The Transport Planner allows a user to allocate specific vehicles to specific transport requests. Due to the fluid nature of transport scheduling, it is not feasible to schedule vehicles for fixed lengths of time like you would with equipment or crew. Vehicles can be stuck in traffic, held up at loading docks, break down, or drivers can stop off at the pub for an unscheduled break.
The best approach to the Transport Planner is to review all the requests for transport for a specific day, which is usually today. Then begin allocating your specific vehicles to the requests. The generic vehicle types (requests) and the specific vehicles that you own are setup in the configuration utility.
The Transport Planner is split in half horizontally. The upper half displays all the requests for transport that have been made in the Job Book. The lower half displays the specific vehicles and services that you will use to transport your equipment. You will simply choose a request from the top half, select a specific vehicle from the bottom half and press the Allocate button. The request is then added to the driver's sheet for that day.
The Start Date will display all of the requests for today, along with the requests for the selected number of days in the "For Days" window. Typically, most transport managers focus on the immediate requests as these transport requests can change by the minute. However, there may be times when you decide to deliver or pickup equipment that has been scheduled for a different day. If you allocate a transport request from a different day to the selected day, you are warned:
If you choose YES, the request will be allocated the selected day. If you press No, the allocation will be scheduled for the requested day.
If you try and schedule a different type of vehicle than the requested type, you are warned:
Once an allocation or allocations are selected, you can then print out a run sheet for the driver by going to the menu and choosing File | Print | Screen Sheet.
