Six drivers, fair shares, no door twice

The challenge

Every morning she prints the orders and splits them by hand. The same customer often orders from two shops, so two drivers climb to the same flat. Some drivers get all the far stops in Neihu, others finish by noon, and arguments start before nine.

How the flow works

With xMap Flows, Yi-ting built Swift. Swift is an AI employee: a flow of 6 blocks.

1. Every morning at seven,

   Every morning at 7 (Schedule)

2. Swift takes the day's orders from all three shops,

   Today's orders (My data)

3. keeps one stop for each address,

   One stop per address (Remove duplicates)

4. splits the city into six fair areas, one for each driver,

   Six fair areas (Split by territory)

5. plans each driver's route in the best order,

   A route per driver (Route planner)

6. and puts every route in the drivers' shared sheet.

   The drivers' sheet (Google Sheets)

What it solves

• Two drivers, one door: solved by Remove duplicates
• Unfair splits: solved by Split by territory
• Hours sorting by hand: solved by Split by territory and Route planner and Google Sheets

The result

This morning there are one hundred and forty orders. Swift finds eighteen going to a door already on the list, so the drivers make one hundred and twenty two stops, about twenty each. Everyone finishes by four, and nobody argues.

Yi-ting used to referee her drivers. Now she just waves them off.

An illustrative scenario: the figures are modelled to show what the flow produces, not a customer's results.

The flow, block by block

1. 1

   Every morning at 7

   Schedule

   Starts the flow on a timetable.

2. 2

   Today's orders

   My data

   Brings in a table you uploaded or a list you saved on the My data page: your stores, customers, target accounts or sites.

3. 3

   One stop per address

   Remove duplicates

   Keeps one of each item when the same one arrives more than once, for example from two searches that overlap.

4. 4

   Six fair areas

   Split by territory

   Shares the items out between your reps by area: compact territories of about the same size, so every rep gets a fair share close together.

5. 5

   A route per driver

   Route planner

   Puts the places that reach it in the best order to visit them in a day, from a start you pick: one route, one for each rep (by a field such as owner), or shared out between a number of reps.

6. 6

   The drivers' sheet

   Google Sheets

   Create, edit, and collaborate on spreadsheets online

Templates to build it

Ready-made flows with the same blocks. Open one, change the city and the kind of place, and run it.

• Trade counters near each van baseThe best trade counters near each van base, for parts.
• Hotels and campgrounds for contractors near remote sitesPlaces to stay near each remote site, for shutdown contractors.
• Ice suppliers and cold stores near landing sitesIce and cold stores near each landing site.
• Feed and supply stores near our fish farmsFeed and supply stores near each fish farm.
• Truck workshops near each depotTruck workshops near each depot, the best-rated first.
• Container terminals and depots near my customersContainer terminals and yards near each customer site.

Industries

Learn how it works

• Territory planningDividing a market into areas for reps or teams.
• Route planningPutting a day's visits into a good order, for one rep or several.
• Data enrichmentAdding details to records you already have.
• Check in at each stop on your phoneToday’s visits in order: navigate, then say what happened, add a note and a photo.
• Share results out between your reps by areaFair, compact territories, one for each rep.
• Plan the day’s routes for your repsPut the stops in the best order, one route or one for each rep, with directions links.

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