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How to create a new hub and assign tasks to it?

Caroline Veiders
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IntroBefore starting to optimize and create rounds, you will need to configure the hub(s) from which your drivers leave.

Overview :

  1. Hub creation
  2. Hub assignation

1. Hub creation

The hub is located at the heart of your operations. To define the hub(s) go to  Administration > Platform > Hubs.

To add a hub, click on the 'Add'-button.

Hub_creation_1.png

When defining a new hub, you will need to add the following information.

  1. Name of the hub
  2. Address or longitude/latitude
  3. Start time (click on the tab “rounds”): defines when the drivers for this hub have to start their rounds.
    Hub_creation_2.PNG

         There are 4 ways to define time constraints:

  • No constraints on time
  • Start in x minutes from now: the exact number of minutes from when the delivery person should start the round
  • Set start earliest time: the round can't start before the scheduled time (a specific time)
  • Start of time window: one slot, e.g., 14:00 - 18:00

mceclip0.pngOffline: Drivers will work offline in this hub. If activated, drivers will have the possibility to use the mobile app even with no internet connection at the hub.

Round numbering: Selecting this option allows the definition of a specific round numbering for a hub.

❗ When using the planning module (configured at the flow level), you will have an extra tab "Timeslots" which allows you to define specific timeslots for specific days of the week by clicking on the "add"-button.
In this section, the information to provide is:

  • The start and the end of a time-window
  • The corresponding weekday(s)
  • Add a vehicle
  • Cutoff time. If added, it will only be possible to reserve a timeslot before the cutoff time set for that specific timeslot
  • In addition, you can also limit a time slot to authorized zip codes and zones
  • And ultimately, dates can be blocked. With this option, certain days can be blocked to add exceptions to timeslots. When blocking dates: your capacity will be set to 0 on the selected days and task assignment won't be possible.

Hub_creation_3.png

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2. Hub assignation

You can use multiple hubs. Be sure to include them in your Flow via the menu Administration > Flows > General > Hub. Once you created the hub, you can define rules to assign tasks to the hub.

hub_assignation_dropdown.png

There are 6 choices to assign tasks to a hub.

  • Specific hub: enables you to choose a specific hub to assign tasks to.
  • Closest hub: will assign the ideal hub, based on the tasks' final destination.
  • It will not assign a hub during the announcement: tasks won't have a hub assigned until the optimization is launched, where the best hub will be assigned. This should be configured in the optimization. 
  • Rule-based hub assignation: allows the user to use simple hub assignation rules. See more information below.

Rule_based_hub_assignation_online2.png

In this example, all tasks with the postal code '1020' will be assigned to the hub “Berlin”.

  • Simple rule-based hub assignation: allows you to map the value of the selected field to the hub name.
  • Script-based Hub assignation: Use scripts for more complex assignment scenarios.

 

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