Automatic scheduling of visits
Before planning a visit, it is necessary to calculate how many additional visits the sales rep can perform during the planned period, taking into account visit duration, intervals between visits, working hours of sales outlets, etc.
1.Use the [Calculate available visits] command of the [Actions] menu on the cyclic task page to calculate available visit slots. As a result, Creatio will populate the [Available quantity of visits] field of the cyclic task page (Fig. 5).
Fig. 5 Available visit quantity
2.When the calculation is finished, the [Schedule visits] action will become available on the cyclic task page (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6 The [Schedule visits] action
3.Run the [Schedule visits] action to start the process of automatic visit by the configured parameters and the sales rep’s calendar. Creatio will notify you when the import process is complete. The [Quantity of scheduled visits] field will display the number of scheduled visits. The visit activities will appear on the [Activity] detail of the corresponding accounts, which may represent sales outlets or chains.
The algorithm for automatic visit planning is as follows:
1.The system determines the route starting point. The current location of a sales rep responsible for the visit can be a starting point. The location is determined based on the information from the [Addresses] detail of the corresponding contact page. If the contact’s address is not specified, the system will use the address from the connected account page.
2.The system determines the closest location to a visit. The optimal car route is determined within the 200 km radius. Learn more about working with pre-headers in the “Building routes” article.
3.Creatio checks the working hours of the sales rep and retail outlet.
Note
When checking the working hours, Creatio analyzes the calendar of the sales rep employee. More information about setting up a contact’s calendar is available in the “How to configure a personal calendar for a contact” article. The calendar specified in the “Base calendar” system setting determines the business hours of the outlets.
Creatio creates the first visit.
If the visit time is outside of the working hours, Creatio will look for the next closest location. The procedure repeats until all visits have been scheduled.
See also
