Service Times

This Technical Concept is relevant to the following Services: xTour

Characteristic

Short description

The PTV xTour service plans tours consisting of stops at different sites. Those stops and included pickup, delivery and visit tasks to be carried out at the corresponding location have a certain service time. This service time is influenced by different parameters. The following technical concept explains in which cases these parameters are useful and how they influence the service time of stops and tasks.

Use

The following technical concept explains in which cases these parameters are useful and how they influence the service time of stops and tasks.

Detailed Consideration

Overall service time of a stop

For every visit of a site along a tour, there is a stop with a certain service time. During the service time, tasks are carried out. The total service time of a stop is the sum

of the time it takes to carry out all the tasks at this stop and
a once-per-stop service time.

Once-per-stop service time

The once-per-stop service time is determined by the following fields:

Site.serviceTimePerStop: Each site is different. The drivers may have to register first before entering the site. They may have to do some paperwork before and/or after loading or unloading their vehicleThe term vehicle describes what is being routed or planned for. Vehicles are used in route calculation, distance matrix calculation and effectively also in tour planning. In route calculation, vehicle properties like overall size, weight and speed are in focus. In tour planning, it is vehicle properties like capacity and availability. Commonly a vehicle is motorized, like a truck - including its trailer or a car. However also a bike or even a pedestrian are included in this definition.. All of these times that essentially depend on the site are intended to be summed up in the field serviceTimePerStop of the site.
Vehicle.serviceTimePerStop: Each vehicle is different. Some vehicles have trailers. Some vehicles have doors, some have a lifting platform. Every time the vehicle stops at a site, the drivers will have to maneuver their vehicle which is more difficult if there is a trailer attached. And it takes time to open the vehicle and prepare it for loading/unloading. All of these times that essentially depend on the vehicle are intended to be summed up in the field serviceTimePerStop of the vehicle.

These two service times arise every time the vehicle stops at a certain site. Hence the once-per-stop service time is the serviceTimePerStop of the site plus the serviceTimePerStop of the vehicle.

There is one exception: Every customer site has an optional field customer id. Should the vehicle stop at a sequence of customer sites for which the same customer id is set, the once-per-stop service time is only considered at the first stop of the sequence. So the once-per-stop service time may even be a once-per-customer service time. Please note that the same customer id may only be set for two different customer sites if they only differ in the location id and the opening intervals.

Task service time

A task can be a pickup task, a delivery task, or simply a visit task. Depending on the type, the service time for a task is one of the following:

Each task is different: Large or heavy items may require a longer time to load and unload. Orders that require extensive load securing will also take longer to execute. The time needed to execute an order may also depend on the equipment of the site that is associated with the order. For a visit order the service time is the time needed to perform the activity at the customer. All these parameters are contained within the task service time.

The service time for a task may be adjusted. There are two fields that control this adjustment:

Vehicle.serviceTimeFactorForOrders: Each vehicle is different. It may have equipment that allows faster loading, unloading or load securing. A vehicle may be equipped with a forklift that allows faster loading and unloading.
Site.ignoreVehicleDependentServiceTimeFactorForOrders: The service time factor of a vehicle may only be relevant for sites that lack a certain equipment. Therefore a site can ignore the vehicle dependent service time factor for orders.

The service time for a task is multiplied by the factor of the vehicle unless the site where the task is carried out demands to ignore the vehicle’s factor.

Example

Three differently sized packages are delivered at a customer. The client has calculated task-dependent service times of 5, 7 and 18. The used vehicle has a lifting platform and a large hand truck. This minimizes the delivery time by 20% (factor 0.8) compared to the standard vehicle without lifting platform and with a small hand truck. Registration and parking in second row takes 7 time units. The vehicle dependent service time for the stop is 3 time units.

TotalServiceTime = 7 + 3 + (5 + 7 + 18) * 0.8 = 34

For a more detailed example and explanation on how to integrate the service time parameters into your personal use case, see Using Different Service Time Settings.

Good to know

Service at "Split Stops"

A stop is always part of exactly one trip. If a trip begins on the same site as the previous trip ended, there are two stops, one for each trip. Hence, there is a once-per-stop service time for each of the two stops, even though the vehicle may not have left and re-entered the site.

Technical Concept	Orders, Locations, and Stops
Integration Sample	Using Different Service Time Settings