this machine? Recommended time for most routes is 24 hours. This setting prevents the dynamic scheduler from automatically updating a schedule that is within the designated lead-time hours. The lead time counts back from midnight today. For example, if you set the lead time to 13 hours, and the scheduler is any time before 11am ‘today’, it will update today’s schedule with latest information. After 11am, changes must be made by the user by adding or removing the POS from the DS schedule.  Keep in mind that if the dispatch day is locked, the DS scheduler will not make any changes.  If you set the lead time to 24 hours and you want to use today’s 3AM remote data and create a new schedule at 5AM for today, the dynamic schedule will not create a new schedule even if you manually run scheduling!   The 24 hour lead time will prevent the Dispatch from generating a new schedule.

• Use Proactive Scheduling – If this is checked, the system will schedule a POS before a service threshold is met. Consider using Proactive Scheduling when machines are in public locations and may require service on a weekend when the route is not running, or machines are in out-lying areas where drivers only visit on Mondays (for example).

Schedule ‘x’ Days Earlier – Enter the number of days in advance to a service threshold

being met, that Dynamic Scheduling will schedule a POS.

• Target Range of POS’s to be scheduled

MIN POS Target – This determines the minimum number of POS’s the Dynamic Scheduler will schedule for the route for a single day. **Note this is a combination of both static and dynamically scheduled machines for a day.   When the number of machines meeting service criteria is less than the MIN target, the dispatch will add machines in the same bank based upon priority (when banking is used).

MAX POS Target – This determines the maximum number of POS’s the Dynamic Scheduler will schedule for the route for a single day. **Note this is a combination of both static and dynamically scheduled machines for a day. Example: If you have 20 machines statically scheduled then DS will only schedule 7 for dynamic. Bringing your total to 27 etc.

Use Default  – This checkbox will populate the MIN/MAX values using global settings.

• Target Stops  – This determines the maximum number of stops the dynamic scheduler will schedule for the route for a single day.

Use Default  – This checkbox will populate the Target Stops value using global settings.

6. Product Families (Master File) “Main tab”

• Exclude From – This is very important to set properly when utilizing Dynamic Scheduling to ensure the thresholds/parameters that trip Dynamic are as accurate as necessary. You probably don’t want to service machines because of high sellouts or large depletion percentages based on Gum/Mints for example. This can also be set at the individual “Product” level as well **Remember to set the Global Setting properly regarding “% Filled uses Par (No = Capacity)”.

7. Vending Equipment (Master File) Vending Info tab

• Sellout Allowance (Units) – This allows a “Sellout” amount more than 0 to be set. A number entered into this field will cause the system to treat each column as sold out when it reaches that level. For example, if this is set at 2 for a soda machine, it will treat the column as sold out even if there are 2 cans left in the drop.

• Again this is important to ensure the “sellouts” that are coming across in Dynamic are as accurate as possible for correct calculation.

8. Points of Sale (Master File) Main tab

• Schedule Type – Dynamic – Choosing this option allows the Point of Sale to be scheduled dynamically. When enabling this it currently erases the static schedule so please be aware of that.

• Configure – Hitting this button allows you to alter the Dynamic Scheduling thresholds/parameters for the individual POS. Currently the parameters can only be altered in two areas: “Globally” in VEQ types and “Individually” at the POS.

9. Points of Sale (Master File) Scheduling tab

• Set the “Open Days” that a POS can be dynamically scheduled. Each day clicked upon will yield an ‘Open’ day. These are days on which the POS can be serviced. Therefore, if the POS can be accessed Monday through Friday, click on each of the days to mark them Open. If the Driver is only in the area on Tuesdays and Thursdays, only choose those 2 days. When the system schedules a Collect for the POS, it will only place it on days marked as ‘Open.’ All Collects will appear in the Calendar View but not on the Standard View.

10. Points of Sale (Master File) Misc tab

The list of Core Products can be tailored for the POS on the Misc tab.  Dispatch Notes specific to the POS can be entered here and will be shown on the dispatch screen.

11. POS Grid View Right Click

The POS grid view screen has right click menu which allows you to change the schedule type from static to dynamic across a selected group POS.

1. Add the following fields to POS grid view: Route Code, Schedule Type.
2. Filter the list for one route.
3. Sort by schedule type and choose the static POS using shift and CTL keys.
4. Right click on a highlighted record and choose “Change Schedule Type to Dynamic”.

5. Use the calendar and click on the end date for the current schedule. The selected date is highlighted in grey. By default, the system will suggest Saturday for the current week.
6. Select the days on which the POS can be serviced.  If the POS can be serviced Monday through Friday, click on each of the days to mark them as open. If the driver is only in the area on Tues and Thurs, only choose those days.
7. Choose the default route which will service the POS.   If only POS is selected, you will see the default route in the popup.  When multiple routes are selected, the default route must be entered.  Therefore, it is a good idea to select POS belonging to the same route.

After schedule changes are made, the POS schedule screen will show the old schedule with the End Date, and the new Dynamic Schedule with a start date.