Ok, so I used, with a bit of frustration, the new system, last Saturday for the first time. Sunday, git another chance. Tbh, I don't get why they changed it. It takes longer to sort out. It isn't as easy as they make out. And I'm not sure where these improvements are. Also, zero training.
I assume the non-ops header codes are now listed in the app and selected from a list, hence you don't have to scan a barcode. Is this correct?
I'm wondering, if there is multiple route codes (or whatever they are called), how do they stop more than one person selecting the same code at the same time? I just hope they have done a lot of testing.
They talk about making minor changes or tweaks to the route. However, it looks a little awkward to be scrolling through a long list (80 - 120) parcels and moving the call points around.
Correct re the non-ops header being selected rather than needing to scan a barcode.
Apparently it auto-selects the next available “free” route code to stop overwriting of someone else’s manifest. We will see!
Yes and no. It may seem a bit counterintuitive to spend time scrolling through the itinerary and tweaking/adjusting, but it will maybe save a lot of the current on-the-road tweaking that often necessitates pulling over, making a manuscript drop list and adjusting accordingly. This will def save me time when out on delivery.
We were able to have a play with the new system yesterday with our WPC, in advance of going live with it next Monday (28th), and it seems quite good. It flags up addresses that have an active redirect (something RO+N doesn’t do), plus can integrate box, counter and customer collects into the DPR itinerary itself — though we weren’t shown this latter feature.
The new routes are often times worse than the routes that Ron spat out. If you were unfamiliar with the area you could be out for hours with around 100 drops. If you were familiar with the area you would be infuriated with the manifest giving you such a disjointed route and no clear list of what you have on board.
It flags up addresses that have an active redirect (something RO+N doesn’t do)...
RO+N always flagged redirections for me - depends how you use RO+N I think. The problem is you have to say choose ignore/ valid for current route and you would have to check the redirs at the frame for that address to be sure it's a different name on the redirection. It wasn't smart enough to match the address and names.
Well, seems like it won't be any worse! That's positive right?!!
It flags up addresses that have an active redirect (something RO+N doesn’t do)...
RO+N always flagged redirections for me - depends how you use RO+N I think. The problem is you have to say choose ignore/ valid for current route and you would have to check the redirs at the frame for that address to be sure it's a different name on the redirection. It wasn't smart enough to match the address and names.
Well, seems like it won't be any worse! That's positive right?!!
Yes, agreed on all counts, and hopefully it will be positive.
Having this afternoon read the in-depth guide on this new Parcel Route Optimiser (“PRO”), it strikes me that it is very “clunky” and requires much more tech proficiency/input when compared to RO+N. The whole guide is about 20 pages long. A steep learning curve! I question the wisdom of introducing it now and wonder whether it would have been better to delay until January, rather than introducing now, just as things have already started to really pick up for Christmas, not to mention Black Friday and Cyber Monday…
Seems it has some glitches too - the guide says that moving more than six drops around at a time can cause the whole thing to crash. Also, trying to access it in Outdoor before the 150-second process in the Cloud has completed will result in you losing the route and having to rescan everything from scratch.
Seems it has some glitches too - the guide says that moving more than six drops around at a time can cause the whole thing to crash. Also, trying to access it in Outdoor before the 150-second process in the Cloud has completed will result in you losing the route and having to rescan everything from scratch.
The PDA is now full of glitches because they keep adding things and tinkering with it. Most frustrating stood at the door waiting for the damn thing to work. Reminds me of the old Microsoft Windows platform where the egg-timer was continually loading.
On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world.
Seems it has some glitches too - the guide says that moving more than six drops around at a time can cause the whole thing to crash. Also, trying to access it in Outdoor before the 150-second process in the Cloud has completed will result in you losing the route and having to rescan everything from scratch.
The PDA is now full of glitches because they keep adding things and tinkering with it. Most frustrating stood at the door waiting for the damn thing to work. Reminds me of the old Microsoft Windows platform where the egg-timer was continually loading.
RM need to split the stuff off into separate apps. The stuff that we use in MCs should certainly be split off into it's own app
It flags up addresses that have an active redirect (something RO+N doesn’t do)...
RO+N always flagged redirections for me - depends how you use RO+N I think. The problem is you have to say choose ignore/ valid for current route and you would have to check the redirs at the frame for that address to be sure it's a different name on the redirection. It wasn't smart enough to match the address and names.
Well, seems like it won't be any worse! That's positive right?!!
Yes, agreed on all counts, and hopefully it will be positive.
Having this afternoon read the in-depth guide on this new Parcel Route Optimiser (“PRO”), it strikes me that it is very “clunky” and requires much more tech proficiency/input when compared to RO+N. The whole guide is about 20 pages long. A steep learning curve! I question the wisdom of introducing it now and wonder whether it would have been better to delay until January, rather than introducing now, just as things have already started to really pick up for Christmas, not to mention Black Friday and Cyber Monday…
Seems it has some glitches too - the guide says that moving more than six drops around at a time can cause the whole thing to crash. Also, trying to access it in Outdoor before the 150-second process in the Cloud has completed will result in you losing the route and having to rescan everything from scratch.
Without any training whatsoever I used it for, admittedly, a few parcels today and it seems to work very similar to RON, although I can't see how it's any real improvement on RON, apart from being able to move stops around if you can be bothered, pressing the final confirm button for 7 seconds is a bit of an oddity. The big changes will follow when we move from Co-Pilot to TomTom mapping at the start of November.
Having this afternoon read the in-depth guide on this new Parcel Route Optimiser (“PRO”), it strikes me that it is very “clunky” and requires much more tech proficiency/input when compared to RO+N. The whole guide is about 20 pages long.
I haven't seen a guide - no one mentioned it. Where is the guide available from?
Having this afternoon read the in-depth guide on this new Parcel Route Optimiser (“PRO”), it strikes me that it is very “clunky” and requires much more tech proficiency/input when compared to RO+N. The whole guide is about 20 pages long.
I haven't seen a guide - no one mentioned it. Where is the guide available from?
Our WPC gave each of us a two-page handout summarising the demo we were given. However, the longer guide I read yesterday, he is the only one with a copy of it, which he let me read, and so I took photos of each page with my phone. Counting the pages properly, it is in fact a 26-page guide. Its proper title is Adhoc Route + TomTom Mapping, User Guide Final v4.1 (Updated 18/09/24).
I would happily post it up here, but in the footer of each page it has a classified/confidential security marking (like all RMG docs). Maybe your WPC can give you a copy.
...........but in the footer of each page it has a classified/confidential security marking.....
RM make me laugh with this, who do they think they are - MI5? Commercially sensitive maybe, classified/confidential - nope!
Yes, it is a bit OTT. Usual protocol would be to mark it “Commercially Sensitive - In Confidence” or something similarly meaningless. Given this new system is already live at a lot of offices and going live elsewhere imminently, they should at least make the full guide easily available and accessible to all staff. Like I say, I would have been happy to share my copy by posting it up here but for the “security classification”.
