Setting up a flow is an important configuration step. When you announce tasks, certain properties have to be added to them so that your real-life processes are reflected accordingly in Urbantz. Examples of properties that can be set at flow level are service time, workdays, barcode scan requirements and signature requirements.
Overview:
- General
- Sender
- Requires
- Geocoding
- File format
1. General
In the General section of the flow setup, you can:
- name the Flow
- decide whether it's a planning flow or not
- associate a Hub and an Optimisation to it
Furthermore, you can define default values that will be set as task properties if not set when announced: delivery or pick up date, time window, service time and item dimensions.
You can also define working days and holidays at the flow level if only certain days of the week/year are to be considered.
ℹ️ If you announce a task on a working day that is not checked or on a holiday, the next available working day will be used instead.
Several advanced options are available in advanced mode to accommodate particular needs.
2. Sender
Flow > Sender
This section allows you to define the Sender of the tasks you announce using this flow. You can either decide on a particular sender or add more detail using the advanced mode (Announced by name or code).
3. Requires
Flow > Requires
This section of the flow setup will determine actions that have to be carried out by Dispatchers and Drivers during the task lifecycle. These options allow you to refine Urbantz to meet all your needs and match your operational processes.
The requirements are divided into:
- Requires for pickup tasks
For pickup tasks 'requires' exist for dispatching, for the pickup itself and in case of pickup failure.
- Requires for delivery tasks
For delivery tasks there are more 'requires' than for pickup tasks. You can define actions at arrival (dispatch), at preparation (truck loading), for the delivery itself, in case of failed delivery and, if you are using that feature, for drop-off.
4. Geocoding
Flow > Geocoding
Before proceeding to the 5th and final part of the standard flow configuration, providing the geocoding details for your configuration is necessary.
- Country
- Geocode address expression: this describes the composition of the field that will be used by our algorithms. An example would be "street number zip city" for Belgian addresses as they are composed in such a way (Avenue Louise 251 / 1050 / Bruxelles)
If using the advanced mode, you can define your activity zone and additional properties for the geocoding process (transforming an address into geographical coordinates).
Zipcodes can be verified and street number checks can be skipped.
You can also define the geocoding threshold starting at which you want Urbantz to show geocoding errors. We recommend a threshold of 80. You can choose a threshold of 50 or less if you prefer having few geocoding errors but the risk of possible incorrect addresses increases. Alternatively, you can define the threshold at 95 which will result in a lot more geocoding errors to correct manually as well as correct addresses as nearly all will have to be reviewed.
Lastly, you can adapt which geocoding service is used, ArcGis or Google. We recommend using both as the overall quality of both is the same and in case one service is not available, the other will be.
5. File format
Flow > File Format
This section of the flow configuration is all about the way tasks will be announced into Urbantz. Two ways can be configured here (field mapper and parser script) and the third one (API) is always available.
File transformation mode:
- Field mapper: match your file format with the Urbantz destination format.
- Parser script: a script to be put in place in particular cases by a member of Urbantz.
Date format: When announcing tasks the date format chosen here needs to be respected to be recognized correctly by Urbantz. If an incorrect format is used, the default values set in the first section of the flow configuration will be used.
File format: Excel or CSV
Field mapping: The field mapping setup is essential for Urbantz to make sure the information you announce is taken out of the file you provide and added into the corresponding Urbantz fields.
1. Load new sample file: insert the file you want to use to configure for your flow.
2. The name of the sheet of the Excel file in which your data is stored.
3. Field mapping: assign your column headers to the corresponding Urbantz fields.
ℹ️ If your file contains phone numbers in the column that is supposed to contain the delivery date Urbantz won't be able to interpret a date.
ℹ️ Try as much as possible to keep the same file structure over time for your announcement files. If there are changes to the file, they need to be done in the field mapping as well.
ℹ️. If you encounter difficulties when uploading a file remove the formatting you applied in Excel to have the most basic file possible.
Now that the basic flow setup is completed you can proceed with announcing tasks in the Announcement section of your platform to create rounds and send drivers on their way.