Planned Transport orders are far from depot

[Prakash]

Hello,

I am using planBasicTours, with several transport orders(having same priority, service period), 3 vehicles, depot has same start and end Geo location. Given Available machine time is 120.
There are several transport order close to depot location, but xTour is planning only two visits per day. I am unable to understand this behavior. These two transport orders and very far from depot.
I checked the used available machine time on status monitor, it shows 0.
My expectation was, all transport orders which are close to depot would plan first. Please let me know how do I trace this unexpected behavior.
My requirement is to plan all transport order close to depot location. Please let know also, how do I achieve my requirement. I tried to change TourOpt.ini file(SeedCriteria.Strategy=nearest). But result hasn't changed.

If any other information required please let me know.

[Bernd Welter]

Hello Prakash,

looks like you deal with this:
http://xserver.ptvgroup.com/forum/viewt ... ?f=6&t=403

Best regards
Bernd

[Prakash]

Thank you for feedback.
I followed your suggestion and did changes as below
BasicConstructionMethod="cBasicCMInsertion" in combination with TourOpt.INI section [DoBasicTourPlanning.Insertion]: … SeedCriteria.Strategy= Nearest.

Results are close to my expectation. But I have few queries:
1) Without above changes, how xTour algorithm plan Transport Order - farthest or nearest?
2) Will these new changes give me better planning than the previous configuration we had?
If yes, then what would be your suggestion - should we implement these changes for all users?
3) In case we want to allow these changes only to one specific user and NOT for other users then our changes will be like below (Please confirm)
- Keep this Change in TourOpt.INI section [DoBasicTourPlanning.Insertion]: … SeedCriteria.Strategy= Nearest
- FOR ALLOWED USER : - Use BasicConstructionMethod="cBasicCMInsertion" within xTour request.
- FOR REST OTHER USERS : - Don't use BasicConstructionMethod="cBasicCMInsertion" within xTour request.
4) Is there any document available to understand TourOpt.INI properties?

[Bernd Welter]

Hello Prakash,

the questions you ask are good and of course I'd prefer to answer them all in a positive way. Unfortunately a part of your requirements is a topic for DEV and therefore I'll answer to you and forward the task to DEV then.

1) Without above changes, how xTour algorithm plan Transport Order - farthest or nearest?

Usually we try to reduce driven kilometers and time. To achieve this goal it is helpful to merge tours from far distance orders because the gain is bigger then.

2) Will these new changes give me better planning than the previous configuration we had?

Of course this is a recommendation. Sometimes the default configuration of a service is proper for 90% of the usecases but from time to time there might be the need to change things on various levels:

• different API parameters
• different server profile parameters
• different core settings (as we see it here)
• worst case: new release required

So if the overall conditions of a scenario is like "we can't server them all, so please prioritize those who are near by" then the settings described here are a good approach. Though it still might cause decrease of quality for some of the previously successful requests.

If yes, then what would be your suggestion - should we implement these changes for all users?

From what I know about your users they have different expectations (each country has individual settings).
So while some customers might need just one server profile per market you might also need one Touropt.INI per market (which means one xTour per market as well because xTour can't switch the INI in running mode).

3) In case we want to allow these changes only to one specific user and NOT for other users then our changes will be like below (Please confirm)
- Keep this Change in TourOpt.INI section [DoBasicTourPlanning.Insertion]: … SeedCriteria.Strategy= Nearest
- FOR ALLOWED USER : - Use BasicConstructionMethod="cBasicCMInsertion" within xTour request.
- FOR REST OTHER USERS : - Don't use BasicConstructionMethod="cBasicCMInsertion" within xTour request.

I'm not sure what I can recommend here.

4) Is there any document available to understand TourOpt.INI properties?

No. Each time a customer needs help on that level we need DEV.

Best regards from Cergy,
Bernd

[Frank Radaschewski]

Hello Prakash,

Concerning your question 3) I can confirm your planned change in TourOpt.ini.
As "cBasicCMInsertion" is rarely used for standard planning problems, this shouldn't effect your customers' results in negative way.

Best regards,
Frank

[Prakash]

Hello Frank,

Yes, you was right it hasn't affected other users.
I did some tests to check point 3 and it worked as I expected, other users has same result as previous after my change.

Best regards,
Prakash