Working With Route Schedules

Use
Using a route schedule, you can control periodic customer deliveries of a particular shipping point to different ship-to parties (for example, customers or stores) in a certain sequence on a certain defined route. The planning is based on calendar weeks. The period unit is a day. Also, route schedules have a goods issue time. The route schedule function supports the following processes: Periodic deliveries from a shipping point to stores or customers are planned in advance on the basis of calendar weeks and weekdays, also without reference to particular deliveries. You adapt the schedules in the specific cases to the planning. For example, you can plan a GI date for a Monday at 8 oclock, without knowing the exact date or the delivery. On the basis of this planning, deliveries that are to leave the warehouse at the same time are combined into groups. In Shipping you can thus distribute the workload by processing these groups.

Features
You can display all deliveries for a particular route schedule on a particular day, for a particular shipping point, and so on. In this way, for example, you can choose picking lists on the basis of route schedules. You can create route schedules for the following documents: Sales orders Stock transfer orders

Delivers that are based on sales orders, store orders, stock allocations, stock transfer orders, and deliveries without reference.

The route schedule is displayed in the header data of the delivery. For each delivery within the route, the system prints the expected date and the expected time of the delivery (on the basis of the local time at the original shipping point) on the delivery note; the goods issue date is used for the goods issue posting and the stock valuation. In Customizing, you define for each shipping point, delivery type, stock transfer order, and order type whether or not route schedules are to be used. You create the route schedules in the master data for shipping. Here you define the route schedule determination and the validity period for the route schedule and the itinerary. As soon as the legs have been defined, you can branch to another screen to determine the actual itinerary, as well as the time (days/hours/minutes) required to get from one unloading point to the next. In this screen there is a field beside each leg. Here you can enter the number of the itinerary for the individual legs of the route. If, for example, you enter legs A and B, but assign itinerary number 2 and 1 to these, B is the first unloading point on this route. If you press Enter, the legs are displayed in the correct sequence. At the same time it is possible to control the route schedule determination for each delivery type, stock transfer order, and order type. It is activated in the same manner as the repeated route determination. If the route schedule determination for a delivery is active, the system automatically attempts, during creation or change of a delivery, to determine a route schedule and records this in the delivery. Simultaneously, the scheduling is adjusted. All the deadlines, for example, the transportation planning time, the picking time, the loading time, the goods issue time, and the delivery time can change. Deliveries with the same route schedule and the same date can be selected for the same picking run and the same goods issue. The same procedure can be used for printing delivery notes and freight lists, for the grouping of deliveries into shipments, and for confirmation of picking orders. Deliveries that leave the warehouse at the same time, but are assigned to different routes and can therefore have different route schedules, can be combined together and processed through the creation of picking waves. The only condition is that all deliveries have the same goods issue time.

Route Schedule Determination

If exactly one route schedule is defined for a particular combination of requirements, then the system will use this. For each combination of requirements for the route schedule determination, you can define several route schedules. In the case of a delivery without a preceding document, the system determines the route schedule with the earliest delivery time at the ship-to party. In the case of deliveries based on preceding documents (for example, stock transfer orders), the system searches for the route schedule that is nearest to the planned date/time of the delivery. The system uses the following search algorithm: If a route schedule exists for the specified time, this is assigned to the delivery. If there is no route schedule for the time specified, the system searches for the previous route schedule up to the GI time. If there is no route schedule from the GI time to the planned time, the system searches for the next route schedule in the future and assigns this to the delivery.

Requirements for Route Schedules

The route schedules are determined by the following conditions: Shipping point

Where are the goods coming from? Ship-to party and unloading point Where are the goods going to? Shipping condition How are the goods being shipped? Transportation group Which goods are shipped? For example, which type of goods? Calendar week / year When are the goods to be shipped? If you do not explicitly enter the week and the year, the entry applies for each calendar week. If you enter a week and a year, the route schedule only applies for this week.

You can only use route schedules if you have maintained the working times and therefore at least one of the following times in minutes: Transportation planning time Pick/pack time Loading time Transit time A route schedule can leave the warehouse exactly once in a week. If a route schedule runs several times, either on several days or several times a day, it must be copied to another route schedule. Special schedules and public holiday weeks are possible.

Processing a route schedule

Implementation Options
Wholesale trade customers and stores can receive goods at regular intervals. These delivery rhythms have an influence on the workload in the warehouse. To help delivery planning, the route schedule serves as a tool for planning regular, repetitive customer deliveries on a particular route. At the time of planning, potential deliveries that have not yet been created are grouped in the route schedule. When the deliveries are created, the system can automatically determine a route schedule and assign it to the delivery. All deliveries with the same route schedule and the same date can be processed together in the shipping point. All these deliveries leave the shipping point together at a particular time. They are distributed along the same geographical route.

Deliveries for route schedule MO10H leave the shipping on Mondays at 10:00 hours in the direction of Philadelphia. Deliveries for route schedule MO10M leave the shipping point on Mondays at 10:00 Uhr in the direction of Boston. Deliveries for route schedule MO10S leave the shipping point on Mondays at 10:00 hours in the cirection of New York.

You can print picking lists for all deliveries that belong to route schedules MO10H MO10S together.

Prerequisites
If you want to define route schedules, you must perform the following tasks: Activate the route determination Activate the delivery scheduling Activate the route schedule for your shipping point and make the following settings: Transaction Activity Delivery Route schedule determination for delivery type Sales order Route schedule determination for sales document type Stock transfer order Route schedule determination for delivery type Set delivering plant and order type Maintenance of the itinerary should be uniform for all the route schedules used. To ensure exact planning, maintain the itinerary for all the route schedules. If rough planning is sufficient in this case, you do not need to maintain the itinerary for a route schedule. If you do not define any goods accepted times in the customer master for the unloading points of the ship-to party, the system assumes that the goods acceptance is possible at any time. The system determines the delivery time from the departure time in the route schedule plus the required traveling time to the ship-to party, as set in the itinerary (specific move time). This delivery time must be within the goods acceptance time of the unloading point of the ship-to party. If not, the respective route schedule is not determined during delivery creation. For more information on route schedules, refer to the Implementation Guide (IMG) under Route Schedules.

Process Flow
1. Select the shipping point you are working for and enter the number of the route schedule. 2. Enter the data that defines the route schedule more exactly:
Description of the route schedule Route Departure day (weekday) Departure time

3. You define the route schedule determination. When you create the delivery, the system can
determine a route schedule on the basis of the following data: Shipping point Ship-to party Unloading point (if available) Shipping condition Transportation group (Optional) year/period You enter this data (with the exception of the shipping point already entered in step 1).

4. You decide whether or not you wish to define the itinerary for this route schedule. 5. (Optional) You enter the itinerary and, if required, also the travelling time.
See also: Creating a Route Schedule.

Creating a Route Schedule

Procedure
1. In the Shipping screen, choose Environment Master data Route schedule Create. 2. In the screen Create Route Schedule, enter the shipping point and the number of the route
schedule.

If you wish to use data of a route schedule that already exists as a reference, enter the respective shipping point and the number of this route schedule. If you also wish to adopt the itinerary, choose the field Copy itinerary. Press ENTER. You see the screen Create route schedule (here the system displays the number you just entered for the route schedule and the shipping point).

3. Enter the following data:

Description of the route schedule The respective route Departure day (weekday) Departure time

4. In the section Schedule Determination, enter the following data:

Ship-to party Unloading point (if available) Shipping condition Transportation group (Optional) Year/period

5. If you wish to define for this route schedule the itinerary according to which the individual ship-to
parties are to be delivered to, choose Extras Itinerary. You see the screen Create itinerary.

6. Enter the itinerary and, if necessary, the travelling time.

When you determine the travelling time from one ship-to party to the next, you should include the wait time of the vehicle at the previous ship-to party.

If the same route is planned for several route schedules, define for each of these route schedules the sameitinerary that should correspond to the stages and legs of the route. Choose Goto Back. You return to the screen Create route schedule.

7. In this screen, the field Itinerary maintained is selected. If you wish to add a further ship-to party,
you must also maintain the itinerary.

8. Check your data and save your entries to the database.