Planning Routes

When using the Direct Store Delivery (DSD) application to deliver Sales Orders, planning routes is an important practice used to maximize efficiency of the company's drivers and time. DEACOM has many tools within the Sales Inventory Calendar to assist in planning routes each day.

The Sales Inventory Calendar shows a Calendar with scheduled Sales Orders appearing in the day they are scheduled to be delivered, along with a bottom portion of unscheduled orders. The Calendar utilizes a drag and drop format for moving orders around based on inventory available and planning routes.

Configuration

Refer to the Scheduling Orders for DSD Trucks landing page for configuration information.

Process

Using the Sales Inventory Calendar

To use the Sales Inventory Calendar:

  1. Navigate to Sales > Calendar.
  2. Select a "Report Type" of "Sales Inventory".
  3. Ensure the correct selection is chosen in the "Capacity Calculation" field.
  4. Select the appropriate "Schedule Type" (either Week or Month).
  5. Select the appropriate Ship Via filter. This should be the same as the option specified in the DSD application. This is to ensure that only orders intended to be delivered are visible.
  6. Once selections have been made click the "View" button to display the Calendar.
  7. Unscheduled Sales Orders will be displayed in the list at the bottom. Users may schedule orders by dragging and dropping individual Sales Orders from this list to the appropriate day on the Calendar. The calendar time frame may be changed by using the arrow keys at the top of the form (Next Week, Next 4 Weeks, etc.).
  8. When all changes to the Calendar have been made, click the "Save" button at the top of the screen. Note that scheduled order dates on the calendar will change the Due to Ship date on the Sales Orders.

Additional information may be found on the Using the Sales Calendar page.

Using the Daily Sales Calendar map

The Calendar Detail form (accessed by double clicking on a scheduled Sales Order) contains a "Map" button. Clicking this button will open Google Maps and show all scheduled Ship-to locations. The Ship-to location color will be based on Sales Order Ship Via. This allows a Shipping Manager to make sure that scheduled routes are optimized. Hovering over an icon in the map displays the Ship Via name, order number, the Ship-to Company name, and the address of the Ship-to Customer. Double clicking a mapped delivery location brings up a form to edit Ship Via, Freight, Scheduled delivery date and time, and delivery priority. Only Sales Orders with a Ship-to Company that has a valid address and a Ship Via defined on the order will appear in the map.

The map contains a View selection at the top, which can be used to filter the mapped deliveries by Bill-To Company, Sales Group, Sales Rep, or Sales User 1-5 fields. Once a view filter is selected, a specific value to filter by can be selected using the box to the right of the "View" field. For example, selecting a View-Bill- To Company then specifying a Bill-To Company will display only orders for that Bill-To Company on the map. Directions to use the map are simple as follows:

  1. Once a list of Sales Orders on the selected day is compiled, double click on the day and click the "Maps" button.

  2. A map will display along with different colored pins (one for each order/delivery), based on the Ship Via set on the order.

  3. Using the map and pins, a Route Planner can adjust the routes to make them more efficient and save and set the route for each driver.

FAQ and Diagnostic Tips

  • When creating a Sales Order in the DSD mobile application, the Ship Via Method on the selected Ship-to will be defaulted to the "Ship Via" field on the Misc 1 tab on the Sales Order.
  • When shipping an order through the DSD application, the Ship Via Method on the order will be set to the DSD Ship Via Method as specified in "Route Options".
  • New fields have been added to the "Edit Ship Via" form to allow the user to specify if the Ship Via's address and contact information should be used over the Ship-To's.