The Dispatch User Interface

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The Jobs List: Lists all jobs for the day. The Job Name column shows the name of the job. Click a job row once to view the route containing the job in the Route Timeline, or twice to zoom and center the Map on the job's location. To the left of this column are the following columns:

A variety of other column types can be shown or hidden using the column picker tool. Double-click a job row to center the map on the job's location, click the highlighted job name to open the editor panel, or right-click the name or anywhere on a row to open a contextual menu:

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Date Selector: This tool is used to select days containing routes and jobs you might want to view or edit. Click the date text in the upper left corner of the screen to open the calendar selection tool. From this tool you can select any given day of the year. Below each date you might see a filled or clear blue circle marker. These markers indicate whether there are routes (filled blue circles), or unassigned jobs (clear blue circles) on that day. Hover your mouse over a day that displays these markers (containing routes or unassigned jobs) to see the number of routes scheduled for that day and the number of unassigned jobs that must be completed on that day. Click the Today or Tomorrow buttons to jump immediately to the current or next day on the selector. Note that if the currently-selected territory crosses midnight, this selector automatically changes to the following day while continuing to show as 'Today', and the routes shown in the Daily Routes list are updated to show those of the correct (following) day. Use the Day, Week or Custom buttons to pick a date range of jobs and routes: a single day, a week consisting of seven consecutive days from a specified start date, or a custom selection of between one and seven days. You can use the calendar to view routes and jobs scheduled to take place in the future, on the current day, and routes and assigned jobs that were actually completed over the previous seven days (routes and assigned jobs in the past are read-only).

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Auto Assign, Unassign, Recommend, Add, and Remove: The Auto Assign button is used to automatically assign the selected jobs in the list to the most suitable route, if a route is available, and the Unassign button is used to unassign the selected jobs in the list from their currently assigned route, if they have previously been assigned. The Recommend button is used to begin a recommendation operation, which automatically suggests the best route for a single selected job. The Reschedule button is used to reschedule jobs that were assigned to a route, but that were missed. The Add and Remove buttons are used to add a new job to the list, or to delete jobs in the list that have been selected using a checkbox.

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Jobs Filter: This tool is used to filter the Jobs List to include only the job type that you're interested in. Click the control beside Jobs to open a contextual menu, and then select from All, Assigned, Unassigned (+/- 7 days), Unassigned (Current Day), Jobs on Selected Routes, Selected Jobs or Jobs on Drawn Routes. If performing a job recommendation operation, an additional item, Jobs for Recommended Routes is shown indicating the jobs that are recommended to be assigned to the selected (highlighted) route. The job list applies your filter choice and updates immediately.

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Jobs Search: Use this control to search for a specific job name, or for jobs assigned to a specific driver. Type a name into the Search control and press enter. Click the Clear button at the right edge of the field to clear the current search string.

Use the Jobs Filter and the Jobs Search tools together to refine your job filtering; for example, to filter all jobs that have been assigned to a particular driver. The Jobs List will update to include only jobs that match the specified filter criteria.

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Job Menu: Use this button to open the job contextual menu, from which you can perform additional tasks relating to individuals jobs. Menu options include viewing or editing the job's details, selecting or deleting the job, drawing the job location on the map, and automatically assigning the job to a route or unassigning the job from its current route. You can also view details about the job's history and, if the job is assigned to a route, view information about this route.

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Map Tool Bar: This tool bar contains buttons and labels that adjust how the map is displayed, and how items such as routes and jobs are shown on the map:

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Layout Toggles: Use these controls to change the layout of the Dispatch user interface, specifying which panels to show or hide. Five layout options are provided:

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Territory Filter: Use this filter to display only routes and jobs for a specific territory on the map. Click the box to open the drop-down list, and then choose a territory from the list. The list contains only those territories that you have permission to access. If the territory you want to add is not listed, contact your administrator.

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Job Color Selector: Use this tool to specify what determines the color of jobs shown in the Jobs List and the Daily Routes panels, and on the Route Timeline and the Map. Select Color By Status to indicate the job's status by its icon color: blue for 'Assigned', light blue for 'En Route', green for 'On Site'. and gray for 'Completed', and to highlight real-time job warnings using circular red or orange icons above the upper right corners of job icons. Select Color By Violation to color job icons by the type and severity of the violations or real-time warnings on each job: green when no violation or warning is present, orange for a non-critical violation or job warning, and red for a critical violation or job warning. Select Color By Route to color jobs on the map by the color used to represent the route they are assigned to.

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Route Builder: Use this to open the route builder interface. From here you can automatically build new routes for a specified build period of up to seven consecutive days using all unassigned jobs, and assign them to the pool of available drivers and vehicles; or unassign all jobs from existing routes and rebuild them while maintaining their existing driver and vehicle assignments. This option is not available in all accounts.

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Violations List: Click this button to open the Violations panel. Here you will see a list of critical and non-critical violations detected on the routes for the selected day.

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History List: Click this button to open the History panel. Here you see a historical record of all changes made to routes and jobs. Like the Jobs List and the Daily Routes panels, this dialog box includes a filter to search for specific historical changes to jobs and routes.

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Dispatch Preferences: Click this button to open the Dispatch Preferences dialog box. From here you can select the default behavior when performing Dispatch-specific tasks, such as assigning or inserting jobs, and whether the Route Timeline detailed view is opened by default when launching Dispatch.

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Map Zoom: Use the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons to adjust the zoom level of the map without changing the location at the center of the map.

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Map Reset and Tilt: Use this button to reset the map to its standard top-down North-South vertical view. This button can also be used to tilt or rotate the map view by clicking and holding with your left mouse button, and then dragging left or right to rotate the map, and up and down to tilt the map. Release the mouse button to temporarily set the map to the new angle and rotation. You can also tilt and rotate the map by holding your right mouse button down and then dragging the map left or right to rotate, or up and down to tilt the map; or by holding the Ctrl key and then left-clicking and dragging your mouse cursor over the map. If you have rotated or tilted the map, click this button once to reset the map to its default orientation and top-down view.

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Map Scale: The map scale indicates the relative scale of the map. As you zoom in and out using the mouse scroll-wheel, or the zoom buttons, or by dragging a zoom region, the scale updates to reflect the map's current zoom level.

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Timeline Duration: This bar shows the number of hours represented in the current timeline view. The timeline is divided into blocks, each representing a single 15 minute period of time. As you zoom in or out of the timeline, the number of hours included in the timeline changes. Similarly, as you adjust the period covered by the timeline by dragging sideways in either direction after you zoom in, the exact route time period covered will change.

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Jobs: These are the customer jobs scheduled in the route. The number shown on the job indicates the order it is scheduled to be carried out in the route. Hover your mouse over an individual job to view a summary of the job, including its name, location, when it is scheduled to occur and the planned time-on-site duration. Move your mouse over the job to highlight the job's location on the map. The order of each job, the time between each job, and the estimated time-on-site required for each is visually represented by the order of the jobs in the timeline, the spacing between them, and the width of the green jobs icons. Green indicates that the job is valid. A red job indicates that the job violates one or more critical job constraints. Right-click a job to open a contextual menu to edit the job's values, delete it; display its location on the map; and assign or unassign the job to or from a route. Drag jobs sideways in the route timeline to change their order in the route. Hover your mouse over the job to view a gray bar indicating the job's location and permitted delivery time window.

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Zoom and Close Buttons: The Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons are used to zoom in and out of the timeline (or use your mouse scroll-wheel). Click the Close button to close the Route Timeline panel when it is no longer required (this button copies the behavior of the Information button, which also closes the panel). To re-open the panel, double-click a route in the routes grid, or right-click another route row in the Daily Routes panel and select Open detailed view, or click the Information button in the upper right corner of the Daily Routes panel.

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Routes List: Lists all routes for the day selected using the Date Selector at the top of the Jobs List panel. These routes can be in the future, on the current day, or on any of the previous seven days in each territory you have configured. Each row contains one route, graphically displayed as a timeline containing icons positioned to illustrate the scheduled time of each job in the route, the relative length spent on site for each job, the interval between jobs, and the order of jobs in the route. Jobs are represented by green squares (or red squares, if a warning violation has been generated for the job) above a gray bar representing the route. The gray route bar and the green job icons are positioned relative to the time of day, as represented by the hourly intervals that stretch across at the top row of the list.

The Route column to the left of the routes list shows the name of each route. Click the Highlight button beside a route's name to draw the route on the map. This also zooms and pans the map to the route location. Click the Show All Routes button at the top of the column to draw all routes in the list on the map or, if there are routes already highlighted on the map, hide them all. The Driver column shows the driver the route is assigned to; the Jobs column shows the total number of jobs in the route, and the Vehicle column shows the name of the vehicle that is set to drive the route. The total number of violations or warnings for a route, if any, is shown beneath the Warnings column . Click this highlighted number will open the violation details window, which contains full details of the problem. Use the Zoom In. Click this highlighted number will open the violation details window, which contains full details of the problem. Use the Zoom In and Zoom Out buttons or your mouse scroll-wheel to increase or reduce the size of the routes in the timeline, or double-click a row to view that route in more detail in the Route Timeline (only a single click is needed if the timeline is already open). Click the highlighted route name to open the route editor panel, or right-click within a row to open a contextual menu:

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Violations: This column displays the total number route violations, if any, caused by adjustments made to jobs or routes. Click the number beside the route in this column to open a dialog box containing full details of the violations for that route.

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Re-Sequence: This button is used to recalculate the route along the roadways between each job, and the order and timing of jobs within routes. When a route is changed, for example if new jobs are added or existing jobs are removed from it, the route will be re-calculated automatically. The Re-Sequence button adjusts the position of jobs within the selected routes, if needed. To the left of this button, the number of routes currently selected on the Routes List is shown in brackets. In the example above, this number is 17.

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Re-Evaluate: This button is used to recalculate route cost, distance, driving times and violations for all routes visible in the Routes List. This feature is helpful if you have made changes to your route settings. Use this option when you only want updated values, and don't want to re-sequence existing routes, which might result in re-ordering of the jobs in your existing routes.

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Reverse Routes: This button is used to reverse the order of jobs within the selected routes. Only jobs within routes with a status of 'Not Started' or 'In Progress' can be reversed, and only the jobs within the route are reversed: the start and end depot locations specified in the original route are retained. If the route is already in progress, the order of any completed jobs is not changed, only those that have not yet started, jobs that were missed, and any jobs with a status of 'En Route'. Jobs scheduled to be completed but not, and therefore marked as missed, might also be moved to a future time within the route and therefore no longer marked as missed. When the order of jobs in a route is reversed, the cost of the route is automatically recalculated.

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Add and Remove Buttons: The Add and Remove buttons are used to add a new route to the list, or to delete routes in the list that have a checkbox selected beside them.

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Copy Routes: The Copy Routes button is used to makes copies of routes in the Routes List (all routes if there are no check boxes selected in the list, or only those routes with check boxes selected beside them, if any have been selected).

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Total Cost: Displays the estimated total cost of all routes displayed on the Daily Routes panel. The cost of individual routes is based on route distance, vehicle fuel costs, average fuel consumption, shift length and driver pay rates. The total cost is calculated by adding the cost of each individual route currently visible on the panel together.

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FilterControl: Filters the Routes List to include only routes that have been selected, or only routes containing selected jobs, or only routes that are currently showing on the map. That is, routes in the Routes List that have a checkbox beside them selected, or routes containing jobs that have a checkbox beside them selected on the Jobs List. To draw these routes on the map, click the Highlight button beside the route's name, or right-click within a row and select the Draw route option from the menu that opens. If no routes or jobs are selected, and no routes are currently drawn on the map, the routes list is cleared of all routes.

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Search Control: This control filters all routes in the list using route and driver names. To search for a specific route name, or for routes assigned to a driver, type a name into the Search control. As you begin to type, the list is filtered by letter, and then word. Click the Clear button at the right edge of the field to clear the current search string.

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Show Detailed Route: Click the Information button to open the Route Timeline detailed view. If no route has been selected from the Routes List, this view displays the first route listed.

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Route Menu: Use the More button to open the route contextual menu and perform additional tasks relating to individual routes. Menu options include viewing the jobs assigned to the route, viewing or editing details of the route, viewing the jobs assigned to the route in the Jobs List or deleting the route, and viewing the route in the Route Timeline panel or drawing it on the map. You can also select or deselect all jobs on the route (on the Jobs List), and view the route's history.