1. Functions

Handyman Route Planning adds the following features to Handyman:

• Display of multiple orders on the map
• Display of the technicians' home locations on the map
• Display of the current location of technician vehicles and other assets (e.g. trucks, construction machinery) on the map
• Planning routes to orders, technicians, assets
• Optimizing the stops of a route to minimize driving distance
• Transfer of planned routes to Handyman resource planning

2. User Interface Elements

2.1 Map

The map displays the data selected for display:

• Levels selected in Settings & Filter (e.g. Orders, Assets)
• Within the levels, the selected individual data records (e.g. specific order)

Depending on the level, the data is displayed with different symbols.

Right-clicking on the symbol of a data record opens the context menu.

The zoom factor of the map is adjusted with the scroll wheel of the mouse.

The map section can be moved by clicking, dragging and dropping with the mouse.

Alternatively, the zoom factor and map section can be set using the navigation bar at the bottom edge of the map. The navigation bar can be shown and hidden in the settings.

The map is set up by the system so that all elements selected for display are visible. This can be turned off in the settings.

 

 

2.2 panels

Panels (e.g. Data, Settings & Filters) can be placed anywhere on the screen by dragging and dropping them onto the panel's title bar. Alternatively, they can be docked to the edge of the screen.

By clicking the pin icon in the upper right corner, you can set whether the panel should be displayed permanently or hidden. Hidden panels will appear as soon as you hover over them with the mouse pointer.

 

2.3 Panel Settings & Filter

2.3.1 Filter

• In order for data to be displayed in the route planning, an entry must be selected in the filters.
• The set filters basically affect all data in all panels and on the map.

2.3.2 Settings

• Only search in the current map section
  If this setting is active, the automatic setting of the map section is deactivated: If additional data is selected for display on the map, the map section is not automatically adjusted, only the data is displayed on the map , which are in the currently selected map section.
• Show navigation bar
  If this setting is enabled, the map's navigation bar will be displayed. You can use the navigation bar to adjust the zoom level and the map view.
• Show details
  If this setting is active, more details about the selected data are shown on the map.
• Save layout and settings
  Saves the layout created by the user (e.g. for panels, columns, settings). This feature will be displayed again the next time you start route planning.
• Reset Layout
  Clears the user-set layout and restores the default settings.

2.3.3 Levels

Each available layer can be selected to show its data on the map.

The available levels may depend on the license. The active level is only available when FleetSystem is active for GPS tracking.

 

2.4 Paneldata

2.4.1 Lists

This panel shows lists from which you can select the records to be displayed on the map.

The lists are filtered according to the filters set in the Settings & Filter panel.

The data records that have a tick in the first column (Show in map) are displayed in the map.

You can further filter and search the data by using the autofilter bar. Especially in the Auto-Filter row, you can filter by records that are currently (not) displayed on the map by entering a value in the "Show on Map" column.

 

2.4.2 Tab

The Data panel contains tabs with different data:

• Orders
  By default, a filter is set for orders without a main participant. The list therefore shows all orders that still need to be planned.
• Tasks
  Shows the tasks from resource planning. Only the location of the order is taken into account.
• Asset
  Shows the assets from FleetSystem

 

2.4.3 Menu Bar

The following functions are available in the menu bar (depending on the tab):

• Show orders with main participants
  If this setting is active, orders that have already been planned will also be displayed. It is usually easier to display the associated tasks and only use the Orders tab to select the orders that are still to be planned.
• Show visible ... on the map
  Shows all data entries currently visible in the list on the map
• Hide visible ... on the map
  All data entries currently visible in the list are hidden on the map
• Show all ... on the map
  Shows all datasets available according to the general filter on the map
  Depending on the amount of data, this may result in long loading times
• Hide all ... on the map
  Hides all datasets available according to the general filters on the map. Use this function to reset the screen so you can reset the filters in a second step.
• Assign object
  Is only visible in the Assets tab and only if the route planning was called up from the Handyman Office service desktop for a previously selected object/a previously selected installation location
  To assign an asset to an installation location or object, proceed as follows:
  • Select the install location/item in Handyman Office in the Service Desktop
  • In the Installation location / Object menu, click on the "Route planning" entry
  • It starts route planning and puts a filter on the asset list so that only the asset is shown whose ext. ID is identical to the number of the installation site/object
  • If an asset has been found, the assignment has already taken place: The icon for installation location or object is displayed in the installation location / object column
  • If no entry was found, you can remove the filter, select an asset and assign the asset using the "Assign object" button.
• Unmap
  Applies only to the Assets tab.
  If an asset has been assigned to a Handyman object (see above), the assignment can be removed again using this button.
• Refresh
  Reloads the table data.

2.4.4 Context menu for the list

For a single record in the list, right-click to open the context menu for that record.

 

2.5 panel routes

Routes can be planned and optimized in the route panel. Different routes can be planned within the panel - each in its own sub-panel. You can use route planning to schedule daily routes or multi-day routes.

A new route can be created by:

• Click the "New" icon (green plus) in the toolbar of the "Routes" panel
• Click on the corresponding entry in the context menu of a list or an icon. The selected entry is immediately added to the new route.

2.5.1 Menu bar for single route

• Copy route
  Creates a copy of the route. This allows variants to be created and compared.
• Show/hide route on map
  Shows the route as a series of connecting arrows on the map
• Transfer route to resource planning
  Retrieves resource planning, with the order list filtered to the orders of the route. This allows the orders to be easily planned for the desired technician and the desired time
• Delete route
• Optimize route
  Orders the sequence of stops to minimize driving distance. Calculating optimal routes is a complex, tedious process that can take longer when there are many stops involved. The system supports route optimization with a maximum of 20 stops. Route calculation and optimization are subject to fees. Intensive use of the feature may result in additional costs beyond the fixed monthly fee for route planning.
• Minimize route
  Minimizes the subpanels. The feature simplifies working with multiple routes simultaneously.

2.5.2 Route planning features

• Participant selection list
  You can select participants for the route. The starting and ending point of the route is set according to the first selected participant to the employee's home position or, if not defined, to the location of the employee's department.
• Picklists for start and end
  • Home location of the employee (if defined)
  • Location of employee's department (if defined)
  • Arrival/departure
    Select this option to manually enter the driving time and distance the employee has to travel before/after the first/last stop. This option is useful, for example, if the journey does not start at the home location or at the department, but the travel time should be included in the total of the route.
• Table with the stops of the route
  • Travel time and km are automatically calculated by the system
  • Orders and tasks are displayed with the scheduled execution time. The same logic applies as when determining the scheduled execution time in resource planning.
  • The order of the stops can be changed by clicking, dragging and dropping the mouse.
  • The totals for the route are shown at the end of the table
  • If the total time exceeds the employee's target working time for a day, the sum is displayed in red. You can ignore this warning if the route is planned for multiple days.

 

3. Use cases

3.1. Compose a route from several new orders

Example: weekly scheduling of newly added orders

• Make sure that the Orders, Engineer Home Locations, and Routes layers are showing on the map.
• Filter the job list to only display the jobs you want to schedule now (e.g. jobs without main participants in a specific department)
• View all visible orders in the map.
• If there are too many orders for a route, use additional filter criteria or use the setting to limit the display to the current map section.
• Think about which jobs could be well served by which technician.
• Create a new route for the technician
• Add the individual orders to the route one after the other.
• Change/optimize the order and check if the route fits the employee's working time.
• If the route is OK, transfer the route's orders to resource planning.
• Schedule the individual orders there for the desired time.
• Close the route.
• Refresh the order list - this will hide the already scheduled orders.

3.2 Plan an emergency order

• Select the order to be planned and display it on the map.
• Select all active tasks and display them on the map.
  The location of the active task is the best approximation for the employee's current location.
• Create a new route and add the order and an active task. Repeat the process if you want to compare different technicians' travel time from their active task to the job.
• Use the resource planning to check the temporal consequences of a rescheduling.
• Open the order in resource planning and schedule the order and any other conflicting tasks.

3.3 Determine the current location of an object

• In the Handyman Office service desktop, select the object
• In the Installation location / Object menu, click on the "Route planning" entry
• The route planning opens: the object is selected in the asset list, the object is displayed on the map.
• The prerequisite is that the object has previously been assigned to an asset .