As a rule, the driver's working day starts and ends at the distribution centre. But in many cases there is no need for drivers to visit the depot. For example, if the driver deals only with order collection or only with deliveries, or if the driver is a contractor for the transportation company and is not paid to travel to the depot each time the run is finished. To cover these business cases, MaxOptra suggests setting up the Start of day and End of day location for drivers.
The start and end of day addresses can be defined by default at the Drivers setting (for details, see Start and End Points of Day). Two fields are available there:
Start of day location
End of day location
You can see that in the Start of day an End of day location field the “Distribution Center” option is used by default. Click the dropdowns to see other options.
Setting up "Start of day location" in MaxOptra
By clicking the Start of day location dropdown, the following two options are displayed:
Distribution center– driver starts the working day at the DC;
Specify address–driver starts the working day at some different address.
If the Specify addres option is selected, the system will prompt you to type in the address or search on the map.
Besides, when selecting the Specify address option, a new field appears, called Visit distribution center. Click the dropdown to view the two options available here:
No (reload at start)- driver will return to the specified start point after each run, not visiting the depot;
To reload between runs- driver will return to DC after each run
Only with deliveries- driver will come to the DC to load before the first delivery, if they have at least one delivery order;
After you specify the address, a house icon, same colour as the driver's vehicle, will appear on the map, indicating the Start of day location:
The driver's start of day location will also be displayed on the Track&Trace screen, in the Driver manifest and in the On time report (see below):
Setting up "End of day location" in MaxOptra
Next step, you should specify the end of day location. By clicking the End of day location dropdown, the following options are displayed:
Distirbution center– driver finishes the working day at the DC;
Specify address– driver finishes the working day at some different address. If selected, you set the address up as_shown_above.
Last order– driver finishes his work day upon reaching the last order location without coming back to the DC.
If you specify some different address, you should also select the Visit distribution center option:
No - driver will not return to the depot;
Only with collections - driver will come to the DC to unload in the end of the day, if they have at least one collection order.
After you specify the end of day address, a finishing flag icon, same colour as the driver's vehicle, will appear on the map, indicating the End of day location:
Note If the start of day and the end of day addresses differ they will be displayed on the map in different ways: a house icon is to indicate the Start of day locatio and a finishing flag - to indicate the End of day location.
If the day is finished at the last orde location, the flag icon will coincide with the last order marker.
Besides, the last order address will be shown in the "tail" of the run (instead of the distribution centre address) on the Gantt chart:
The driver's end of day location will also be displayed on the Track&Trac screen, in the Driver manifes and in the On time report (see below):
Different combinations of Start and End of day locations on the Planning screen
Now that you know how to set up the start and end of day locations, let us review some of the possible combinations of settings and see how the routes are displayed on the Planning screen in different cases. We are not going to review the DC-DC option, as it is the basic case in MaxOptra.
Case 1: Start of day: “Specify address”, no (reload at start) - End of day “Distribution centre”
The driver will start the working day at the specified address, and after visiting all the locations will finally end the day at the Distribution centre.
Single-run route
If the driver has to make several runs during the day, they will have to return to the start address to reload.
Route with several runs
Case 2: Start of day: "Specify address", to reload between runs - End of day "Distribution centre"
The driver will start the working day at the specified location, but will return to the DC to reload before every new run, and finally end the day at the DC.
Case 3: Start of day: “Specify address”, visit the DC only with deliveries - End of day “Distribution centre”
The driver will first go to the DC to load the vehicle for deliveries. In this case MaxOptra considers that the work day begins at the DC After visiting all locations, the driver will finally end his work day at the distribution centre.
Run with deliveries
However, if the run does not include deliveries, it will start from the specified address, as usual.
Run without deliveries
Case 4: Start of day: “Specify address”, no (reload at start) – End of day “Specify address”, no
The driver will start the work day at the specified address and after visiting all the locations will finally end the work day at the specified address (which may be the same as the start point or different, depending on settings). The DC is not included into the route at all.
Single-run route
If the driver has to make several runs during the day, they will have to return to the start address to reload.
Route with several runs
Case 5: Start of day: “Specify address”, to reload between runs - End of day “Specify address”, no
The driver will start the work day at the specified address, but will return to the DC to reload before every new run, and finally end the day at the specified address (which may be the same as the start point or different, depending on settings).
Case 6: Start of day: “Specify address”, visit the DC only with deliveries - End of day “Specify address”, no
The driver will first go to the DC to load the vehicle for deliveries In this case MaxOptra considers that the work day begins at the DC. After visiting all locations, the driver will finally end the work day at the specified address.
However, if the run does not include deliveries, it will start from the specified address, as usual.
Case 7: Start of day: “Specify address”, to reload between runs - End of day “Specify address”, visit the DC only with collections
The driver will start the work day at the specified address. If the driver has at least one collection order, they should visit the DC at the end of the run to unload. In this case the DC will be considered as the end of the day address by MaxOptra.
Single-run route
If the driver has to make several runs during the day, they will have to return to the DC to reload before the next run. The day can end either at the DC (if there are collections) or at the specified address (if not).
Route with several runs
Case 8: Start of day: “Specify address”, visit the DC only with deliveries - End of day “Specify address”, visit the DC only with collections
Two ways of planning are possible here, depending on what the system considers more efficient.
Option 1. The driver will first go to the DC to load the vehicle for deliveries. If the driver has also collection orders, they should visit the DC at the end of the day to unload. In both cases the DC will be considered as the start and end of the day addresses by MaxOptra.
Option 2.The system may split the orders in several runs - for collections and for deliveries. In this case the driver will start his day at the specified address and do the collections first. Then they visit the DC to load/unload and start off for the second run to visit the delivery locations. The last run will end up at the specified address.
Case 10: Start of day “Specify address”, no (reload at start) – End of day “Last order”
The driver will start his work day at the specified address, visiting all the locations and end the day at the last order location. The DC is not visited at all.
Single-run route
If the driver has to make several runs during the day, they will have to return to the start address to reload.
Route with several runs
Case 11: Start of day: “Specify address”, to reload between runs - End of day “Last order”
The driver will start the work day at the specified address, but will return to the DC to reload before every new run, and finally end the day at the last order location.
Case 12: Start of day: “Specify address”, only with deliveries - End of day “Last order”
The driver will first go to the DC to load the vehicle for deliveries. In this case MaxOptra considers that the work day begins at the DC. After visiting all locations, the driver will finally end his work day at the last order location.
