Configuring Quantum VS For Route Round Maintenance

Certain records in Quantum VS must be configured before you begin creating Route Rounds and subscribing Customers/Customer Sites via Customer Route Round Drop Sequence Maintenance.

IMPORTANT: To 'switch on' Route Round Maintenance and related features within Quantum VS you will need to enable the Optional Enhancement Price Book 714 (Route Planning). See Optional Enhancements.

You will need to configure your delivery cycle via the Route Week Cycle and Current Route Week fields in the Selling tab of the Price Book General control record. See Understanding And Configuring Your Delivery Cycle.

In order to process Standing Orders you will need to set up menu values for the Standing Order Schedule header field in the SOSH (Standing Order Schedule Code) Table File using Table File Maintenance. See Setting Up the SOSH Table File.

You may set User Permissions to enable or disable a User's ability to perform certain functions in Route Round Maintenance. See Route Round Maintenance And User Permissions.

Understanding And Configuring Your Delivery Cycle

Route Round Maintenance in Quantum VS must be configured to suit the type of delivery cycle you will operate. This done via the following fields in the Selling tab of the Price Book General control record:

• Route Week Cycle: This field holds a number representing the total number of weeks in your delivery cycle. For example: 1 = weekly cycle (default); 2 = 2-weekly cycle; 4 = 4-weekly cycle. This controls the number of Week buttons displayed/available in New Route Round Maintenance when creating Route Round records.

• Current Route Week: This field holds a number representing the 'current' week of your Route Week Cycle. This value will then be updated automatically every week, ensuring only the 'current' week's driver delivery lists will be printed. For example, if you operate a:

• • 2-weekly cycle (i.e. your Route Week Cycle value is 2) and you are currently in the first week of that cycle: you will enter a Current Route Week of 1. Next week the system will automatically update the Current Route Week to 2, then 1 the following week, and so on.

  • 5-weekly cycle (i.e. your Route Week Cycle value is 5) and you are currently in the third week of that cycle: you will enter a Current Route Week of 3. Next week the system will automatically update the Current Route Week to 4, then 5 the following week, 1 the next week, and so on.

Note: If your Route Week Cycle is 1, the Current Route Week will default to 1.

Delivery Cycle Examples

While it is common for businesses to operate a weekly delivery cycle, you may alternatively set up Route Round records based on a delivery cycle which repeats every two, three, four or more weeks if required. For example:

1. Weekly

Businesses operating a weekly delivery cycle will have the same daily Rounds/deliveries in one week as those in the next. For example, the Rounds/deliveries you operate on Monday of this week will be the same as those on Monday of next week (see note); Tuesday's Rounds/deliveries will be the same this week as for Tuesday next; and so on for the rest of the days in the week.

Note: These examples refer to the actual Route Round deliveries you will operate on each week and day, which will only vary when you add a new Route Round delivery or delete an existing Route Round delivery. However, the actual Customer drop sequence within an individual Route Round delivery - as printed on driver delivery lists - is likely to vary more regularly.

2. Two-weekly

Businesses operating a two-weekly delivery cycle may have different Rounds/deliveries in Week 1 compared to Week 2. For example, some - or potentially all - of the Rounds/deliveries you operate on Monday of this week might be different to those on Monday of next week; some or all of Tuesday's Rounds/deliveries in Week 1 might be different to those on Tuesday of Week 2; and so on for the rest of the days in the week.

3. Four-weekly

Businesses operating a four-weekly delivery cycle may have different Rounds/deliveries in Week 1 compared to Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4. For example, some - or potentially all - of the Rounds/deliveries you operate on Monday of this week might be different to those on Monday of next week, Monday the week after, and Monday the week after that; some or all of Tuesday's Rounds/deliveries in Week 1 might be different to those on Tuesday of Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4; and so on for the rest of the days in the week.

The value which defines the number of weeks in your delivery cycle must be entered in the Route Week Cycle field of the Selling tab of the Price Book General control record - as explained above. This controls the number of Week buttons displayed/available in New Route Round Maintenance when creating Route Round records.

For example, if you leave the default Route Week Cycle value as 1, you will not see any Week buttons in New Route Round Maintenance. This means that any Route Round records you create for Monday, for example, are repeated each Monday (unless you add a new Route Round delivery or delete an existing Route Round delivery for Monday).

However, if your business intends to operate a delivery cycle which does not necessarily have the same daily Rounds/deliveries in one week as those in the next, you will need to enter a Route Week Cycle value of 2, 3, 4 or more as appropriate. This value controls the number of Week buttons displayed/available in New Route Round Maintenance. For example:

• If you enter a Route Week Cycle value of 2, buttons for Week 1 and 2 will display in New Route Round Maintenance, enabling you to create different Route Round records as required for each Day in Week 1 compared to the same Days in Week 2.

• If you enter a Route Week Cycle value of 4, buttons for Week 1, 2, 3 and 4 will display in New Route Round Maintenance, enabling you to create different Route Round records as required for each Day in Week 1 compared to the same Days in Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4.

This potentially enables you to set up a more complex delivery schedule if this suits your delivery requirements.

Setting Up The SOSH Table File

In order to process Standing Orders you will first need to set up menu values for the Standing Order Schedule header field in the SOSH (Standing Order Schedule Code) Table File using Table File Maintenance.

This will create menu values in the Standing Order Schedule field in the header section of Standing Orders. These values enable Standing Orders to be grouped for selection and processing via the Create Standing Order Sales Orders Process.

For example, the following values might be created:

• Mon/Week 1

• Tue/Week 1

• Wed/Week 1

• Thu/Week 1

• Fri/Week 1

• Mon/Week 2

• ...and so on.

When the Create Standing Order Sales Orders Process is later run in order to generate Sales Orders based on existing Standing Orders, it will therefore be possible to process only Mon/Week 1 Standing Orders (i.e. Standing Orders assigned 'Mon/Week 1' in the Standing Order Schedule header field).

Note: Menu values may not necessarily relate directly to your existing Route Round records - they are simply text values used for selecting Standing Orders to be processed.

For details on creating the SOSH Table File - and the values within it - see Table File Maintenance.

Route Round Maintenance And User Permissions

The following User Permissions may be used to enable/disable the User's ability to perform certain functions in Route Round Maintenance:

Enabling User Permissions

User Permissions are enabled or disabled for a User via the Role they have been assigned - see Creating Roles.

User Permissions may be switched on or off for the current session only by selecting Tools > User Permissions from the Toolbar - Main Menu to display the Edit User Session Permissions Window (requires supervisor permissions). Check the boxes to allow permissions to the relevant application functions, then click OK. The procedure is similar to that used when Creating Roles.

Note: Newly-created User Permissions are typically not set for a User when upgrading to a new release of Quantum VS.

NEXT: Creating Route Round Records