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[Full Overview] - Understanding and Managing Zones in Urbantz

Zineb Akki
Updated

Introduction

Zones are a critical feature in Urbantz, designed to provide granularity in the optimization process for logistics and delivery operations. They allow businesses to define specific areas for delivery, driver preferences, and operational planning. This article explores the creation, management, and usage of zones in Urbantz, along with their integration into optimization workflows.

Creating Zones

Creating zones in Urbantz is a straightforward process that involves defining specific areas on a map. These zones can be tailored to meet operational needs, such as assigning drivers to preferred delivery areas or segmenting territories for better planning.

Steps to Create a Zone:

  1. Navigate to Administration > Platform > Zones.
  2. Use the polygon tool (hexagon icon) to draw the desired zone on the map by clicking point by point.
  3. Finalize the zone by clicking on the last point, which triggers a pop-up window.
  4. Name the zone, choose a color for identification, and optionally link it to a hub.
  5. Save the zone by clicking the Save button in the top-right corner.

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Managing Zones

Once zones are created, Urbantz provides tools to manage them effectively. Users can edit, rename, or delete zones, as well as customize their appearance on the map.

Key Management Features:

  • Edit Zone Shape: Adjust the zone by moving the white points on the map.
  • Show/Hide Zones: Use the eye icon to toggle the visibility of specific zones.
  • Edit Zone Details: Change the zone’s name, color, or linked hub using the pen icon.

Zones can also be defined by:

  • Postal codes: Can be implemented through labels with postal codes associated with vehicles, or by splitting optimization by postal code ranges (e.g., all 1xxx codes together)
  • Addresses: Can be set up using management rules based on street names, or by creating scripts that assign tasks to specific zones based on address patterns
  • GeoJSON uploads: Can be imported by the Urbantz team. The customer needs to provide the zones in GeoJSON format.

Note: While postal codes and addresses can be used to define zones through management rules, this requires technical setup and is not available as a direct feature in the interface.
Contact your Customer Success Manager for implementation support.

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Linking Zones to Drivers

Zones can be linked to drivers to reflect their preferences. This ensures that drivers are mostly assigned to areas they are familiar with or prefer to work in.

Steps to Link Zones to Drivers:

  1. Navigate to Users and select the driver’s profile.
  2. Scroll down to the Preferred Zones field and link one or more zones to the driver.
  3. Update the optimization configuration:
    • Go to Optimizations > Fleet Assignation.
    • Deactivate the virtual fleet toggle and configure the optimization based on drivers.
    • Add drivers and save the configuration.
  4. Enable the Use Zone Preferences toggle under the General tab.

Zones can also be used for:

  • Carrier allocation rules: Used to automatically assign tasks to specific carriers based on zones. You can create rules that consider zone coverage when allocating deliveries to carriers
    (Rule-based criteria under Carrier in Administration > General => Check with your CSM to set up these rules)
  • Time slot management: This allows you to set up different delivery time slots based on zones. You can control which time slots are available to customers in specific zones

Note: Zone preferences are not mandatory criteria! The optimizer will try to respect them but may override preferences based on task volume or other constraints.

Usage of Zones

Zones in Urbantz offer several practical applications:

  1. Planning: Time slots can be made available or restricted based on zones.
  2. Optimization: Zones can be used to split operations geographically (e.g., north vs. south of a city).
  3. Driver Assignments: Drivers can be assigned to preferred zones.

Limitations

While zones are a powerful tool, there are some limitations:

  1. Limited Zone Management:
    • No alphabetical sorting
    • No zone templates
    • No mass editing or copying

  2. No Hierarchical Features:
    • No hierarchical structures where zones are nested within other zones
    • There is no zones sharing option between platforms

  3. Restricted Functionality:
    • No zone-specific permissions
    • No conditional time-based rules
    • Cannot revert to previous configurations

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