Introduction
Managing contractor capacity can be challenging. Manually tracking available capacity and which routes are driven with what capacity is inefficient and error prone.
Resource Reservations is an integrated feature that simplifies this by letting you manage contractor availability directly in the TMS.
With Reservations, you can define and view available capacities specific to each contractor and vehicle type, ensuring optimal route assignment and resource utilization.
This guide will take you through the benefits and detailed steps on how to use the Reservations feature.
Benefits of Using Resource Reservations
Real-Time Resource Availability
Integrated Tracking of Capacities: View and manage contractor capacities in real-time, ensuring you always have up-to-date information on resource availability.
Automatic Updates: Easily integrate your Fleet Management System with the TMS, and receive real-time updates on changes in contractor availability, ensuring accurate planning.
Enhanced Planning Efficiency
Comprehensive Overview: Get a detailed view of all reservations, including contractor name, vehicle type, and timeframe, facilitating better planning and resource allocation.
Flexibility and Customization
Configurable Buffers: Automatically apply configurable buffers before and after routes to account for potential delays, ensuring smoother operations.
Flexible Filtering and Sorting: Easily filter and sort reservations based on contractor name, location, tags, vehicle type, and status.
Automation (coming soon!)
Intelligent Contractor Selector: leverage the power of Machine Learning to automatically assign the Routes you create to the available capacity (Reservations) you tracked in the TMS
How to Use Reservations
Creating a Reservation
In the TMS, go to Resources
Click Reservations
Click New Reservation
Fill out the mandatory fields (marked with an asterisk *)
Date
Time
Contractor
Start location
Vehicle Type (bike, car, van, lift, truck)
Vehicle Requirements Volume (length, width, height in meters), weight (kg), distance (meters).
If you need to, fill out the optional fields
Reference
Tags
Click Create Reservation
Viewing and Managing Reservations
Viewing and Filtering
Reservations are shown in the Reservations overview under Resources.
It is recommended that you create a customized view that matches your workflow. To do this:
Click Add View -> New View
Double click on the View to rename it (if you want) and save View
Click on the Cog icon -> Edit Columns to edit the columns in your View
Click Save
You can create as many views as you need. To edit or delete views, click on the Cog icon and select the desired action.
Use the available filters to customize your view even further
Managing Reservations
Updating a Reservation
It is not possible to edit a Reservation directly in the TMS. Modifications can only be done via API, and the editable properties are limited to: start date time, end date time.
For any other changes, you need to cancel the reservation and re-create it. Cancelled reservations cannot be updated.
Assigning a Driver to a Reservation
Drivers can be assigned to a Reservation via the Assign Driver command. The quickest way to achieve this is:
click on the option to edit the columns
add Driver to the columns shown in the Reservation overview
click Assign Driver in the Reservation overview -> this will show you all the Drivers from your Organization and their pertaining status
Only drivers belonging to the assigning organization can be assigned. Route and Reservation drivers do not need to match.
You can configure buffer time for the drivers in Organization Settings. Buffers do not enforce additional planning constraints, but highlight potential overlaps.
Cancelling a Reservation
To cancel, click on the Trash Bin icon at the end of the Reservation row.
A confirmation screen will prompt you to enter a reason for cancelling and to confirm your change.
Assigning a Route to a Reservation
Assignments can be made from the Routes page. The user assigning the Route has to be a part of the Organization who is executing the Route in order to assign it to a Reservation.
This is how you can check if your Organization is the Route executor:
On the Routes Page, open a Route by clicking on the Route ID
Check the name under Contractor on the Route Details page. If it is the same name as your Organization, you are the executor of the Route and can therefore assign it to a Reservation.
To assign the Route to a Reservation, you have two options:
in the Routes List: click anywhere on the Route and click Assign -> Assign to a Reservation
on the Route Details page, click Assign -> Assign to a Reservation
Both of these actions will open the Reservations page and guide you to select the best reservation, matching the Route vehicle type and driving dates.
Good to Know
The Reservation is always set between the Organization creating it and the Contractor. The logic ensures clarity and proper visibility across the fulfilment chain.
If you start assigning a Route to a Reservation but don't finish the process, the TMS will keep a tab open for the incomplete assignment, so you can always return to finalise.
FAQ
What is the Fulfilment Chain?
The Fulfilment Chain in the TMS is the list of organizations responsible for executing the route. When you assign the route to a new contractor, that new contractor is automatically added to the Fulfilment Chain and will gain visibility of the route and related orders.
If I set a Reservation for my Contractor, what can they see?
Your contractor cannot see the reservation details.
Why aren't my Reservations showing for Route assignment?
When assigning a Route, the Reservations page displays those that match the vehicle type and driving dates of the route. If you are assigning a car route but don't have any Reservations with "Vehicle Type = Car", the page will be empty. This is designed to prevent mismatches, like assigning a car route to a van reservation.
To see more Reservations, use the Filters on the Reservations page.