Dynamic Scheduling – Session 5

In this session we’ll discuss some key aspects of Dynamic Scheduling and how it impacts VendMax functions like scheduling and prekit.  

Adjusting schedules:  Dynamic Dispatch

Once a day/route has been locked in Dispatch, the user has ONE way to make a schedule change.

1. Go into dispatch
2. Unlock the day
3. Make the change
4. Relock the day.

Do NOT go into Calendar View in VendMax and make changes!!!

Do NOT go to Master files/Scheduling in VendMax and make changes!!!

Viewing schedules:  VendMax Calendar View

 Dynamically scheduled POS can be seen in Calendar View in VendMax.

GREEN – indicates open day

ORANGE – indicates DS scheduled visit.

All dynamic visits are collects, there will be BIG “C” in the middle of the ORANGE day.

“N” – indicates that no service has been performed yet, and no service order exists.

“O” – indicates open service order exists.

“X” – one time schedule change. All DS events are considered one-time schedule

changes in VM

“F” – Forced service.

Notice the calendar view has ORANGE for future dates.  DS schedules 14 days out, these future dates are forecasts which will be revised nightly as new information is posted.

Service Orders & Leadtimes

It is critical that you understand the relationship between Dynamic Scheduling, Service Orders and Lead times.  Not grasping these concepts and understanding how they work together can cause unnecessary problems.  

The best way to think about it, is DS manages the list of POS to be serviced, and VendMax creates and updates service orders.  There are no new settings that affect when a service order is updated.

The DS lead time does not affect service orders.  The job of DS is to control whether the auto-scheduler (DS) can create/update a route schedule.    

One thing Dynamic Scheduling can do, is tell the service order service to remove a service order (locked or unlocked), if the POS has been removed from the schedule.  This is very important!  Locking a service order, does not prevent it from being removed if you change the service schedule!

What impacts Service Order Qtys?

• Lead on the POS (not the DS lead time, the other one!)

• Warehouse Days Off
• SO report settings (lock, update qty).
• HHserver setting.
• Syncing
• Service Order service

Remember LOCKING the day/route in DS is an important DS step as it is responsible for updating VendMax with the DS schedule.

Messages

Schedule Updates Detected

This message is mainly for operations that will have several users scheduling routes concurrently (in VendMax and/or DS).   The message informs the user that a scheduling change has been made on a route which might impact the decisions the user is currently making.  Rerunning the dynamic scheduler could be desired in order to provide the most up-to-date DS recommendations.

All schedule changes made by a user ‘A’ in Dynamic Scheduling will activate this message for user ‘B’. 

As an example, say a Point of Sale is assigned to Route 1 for all days except Friday, when it is assigned to Route 2.   If user DAN is in DS working on Route 1 and user TOM is in DS working on Route 2, and DAN makes a schedule change, Tom will receive the ‘Schedule Updates Detected!” message concerning DAN’s route.   Because there are Points of Sale shared between routes, this message lets TOM know that DAN’s changes could impact his route.  TOM may decide to rerun the Scheduler to recalculate his route selections.

WARNING:   The scheduler will run for all routes impacted by a change, not just the route you have selected to recalculate.  Therefore, it is not a good idea to run the Scheduler while other people are working on other routes, as they may lose their schedule changes. In our example, Routes 1 and 2 are linked through a shared POS.   Any schedule change on either route, could impact the DS schedule on the other route.  Thus, the Scheduler will recalculate both routes.  Pickup routes will also be recalculated if they are assigned to a route that is being recalculated.  Keep in mind that if the pickup route has a POS shared with another route, that route will also be recalculated.  Thus, care must be taken when choosing to rerun the scheduler if there are other users working in DS.     

Note: Each night when the scheduler runs automatically, the Schedule Updates Detected! List will be cleared.

To view the entire update message, click anywhere in the message box.  A pop-up will display all routes to be recalculated.    

Click the red X to close the pop-up and retain the ‘Schedule Updates Detected!” message on the DS screen.

Click the OK button to move the message down to the task tray. 

Tailoring the screen

As you become familiar with the dispatch screen, you may decide to customize the views to remove the column headings to make room for more line of information on the screen.  Be it more routes on the route view or more POS on the POS view.

On the Route View

The route view can be customized.  Headings can be hidden and screen colors can be changed.  To customize your screen settings, follow these steps:

1. Select a route day and right click to bring up the menu.
2. Uncheck the Show toolbar option.  The screen will redisplay:
   1. Notice the toolbar icons are replaced with buttons that provide the same functionality.
3. Choose the option to Hide Column Headers to remove the headings and streamline the viewing screen.
4. You can use the coloring section to change the screen colors.  The selection button will reflect the new color you have chosen.
5. Click on Reset Defaults to return the color scheme back to original settings.
   1. Note: New Color schemes affect the current session only.  The next Dynamic Scheduling login will return todefault settings.

On the POS View

The POS view can be customized.  Headings can be hidden and screen colors can be changed.  To customize your screen settings, follow these steps:

1. Select a POS day and right click to bring up the menu
2. Uncheck the Show Toolbar menu item.

Screen view when the Show Toolbar is unchecked.

Hide Headers

As you become familiar with the Dynamic Scheduling screen you may decide to hide the column headings in order to view more Points of Sales per page.

Run Scheduler on Actions

When checked, the auto-scheduler will rerun every time there is a schedule change on the screen. Streamware recommends leaving this box unchecked as the amount of data that is processed while the scheduler is running is significant and wait times could be very noticeable.  Operators with small routes or powerful servers may decide to use this setting.

Load/Refresh

Will refresh the screen with the basic POS information from VendMax.  This is useful when you are working in DS and decide to update a field like customer address, location, or description in VendMax.  After making the changes to VendMax, you can Reload/Refresh and the DS will be updated.  Note:  If you change a POS schedule type from Scheduled to Dynamic, you must rerun the scheduler for DS to process the new setting.

Run Scheduling

Will manually run DS.  By default, DS will run automatically after hours.

Save

Commit the scheduling changes that have been made.

Cancel

Abort all changes since last SAVE.

Back to Routes

Closes POS view and returns to previous route list screen.

Exit

Closes the Dynamic Dispatch program

POS Column Headings

The sequence of the column headings can be customized by right clicking on each heading and choosing a different option.  Each heading has its own set of available fields.

List of Available fields

POS Code – POS Code from VendMax

POS Desc – POS Description

Loc Code – Location Code

Loc Desc – Location Description

Remote – Remote ID

VEQ Type – Vending Equipment Type

Filled – Percent filled on last service.

POS ## – Total number of POS at this location

RDX$ – Last remote dex reading for CoinsToBox + BillsToStacker

Address – Address for the POS

Type – Schedule Type (Static, Dynamic)

Priority – Scheduling priority. Set at the CUS, LOC or POS level.

Last VV – Date of last vend visit

Last RDEX – Date of last remote dex

Next VV – Expected next service