BlackBox Routing is a way to create your daily routes with just a single click of the mouse.
Click for a larger diagram!
Why the funny name?
Definition of BlackBox: “An abstraction of a device, system, or subsystem in which only its externally visible behavior is considered and not its internal implementation.”
That is, it’s a cool tool that does a job for you, and you don’t have to think about it because it does your thinking for you.
Design Goals of BlackBox Routing
The most basic goal of BlackBox Routing is to let the computer do your thinking when creating a day’s routes. The service stops BlackBox Routing puts into a day’s routes should come close to what a human might include, but the route should be more efficient and more profitable.
(That is, it should think like you think when you think perfectly!)
How does it work?
Route formation is based on parameters that a supervisor for your company sets. Parameters are selected that reflect your company’s business goals and priorities. BlackBox Routing combines these parameters with your system’s data and sophisticated Artificial Intelligence to make better routes than you would probably make!
Benefits of BlackBox Routing
Saves time (therefore, money) by freeing the production manager to do other things.
Routes reflect company goals and priorities.
Routes are more efficient and profitable than when created the old fashioned way.
Errors in human judgment are eliminated from route creation.
Parameters:
There are four types of parameters used in BlackBox Routing.
A manager or supervisor selects which services should be included in a user’s daily route. A manager also selects which routes should be included in a technician’s daily route. Customer inventory (i.e. Grass Type) can also be used as a filter. Services can also be associated similar to the way they are associated when printing invoices.
Parameters II
How to prioritize work!
Two factors determine priority:
Last service date for a customer.
The urgency of the work that must be done.
Other Factors:
Service calls
ASAP customers
New customers
The customer value
Number of years as a customer
Number of services scheduled for Annual revenue
Parameters III
Work can be limited in several ways:
Total number of stops for a day
Total price of all stops in a day
Total size of all work for a day
Total amount of time (including drive time) to do the day’s work
Parameters IV
Options for printed output are similar to output options available when printing invoices:
What is printed?
Invoices
Driver report
Worksheet
Overview Map
Strip Maps
Work flow
There’s more to BlackBox Routing than mapping stops for your technicians because there’s more to what LA3 does for them. BlackBox Routing puts all of what they do in LA3 into one tightly integrated package. Following are the steps a technician will take. Other processes (automatic geocoding, route formation, route optimization, etc.) are handled in the background.
BlackBox Routing Summary
BlackBox Routing will save time and money by minimizing tedious tasks done by the production manager.
BlackBox Routing will enhance the routes your technicians take because the routes will be efficient, objective, systematic.
Routes will better reflect the business plan and priorities of your company.
BlackBox Routing will also improve customer service, thus improving customer satisfaction and retention.
Why the funny name?
