Routing and the Route Schedule

Daily Routing in ServiceMinder

• Go to Calendar- Day View

• Drag and drop service agent to the truck/team they are on for the day. Click Update!
• In the lower left under Route Solutions click the route button

• Then the Settings options will appear below the map.

At this point you also have the option to Lasso appointments.

• If there are appointments that you do not want to include in the schedule, make sure they are unchecked. You can also use the Lasso function to click and unclick groups at a time.
• Fill in Settings
  1. Name (optional): You can identify routes by different names if you want to save it a few different options for the route before you commit a final one (ie 100% vs 60% load).
  2. Load is how you choose to spread workload across your vehicles.
     1. 100% will fill 1^st truck to 100% before adding stops the 2^nd, etc.
     2. 120% will add hours to each truck before filling the next one.
  3. 60-70% will balance the load across multiple trucks. You may need to play around with % to balance truck loads. 

1. Duration Scale:
2. Options: Select Disable Demand and Optimize Vehicles
3. Resources: Select teams then check off the trucks/teams you want to route. (Note: You will only see Trucks listed if you’ve assigned agents to them in step 2)
   1. Note: the first Service Agent on a route provides the start and end times.
   2. Every agent on the route should be included for record-keeping in SM.
4. Parking Lot: You can temporarily move stops here while you decide if you want to include them on the day’s routes.

• Once Settings are set up click Optimize and the route will be created in the most efficient order (Note: you can leave the screen while this is taking place and you will be notified via pop up message that they are complete)
• This is what it will look like when the routes have been optimized.

• At this point you can move your customers around if there are any special requests/constraints. (Note: if any constraints are not met the customer will be highlighted in orange)

Tips:      The map iconto the right of the date shows all routes at once. 

The icons on each truck level work for the individual vehicle. Map/Reverse route/optimize 

• Click Commit in the top right corner to schedule the routes for the day.

Tip:        If you get a routing error check the way your agent’s availability is set up on their profiles.

Tip:        Depending how you set up your confirmation settings emails may be sent when you commit routes for the day. In the image below this function is not selected in the settings so emails do not go out when the route is committed.  https://serviceminder.io/ControlPanel/routesettings

Tip:        In the case above, where email reminders are not being sent upon committing a route you have two other options. 1) You would either have to edit your Notification Settings in the Control Panel so that emails go out to all queued appointments at a certain time each day automatically (see Appointment Notifications image below) or 2) You can click “resend confirmations” after the route is committed to manually send appointment reminders to customers.

• To Print work orders for all trucks at once click Print above Route Solutions.

OR Print work orders for each Truck by clicking the print icon  on each truck.

Tip:        If you want to move Truck 1 next to Truck 6 for moving appointments between routes you can move the other trucks to the side with this  icon on each truck.

Tip:        Customer Email Reminders for upcoming service are set up in Notification settings/Appointment Notifications as to whether you want to have queued emails automatically sent or not.

Tip:        Never hit Update for a route with stops that has NO technician (at least one)—this will cause it to populate incorrectly.

FAQs:

• What is Duration vs Drive time?
  • Duration is the sum of the time on the property form the pricing bands for every service eon the route. Drive time is the estimated drive time.  So if we add these together we get the time the route will take?
• Can you commit multiple routes with the same customers?
  • NO, you cannot commit multiple routes with the same customers. Once you commit a route, it will appear in the tablets and Contact Details with the time/agents. If the job has not been done, you can uncomplete a route—start again because this day is a mess.  Once stops are completed, you may not change them.
• What happens when a job is cancelled in the field?
  • It will appear in the queue. Form there, it can be added back to a scheduled for for the same day, or “bumped to another day and have an email (options) sent to the customer.  This is what the MOVE button is for.

Note for Adapting SM Routing to Two or More Depot with Different Load Requirements

ServiceMinder is designed to accommodate multiple depots by design. However, some of the more advanced features, including load balancing differences between depots, require a specific workflow. This is described here.

1. From the Calendar Day view, examine your Queued appointments in quantity and location on the map. Determine the resources needed and set them: Team and Service Agents. It is recommended that if one Team/Service Agent combination is always in a certain location that you prefix it with a description of that depot, e.g., SA Team 2 (SA for the depot). Select the Route Button.
2. Determine the first geographic area to route with a given load. Click the Lasso button and click around those stops. The statistics above the queued stops changes as you select stops.
3. Select the Teams to route for those stops.
4. Select the Load for that stop/team combination. It is recommended that you use the Name field to reference your selection to assist with adjustments should your first selection not be optimal, e.g., SA 44 stops 100%.
5. Manually make accommodations based on constraints, if necessary.
6. Click Optimize

Repeat this procedure for the balance of the stop/team combination(s). You may click the Lasso to undo previous selections.

Do not forget that you need to make each route mutually exclusive. No stop or Team should be routed twice. Adjust the load as necessary to achieve the balance you desire.

Once you are satisfied with all route, commit them individually.

Assigning Service Agents in a (mostly) Repeating Order

Many organizations not only want efficient routes, but also to have the same Service Agent on the same property from cycle-to-cycle. This guide will help you set up (and keep) your Service Agents in order daily so they generally get the same customers and geography while allowing the routing engine in Service Minder to remain efficient.

The order of Teams and hence Service Agents is determined by the Sort Order field on a Service Agent. If no Sort Order is present, it will use the last name alphabetically.

In the Control Panel>Service Agents edit your LEAD (first in routing) Service Agents and add a Sort Order where 0 is first and 99 is last in ascending order. The Teams are then sorted by the team’s lead (first) service agent’s order, then lastly by the team’s name. If no orders are set on any Service Agents, SM will sort by team names.

 

As a best practice, if you set up your teams once and save them with the name of the Service Agent you want to keep in order that that will work from day-to-day.

 

To do this, go to the control panel>Service Agents and click the TEAMS box in the top right. Edit every team to make it match the Service Agent (truck or person depending on your preference). Make inactive any you no longer have or want to use.

In daily routing, then assign a Service Agent with the SAME name as the team to that Team. Then click update. This will save it for "today" as well as future days until you want to edit it again. 

Teams will now be handed out in the sort order of the lead Service Agent to the routing engine. This will provide your Service Agent assigned to each team approximately the same customers each day in the route cycle, e.g., Monday 1, but also allow the SM routing engine to be extremely efficient and save you $$$.

Creating the Route Schedule Itself 

As a best practice, name your zones by day of the week, followed by a sequence number (not by geography). 

* go to Control Panel

* go to Services

* go to the top right and click on 'Route Schedules'

* Edit the active Route Schedule

* For each service that is 'checked off' on the left side, drag the zones to the correct week and day below.  Once you drop them DO NOT MOVE THEM.  if you accidentally drop it in the wrong spot, click the x, removing it and drag it down all over again.

Then hit save and you should be good to go.

Setting Up Pre and Post Season Services in Service Minder

• Create your route schedule to start 3 weeks earlier and end 3 weeks later than normal 

IN each of your ‘standard’ services set a season start and end for your normal season (dates must be a subset of your route schedule dates.  i.e. inside the route schedule) 

Create a new service with pricing bands for your Pre Season treatment. Set it just like a normal service, but named/described as Pre Season and priced for one (1) treatment.  Set the interval for 21 days. Set the ‘season End Date’ to the day before your NORMAL season starts.  Check the ‘Pro-Rating’ checkbox. 

Create a new service with pricing bands for your Post Season treatment. Set it just like a normal service, but named/described as Post Season and priced for one (1) treatment.  Set the interval for 21 days.  Set your ‘season start date’ to the day after your normal season ends. Check the ‘Pro-Rating’ checkbox. 

Create a new Part with pricing bands for your Pre Season treatment. Set it just like a normal part, but named/described as Pre Season and priced for one (1) treatment.  Set the interval for 21 days.  Check the ‘Pro-Rating’ checkbox. 

Create a new part with pricing bands for your Post Season treatment. Set it just like a normal part, but named/described as Post Season and priced for one (1) treatment.  Set the interval for 21 days.  Check the ‘Pro-Rating’ checkbox. 

Create a drip trigger.  Trigger on Proposal Scheduled when the Pre-Season Part is selected.  Have the drip trigger schedule Service and have it schedule the Pre-Season Service with a scale of 0. 

Create a drip trigger.  Trigger on Proposal Scheduled when the Post-Season Part is selected.  Have the drip trigger schedule Service and have it schedule the Post-Season Service with a scale of 0. 

Edit the Route Schedule and select the check box next to your new services (Pre and Post) and drag down the boxes. 

This allows you to do the following use cases. 

• Sell and schedule just a pre-season treatment and charge for it. 

• Sell and schedule just a post season treatment and charge for it. 

• Include an ‘optional’ Pre or Post season treatment in proposals and if selected and paid for the system will automatically schedule it for them. 

So now for the fun part.  Things for you to do each year. 

In order to start selling for the new year you need to complete the following steps. 

• Create your new route schedule, again set the start and end dates 3 weeks before and after your regular season. 

• Edit every SERVICE and adjust the season start and end dates for the next year. 

• Adjust pricing  

• Adust pricing for each service AND for the two parts so that they match. 

(reviewed for updates 12/24/24)