Route Scheduling Screen

The Route Scheduling feature provides a method for scheduling visits on routes and specifying the visit order for property locations displayed on a map.

Users will commonly perform scheduling on a similar set of contracts for the first day of the contract period using Route Scheduling to determine the order of visits, and then establish recurring schedules for each service in the normal manner.

There are two general methods that may be used for Route Scheduling:

1. Drag the desired services to a day/route on the Schedule Board to establish the visits, and then go into Route Scheduling to set the visit order.
2. Go directly into Route Scheduling without placing visits on the Schedule Board and use the Work Ticket Search List on the Route Scheduling screen to add visits for the specified day before setting their visit order.

To make the Route Scheduling feature available to users, enable the new Route Scheduling permission to the roles of employees who will use it. If the logged-in user has Route Scheduling permission assigned, then Route Scheduling will be available from the More drop-down at the top of the Schedule Board when it is in a weekly view. Note that this is not available in the monthly view.

Below is an example of the Route Scheduling screen.

We will focus on the date of Tuesday, November 17. Observe the three routes and the colors of the visit tiles in the first two. In the Work Ticket Search List, the first four work tickets are scheduled for route AUser2. The next tickets are not scheduled but will be scheduled for AUser1 and ACrew1.

To access Route Scheduling, close the Work Ticket Search List and Route Scheduling from the drop-down. Aspire displays a Select Date screen. you clicks on the day that they wish to schedule on the map. 

When the map is initially displayed, if there are no visits scheduled yet for the specified date, Aspire initially displays the map at the branch location of the route manager’s branch as specified on the Basic Details tab of the Branch screen in Administration. If the route manager is not associated with a branch, the map focuses on the company address specified on the Company tab of the Application Configuration screen.

Screen Elements

The screen elements initially shown on the Route Scheduling screen are described in the following table.

Screen Element	Description
Scheduling Date	Shows the date selected for scheduling. Clicking the Change Date icon next to the date displays a date-picker (shown at right) from which you can select a different scheduling date. When the date changes, the icons representing visits change to represent the newly selected day.
Route Manager	Read-only. Shows the route manager that was active on the Schedule Board when the Route Scheduling screen was displayed.
Routes	Shows the routes for the selected route manager. The color coding for each route is based on the color defined for the route. This field is a multi-select field that allows routes to be added or removed. Only routes for the selected route manager are available. When a route is added, the visits defined for the route on the specified day are displayed on the map. When a route is removed, the visits defined for the route on the specified day are removed from the map.
Work Tickets Search List	The Work Tickets Search List behaves like other work ticket search lists. The primary purpose of this search list on the Route Scheduling screen is to identify and select unscheduled work tickets to be scheduled on a route. The system default search list shows all work tickets that have no visits scheduled. Selecting a work ticket in the list adds an icon to the map colored gray with the number zero (0) on it representing that it has not yet been ordered. See Scheduling Visits, below.
Map	The map displays icons representing properties for which visits have been or are being scheduled. you can move around on the map by dragging it or can zoom in or out. When actions are performed to select properties from the list, initiate setting of route order, or resetting the display, Aspire automatically sets the zoom level of the map so that all properties on the map are in the view area.
Property Icons	Property icons are displayed on the map for each route on the schedule board that has visits on the selected day. Icons are color-coded based on the route with which they are associated. If multiple services are scheduled on the same property on the same day, only one icon is displayed for the property. Clicking on the icon when not in Set Route Order mode (see Set Route Order button, below) shows information for the property including a list of services scheduled for that day.
Set Route Order Button	Clicking the Set Route Order button changes the screen to Scheduling mode. See Scheduling Visits, below.
Reset Button	Clicking the Reset button resets the map zoom level and removes any property icons that were added after visits were most recently saved.
Save	Saves any changes you has made to the route schedule and returns you to the screen from which they selected the Scheduling screen.

Method 1 - add Visits on Schedule Board

In the example, visits for three properties were placed on the Schedule Board for the route, AUser1.
Upon entering the Route Scheduling screen, the property icons for these visits are represented on the map and the numbers on the icons represent the visit order on the Schedule Board.
To establish a new desired route order for these properties, click the Set Route Order button. The Set Route Order button becomes disabled until the ordering is complete.
Aspire displays the Select a Route screen where you selects the route for which they wish to set the property visit order – in this case, AUser1 – and click Save. The numbers for the selected route all change to zero (0).
To set the route order, you successively clicks the icons in the order that the visits should occur. As each icon is clicked, they will be numbered sequentially starting at one (1). In addition, the display area below the Work Ticket Search List shows the route that is being built and increments as each icon is selected to show the total number of selected visits and the scheduled hours.

When the order of the visits is correct, you clicks Save to save the visits. Any visits with a zero remaining are removed. The map refreshes to reflect the updates allowing you to set route order for another route. When you returns to the schedule board, they will be able to see that the visits have been added or reordered from the Route Scheduling screen.

Method 2 – Add Visits on Route Scheduling Screen

In the example, the services for Mnt Route 3 (Lenny) in the Chesterfield Farms subdivision were not placed on the Schedule Board. Therefore, when the Route Scheduling screen is displayed, those properties are not represented on the map. The Work Ticket Search List can be used to identify the services that should be scheduled.

Once the services have been identified, clicking the checkbox in front of each service adds the service to the map as a gray property icon numbered with a zero (0). The icon is gray because it has not yet been assigned to a route. The icons are numbered zero because their order has not yet been specified.

Next, you clicks the Set Route Order button to initiate the ordering of visits and selects route ACrew1 on the Select a Route screen.

Aspire sets the Route Scheduling screen into Set Route Order mode so that you can add properties to the selected route as it sequences them. As you clicks each property, the properties are numbered, and their color changes to represent the route with which they are being assigned.

Once all desired properties have been clicked to sequence and add to the route, you can click on the Save button to save the newly sequenced visits. Aspire will display a confirmation dialog to verify they are ready to save. To cancel changes instead of saving, you clicks the Resetbutton.

Equipment Location Search Screen

The Equipment Location Search screen is available from the More drop-down menu on the top of the Schedule Board. Selecting this displays a map showing an icon for each vehicle assigned to a route. Vehicles associated with routes for the active route manager will be colored based on their route color. Vehicles associated with routes of other route managers will be gray.

Schedule an Event Screen