The ‘Default Order Service Time (min):’ box is where the average amount of time required for an Order to be completed at a stop or customer location, is specified. Of course, Order service times can be altered for individual stops in the Routing tab or the Service Units tab by clicking on the Service Time and changing it.

The 'Default Time Window Duration (min):' box is where the time window that is given to a customer can be specified. It is set by default to the industry standard of 120 minutes but may be altered suited to your business. When the routing is done, based on the Start Time allocated to a stop, the Time Window is calculated. Of course, other factors such as the Time Window Clip Duration and Time Window Clip Offset that you see below is also taken into consideration when DispatchTrack calculates the Time Window

Let us assume Routing was done and the Start Time for a stop was 9:18 AM. If the Default Time Window Duration (min): remains 120 minutes, the Time Window Clip Duration has been set to the 'Nearest 30 minutes' and Time Window Clip Offset has been set to 0 minutes, DispatchTrack calculates the nearest 30 minute prior to the Start Time, which is 9:00 AM, adds 120 minutes to it and sets the Time Window for that stop as '9:00 AM to 11:00 AM'.

If an offset were defined, let us say of 10 minutes, it is added to the calculated Window Time. In the example above, if Time Window Clip Offset had been set to 10 minutes, the Time Window for that stop is set to '9:10 AM to 11:10 AM'.

The 'Make Time Widows Editable?' checkbox is used to enable or disable editing capability for the Time Window in the Service Units tab.

The Time Window Clip Duration: dropdown is used to clip the DispatchTrack calculated time windows to a 'rounded-off' figure. For instance, as explained in 'Default Time Window Duration (min):' above, if Routing was done and the Start Time for a stop was 9:18 AM and if the Default Time Window Duration (min): remains 120 minutes and if the Time Window Clip Duration has been set to the 'Nearest 30 minutes' and Time Window Clip Offset has been set to 0 minutes, DispatchTrack clips the Start Time to the nearest 30 minutes prior to the Start Time, which is 9:00 AM, adds 120 minutes to it and sets the Time Window for that stop as '9:00 AM to 11:00 AM'.

If, from the drop down, the 'Nearest 60 minutes' was chosen, it would still set the Time Window to between '9:00 AM and 11:00 AM'. Here's why: If the Start Time for a stop was, let us say, 9:42 AM, rather than rounding the Window Time to the nearest 30 minutes prior to the Start Time as in the earlier case (which would have set it to 9:30 AM to 11:30 AM), it rounds it off to the nearest 60 minutes, and therefore sets it to '9:00 AM to 11:00 AM'

The 'Time Window Clip Offset:' box is used to offset the Window Time by the required number of minutes. As explained in 'Default Time Window Duration (min):' box earlier, if Routing was done and the Start Time for a stop was 9:18 AM and if the Default Time Window Duration (min): remains 120 minutes and if the Time Window Clip Duration has been set to the 'Nearest 30 minutes' and Time Window Clip Offset has been set to 0 minutes, DispatchTrack clips the Start Time to the nearest 30 minutes prior to the Start Time, which is 9:00 AM, adds 120 minutes to it and sets the Time Window for that stop as '9:00 AM to 11:00 AM'. If an offset were defined, let us say of 10 minutes, it is added to the calculated Window Time. In the example above, if Time Window Clip Offset had been set to 10 minutes, the Time Window for that stop is set to '9:10 AM to 11:10 AM'.

The 'Load Time (min):' box is used to specify in minutes, the amount of time taken to load the Truck once it has reached the dock. When DispatchTrack calculates the time taken for a route, particularly the first stop, it factors in the Load Time and adds it to Start Time of the Truck that has been defined in the Service Unit and then calculates the time taken from the warehouse/store to the first stop.

The 'Unload Time (min):' box is used to specify the time taken to unload the Truck once it has reached the warehouse at the end of the route. When DispatchTrack calculates the time taken for a route, it factors in the Unload Time and adds it to the End Time of the Route.

The 'Minimum Travel Time between stops (minutes):' box is used to specify in minutes, the bare minimum amount of time between two stops. For instance, if two customers are in the same apartment complex Google gives the travel time between the two stops as zero. But - there is nothing like "zero travel time". In other words, the End Time of one stop should not be the Start Time of the next stop if they live in adjacent houses or in the same apartment complex. Therefore, provision is made to put in a bare minimum amount of time (usually 10 minutes) between two stops. The result : if the time taken to cover the journey from one stop to another is less than 10 minutes, it defaults to 10 minutes.

The 'Include start location in route lines?' checkbox is used to enable or disable the line that goes from the Start location (the warehouse or store) to the first stop, in the map in the Routing tab. It is disabled by default because with this enabled, the map appears cluttered, particularly when there are many routes.

The 'Additional Time per Stop (min):' box is used to specify the 'meet and greet' time that a driver may need at each stop. This ensures that the time he takes to see if a customer is home or not and meet and greet them etc., is not included in the Order service time for that stop.

The 'GPS Update Frequency:' dropdown box is used to specify the frequency at which GPS signals may be sent from the mobile device and seen on the map in the Service Units screen for a Service Unit, if the 'Show GPS Points' link is enabled there. The default is set to 2 minutes with a caution in the box below : "Your device will use more battery power. Recommend charging the device during the day using a car power adapter." but the other options are 3 minutes and 5 minutes.

The 'Use Mouse Scroll to Zoom Map?' checkbox is used if you want to be able to use the scroll wheel in the mouse to zoom in on a particular location when you're viewing the map in the Routing tab.

Icon Settings

The Icon Settings is used to define different icons to be able to distinguish different types of stops on the Routing Map. Click on the New button.