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Key Benefits
All haulage companies are different, and so Walker's Haulage, the largest specialist truck haulage firm in the UK, contracted DataConsult to provide a bespoke solution tuned for their purposes.
The solution is based on the use of multiple monitors on Windows '98 PCs, running the Haulage application. By using two monitors it is possible to see much more information instantly, and see how the bookings are being entered and handled. The underlying database is based on Microsoft SQL Server 2000. Careful design of the application, using server side cursors and client side cursors was used where required to reduce unnecessary overhead of a small Windows NT Workstation, acting as a server. The solution also makes extensive use of ActiveX controls for reporting and grid displaying, the latter being essential for the success of the solution. The client application is coded using Microsoft VB 6.0. Since the solution was designed around a client/server solution, Microsoft SQL Server and Microsoft Visual Basic, the solution can be made highly scalable. The initial design must be implemented with a full version of SQL 7.0 and Windows NT Server for more than 5-8 users, and can then provide services to 100's of users. With such a large number of users, the solution can have more than 2 monitors, in fact up to 9 monitors per user. Walker's act as a taxi service for forklift trucks, with around 100-150 jobs per day. Each job is for a defined customer, from a particular location, to another, with prioritisation of jobs based on location and customer requirement. Walker's own upwards of 40 wagons and trailers, each with different specifications and abilities to cope with different sizes of forklift trucks. A particular job is processed through four specific phases, normal, booked, TBC and handled. Each job has to be shown with the phase/status immediately obvious to the operator so that jobs are not missed for invoicing, handling or confirming. Jobs are often carried over from one day to another, or moved to new dates, based on various factors, such as driver availability in the area, traffic situations and the customer. Each job contains information that describes the task ahead for the drivers. Each job requires the entry of each customer, locations (from and to), the initial status of the job (normal, booked, TBC or handled), special notes information, truck details, and specific information for the driver.
As the job is allocated to a driver, the system automatically provides the wagon and trailer details for the job. As the day progresses the grid slowly turns green (the colour for handled jobs), and the next days jobs are entered, some as TBC, but most as booked or normal. The job information grid only shows some of the information, if the underlying information has specific notes that need to be conveyed to the driver a special flag can be set that highlghts the job in bold script. By clicking on the job the full details can be seen in the control panel:
Each driver is provided with a detailed employment card, with a link between their record and the normal combination of trailer and wagon that they use. As jobs are entered the drivers are selected from a drop down menu and their wagon and trailer is automatically entered, although this can be overridden. A list of un-utilised drivers is shown at all times on the left of the second screen of the application. This provides the operators with an instant view of available drivers to allocate jobs to. The application provides a notepad at the bottom of the last screen which holds details of relevant information for that day, such as particular needs of drivers (holidays, dentists appointments, weddings, funerals etc.) that might influence a booking. By simply clicking on one, or more jobs, making multiple selections with the CTRL key, the application allows the operator to move jobs to any day required in batches. Using the same method of single or multiple selection of jobs outlined above, the operator can extend the duration of a jobs over several days. The system provides a simple to use method of organising a drivers' daily workload. Simply select the driver and see his daily workload. Adjust the priorities according to requirements.
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