Transport Scheduling

Description

This guide describes how to view the transportation schedule, set the route, and schedule new transport slots.

Viewing the Transport Schedule

You can view the transport schedule by going into the Call Center app and selecting the Donations group. There will be a black navigation bar at the top of the page. If your FSFB account has the "Transport Admin" privilege, you will see a "Transport Schedule" link on the black menu bar. Clicking on that link will display a page similar to this:

transport_schedule.JPG
 
This shows the date of the transport, an optional title, the towns we will be picking up from, the overall duration of the transport, how many pick-ups have been scheduled, and the amount of time available for pick-ups.

If you click on one of the dates, it will display the details for that pick-up:

transport_details.JPG

You can edit any of the fields on the form.  Press Update to save your changes.

At the bottom of the page, under the list of pick-ups, you will find the following buttons:

Interaction with the Donations Team

A day or two before the schedule gets set, someone needs to review the details of what's getting pick up.  If there are open slots, send an email to the donations team (donations@freshstartfurniturebank.org) to let them know that there's an open slot.

If a donor cancels, creating an open slot, send an email letting the donations team know.

Sometimes a pick-up duration gets extended past the the standard of 0:45.  This can leave gaps in the schedule that the won't get filled in.  We plan for (4) 0:45 pick-ups, and if someone extends a pick-up to 1:00, there will be a 0:30 slot available.  In this case, you can check to see if any of the existing pick-up can be shortened to 0:30, or you can send an email out to the donations team, letting them know that there's a 0:30 slot available.  Quite often we get requests for pick-ups that don't meet our minimums, but in this case, can be filled in with a 0:30 slot.

Transport Schedule Routing

To arrange the pick-up schedule:

  1. Use the above section to open the transport schedule for a given date. Typically, we do this on the Thursday (Friday at the latest) before the pick-up.
  2. Press the Map button at the bottom of the page.
  3. Use Google Maps to arrange the pick-ups in an order that makes sense.
  4. We like to schedule the furthest away pick-up first and then work our way back towards the store. That way if we have to drop off furniture at the store mid-route, we're closer to the store.
  5. Note the order of the pick-ups.
  6. Return to the browser page you opened in step 1 and drag the tickets, using the cursor, into the same order you did in step 4. Note that you can't do this with a tablet/phone, as you don't have a mouse.
  7. Press the Map button to make sure that the order is correct.
  8. If appropriate, use the Send Email buttons to notify the donors and the team.

Creating a New Transport Slot

At the bottom of the Transport Schedule display, there is a button labeled "Schedule New Transport".  Click on that and you will see:

transport_details.JPG


Revision #2
Created 8 January 2024 11:15:19 by Geoff Schultz
Updated 1 February 2024 13:06:10 by Geoff Schultz