Map based dispatching enhances Mobile Workforce Management
Principles of Map Based Dispatch
The first principle to consider when addressing a graphical display is
personalization. Most schedules try to consider and display too much
information at a single time. An effective way to manage large amounts
of information in a graphical manner is to provide the users the power
to ‘personalize’ their views of data on an on going basis. Schedulers
can manage orders on an exception basis by focusing on orders that are
in jeopardy of being missed for one reason or another. Once identified,
those orders can be resolved in a manner that meets the customers’
expectations and the company’s goals before they become a problem. And
remember different users have different needs and preferences. Not
providing users the ability to specify their own views will greatly
limit the success of any solution deployment. Gaining visibility to the
order progress in a manageable form is the foremost benefit afforded by
graphical representation of the schedule.
The second principle to consider is the continuous update of data.
Orders, resources, and statuses in the current schedule horizon need to
be continuously updated and that information needs to be displayed over
a user specified planning horizon. Not providing users the ability to
see into the near future is like asking a driver to steer a car by
looking in a rear view mirror. Unfortunately many systems ask users to
do just that monitor the progress of schedules by looking at only
historical information or worse. Schedule statuses and planning
horizons naturally come together in an automated mode and are best
displayed in a graphical manner. The critical status of orders at risk
of not being met is so much more apparent when a scheduler sees all of
their resources laid out in a single, selective view. Alternate
resources are readily identified for that might be missed as well as
considering performing orders that could be completed during unscheduled
‘down time’ (i.e. appointment cancellation).
The third principle to consider, cost of deployment. Although the
benefits seem obvious, the cost of deployment until recently has not
been. Most map-based projects have come at a great cost to companies.
Benefits have not been well-defined and on-going costs extremely
underestimated. A new standard is being raised with the ‘product-ization’
of mapping solutions. There are products that combine mapping
technology with mobile GPS components and scheduling solutions so that
companies can more readily identify the value proposition these combined
solutions represent. Advancements in web-based technology and
improvements in wireless, mobile devices and networks, enable systems
deployment for pennies on the transaction as they are licensed on a
subscription basis. These advances balance the investment in technology
with the benefits they generate easier than the traditional licensing
models. They also make solutions available to an audience of smaller
companies heretofore unable to consider this type of technology due to
its cost. More importantly, the benefits map-based technologies provide
will enable more companies to compete for and gain competitive advantage
in the markets they serve by allowing them to set new operating
standards for customer satisfaction, operational efficiencies, and
employee excellence.
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