The route code record is designed to be used either by the Parts department to provide information about van routes and carriage charges within Parts POS, or by the Service department to control the number of vehicles checked in at reception and where they can be parked. Standard functionality exists that allows you to create and maintain records.
Note: Parts and service route codes are set up differently. Within Parts POS, only parts route codes are displayed. Within Service POS, only service route codes are displayed. Ensure that these records are set up correctly.
To access route codes:
The POINT OF SALE menu is displayed.
Select Miscellaneous options.
The SO MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS menu is displayed.
Select the Route details option.
The Route details form is displayed.
The Route details form is displayed when you select the Route details option from the SO MISCELLANEOUS OPTIONS menu. It is used to create and maintain route codes. The following tabs are displayed:
Route code: The code of the currently loaded route code record. Click the ellipsis to search for a record. When creating a new record, use all of the maximum five characters to produce a more meaningful code. For parts routes, the code is displayed in the Route code field on the Codes tab of a parts WIP in Point-of-Sale, and usually represents a van delivery route. For service routes, the code is displayed in the Location code field on the same tab, and is selected when checking a vehicle in at reception to register that the vehicle has arrived and is available to work on within Workshop Loading.
Note: It is possible to identify a parts route code on the customer account either in Route field on the Account defaults tab of the Customer Details record, or in the first box of the split field Route/sequence on the Sales Ledger account record. The setting in the Customer Details record takes precedence.
On this tab you must enter the details for the route code. The way in which you complete this tab is determined by whether the route code relates to parts or service:
For a parts route code, the details must be completed as follows:
General:
Description: The description text shown in POS is restricted to about 30 characters. You could use the name of the driver, or the destination of the town, for example.
Carriage code: The single-character carriage charge code. This field can be left empty.
Carriage element: The carriage element relates to the amount numbers held against the carriage code, which specify the charge value. You are only required to complete this field if you have entered a carriage code.
Record type: The type of route code:
- R: Parts van route code.
- G: Group code, to include a list of Route codes. See the List tab.
- L: Vehicle location code.
For parts, this is normally set to R.
Depart time: The departure time of the delivery van for this particular van route. If this van route is to be used within a group route code, this time is compared with the actual time on the server, in order to determine if this route should be displayed in Point-of-Sale as the next available departure today. If group routes are not being used, this field is not required.
Return time: The expected return time of the delivery van for this particular route. This is memorandum information displayed in Point-of-Sale can is not required.
Time in hours: The time in hours to complete the route which is displayed in POS. This field can be left empty.
Parking slots:
Maximum cars:: For a parts route record, you must leave this field set to 0 zero.
Current cars: For a parts route record, you must leave this field set to 0 zero.
Text to appear at Point of sale:
Within this group box are ten lines in which you can enter, for example, all the drop-off points of the van route, or any other details that would be useful when enquiries are being made. This text is displayed in POS when the Detail button on the Codes tab of a Parts WIP is clicked.
For a service route code, the details must be completed as follows:
General:
Description: The description text shown in POS is restricted to about 30 characters. The description should describe an area where the vehicle is parked awaiting a mechanic. For example, Rear car park or 1st floor car park.
Carriage code: For a service route code, this field must be left empty.
Carriage element: For a service route code, this field must be left empty.
Record type: The type of route code:
- R: Parts van route code.
- G: Group code (not used for service route codes.)
- L: Vehicle location code.
For service, this is normally set to L.
Time in hours: For a service route code, this field must be left empty.
Parking slots:
Maximum cars: The maximum number of vehicles that can be kept in this location. This value is displayed in Point-of-Sale when a parking slot (Location) is selected.
Current cars: Leave this slot set to 0 (zero). When a vehicle is received in at reception and put into this parking slot, this value is incremented automatically. When a vehicle is booked out or invoiced, the quantity is reduced. This value is displayed in Point-of-Sale when a parking slot (Location) is selected.
Text to appear at Point of sale:
For a service route code, leave these fields empty.
This tab is only enabled if route code record type is G (Group). It is only used for parts routes. The route code usually represents a simple van route with many delivery stops during a round trip. However, up to 30 parts route codes can be grouped together within one parts group route code. Whether a group route code is determined by the record type.
To identify all the van routes within this group, enter a code in each of the fields in the Route list frame. For example, deliveries may be made to the same destinations two or three times throughout the day. In this case, you would create a group route code with a record type of G for the group of customers, and enter the individual route codes on this tab.
Tip: List the route codes in the same order as the van departure time.
An example of a route and group route code setup might be:
Route code "SE AM" scheduled to leave the depot at 08:00 am and stop at Horley, Crawley, Felbridge and Gatwick.
Route code "SEMID" scheduled to leave the depot at 12:00 am and stop at Horley, Shipley Bridge, Crawley and Gatwick.
Route code "SE PM" scheduled to leave the depot at 15:00 pm and stop at Horley, Crawley, Felbridge and Gatwick.
Group route code "GR SE" collects together all three of the above route codes.
In this example, if the Route field on a customer record contains the group route code "GR SE" and is loaded onto a parts WIP then, depending on the current time, one of the three route codes will be displayed in the Codes Tab of the WIP header. The operator can provide an accurate departure time of the next available van for that customer.
