Please read the file C:\wamp\BusWiseLicence.RTF if you have not already done so.
FEEDBACK :
If you spot a typo in this guide, or if you have thought of a way to improve
this guide, please let us know!
If you have a suggestion for improving the documentation
(or any other relevant comments),
try to be as specific as possible when formulating it.
If you have found an error, please include the chapter/section/subsection name
and some of the surrounding text so we can find it easily.
email : Support@BusWise.net
Thank you.
The complete
BusWise System can be
downloaded from the website - www.
BusWise.net .
Should you not have access to the internet for downloads then an
email to support@
BusWise.net or a call to
61 (0) 414 877 990 requesting a CD will
be responded to as soon as possible.
The only limitations on the DEMO system are that it runs for 28 days and
can load 30 buses.
You can delete any (or all) of DEMO data (logically) and enter your own data
if you wish to do so.
You can set the system to LIVE at any time by obtaining a
REGISTRATION KEY
from
BusWise.
Has that SHIFT left the Yard?
At what time will the buses be passing a specific TimingPoint ? ( Passenger
query on the phone)
Where is this BUS or DRIVER now?
How late is this BUS running at this time?
What bus (or driver) can I use to replace Bus XX45 which has broken down ?
What is the relief driver's telephone number ?
What time did that driver call in sick ?
Which shift is he on ?
What Shift is bus number xx45 on at the moment ?
How many kilometers has that bus done this fortnight ?
How many Hours has Fred Bloggs worked this week ?
BusWise (Operations Scheduling and Management System)
was developed
as a result of concern about the complexity and general levels of stress
experienced by Operations Staff in any Public Transport Organisation. To
successfully allocate resources to SHIFTS defining the day to day requirements,
a vast amount of experience and currently available information is required.
This function is usually performed on a White Board or
planning tool. The SHIFTS are listed on this board and buses and drivers are
usually allocated on a predefined basis. The buses could be allocated at
departure time if not predefined. Notes are kept of bus breakdowns and driver
sickness or leave status. Experience is the major basis for making decisions
with the aid of radio contact with buses and many phone calls. Frequent
reference to SHIFT SCHEDULES, BUS information and Driver Information is
required.
BusWise PLACES ALL OF THESE FUNCTIONS INTO
A SPREADSHEET LIKE
FORM CALLED A WorkSheet. Allocations of Buses and/or Drivers are done with
a barchart structure which includes any and all information required to empower
the decision making process.
BusWise is therefore
able to provide the answers
to ALL of the above questions.
This is all done without tying up your long-service and experienced staff.
They can be used for optimising the use of resources by using
BusWise
statistics and reports and thus significantly improving the cost-effectiveness
of the Organisation.
This is the
BusWise HELP file. It contains
all the information needed to run
BusWise.
Chapter 13, Chapter 26 (Hints) and Appendix 3 (Loading data to
BusWise)
would provide excellent background before attempting to load your
own data. Should you need any further
assistance see the Main Screen for contact information. Assistance
will only be provided to licenced users of
BusWise
or recognised potential
licensees.
Thank you, Ian Mitchell 3rd January, 2010 and 07V027
The initial system is designed as a single user system and is ideal for DEMONSTRATION.
It would also serve as an excellent Training System. As a single user system it can be
run using the WAMP http://www.wamp5.com/en/index.php which stands for WINDOWS, APACHE,
MySQL and PHP. All this software is required to run
BusWise. All this software is
also Open-Source (which means that it is available
FREE of Charge).
This Open-Source combination also runs on Linux operating systems so it is
possible to run
BusWise on a system which costs
nothing for all of the
operating environment.
The
BusWise System is not very demanding and can
in fact be run with very basic
hardware. On the other hand it has been designed to be run on a network system
with as many terminals (PCs)as required. The size of the server would then be
dictated by the number of terminals to be used simultaneously. In these
circumstances it would be necessary to load the APACHE, MySQL and PHP suitable
for the server which from an economy point of view should probably be LINUX based.
The browser in use on the PCs is your choice.
BusWise will run in Windows
Explorer 5 + or Firefox or Mozilla.
We will initially discuss the installation of
BusWise
on a Windows XP based
PC using WAMP as our server. The server can/will run on the same PC as
BusWise.
All the instructions hold good for large servers. In this case you would need an
experienced software person who is familiar with Apache, PHP and MySQL to ensure
that all of the necessary directories for programs, databases and files
are set up in the appropriate control fields in the software .INI files.
These servers
can be either Windows or Linux at this time. In fact any operating system which
can run Apache, PHP and MySQL in combination can be used.
Starting BusWise after loading
NETWORKED/SERVER software :
PLEASE SEE THE ReadME.txt FILE available as a text file.
The
BusWise software is loaded in the www
directory of WAMP because that
is the directory which WAMP defines for APACHE under its own directory.
It is also essential that the correct search qualifications
are defined in MySQL so that MySQL will correctly read the PHP code in
BusWise.
YOU MUST email support@
BusWise.net to
obtain the *password*
WHICH MUST BE USED in the GRANT command for BWadmin below
Start a MySQL console and do the following :
0.0 Select MySQL Console from the WAMP menu (left click on the WAMP icon ) and
press enter to gain access to the command console which does not have a password
installed for the administrator on initial installation.
1.0 Create database bw00;
2.0 Create database add_db;
3.0 GRANT ALL on add_db.* TO BWAdmin IDENTIFIED BY '*password*';
4.0 GRANT ALL on bw00.* TO BWAdmin IDENTIFIED BY '*password*';
The server part of our environment is now up and running and ready for our tables,
indexes and initial data.
Creating the BusWise System Tables :
THE PARAMETER FILE :
This process will also load a small amount of data which is required by
BusWise to
ensure the overall integrity of the System. The Parameter Table for example defines
a) the Timezone that
BusWise should use and b) the
number of minutes that
BusWise
will add to the start of the first TRIP of any SHIFT. (The time taken by the bus to
get from the depot to the Start Terminus.) These are only a few of the user defined
parameters used by
BusWise as defaults.
THE USERS PARAMETER FILE : Is accessed via SUP-ADMIN /
Load Company Address , PAYROLL and General parameters etc
The first (and the most significant) thing required for
BusWise is the loading of
your user data BUT first we must INITIALISE
BusWise
to run on the computer system.
The
BusWise programs are encrypted and require
phpSHIELD loaders to be
available to PHP for the system to operate. These loader files are
included with the distribution in the directory called phpSHIELD (search)
but they are already included in the appropriate
WAMP directory for your Windows XP and current PHP in use installation.
All access to
BusWise is controlled from within
BusWise as well as using
the PHP and MySQL session controls and user login processes. In addition there
is an overriding access control defined by the Licence Key required to run
this system. Here are the rules which govern the use of the Licence Key.
DO NOT
MAKE ANY CHANGES TO THE TABLES OTHER THAN USING THE BusWise
PROGRAMS.
THE SYSTEM IS VERY HIGHLY INTEGRATED AND AS SUCH INTERDEPENDENT. SHOULD YOU
CORRUPT THE TABLES IN ANY WAY THE ONLY RECOVERY YOU WILL HAVE IS FROM YOUR
BACKUP FILES AND/OR RELOADING YOUR LICENCE KEY AND DATA.
NYD = Not Yet Defined.
This is a
NEW system and is the status
of the system when it is installed from the CD -OR- when the system is completely
cleared (all tables are cleared down so that they have no data except the
basic system data that
BusWise needs to be able to run).
From the CD
BusWise will have DEMONSTRATION data in the many
tables so that you can see the
structure of
BusWise and what data each of the Tables contains.
From this state you MUST :
a) initialise the system as DEMONSTRATION or as LIVE (with a User Key) and
all the DEMONSTRATION data will remain as is. -OR-
b) clear all the data via SUP/ADMIN processes
and then initialise the system as LIVE with your Licence Key.
NB------ YOU CANNOT GO FROM LIVE TO DEMONSTRATION unless you have completely
cleared the system of all data. Neither can you copy data files from
external security back to a DEMONSTRATION system.
DEMONSTRATION = DEMONSTRATION system with 30 buses for 28 days :
Unless you have a USER REGISTRATION KEY you will only be able to run
BusWise in DEMONSTRATION mode. All functions are
fully operational in DEMONSTRATION mode.
You can load your own data on top of the DEMONSTRATION data to test whether your
requirements can be met. It is suggested that you do NOT delete the DEMONSTRATION
data until you have gained some familiarity with
BusWise;
If you clear all the user data from
BusWise
then you are able to
reinitialize the system to DEMONSTRATION and start a further 21 day cycle.
BUT if you are loading your own functional data in a ready-to-run-live
mode then you must get a User Key before the 21 day DEMONSTRATION period is over.
BusWise data is not changed in any way whatsoever
when the User Registration
Key is applied.
You are able to copy your CD over the top of your system ( all files from CD
into the C:\wamp directory ) at any time without doing a re-install of
WampServer BUT
make sure that WampServer is NOT running
when you do the copy. Initialise to DEMONSTRATION and you have a further 21 days.
You are therefore able to run DEMONSTRATION repeatedly, as often as you like,
BUT you will need to copy DEMONSTRATION system from CD or delete ALL DATA TABLES
using System Tasks to start each DEMONSTRATION cycle. To retain your data in
BusWise
for more than 21 days you will need to obtain the User Registration Key
from
BusWise
or your local distributor.
LIVE - Live system with company name as logo on all reports :
You can install or re-install the Licence Key any time you wish to do so.
However each time it is loaded it reloads the defined start and end dates
as well as the maximum number of buses requested. So if it has expired
there is no way to run
BusWise with your data
until you load a new key.
If you clear down the
BusWise system of all
its data then you will need to
re-install your REGISTRATION KEY.
There are ESSENTIAL CROSS-REFERENCED
tasks that are necessary to maintain the integrity AND security of the system,
as well as the back-up regime that you should follow to ensure that your
data is safe from any catastrophe, whether it be user error,
computer failure, fire, theft or natural disaster.
The user has access to certain areas of the parameter file via. SYSTEM / SUP-ADMIN )
to enable entry of :
AVOID the use of special characters other than (, ), -, : or /
a) System TimeZone setting. The real-time simulation aspects of
BusWise rely significantly
on the TimeZone being used by both the programs (PHP) and the Database Tables (MySQL).
If this is set incorrectly then the times displayed by
BusWise will be out of sync with
LOCAL TIME because ALL the times are calculated and stored based on GMT (UTC). The
System default is set to Australia/Queensland. So the TimeZone MUST be set to match
the LOCAL TimeZone where the system will be running.
BusWise time is calculated from the
CPU clock in the server or PC not to the LOCAL time selected in Windows or Linux.
b) Company Address details for Invoices ( for Charter ). The Company Name for Invoices
(first line of address) is taken from the details loaded with the REGISTRATION KEY. The
four lines entered in the USER PARAMETER DETAILS will display/print on Invoices and
similar documents as it is shown here. Any details required can be entered on these lines
which are limited to 32 characters each.
c) The FIRST weekday in the week :
Certain aspects of
BusWise allow the
user to select which day should be used to start
the week. This specifically applies to Payroll and this option can be reset from the -Load
PAYROLL AWARD STRUCTURE- task as well.
d) Number of minutes to default :
When entering ROUTE information into
BusWise
the best practice is to enter the start
time at the first TimingPoint. However there are extreme situations where it is better
to let
BusWise calculate the start time from the
start time entered into the SHIFT
details. If this situation does arise then
BusWise
will use the number of minutes
entered here to add to Sign-on time in the SHIFT to arrive at a start time for the ROUTE.
e) Driver Maximum Working Hours Check : The number of hours entered here is used as a
safety check only. If a driver is allocated to one or more SHIFTs during any day then
BusWise will issue a WARNING MESSAGE when the
WorkSheet is loaded for the first time.
This is to ensure that a conscious decision has been made to extend the drivers hours
and that it is not a case of incorrect allocation.
f) PAYRATE for DRIVERS : This is the default number that is used by
BusWise to calculate
a drivers payslip $$$$ totals when the Payslip Awards have not yet been defined.
Whe the AWARD DETAILS and the reqired Tables have been initialised and loaded then
the values entered in the award/s will be used rather than this default value.
g)LIMIT Buses/Drivers IN SELECTION TABLE : When a Bus or a Driver is being selected for
a SHIFT from the WorkSheet a list of buses or drivers is presented in a bar chart format
to facilitate the selection. If the operation has more than 25-40 drivers or buses this
list can become rather long and can take up many screens. Paging through these screens
can become tedious when a large number of selections need to be made. This selection
allows
BusWise to limit the number of buses or
drivers offered for selection by only
listing those buses or drivers who meet or exceed the GRADE requirements for the SHIFT
being manned. If the bus or driver has a GRADE less than that required for the SHIFT
then the bus or driver is NOT included in the list.
When the SELECT process is chosen from the screen presented by the WorkSheet this
selection can be changed at the time of the selection. Choose the option which will
require the least number of modifications to be made at the time of selection.
h) How should OVERNIGHT SHIFT be split : The purpose of defining a SHFT as an
OVERNIGHT SHIFT is to ensure that
BusWise
automatically creates two parts for the
shift across the appropriate midnight time period. The default is that any OVERNIGHT
shift will result in a second entry being built for the WorkSheet for the next day.
This means that an OVERNIGHT shift which is selected for a WorkSheet to be run on a
Monday will have the shift start on Monday afternoon through till midnight with another
shift being created in the WorkSheet for Tuesday from midnight until the end of the
shift.
However it is possible that an operator needs to start that OVERNIGHT shift on Sunday
afternoon or evening to extend into Monday morning. In this case = Place PM part on
the PREVIOUS DAY needs to be selected.
i) The Google Maps © KEY should NOT be changed. The KEY which is loaded to BusWise
is registered by
BusWise
with Google for each BusWise User when they become Registered
Customers at no charge to the Customer. The KEY has been purchased by
BusWise.
This update process is only in place as a safeguard so
that it can be changed if it is urgently necessary. The KEY should enable the Maps to
work with the demo software but Impala is not entirely sure about the current status
of this KEY.
As at 3/3/2010 this licence has still to be pruchased from Google. This will be done ASAP.
Please note that
BusWise WILL become extremely unstable OR will
NOT WORK at all
if there is an error or illogical data in the parameter file. Any
special modifications to the parameter file will be emailed to licenced users as a one
time program to be run from the SYSTEM / BW-TEST menu if required.
These are add-ons to the
BusWise system and are
not integrated in any way as
at Aug 2008. They are intended for your your use if you wish to do so. The
Calendar is particularly useful when compiling FUTURE Rosters / WorkSheet
tables etc.. to be used for planning or testing purposes. For this reason
the Calendar is opened in a separate screen so that it can be kept open.
These two modules are Courtesy of the PHP-Classes Group. With thanks.
Before a ROUTE can be defined to
BusWise the
TimingPoints (TPs) must ALL be entered. See
Adding TimingPoints :. Use
Back button to return here.
A ROUTE is a succession of TimingPoints
which are tabled in strict sequence to define the geographical route that a bus needs
to follow. This will ensure that the timetables, created for (or by) the organisation,
can be adhered to. The TimeTable requirements are frequently defined by Public Timetables
which are given to the Public so that they can look up bus times to suit their travel needs.
An example of a Public TimeTable is
Route 640
as issued by Translink in Brisbane, Australia for the Bribie Island community. We use
this TimeTable as the basis for our version 2 demonstration data.
ROUTE / Route-Add New Task manages the ROUTE Header detail.
Route Timetable Description :
Is the generally used description or name for the ROUTE. This would be the Public
Timetable heading for that Route Page if the ROUTEs were built from the Public
Timetable schedules.
Route Number :
Is an alphanumeric field ( either alpha, numeric or mixed ) and is the name by
which the company recognises a specific ROUTE. It has a maximum of 6 characters.
The suffix (last character) of this ROUTE number MUST BE USED to differentiate
the inbound routes from the outbound routes or any other variation
For example : Route 640a is the Route from A to B. Route 640b is the same route
but from B to A and Route 640c could be from A to B via C or excluding TPs.
School Routes are best recognised by a prefix of S as S640a or S12B etc. Once entered
the ROUTE number cannot be changed. This number is the second most important building
block in
BusWise and needs to be clearly understood
before any SHIFT data is entered.
The structure of this Route Number is very important in the
Student Module.
Students are assigned to a Route Number.
Many organisations need to assign the student
to a specific bus. In this case Bus numbers and Route Numbers both need to follow a
pattern to facilitiate planning and reporting needs. To accomplish this pattern it is
best to allocate the students to a ROUTE ( eg S29a - being School Route 29 running
TO THE SCHOOL. The home trip FROM the school would then be S29b ) and the Bus ( which
would be permananetly assigned to this school route by using the pre-allocation with
the SHIFT that the Route is assigned to ) should be numbered F29. If the Bus was
already assigned a fleet number of 216 then in
BusWise
the BUS should be F216 and the route to the school should be S216a.
The reason for the ROUTE NUMBER structure being so important is becausethe STUDENT
LOCATION and X-SEARCH options can only work if the TP, ROUTE, SHIFT data structure
is followed. The logic for the search algorithm cannot function correctly otherwise.
Assigned Grade :
This is a Grade or Grid number used by
BusWise
to facilitate the identification of
prerequisites for the organisation resources. This enables us to cross-reference the
attributes (skill levels, requirements, abilities or special needs) to alighn the
appropriate drivers to buses to ROUTES to SHIFTS and to Charters etc... The default is
555555 (six 5s) which is a general default and indicates overall effectiveness with no
SPECIAL requirements. It is best to use 555555 for all Grade/Grid entries until they
are clearly defined in company policy. They can easily be changed later.
Starting Point :
A list of all the TPs loaded will be presented for selection. Routes must NOT start
from or end at the DEPOT. Remember that the ROUTEs will be selected within SHIFTS in
the same way as TPs will be selected in ROUTES.
Destination :
A list of all the TPs loaded will be presented for selection.
Destination Code :
This is the code that must be entered into the Trip Destination signage on the bus if
appropriate. This is where THIS ROUTE will terminate not the next TP for the ROUTE.
Service Number :
This is another code designed to be used if the buses contain electronic ticketing machines
or similar that require a seperate code to the bus signage (Destination Code). The number
can also be used for the identification of special documentation for school runs etc.
Minutes to first TimingPoint :
This is NOT the time to the ROUTE DESTINATION this is the time that will be taken to the
first TP for this ROUTE. This information MUST be entered. It can be measured by
driving the ROUTE or calculated using the
BusWise
TP-Distance calculator using Google
Maps (c). The information is vital to the structure of
BusWise and the ability to provide
real-time simulation of the location of buses. This information will be required for
each and every TO used to construct this ROUTE.
Kms for the FULL TRIP :
This information is required if
BusWise
is to produce meaningful statistics about the
use of the buses. It can be entered later.
Notes L/R instructions or Comments:
These notes will be printed with the ROUTEs when Driver documentaion is printed so it
provides the opportunity to document a great deal of detail about instructions to
assist drivers from one TP to the next. During the course of Day to Day operations
these comments can be easily and temporarily updated with special instructions.
For example: The detour for ......... etc........
Press REPLACE-ALL-INFORMATION when details are to be saved after making any changes..
The very first task to undertake when starting
BusWise
is the loading of Timing Points to the GPS file. This is necessary
to establish consistency AND to make the entering of ROUTEs
much, much easier. The
TimingPoints are entered into the ROUTE Tables as they are selected. These
entries then stand on their own so that the TimingPoint information in the GPS
Tables can be changed and made more accurate without causing any disruptions to
the many ROUTES already entered. Some care needs to be taken here
because if you do this then the GPS or MAP REFERENCE details will
nor correlate.
When entering data it is therefore
VERY IMPORTANT to ensure
that the suggested rules are strictly adhered to.
For the data entry process for adding TPs to the routes see the Appendix
Adding TPs to the Route Header :
NEVER USE a forward slash ( / ) when entering data. This can cause unpredictable
results when database searches are done. We apologise for earlier versions of the
demostartion data which used slashes. This has been corrected. im.
BusWise provides access to the Google Maps.
For these to work it is essential
that as many TPs as possible should be defined as -corner of- as described below.
If a TimingPoint is not a valid address as -St Josephs High School- then Google will
not be able to display a location map for this TP. See 6.2 below.
Corner of is a frequently used reference and to save data entry duplication
& (ampersand) MUST be used. It is VERY IMPORTANT
to decide which convention you will use
and STICK TO THAT CONVENTION.
BusWise uses
& (ampersand)
in these examples as it seems to be a very common standard.
First St & Second Av is an example and that is
First blank space St blank space & (ampersand)
blank space Second blank space Ave
We would like to recommend
that the streets must be placed in ALPHABETIC sequence
to avoid duplications. Use
First St & Second Av and not
Second Av & First St . Using either will become confusing
and many duplicate names will exist throughout your system if
care is not taken with these entries. If it is necessary because of possible
conflicts with Public Timetables please take the utmost care to ensure that
the structure is CONSISTENT throughout all the TP entries.
To ensure maximum data integrity use the following abbreviations :
Ave for Avenue
Bvd for Boulevard
Ct for Circuit
Cres for Cresent
Crt for Court
Dr for Drive
Gr for Grove
Hwy for Highway
Mwy for Motorway
Pde for Parade
Pt for Point
Rd for Road
St for Street
Stn for Station
and St in front of name for Saint without a period/full stop example
St Ignatius or St Joseph. Do not use Saint Joseph or St.(dot)Joseph.
Use complete names for names not listed with abbreviations above.
NB. Do not use Street or Road in full AND always include St or Rd or Av etc
when entering the names. Computers consider Lyndale Road, Lyndale St,
Lyndale Rd, Lyndale Street, LYNDALE ST, LYNDALE STREET and Lyndale
as DIFFERENT locations. They will be treated as different locations
for you to choose between when you are selecting
Routes / Trips / TPs etc.. and cause GREAT confusion.
As at the 2/2/2010 we found that Impala needs a very expensive API key from Google
to enable this functionality. As soon as we have sold a few more systems the option
will be included in
BusWise. Sorry for any inconvenience.
TimingPoints (TPs) are the FOUNDATION BLOCKs of much that
BusWise can provide. Many
of the display screens in
BusWise show the TP
as a button ( name of the TP is in
a grey block ). When these TPs are clicked
BusWise
will process the TP name and send
it to Google (c) ( provided that your PC is connected to the internet ) and display a
Google Map (c) which can be moved left, right, up or down. It can also be zoomed.
Google, being a world wide facility, must have an accurate and reasonably unique
address to be able to find the map required.
HOWEVER the major requirement of a TP in
BusWise
is to be able to associate the TP
name used with a Publicly issued TimeTable such as
Route 640
issued by Translink in Brisbane
for Bribie Island. Since Version 07V027 the demo data supplied with
BusWise IS
this TimeTable.
The main terminus for this timetable is -Bribie Island Shopping Centre-. If this is
sent to Google Maps (c) we will finish up with the map of Paulo Alto, USA or similar.
This is overcome in
BusWise by being able to enter
an
ALTERNATIVE address into a
BusWise TP. This is done by adding a bar ( | )
to the normal name and completing it with
an address acceptable to Google. Use the task OPERATIONS / Distance-Calc to test whether
you have an address which is acceptable to Google Maps (c). The correct address for
-Bribie Island Shopping Centre- becomes
Bribie Island Shopping Centre|Goodwin Dr & Coolgarra Av
which satisfies the requirements for both. Whenever
BusWise selects TPs from its table
and adds them to the ROUTEs only the first part of the TP is used. The ALTERNATIVE
TP is only used when
BusWise tries to collect a Map.
Skip section 6.3 if you are not interested in GPS data.
Let us explain the way GPS works because it is relevant to the TimingPoints on our
ROUTES. It is not necessary to use either GPS or
Map References in
BusWise but you do have the
opportunity to link this
information into the system. It has a number of benefits. This can all be done at a
later stage. Primary importance is getting the TimingPoints entered!!
The structure for a TEXT entry of a GPS reference point is C-dd-mm-ss.n/C-ddd-mm-ss.n
for Latitude/Longitude
C is the compass bearing N, S, E or W ( North, South....)
dd is the number of degrees 0 thru 90 (for latitude).
ddd is the number of degrees 0 thru 180 (longitude).
mm is minutes / ss is seconds / .n is a decimal of seconds (0-9)
example "S-31-24-23.4/E-159-25-29.0" is a location for a caravan park.
Thus the maximum length for a GPS location is 26 characters. The decimal of seconds
can be left out and only one decimal is allowed.
( degree = 69.1722 miles (111.2981 km), a minute = 1.1528 miles (1.8549 km)
a second = 101.45 feet (30.9 meters). )
6.4 Adding YOUR Route Maps to the Routes :
If a Route Map is present in the Maps directory then viewing the Route from
ROUTE / View&Header / selected route
will show Total Run = ........ and -Display Route Map-. Selecting this button
will display the map. It can be printed by
-right-mouse-click- and selecting print as for all the other browser screens.
To load a map for a route :
Scan or otherwise create a .JPG file of the Route Map to be used.
Copy this file into the directory C:\wamp\www\BWdata\Maps and rename the .JPG
file to be BWRnnnn.JPG
where nnnn = the Route Number exactly as 3141sa (in demo) or 640b.
Provided the file name is an EXACT MATCH it will then be recognised
as a map for that route.
C7.1 NEW DRIVER :
NOTE : Unless the Driver Reference will have some significance when
interfacing to a payroll program/system the best use of the Driver Staff
Reference field is to load the Driver Initials. Use suffix 1. 2 etc if you
do have duplications. Or increase initials to be 3 characters. This greatly
assists when identifying drivers in the WorkSheets and elsewhere.
BusWise manages
drivers by allocating a unique ID number which is displayed.
The details of how to load Driver information id discussed in
Appendix 3.10 .
It would be appropriate to have a look at the list of driver's reports
that are available from
QUERIES / All Resources to get an idea
of which data
BusWise considers appropriate
to various levels of
access authority. You will see that some reports are available to Level 3
and others restricted to Level 4. Just a reminder that the
BusWise
DEMONSTRATION data contains a
Level 2 (DRIVER SIGN-in facility) with user = BC and password = 123 as well as
Level 3 Login ID to test this separation as
login = my3 password = bbbbb.
C7.2 - PAYSLIPS :
There are a number of entries that must be completed so that
BusWise has sufficient
information to coordinate the printing of PAYSLIPS.
The Pay Rate needs to be loaded into
BusWise.
SYSTEMS / SUP-ADMIN
/ Load Company Address and PAYROLL parameters ( Level 5 )
Driver OverTime Claim sheets only need to be completed for any time
THAT HAS NOT BEEN REFLECTED IN the WorkSheets for that shift on that day.
These additional claims ( maybe the driver has done some hours at the
roadworthy department or perhaps in the wash-bay etc..) must be
entered with all required details.
An OverTime Claim Form must be completed by the driver THEN
authorised by management THEN entered into the
BusWise system via
OPERATIONS Ops-ADMIN / Enter Driver OverTime Claim.
WorkSheets vs. Rosters :
WorkSheets must be completed and confirmed with both buses and drivers
assigned to all shifts on the WorkSheet for each day before that
WorkSheet qualifies for ARCHIVE as a Roster which is completed
as part of the WEEKLY RUN. As PayRoll is normally a weekly
process there would need to be WorkSheets completed for THAT FULL WEEK.
Thus the WEEKLY RUN will ARCHIVE a full weekly set of COMPLETED
WorkSheets so that the FINAL PAYROLL can be run.
It is OK to run PaySlips on a single WorkSheet or a set of WorkSheets
that comprise a week but these PaySlips will be identified as such so
that they can be checked for accuracy if this is required.
The FINAL and VALID PaySlip run must be done from the ARCHIVE ( known as
the RosterARC ) for a complete set of 7 COMPLETED WorkSheets.
The PaySlips are displayed ( and ready for printing ) in Driver
Alphabetic sequence and all the details for that PaySlip are listed.
This includes days, shifts, charters, OverTime Claims with the pay
appropriate to each.
If Payslips are run for a second time against RosterARC (Archive file)
then they are marked as -- COPY --.
The PaySlip calculation module requires CUSTOMISATION so that it cane apply the
appropriate AWARD requirements. This includes User Input so that it is
able to take into account ANY payment requirements such as special
allowances, max work times, before and after tax payments etc....
Select OPERATIONS / OPS.Admin /
BusWise
FORMS Templates / Drivers OverTime Claim
to display a Drivers Overtime Claim Form. These can be printed from the display in the
usual
BusWise method. Right Click on the browser
screen and select Print.
Drivers should complete these forms and submit them to Operations for approval and
entry into the
BusWise system. The need for an
approval process and payroll record
keeping makes the use of this type of form a practical option.
Select OPERATIONS / OPS.Admin / Process Driver OverTime Claims -OR-
Select DRIVER / OverTime
to access the Driver Overtime Management Processing screen.
After selecting the Driver by either name or Reference (usually initials) the various
actions that are available are explained on the screen.
a) View all O/T Claim forms for that driver.
b) View only UNPAID O/T Claim Forms
c) Delete an UNPAID O/T Claim Form after having checked the allcated ID number for THAT
Claim.
d) Enter a NEW Claim Form :
All the entries MUST be completed for the claim form to be accepted by
BusWise.
The
Date WORKED is the day that the O/T was actually worked so that the claim
can be accurately processed within the Award rules applicable.
Payment Authority
is the initials of the Operations Staff member who approved the payment of the
Overtime claim.
Start and End Times for the actual time worked must be entered in
the 24 hour format. These times must be within the Overtime limits policy which
is usually that Overtime must be in 15min blocks minimum.
Fifteen minutes past one pm would be entered as 1315.
Hours worked serves
as a double check to ensure that the correct information is being entered because
Overtime is a particularly sensitive and error-prone issue. The Hours that were worked
need to be calculated as a decimal of an hour so that one and a quarter hours (1 hr 15 min)
MUST be entered as 1.15. 2 hours 45 mins would be entered as 2.75. A quick reference is
below the entry table.
BusWise assumes that NO Overtime
claim will be submitted for
less than 15 mins. This is a globally accepted practice.
The
Rate options are available as a selection by clicking on
the down arrow on the right side of the block.
The
Reason for the overtime MUST be
completed for reference purposes.
Certain organisations require Overtime claims to
categorised into various classes of work for statistical purposes.
BusWise can
process this requirement
provided that the required category is limited
to a maximum of 10 alpha numeric characters and is placed as the FIRST characters
in the REASON field followed by a bar ( | ). Let us say that the required category
was XYZ4B for a claim. This would be entered in the Reason field as
XYZ4B|Assigned to assist in Yard..
When all fields have been completed in the form press -Process OTclaim- Press this
button without making any entries in the form and
BusWise will list all the errors
that it checks in the form on submission. If there are any errors
BusWise will not
process the form. It will not be added to the drivers claims.
Please read the detailed loading instructions in
Appendix 3.11 for more information.
There is further (some repeated) information contained in the
SHIFTS - Detailed Data Loading Sequence.
SHIFTs are very tied up with the preparation of TimeTables and WorkSheets.
The preparation of a WorkSheet is controlled by the way that the DAY and the
CLASS boxes have been entered into the SHIFT Tables. Once you understand these
two fields then the construction of WorkSheets
becomes very easy. (This includes WorkSheets because they form the basis of
preparing your Driver - or Bus - allocations, schedules and rosters).
A SHIFT groups together a number of Routes (which will become trips)
with Sign-on time and Sign-off time. The SHIFT also provides the basis
for printing the Shift Sheets for use by drivers.
Details about
shifts are provided with a different perspective in
C10.2 TECHNICAL Day in the Life-of-a-WorkSheet .
To define a SHIFT the first thing we need to know is the identification to be used
for the SHIFT:
SHIFT No. :
It is a six character alphanumeric identifier; It is probably a practical
idea to have SHIFTs identified by a name starting with an alpha character
such as H or HD for holiday shifts, or else S for School shifts etc.....
-DAY- :
Three alphanumeric characters only.
Examples of Day_indicator would be M-F for Monday to Friday SAT for
Saturdays and SUN for Sundays and say P-H for Public Holidays if these were
different to Saturdays.
This provides the ability to group together all of
your shifts for Weekdays or Saturdays. When we start to work with a
WorkSheet (which is a group of SHIFTS that need to be provided for a
particular day) we are able to ensure that we have all of the required Shifts
for the WorkSheet (Roster) for that day. Any additional special conditions
can be managed using the (CLASS).
-CLASS- :
Three alphanumeric characters only.
This is a Sub-set of Days. Thus we have Classes within -DAY- above.
This provides the ability to have special shifts for certain unusual
circumstances. NOR would be a good class to use for all usual and
normal shifts for any period. But you may need to have very specific
ADDITIONAL shifts on a show-day for example. Thus you may need to load
a number of special shifts to cater for M-F but created with a CLASS of
S-D for show day etc.
GRID : Also referred to as GRADE in BusWise
The GRID has significance in the way that the bar charts are sorted in the
Bus and Driver selection screens. These screens are sorted into -most appropriate-
sequence to make the selection task easier. GRID is defined as a max 6 char field with
a middle of the range, general use classification of 555555 for drivers,
routes and shifts. In the case of Buses for example a 455555 could be used to lower
the equipment level of buses use for Schools.
Normal or Development :
If a SHIFT is marked as Development it can be tested in all the Tasks before it is
classified as a normal SHIFT when it is used on a day to day basis for the creation
of WorkSheets. Chapter 11 provides more detail.
SHIFT Types :
There are three TYPES of SHIFT available. They are treated in very different ways.
NORMAL is a Shift which as a single start and single end time which occur on the same day.
A Driver would be paid for the period from the start to the end of the shift excluding
UNPAID ROUTES (Trip times) or UNPAID TP times included in ROUTES.
OVERNIGHT is a SHIFT which crosses the midnight boundary. These shifts are treated as
two SHIFTS for WorkSheet purposes. The User Parameter File allows a User to specify
that the Overnight Shift is run with the midnight boundary between yesterday and today.
The default for
BusWise is to have the midnight
boundary between today and tomorrow. The choice affects Sunday Shifts significantly.
We recommend the use of the default as the easier logic to plan.
SPLIT SHIFTS avoid the need for a single shift to have a lengthy UNPAID ROUTE in the
middle. SPLIT SHIFTS will also affect the Payroll outcome depending on the Award Structure
that is in use. These should be used to simplify School runs. Another advantage is that
SPLIT SHIFTS will be entered into the WorkSheet as two seperate SHIFTS using the same
bus and driver for am and pm runs BUT facilitating changes of buses and or drivers
for the second SHIFT.
SIGN-ON and SIGN-OFF :
Enter here the times required for this shift to be able to
complete the trip requirements according to the timetables defined. The Start times
should specify the Driver Start time at the Depot and allow for preparation. The End
time should make allowance for the time that the Driver will take to travel from the
end TP of the last trip, re-fuelling and /or cashing up etc.
DEFAULT BUS number and DEFAULT DRIVER staffnumber:
This entry will result in the bus and/or driver combination being used as the
default every time this shift is included in any Daily WorkSheet when it is
created. If this information is not entered then the shift will have no bus
or driver in the WorkSheet when it is created and they will need to be
allocated by operations on the particular day.
An easier way to load this information is by loading all (or a set of bus/driver
combinations) from a successfully executed Daily WorkSheet.
Or you can prepare a specific WorkSheet
for a specific day and apply the bus IDs and Driver IDs to the SHIFTs in this
way. This would enable the creation of one week of shifts
where a driver has the same shift for the full week.
These entries provide the opportunity to have a default allocation of bus
and driver to any particular shift if this is the most frequent way that
this shift is manned.
There is a second set of Default Bus/Driver combinations for use with SPLIT SHIFTS.
Enter distances :
To facilitate the Bus Statistics the SHIFT should include the distance ( in KMs ) from
the Depot to the first TP for the SHIFT and the distance from the last TP to the Depot.
If these numbers are omitted
BusWise uses the Kms
default specification loaded to the User Parameter file for this purpose.
DESCRIPTION / NOTES :
These are comments or memory joggers, about the shift and are shown
when a SHIFT is displayed
There must be a SHIFT loaded to the system for this Task to be able to work.
Once the SHIFT has been loaded we have the header and control information
in place. We now need to add all the required routes to this SHIFT so that
the work requirements for this shift are defined. You can proceed
directly to ADDING ROUTES once a SHIFTname has been created OR select
ADD ROUTES from the tasks below the SHIFT heading. First we select the
SHIFT from the drop-down box and click on the ADD ROUTE TO THIS SHIFT
bar.
BusWise will display the complete
SHIFT sheet as the routes are added to the SHIFT. This enables you to check each route
as it is added for times, notes applicability and logic as you go along.
If a route is incorrect or illogical then exit from this task, edit
the incorrect route, correct the route if necessary and then return
to the process of adding routes to the SHIFT.
Destination :
This is a drop down box and enables you to select any ROUTE that is loaded
to
BusWise. If the routes have not yet been
included then it is
necessary to define these before proceeding further with the structuring
of the SHIFT.
Sequence Number :
This is the sequence in which the Routes (Trips) will need to be driven
in order to meet the required timetables. This sequence number appears on
the right hand side of the SHIFT SHEET. If you look at the display you will
see the column.
Routes can be slotted into the shift (or deleted from the shift) at any time.
So as to facilitate the entry of changes to the shifts at any later date
it is a good idea to increment this sequence number in 5's. The first entry
screen suggests 5 so as to remind you about this. The next route to be
added should be numbered 10 and so on. Should you add a route number with
the same sequence as a current route then
BusWise
will display and action
the new route AFTER the existing one. The only real hassle is that if
you delete any route which has more than one occurrence of that sequence
number then they will all be deleted.
Start Time :
The time which this route must be commenced from the terminus should be
entered here. If the time is not entered then
BusWise
will work it out from
the start-time of the shift plus the duration of any previous routes/trips.
Take care with the first route in any shift because the default allowance
of 30mins ( or what ever has been loaded into the parameter file) from
the Sign-on time for a shift may not be adequate to allow for bus
preparation AND driving to the terminus in question.
Normally all routes should have a Start time provided to ensure adherence
to pre-printed passenger timetables .
Kms from depot to start route and from end shift to depot :
This additional information will enable
BusWise to
compile more accurate
information when compiling the BUS USAGE reports from MASTER-Ops / Bus
and Driver schedules. The entry is optional HOWEVER.....
NOTES :
You are free to enter any comments you wish in this area. It will be displayed
when ALL SHIFTS are displayed as a task from SHIFT / ALL-SHIFTS.
Once a SHIFT has been completed it is a goos idea to run a statistical AND an error
check against the data that has been loaded. This can be done with one of the SHIFT
reports.
Run : SHIFT / LIST ALL / SIGNON-TIME sequence and correct appropriate Warning messages
as appropriate.
To understand this process you need to understand Shifts. If you have not read
these yet please read Chapter 9.
There are three aspects to managing the activities of Drivers and Buses.
They are :
BOOKing, Reserving and CONFIRMing times for buses AND drivers is done
through the WorkSheet section of the OPERATIONS tasks. When a SHIFT is created
there are two fields which need to be entered for the WorkSheets to be able to
work. These are CLASS and DAY. Effectively a WorkSheet is created by selecting
CLASS and DAY in combination with a DATE. Thus any row on the WorkSheet will
be a SHIFT (identified by its CLASS and DAY for a specific DATE). The WorkSheet
is therefore a collection of ALL of the shifts for that day and are
grouped together by both CLASS and DAY. SHIFTS are discussed in detail in
Chapter 9.
Section 10.2 below explains the process for completing a WorkSheet.
Section 10.1
explains each column in the WorkSheet, where it comes from and what its
purpose is as well as what can be achieved by changing it. If you are interested
in the technical aspects of the WorkSheets 10.2 will be informative.
10.1 Each Column of a WorkSheet explained :
Row :
This is merely a guide to the number of lines that are in the
WorkSheet. Serves no actionable purpose.
Refresh this WorkSheet :
The WorkSheet
can be actioned by many people over a networked system any of whom
could change details. Thus if you leave your desk for a few
minutes it is a good idea to check that all the details displayed ARE
current. Click this bar and
BusWise will recheck
ALL the details. Note that
the last time the WorkSheet was updated (refreshed) is shown in the 2nd line.
Time :
This is the time at which this SHIFT is scheduled to start, Read in
conjunction with the
Notes column because, for example, if the SHIFT
is an OVERNIGHT SHIFT then the starting time will be 00:00 being midnight
and the continuation of a shift which started the previous day.
Act :
Is the SHIFT active / confirmed / on-the-road?
If this column has a red indicator and is marked either N or B then
the shift has not yet left the depot. A SHIFT CAN NOT BE MARKED AS ACTIVE
(that is confirmed) UNTIL BOTH BUS AND DRIVER HAVE BEEN ALLOCATED AND THE DRIVER
HAS CONFIRMED THAT HE/SHE IS ON THE ROAD or at the very least about to
exit the depot.
Once bus and driver have been allocated and you have been advised that the
shift is on the way then the shift can be
confirmed. Click the grey button to change the shift to ACTIVE.
SHIFT :
Click on the button next to a SHIFT number and you go to the
SHIFT display screen which shows you bus and/or driver (if allocated) and ALL
the trips that make up this shift with starting times which reflect the trips
for this shift. Click on respective buttons to show further details about
bus, driver and trip (Route) which also reflects times for this specific shift.
---------- OR ----------
If the
shift number is prefixed with a C (capital letter C) - or a B
if it is still inactive (red bar under Act column)- then the
shift is actually a
CHARTER BOOKING ID number. Click on the
button next to the Charter Booking Number and
a display of the specific booking with Organisation , Address , Booking and
Payment details will be provided.
BusNo. :
The BUS NUMBER will be displayed if this has been allocated (either from
the default BusNo for this shift at this time) or as selected.
If the bus has NOT been allocated, click on the button and go to Processing
Bus screen where you can choose to either SELECT A BUS, ADD NOTE TO THE W/s OR
DO NOTHING and Continue. see Appendix on How to use SELECT Bus/Driver.
If the Bus HAS been selected, click on the button to go to Processing Bus with
the following ACTIONS that can be taken :
Shift is running LATE ----> Minutes Zero will reset SHIFT
(ref NOTES in WorkSheet). If a driver calls in to say that he is running late
then select
this action and insert the number of minutes that the route is running late.
This lateness will then be reflected in any SHIFT display,
including the expected time of arrival at any of the TimingPoints. If the
Timetable tables are regularly updated this lateness will be displayed there
as well. In addition a note will be placed in the Notes col. of this W.s
reflecting /slate/ 15mins and the time at which this was advised / entered into
BusWise.
Add notes to THIS WorkSheet item
REASSIGN this BUS which will remove this bus from this row only and
immediately present the selection screen to select another BUS.
PLACE THIS BUS OUT OF SERVICE. The driver has called in and bus has broken
down; or workshop advises that the bus cannot be used. Selecting this action will
remove the bus from ALL shifts to which it is allocated on
the WorkSheet, ensure that the Act column is N with a red flag
and the bus will be registered as not available/booked (to workshop) which is
red in the Select Screen.
View the Bus Allocation schedule will take you directly to the Select Screen
but will not allow any selection or changes. This is intended to allow you
to get a general overview of how well (or badly) the resource allocation
is functioning for THE DAY.
DriverNo. :
Left of the bar is the DRIVER NUMBER if this has been allocated (either from
the default DriverNo for this shift at this time) or as earlier
allocated.
If the Driver has NOT been allocated, click on this button and go to Processing
Driver screen where you can choose to either SELECT A Driver,
ADD NOTE TO THE WorkSheet OR
DO NOTHING and Continue. see Appendix on How to use SELECT Bus/Driver.
If the Driver HAS been selected, click on the button to go to Processing
Driver with the following ACTIONS that can be taken :
Shift is running LATE ----> Minutes Zero will reset SHIFT
(ref NOTES in WorkSheet). If a driver calls in to say that he is running
late then select
this action and insert the number of minutes that the route is running late.
This lateness will then be reflected in any SHIFT display made from THIS WorkSheet
including the expected time of arrival at any of the TimingPoints. If the
Timetable tables are regularly updated this lateness will be displayed there
as well. In addition a note will be placed in the Notes col. of this W.s
reflecting SL 15mins and the time at which this was advised / entered into
BusWise.
Add notes to THIS WorkSheet item
REASSIGN this Driver which will remove this Driver from this row only and
immediately present the sel ction screen to select another Driver.
FLAG DRIVER AS SICK The driver has called in and is unfit to drive
or friend calls to say that the driver is unwell. Selecting this action will
remove the driver from ALL the shifts to which he has been assigned.
for the WorkSheet, ensure that the Act column is N with a red flag
and the driver will be registered as not available/booked which is all
red in the Select Screen.
Remove the DRIVER from this shift : This will remove this driver from
THIS SHIFT ONLY and remove the BOOKING (yellow) allocation from the
Select Screen. This assumes that the driver is / will be available for
another shift on this day.
View DRIVER Allocation schedule : will take you directly to the Select Screen
but will not allow any selection or changes. This is intended to allow you
to get a general overview of how good (or bad) the resource allocation
is going for any shift.
Notes :
Notes reflects ALL actions taken for this SHIFT up to this time. Includes
a initial note to reflect the type of shift this is ( Normal, Split or
Overnight) then additions reflect any changes/ removal of buses or drivers
or any other note which may have been entered by Operations Staff such as
Collect payslip, see Fred before going out (for driver) Bus must be delivered
to Xxxx Yyyy on return to depot etc etc etc.
rID :
This is the primary identification code to enable
BusWise to recognise
any action or changes made to this row of the WorkSheet. This ID number
is needed to delete the ROW from a WorkSheet. This option is a the bottom below
the WorkSheet and requires the rID AND the fact that NEITHER Bus nor Driver can
be allocated to this row.
Class :
Class is as it was entered into the SHIFT heading so that the SHIFT could be
selected when the WorkSheet was prepared.
Day :
Day is as it was entered into the SHIFT heading so that the SHIFT could be
selected when the WorkSheet was prepared. It forms a sub-set for CLASS.
THE WORKSHEET is the screen of the working document referred to as a
Daily WorkSheet. In
BusWise this looks very
much like a spreadsheet
except that it is fully integrated into the shift, route, charter,
bus and driver tables so
that you can easily and efficiently man a shift with available resources.
1. Created by running the task OPERATIONS / OPS-ADMIN
Create NEW Daily WorkSheet by date/s and a combination of DAY (M-F or Sat
or Sun - defined by usage or as the system has been defined ) AND the CLASS. The
number of days is then entered, starting with a defined date (which defaults to tomorrow
when the entry screen is presented)
for the number of days required. This would logically be 5 days for a set
of M-F (Monday to Friday )
records etc. CLASS enables the separation of NOR (for Normal)
from say GPD (for example Grand Prix Day) or EKKA or Show Day etc..
To check if a WorkSheet exists select WorkSheet List. This will tell you
all the WorkSheets which have already been prepared. ( The DEMONSTRATION data supplied
with the
BusWise CD for example will have Daily
WorkSheets prepared for the
period Sun 1-1-2012 through Sat 7-1-2012).
Any WorkSheet is compiled from all the SHIFTs which meet the specifications
of BOTH the DAY and CLASS as selected.
If the SHIFT default Bus/Driver has been loaded -or- the
PRE-ALLOCATED rosters have been prepared then the the WorkSheet can also be set up
with default bus/driver allocations for that WorkSheet.
2. These records provide the WorkSheet for operations and the ability to
assign buses and drivers to shifts across any ONE day. Plus it serves as
a check sheet for TODAY to confirm ALL shifts are OUT = WorkSheet.active is true.
If the bus / driver combination was entered in the default bus / driver
field in any shift then the Daily WorkSheet will have the default values
included UNLESS the bus is off the road for that day (maintenance for example)
or the driver is not available ( sick or on leave etc).
Thus the Daily Roster is referred to as a WorkSheet in
BusWise. This is because
the Daily WorkSheet serves the same purpose as a traditional Roster sheet.
3.A diary record is created for all buses
and all drivers. At the time of the creation of these diary records
BusWise checks for the presence of rows already created
in case a driver is on leave( or sick ) or a bus is in the
workshop (eg for preventative maintenance etc..)
4. xALLOC are two tables DRIVERALLOC and BUSALLOC which get treated in the same
way. xALLOC is in fact the diary for buses and drivers. When a bus is sent
to the workshop the BUSALLOC is marked as fully booked and the
ascore (availability valuation) record will be marked as zero. This makes
it the least available unit within the GRID allocated and the TIMEBAR
for that bus will be all red
for display purposes AND workshop is recorded in the table.
Drivers can be sick or on leave and this will result in the same process
as the BUSALLOC process using /dsick/ instead.
5. Whenever a WorkSheet is displayed the xALLOCs are checked to ensure that there
is a record present in the xALLOX file for each and every bus AND driver
available from the bus and driver tables. If a bus is added to the fleet
AFTER a WorkSheet has been created a row will be added to the BUSALLOC table
as soon as the next WorkSheet is displayed which will make that bus available
for selection. Same applies to the driver tables.
6. WorkSheet display is selected and if no records are available for that
date the user is advised to run OPERATIONS / OPS-ADMIN /Create New Daily
WorkSheets.
7. How the WorkSheet is allocated ( in other words how each shift is manned
for any specific day ) is described in Step 3 of Chapter 11 below.
NOTE : It is very useful to be able to
store different Shifts for each day in a week. This facilitates the ability to
cycle shifts between drivers automatically. This also facilitates balancing
working hours per week between the drivers. This process can be limited to a
group of drivers eg. Urban only etc..
BusWise provides the SHIFT / ROSTER-PREP /
facility to do this. This Table is described
in more detail in Chapter 30.
The initial data that is input to the ROSTER-PREP is created in a WorkSheet
so it is necessary to understand the process described here for creating ROSTERS.
The WorkSheet is still needed for the PREALLOCATION process because all the
necessary information is available in the worksheet including the use of
DEVELOPMENT Shifts if/or when they are required.
WorkSheets provide you with an opportunity to use all of the features of
BusWise for Planning future SHIFTS and testing
availability of buses and
drivers under all conditions.
BusWise can also
produce the Driver
SHIFT ROSTERS once the WorkSheet is complete and has been set.
This process is used to create your weekly Driver Rosters for as many weeks
in advance as you may wish to go. This process is best explained by defining
a possible live situation.
What we are going to do is prepare the
WorkSheets for a full week so that we can display drivers
Rosters for a period in advance. For our example; today is Sun the 1st of
January, 2012 and we are going to prepare our Rosters for the next week
being
******* Sun 01-01-2017 to (and including) Sat 07-01-2017 and
in
BusWise terms this would be
today plus 6 days because the last date is inclusive for a week.
However let us first discuss the ability of
BusWise
to develop SHIFTS.
This allows you to create complete SHIFTs to check the process and viability of such
shifts without interfering with your current live SHIFTs. What is about to be
discussed here is appropriate to live data which is present on your system or the
process discussed in detail in Chapter 29. Chapter 29 is a step-by-step procedure
for entering your current TimeTables ( The Passenger / Customer reference cards or
pamphlets issued by Transit Authorities or similar) and
converting them
into
BusWise Shifts. This is an interesting
approach and is probably worth reading
if only to give you a better insight into the way that
BusWise data is built.
11.1 PLANNING potential or future SHIFTS :
There will be times when you would like to test the effect of a new SHIFT on your time
tables and bus allocations. Especially so if you are not employing special drivers
and buying new buses to cater for THE shift. Loading additional (new) routes will
have no effect on
BusWise operation until they
are used in SHIFTS. However new SHIFTS,
particularly M-F days and NORM class would disrupt the normal WorkSheet preparation by
including SHIFTS and Routes which you are not yet ready to use.
When loading this type of SHIFT it is only necessary to FLAG the SHIFT in the box
provided when
Adding a Shift to the system and it will remain outside your normal
daily operations until such time as you change that flag from
DEV to
Normal when it will be included as a day to day schedules.
To test these
DEV SHIFTS merely requires the production of WorkSheets
using
New Daily WorkSheets to be analysed on a special date
(in the future sometime - say 01-01-2017 for example)
or including them with your current SHIFTs
on such a date. You would then be able to test the allocation of drivers / buses
until you have a suitable combination for the most efficient use of your resources.
11.2 PLANNING DRIVER Rosters with Buses and Drivers allocated:
Please note that this planning process only makes use of a set of future dated
WorkSheets and the SHIFT tables. This will allow us to load WorkSheets with
Default Buses/Drivers loaded to the SHIFT table only. This does however limit
us to using the same defaults for the period ( a week in the case of this
planning session ). So once the Default Buses/Drivers have been loaded to
the SHIFT table we can use them for as many days as required.
However the defaults will remain the same until we create a WorkSheet which we
then change for another set of defaults. If this is the requirement for each day
of a week ( Mon different to Tue different to Wed ) then this process is extremely
tedious. To solve this problem
BusWise provides
the PRE-ALLOC process discussed
in Chapter 30. However the initial selection of a set of defaults for each day in a
week still has to be done for our first weekly cycle. That is done using this
process. Each weekday is then loaded to the PRE-ALLOC system and
the PRE-ALLOC system will then manage
the job of cycling the defaults from one week to the next automatically.
However this process sets up each single day as required. It could be used for
a full week or for selected days of a week only.
Step 1 : Create a Demo or Future WorkSheet for planning.
.
Run -OPERATIONS / OPS-ADMIN / Create NEW or ADD....
Enter days = 1 - Enter Starting from = 1-1-2017.
This will be far ahead of our demonstartion data
which starts on the 1-1-2012. It is only a test WorkSheet and will be deleted after
we have used it.
Select CLASS = M-F and Select CLASS = NOR and click -Continue-
We now have a clean WorkSheet for 1-1-2017.
Step 2 :
Step through the process of selecting buses and drivers. Please see Appendix 5 for
details of how to do this. AND allocate buses and drivers to all SHIFTS on your
WorkSheet of the 1-1-2017. Please do at least a few of these so that you gain
familiarity with the process. This is your opportunity to math the pairing of
SHIFTS with suitable Drivers and Buses from your experience and knowledge
if you are an experienced Operations Supervisor. If you are now then the process
guided by
BusWise will be about as good as it
can get using the information already
loaded to the system.
We can now use either the WorkSheet which you have completed or we can use the
WorkSheet for 2-1-2012
which has been completed and setup in the demo. data for this process.
The actual day for this date is of no importance at this stage because we are able
to allocate the default SHIFT information to any WorkSheet regardless of date. The
same applies to the PRE-ALLOC system later on.
Step 3 :
When you are happy with the loaded WorkSheet :
Select Task OPERATIONS / Supervisor / MASTER.Admin /
Apply DEFAULT DRIVERS and BUSES to SHIFTS using WorkSheet
Enter the date of the SPECIFIC WorkSheet which you wish to use ( Example :
2-1-2012 or the one you created = 1-1-2017 TAKE GREAT CARE WITH THE DATE!)
This will load all of the Buses and the Drivers into the default areas of
the Shift and allow us to create a new set of WorkSheets
for the rest of the week with buses and drivers allocated.
Take NOTE : SPLIT SHIFTS will have entries for both BusNo AND BusNo2 PLUS
DrvNo AND DrvNo2.
Because of the way that the WorkSheet selection works it IS possible to have a Driver
allocated to two shifts on the one day. If a Driver is allocated to more than two shifts
on one day then
BusWise will only transfer the
FIRST and the LAST allocation for that day.
Remember that the process here is to optimise the allocation of the DRIVER.
Buses are NOT the main consideration because of their ability to be allocated ALL DAY.
Step 4 : Renegade SHIFTS :
It is possible at this stage to identify renegade shifts. These are shifts which
required the allocation of a Driver to this shift as a second shift for the day.
This effectively identifies the opportunity to restructure a SHIFT.
Looking at the ALL-SHIFTS report in starttime sequence ( Select SHIFT / ALL-SHIFTS )
you will notice that a (or some) Shift/s have no entry in the BusNo/DriverNo columns
BUT do have entries in the BusNo2/DrvNo2 columns. For our purpose of discussion we
will call these RENEGADE Shifts.
Progress to Step 5 if you do not have any of these Renegade Shifts
Because they have been identified in this way they can be optimised.
This can be done by adding the Routes being run on the renegade Shift onto the Shift
that this Driver completed in the first part of his day.
Print out the two shifts in question (easily identified doing a Driver Search on the
WorkSheet we are using as our master). Using SHIFT / ADD.Routes(Edit) add the Routes from
the second SHIFT ( BusNo2/DrvNo2 ) to the first shift for that Driver for the day
AND then remove the second SHIFT from your tables.
The second SHIFT will thus become part of first one and simplify any future allocation
of buses.drivers.
If you have made changes go back to Step 3.
Step 5 : Loading LIVE WorkSheets :
When we have a completely satisfactory WorkSheet we can load the FINAL Version to
our SHIFT Table ( Step 3) and we have a effective set of DEFAULTS in our SHIFT.
We can now create one or many LIVE WorkSheets using the defaults we created in the
SHIFT table
The Shift table DEFAULTS are selected when we create the WorkSheet
Select OPERATIONS / OPS.Admin / Create NEW or ADD to Daily Worksheet/s /
Select the number of days required ( say = 5 ) with a Starting date THE MONDAY of a week
AND NOW Select -Use Shift Defaults- under the heading
SELECT Bus and driver DEFAULTs -OR- ROSTER PREALLOCATION
and the WorkSheets for that whole week will be created with all the Defaults that we
have set up in the SHIFT table.
The SHIFT Defaults can now also be loaded to the PRE-ALLOC system ( see Chapter 30)
for a chosen day ( Mon thru Sun).
Step 6 : Repeat Steps 1 thru 5 :
as often as required to complete the requirements of your ROSTER process.
The WorkSheet for the 1-1-2017 can be deleted once Step 5 has been completed.
OPERATIONS / Supervisor / MASTER.Admin /
Delete WORKSHEET/s for SPECIFIED DAY/s --- (Level 5 only)
There are two possible processes for backing up
BusWise data ;
OPTION 1 : BACKUP OF THE COMPLETE SYSTEM
( complete wamp directory ) or
OPTION 2: BACKUP DATA TABLES ONLY
BackUps should be run on a regular basis. This should probably be DAILY
with records maintained in a
Backup Register . It is
also recommended that a BACKUP be run whenever you are about to
make any MAJOR change to your data or your system. In the event of a
system change ( such as a
BusWise Program update )
it is good practice
to take a BACKUP OF THE COMPLETE SYSTEM.
OPTION 1 is the preferred and easier option.
This OPTION can only be conducted by a person who is familiar with the server and has
access and authority to manipulate files on the server. This description is for a Windows
system.
BACKUP -----------
Copy the complete directory C:\wamp to a backup media ( DVD, Tape, other Disk system etc....)
and ensure that it is recorded in
The
Backup Register . The backup cycle that is adopted should include an off-site
cycle as well.
The WAMPserver is very compact and does not use more than 300-400MB however it is
possible to backup all of the MySQL data only. The data is contained in the directory
C;\wamp\bin\mysql\mysql5.1.33\data\. This complete directory MUST be
copied to the backup media.
RESTORE ------------
1. Ensure that WampServer is NOT running. Exit WampServer.
2. Copy the complete contents of the Backup media back to the directory that was backed up.
3. Start WampServer.
4. Start
BusWise.
If WampServer does not start up cleanly :
a. with red error warning in the icon then you may need to re-install WampServer
from your Install backup (CD ?). This can be done over the top of
BusWise
because the re-install will not overwrite your data. -OR-
b. with yellow error warning in the icon then the DATA restored is incomplete,
not for the current version of WAMP or is corrupt. Possibly a previous back-up will
clear the problem.
OPTION 2 is the method that will need to be used if the DATA is to be moved
to another SERVER :
It is not recommended as the normal way of conducting a backup and is described in
summary form here. More detailed information can be obtained by sending a request to
support@buswise.net for the White Paper.
BACKUP - DATA TABLES ONLY :
This is done (on Windows) by executing a DOS batch file from the command window.
The file is C:\wamp\bwbackup.bat. This DOS batch file will run a program called
mysqldump.exe. For System Administrators on UNIX systems this batch file will be
sufficient explanation for doing the backups for both the bw00 database and the
add_db database with ALL of their tables.
The output from these files (for Windows) goes to C:\wamp\www\BWdata\bw00.sql and
add_db.sql. These are text files contain an set of SQL commands which will enable
BusWise to be re-created.
The BACKUP process is therefore completed when the System Administrator
COPIES the file/s from this directory to a secure external media such as DVD,
tape, disk subsystem etc... so that on-going BACKUPs
can be cycled. These files will be overwritten each time a backup is run.
It is necessary to carefully control the external copies of the BACKUP files with
a hardcopy (register or book or file or similar) on a cyclical basis
to ensure the security of YOUR ORGANISATIONAL DATA. This process is
called
The BusWise Backup Register
and further information about maintaining this Register can be provided by
support@buswise.net if required.
RESTORE - DATA TABLES ONLY :
BEFORE running the RESTORE process the following steps must
be taken to ensure the integrity of your data :
1. Ensure that there are NO Users logged into
BusWise
and then
EXIT / STOP the WampServer. This is extremely important!
2. If the .SQL files that exist are NOT the latest backups to be taken or if there are
no .SQL files located in C:\wamp\Bwdata then the external backup files will need to be
identified from the
The BusWise Backup Register .
This register should also be used to check that the existing files are dated correctly.
3. This will USUALLY be the latest
available version of your file but there could be a need to re-instate
the data to some point before a known error is know to have taken place.
If a recovery is made to an earlier date then all the actions, taken
subsequent to that date, will need to be reentered.
4. If necessary copy the identified .SQL backup files into the
C:\wamp\www\BWdata directory. They must be in this directory for the rebuild
process to work
5. Restart WampServer. Start
BusWise , Login
(with min. security level of 5), select the level 5 menu option and run
SYSTEM / SYS-ADMIN /
BACKUP/RESTORE BusWise TABLES - \BWdata directory
6. Enter the date entry as requested.
This process is there to ensure that this task is NOT run accidently.
7. Then select -RESTORE BusWise- -OR- -RESTORE Address- as applicable. The database
selected will be rebuilt with the data in the .SQL BACKUP files.
Should you wish to be able to make use of the sophisticated MySQL log tables to
reinstate all the transactions made on the database after the last backup ( assuming
that the log tables are availabel ) this is additional data security which is available.
Please request the Transaction Restore White Paper from support@buswise.net.
The home page for WampServer on the internet is http://www.wamp5.com/en
and for detailed information or to download your own version of WampServer
this is the place to go. However.
PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LOAD ANY
VERSION OF WampServer OVER BusWise.
The Windows version of
BusWise
relies extensively on all the facilities offered by Apache, MySQL and PHP
as they are contained in the release of WampServer being used for any specific
release of
BusWise. For example
BusWise 005V003 uses WampServer 2.0h
with some changes to the PHP.INI file. What
may happen if you used a different release of WampServer with different settings
is completely unpredictable. There are many steps which need to be taken to
incorporate
BusWise into a custom WAMP / LAMP
environment and
support@
BusWise.net should be contacted for
assistance with this task.
The WampServer icon in the status bar at the foot of Windows Explorer is
located in the bottom right panel. It is a small semicircle with the curved side
upwards and should be all white when all is well. Red indicates that the
port connection for the WAMP software has not been found or is not available.
This will happen if you attempt to run WampServer at the same time as Skype for
example. If there is yellow in the icon then the application has not loaded
correctly.
If you left click on this icon you will bring up the wampserver icon. It is
possible to change the entire work environment of WAMP using this access. You
should learn all about WampServer if you wish to make use of these console
facilities.
If you RIGHT CLICK on this icon you can exit from the WampServer.
BusWise will
not operate if you close WampServer.
This chapter deals with data searching to provide operational information
which
BusWise is able to provide. This is
achieved by getting
BusWise to
build a REFERENCE TABLE.
This should be run as often as necessary - perhaps even a few times a day -
so as to ensure that this table includes the latest
available information (such as any buses running late etc...)
Preparing TimeTables
OPERATIONS / Build T/Table -OR-
OPERATIONS / Supervisor /MASTER-Admin/ Load New TimeTable Data from selected WorkSheet :
This selection collects data from the
BusWise
Tables which are driven by
the Daily WorkSheets.
BusWise WorkSheets
reflect the actual situation at any
specific point in time.
Select todays date.
NOTE : You could use a future date which you are developing
to test the overall effect on your Timetables. Normally you would use
todays date because remember that, if you are on a network, MANY people
could be referring to this table. Any FUTURE information being included
could cause some confusion. The future testing options should be run outside
business hours.
14.1 View Route Schedule at a TimingPoint
Then you select OPERATIONS / Timetables / Loc.Search (Local Search) :
and enter part of any TP (street) name which you wish to get information
about.
BusWise will present a screen with ALL
references which include that name
(or part thereof) in TIME SEQUENCE within ROUTE SEQUENCE with DESTINATIONS
for each of these Routes. The more detail you type in the more specific
the search will be. Too much detail (especially if it is not spelt correctly
- and in computer terms that means exactly including any spaces etc..)
will give you a
NO INFORMATION HAS BEEN FOUND for that search message.
14.2 View Route Schedule or LOCATION at a TimingPoint ?
From TIMETABLES / Loc.Search (Location Search) :
The search definition screen will let you enter a free format search for
the TP (TimingPoint or Location) you are looking for. The more accurately
your search is defined the more selective it will be BUT if you type in too
much detail and especially if you misspell something then it is more likely
that
BusWise will not able to find what you
require. The balance between
detail and extra information is
established with practice so do not get discouraged. If you enter
ALL then
BusWise will list all the
available information sorted by :
TP-NAME, DAY, ROUTE NUMBER, TIME that bus arrives at this Timingpoint.
BusWise must be provided with a Login Name and Login Password
before anyone is able to access the System. Each LOGIN name has a
password to control access for that USERNAME. It is NOT POSSIBLE to check
the password for any User. Should a User forget his/her password the only course
of action is for the
BusWise Administrator
(Level access 5) to load a new password
for that user. Only the Administrator can access the password system
The
BusWise DEMO system provides
aaaaa (five lower case a's) as an initial Login Name and bbbbb (5 lower
case b's) as the ADMIN Login Password.
There is a function under
SYSTEM / DB.ADMIN / New User and Passwords to load
new Users and Passwords. Passwords are CASE SENSITIVE alphanumeric so take
care when loading and entering. The aaaaa/bbbbb should be
deleted as soon as convenient BUT DO NOT FORGET THE NEW ADMIN PASSWORD.
The DEMO system also has the following logins loaded :
User my4 with password bbbbb and Level 4 access AND
User my3 with password bbbbb and Level 3 access AND
User BC with password 123 and Level 2 access read further.
There is also special access for
User BC with Password 123 for Level 2 access as a DRIVER. Driver access is
limited to very specific driver related functions such as LostProperty etc.
The Driver can also DISPLAY his own personal information but can only do
this for his own Driver Staffnumber = User Login which is recommended to be
the drivers initials.
This triggers a set of tasks specifically set up for DRIVERS and suitable
for use via TOUCHSCREENS such as LG - Flatron - L1510BF or similar.
THESE DEMO PASSWORDS SHOULD ALL BE REMOVED AS SOON AS A SYSTEM GOES LIVE.
It is possible to login more than once with he same password but this should
only be done on the SAME PC or TERMINAL. Do not log in the same user on
seperate terminals in a network. This is bad operations practice and provides
for potential security breaches with M/s Windows software.
The major purpose of login and password installation is to provide the
organisation with the ability to limit access to information and/or limit
the ability to change information (data) in
BusWise
Tables. For example it
would be most inappropriate for a driver to be able to change the bus number
allocated to a shift or the number of hours which he worked.
This would result in total chaos. It would also be a
breach of the Privacy Laws if you allowed one driver to view the personnal
records of another - particularly in the the payroll arena.
And you would not want a junior, inexperienced staff member to be able to
change significant tables.
Thus every member of staff who accesses
BusWise
needs to have a User Name and
a Password. These login tables need to have the highest security ( Level 4 )
to ensure that only a very few staff, at the management level,
can allocate these User Login levels.
Level 0 and Level 1 have very limited access - TimeTables, Calendar and Help.
Level 2 is created very specifically for DRIVERS because there are a number
of functions which you may wish the DRIVER to enter. Check driver WorkSheets,
check HIS OWN approved leave dates etc. Use the Drivers
Staffnumber when you allocate Level 2 access so that the crosscheck
to the Drivers Table can be made by
BusWise and
special DRIVER SCREENS
can be activated. Driver screens are laid out to benefit Touch Screen use.
Level 3 is for Operations Staff who will run the day to day activities
especially the Daily WorkSheets but they should not need access to the
Tables which provide them with some of the operational information. This level also
exists as safeguard for Operations Staff. Within there environment there are
many -delete buttons- which, if accidently selected when under pressure, could
cause the loss of critical data. In these situations most delete buttons will
only work for Level 4 or greater.
Level 4 is for management staff who are responsible for putting together
all the information for TimingPoints, Routes, Shifts and entering Bus and Driver
information for the organisation.
Level 5 is strictly for IT or senior management staff who enter SYSTEM parameter
information and who can actually apply changes to the way that
the organisation wishes
BusWise to work.
User Password changes can only be made by
Level 5 access.
Higher levels have access to all levels below their own.
With Level 4 authority run MASTER-ADMIN / New Users and Password.
Enter the User Name.
If you enter an existing User Name you will be able to enter a new password
for that user but you can never read a current password.
Please take note of the requirement for Driver User Names if you are going to
allow drivers to enter certain of their own data or sign in for their shifts.
This task provides schedules for the Weekly Driver Rosters. Should you be
needing Driver PaySlips they are produced from
OPERATIONS
/ MASTER Ops / Driver Management / Prepare Driver Payslips. Both of these
schedules are prepared from the WorkSheet for the respective days
by reference to the SHIFT Sign-On and Sign-Off times.
Drivers Rosters can be prepared from ALLOCATED WORKSHEETS and
sets of WorkSheets that cover the weekly period in question. These must be ALLOCATED
WORKSHEETS with buses and drivers already allocated.
Note that it is also possible to prepare Rosters for weeks in advance
by using the PREALLOC Table Sets provided in SHIFTS / ROSTER-PREP. See
Chapter 30
Preparing the WorkSheets for Driver Rosters :
As we do have demo worksheets supplied with DEMO
BusWise
System let us
use these as an example. The 7 days ( 1 week) that we are talking about
would therefore be 1-1-2012 thru 7-1-2012 (Sun thru Sat).
Sometime about Mon the 19th of December, 2011 ( roughly a fortnight
before the schedules are required so that Drivers can be adequately
advised about their schedules) we would need to prepare the WorkSheets
for the week commencing 1-1-2012.
BusWise does
not care when you start
your week. It could be on Mondays ( eg 2-1-2012) or any other day of the
week as long as this day is used consistently.
a) Ensure that no new Shifts are due to come onstream from 1-1-2012.
If there are any, ensure that they are loaded into the system. They could be
temporarily changed from Demonstration to Active if this would assist.
b)
OPERATIONS / ADMIN / Create NEW Daily Worksheet/s should be run
at least three times. Day 1 being for 1 day
Sun 1-1-2012 with DAY=Sun and CLASS=NOR
or similar and Click on Prepare-the-Roster. THEN Day 2 being for 1 days from
Mon 2-1-2012 DAY=M-F CLASS=NOR ( the other 4 days will be dealt with
shortly) THEN Day 7 being for 1 day from 7-1-2012
with DAY=Sat CLASS=NOR. You may then need to prepare SPECIAL shifts for
some special occasion.
c) Call up WorkSheet for Sun 1-1-2012 and allocate ALL buses and drivers
required for that day.
d) Call up WorkSheet for Mon 2-1-2012 and allocate ALL buses and drivers.
Be particularly careful that this allocation is done VERY ACCURATELY.
e) Now we are step ahead of the game. A supervisor with Security Access
of at least 4 should now run
OPERATIONS / Supervisor / MASTER.Admin /
Apply DEFAULT DRIVERS and BUSES to SHIFT using WorkSheet :
and use the WorkSheet we have just prepared in d) for the 2-1-2012. This
will allocate buses and drivers from THAT WorkSheet as the default to be
used for further WorkSheet creation.
f) So now we return to
OPERATIONS / ADMIN / Create NEW Daily Worksheet/s
and run the missing 4 days for DAY=M-F CLASS=NOR starting with Tue 3-1-2012.
We now have a full weeks worth of WorkSheets available to create ROSTERS
for the Drivers.
g)
OPERATIONS / MASTEROps / Driver Schedules / Display Driver
Weekly Roster and Select A.
Remember -
BusWise can only list DRIVERS that
HAVE been allocated on
the ROSTER SCHEDULES. Also it is not necessary to allocate buses to
produce DRIVER ROSTERS although it is usually convenient to do both
at the same time
The WorkSheets for Sun 1-1-2012 and Sat 7-1-2012 could also be applied as
defaults for further Sundays and Saturdays.
Should you wish to ROTATE drivers then it is possible to run
SHIFT / ALL SHIFTS / SPECIAL :: ROLL DRIVERS DOWN BY ONE WEEK -OR-
ROLL DRIVERS and BUSES DOWN BY ONE WEEK ( Level 4 ) to achieve this objective
for subsequent weeks.
( also available in the C:\wamp\ReadMe.txt file )
If you should need to :
========================================================
REMOVE ALL
BusWise AND WampServer FILES FROM YOUR
SYSTEM :
1. Ensure that WampServer IS NOT running. Check the bottom right section of
your STATUS BAR. If there is a semicircle shaped icon in this area, right
click on this icon and select Exit from the menu presented. This will close
down WampServer.
2. Remove Wampserver from your software list if it is present.
Click Start, select Control Panel, select Add or Remove Programs
( double click will present the Add or Remove Programs screen )
and then scroll down and select WampServer THEN select Remove and confirm if
requested to do so.
3. Delete the directory C:\wamp and all its contents if it exists.
4. Delete the
BusWise icon and/or the WampServer
icons from the desktop
if they exist.
5. To be absolutely CERTAIN you should RESTART Windows
on your system (although
this should not really be necessary).
You are now ready to re-install
BusWise from
the latest CD.
Run SetUp.exe from the CD.
QUERIES / WorkSheet List
This is the list of all WorkSheets that have been prepared from :
Operations / OPS-ADMIN / Create NEW Daily WorkSheets.
These WorkSheets enable operations staff to select buses and drivers for the
listed shifts and charter bookings. Most buses and drivers can be preselected
from successfully completed WorkSheets which have been loaded into the
shifts as defaults. The process of loading buses and drivers to shifts as a
default is done from :
Operations / MASTER-ADMIN / under Daily WorkSheet Management and Schedules.
To view one of the listed WorkSheets you need to take note of the required date
and from :
Operations / WorkSheets /
Type in the date required and click on
Display WorkSheet.
If you wish the WorkSheet to start just before the current time-of-day then
click on Time entered here. You can also specify a time to start the WorkSheet
display by entering a time.
The purpose of this time option is to limit the amount of information displayed
to an appropriate section of the day.
NOTE : The whole of the BusWise system depends
on the accurate maintenance of
these WorkSheets because all the reports detailing activities of drivers,
buses and timetables are derived from successful completion of a WorkSheet DAY.
The following services are provided :
- Store Student details :
- Parent/Guardian
- Year and Date of Birth
- Address
- Phone contacts
- School
- Route (and thus appropriate Bus in real time)
- Any fares payable
- Bus Pass with date of issue
- All interaction with Student is noted in an individual Student Log File.
- Passes :
- Printing
- Managing date of issue
- Letters :
- Printing Preprinted Letters for Student/Guardian
- Letters include any form. -- Behaviour etc. etc.
- Maintaining records of all letters in Student Log Files.
- Group Management / Lists :
- Passes and Letters can be sent out singly -or- Students can be stored in Groups.
- There are 5 sets of Lists where selected Groups can be stored.
- Mass mailing is simplified.
The student module interfaces to
BusWise at the point of
the ROUTE. For this interface to work correctly the ROUTEs need to be coded in accordance
with the guidelines defined in Route Number of
Route - Loading details. Essentially this
means a) the School ROUTES must be loaded to the system BEFORE a NEW STUDENT can
be loaded to the System. And b) The first 1-5 characters
of the Route Number must define the ROUTE with the last character of the Route Number
being the direction of travel. The example suggests S123 as the ROUTE but S123a will be
that ROUTE from A to B and S123b would be that ROUTE from B to A. If these guidelines are
followed then a list of the students on a particular bus can be clicked
from the
WorkSheet. From to-days WorkSheet click on the SHIFT button THEN the applicable
School Route on that SHIFT. When the ROUTE is displayed there will be an additional
button to list STUDENTS on that ROUTE (if any). When Driver Documentation is produced
a Student List can also be selected for any specific ROUTE.
Conversely by using STUDENT / View-Action
and selecting a Student and clicking on LOCATION the appropriate ROUTE will be displayed
with the times in real-time simulation (if logical and available).
To activate a NEW Student Module :
1) Go to SYSTEM / DB.ADMIN / STUDENT Information and reference Tables :
and select CLEAR STUDENT Details Table THEN click on -Action Selected Request-.
This creates the STUDENT table. Each student loaded to this table will be
assigned a unique number which is THAT STUDENTS ID NUMBER. This number is used extensively
and will be the Pass ID number allocated as well.
2) Go to STUDENT / ADD School and enter the necessary information for each School.
ALL Schools MUST be entered. The Org Type on the Screen MUST be entered as E for
Education. A mandatory entry when adding Students is the
school name. If it is really necessary a DUMMY school can be added to postpone the
selection. This can be corrected with the Student / EDIT.
Each Organisation has a Primary Address. This should be the Administration / Office or
Main School location. The contact name for schools should be the Principal.
3) Go to ROUTE / LIST ALL and check to ensure that
ALL the SCHOOL Routes have
been entered into the System. Any ROUTES not entered should be entered. Initially the
ROUTE HEADER will be sufficient to ensure that a Route can be selected for a Student and
the TP details can be added to the Route later. Remember the System is only limited by the
amount of data available to it.
Many organisations (for one reason or another) require the
Students to be allocated to SPECIFIC BUSES rather than ROUTES.
This situation is easily overcome
by loading the ROUTES with a Route Number = Bus Number. Allocation can therefore be
S42 Route xyz WILL HAVE Bus NO S42 permanently allocated to that Route and consequently
the Bus will also be permanently allocated to the SHIFT that does Route S42
and thus to the Driver Rosters.
The prefix could actually be different if there is any risk of confusion so that
Route S29 (for schools) or R29 (for Route) can always be allocated F29 (for Fleet
number) or B29 for Bus Number etc....
4) Go to STUDENT / ADD STUDENT and Chapter C19.1. below.
Ensure that he requirements (Schools and Routes) defined in C19.0 have been understood
and actioned. If all the Schools and all the School Routes have not been entered into
the system then NEW Students cannot be entered.
A Male Student named John Fredick Albert Maximilian whose guardian is James Blunt
would be entered as follows :
Name of Student and Parent/Guardian :
Family Name : Maximiliam
Given Name : John
Other Initials : F.A.
Male/Female... : M
Year/Grade : (6 characters) Enter here the School level as Grade1 or Year12 etc...
Date of Birth : Example 31-12-1994.
Parent/Guardian : Blunt.
(Family name first) Should not be left blank even if it is the same as
the Student because this is used in Letters etc....
Given Name : (of Parent/Guardian) James.
Student Address Details :
As titled (Addresses are 1-32 characters). Note that either Home phone : -OR- Mobile :
MUST be completed (even if a tba is entered here to be EDITED later).
School Attended :
School : MUST be selected or the entry will not be accepted. This is why it is
essential to load ALL the School details before starting the Students.
Kms : This is the number of Kilometers from the Students home address to the school. It
can be omitted but this will affect future statistical analysis and/or state/government
required information.
On What days will Service be used :
First date of Travel : This is the first day that the Student has used or will use this
service.
The rest of this information is required for most state/government information.
Student Notes and/or Special Conditions :
Free form Notes. No practical limit. Used for any special needs or any other special
information which should be made available for the drivers to read but should not
normally be printed. It is not necessary to plan on writing up such details as the date
on which Passes are issued or Letters written here because these details are automatically
recorded in the Student Log File by
BusWise.
Office Use :
Route Number: Select the ROUTE that this Student will use.
Many organisations (for one reason or another) require the
Students to be allocated to SPECIFIC BUSES rather than ROUTES.
This situation is easily overcome
by loading the ROUTES with a Route Number = Bus Number. Allocation can therefore be
S42 Route xyz WILL HAVE Bus NO S42 permanently allocated to that Route and consequently
the Bus will also be permanently allocated to the SHIFT that does Route S42
and thus to the Driver Rosters.
The prefix could actually be different if there is any risk of confusion so that
Route S29 (for schools) or R29 (for Route) can always be allocated F29 (for Fleet
number) or B29 for Bus Number etc....
Normally there will be a
morning ROUTE and an afternoon ROUTE. Please select the morning ROUTE. Although the
ROUTE is actually the same there is a requirement to keep inbound/outbound trips separate
to ensure the integrity and running times within the system. The System will resolve
am vs. pm ROUTEs using the time of day for any requirements.
Because it may be necessary (and often is necessary) to change the buses allocated to a
ROUTE
BusWise uses the ROUTE as the reference and can
establish the actual bus from the WorkSheet at any specific time.
Single : This is entered as a $$.cc amount for the cost of a Single Trip if the Student
is not entitled to fully subsidised transport to and from School.
Weekly : This is entered as a $$.cc amount for the cost of all Weekly Trips if the Student
is not entitled to fully subsidised transport to and from School.
Pass Dated : Although this field is available for correction manually it should NOT BE
ENTERED. The field is updated as part of the Bus Pass management in
Group Management.
Ext Ref: This field IS PRINTED ON THE BUS PASSES as an additional Pass No. It is also the
reference number to external forms such a government forms. (In Queensland Australia
the Student Record can be linked into the QLD Govt. BTA - Bus Transport Application).
Use STUDENT / View-Action to get to this screen.
The screen is intended for processing a Single Student. The selection drop-down menu lists
Students in Given Name within Family Name sequence and shows the unique Student ID number.
Once a Student has been selected you can :
VIEW : Presents all the Student details as entered. The layout is identical to that
presented for
ADD a NEW STUDENT.
EDIT : Presents the usual screen but it is possible to save the complete student record
after changing any of the fields. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO RESLECT THE SCHOOL AND ROUTE
before clicking SAVE-ALL-DETAILS. Nothing will be saved if this is not done. To assist
with the EDIT of the Student Record the previous SCHOOL and the previous ROUTE is
displayed in the box headers.
SHOW-LOG : Any process run on a Student from the Group Management Screen is recorded in a
LOG FILE which is held for each student. SHOW LOG will display this Log File for the
selected Student. The display can be printed in the usual manner. All the Student Log
Files are located by name and dob in the directory (folder)
C;\wamp\www\student. Make sure that these files are backed up correctly. This is
a further good reason for backing up the WHOLE of the C:\wamp\ directory to ensure
the integrity of all files.
SHOW-MAP : If the terminal in use is connected to the internet and if THIS copy
of
BusWise has a valid Google Map KEY AND the
Student address details are valid and meaningful then this will display the
location of the Student in Google Maps ©. The map can be scrolled and zoomed.
DUP+EDIT : This will create a NEW STUDENT as a COPY of the selected Student with most of
details transferred from the selected Student. This is useful when ADD Students from a
family with more than one child living at the same address. The information not transferred
across is that information which is most likely to different. Such as Given Name, School
and ROUTE. The EDIT screen comes up immediately and the SAVE-ALL-DETAILS button must be
clicked before the screen is saved. Remember to select SCHOOL and ROUTE or else the
information will not be accepted.
DELETE : After selecting a student AND entering 999 in the verification field the
selected student will be removed from the system including the Student Log File. Because
this Task is so destructive it can only be executed by persons with Level 5 security.
This protects the system from accidental damage. The record is deleted as soon as the
button is selected there is no checking screen. That is why the verification code is
required.
When dealing with Students it is frequently easier to handle a Group of Students at once
rather than a single Student at a time. The Group Management screen allows either single
or multiple Students to be processed in the same way. It is suggested that this
complete Chapter is read trough once to gain an overall picture of the power
of this facility before reading it through in detail with a view using the tasks.
A GROUP IS PERMANENT UNTIL CHANGED. Attending to another task in the
system and then returning to the Group Management Screen will present the Group
as it was when exited.
Select a Student using the drop-down list THEN click on :
ADD Selection : To add that Student to the Group listed.
DELETE Selection : The Student selected will be removed from the Group.
Please take NOTE :
All PRINTING from the system is accomplished from the screen displayed in the browser by
RIGHT CLICKing the MOUSE and then selecting Print from the resulting pop-up menu.
The printing onto templates that is required here requires very precise and consistent
line-ups. To ensure that multi-page prints, in particular, are lined up, it is
advisable to TURN OFF any HEADER PRINT information that is set in the BROWSER.
In Windows Explorer this is accomplished FROM THE BROWSER by clicking on File / Page
Setup / and ensuring that ALL the settings (3 drop down selections) are set to -Empty-.
This will ensure that the settings for the Template printing does not get confused.
Information : Under test for aligning the Template prints the Page Setup for Explorer 8.0
was Page Size : A4 | Portrait | NO Print Background Colours .... | YES Enable Shrink-to-fit
| Margins in millimeters : Left = Right = Top = Bottom = 19.05 | Header were all set to
-Empty- | Footer set to URL, -Empty-, Date in short format. The fonts are controlled
by the program. The printing of the URL and date at the bottom of the page is
considered useful but this too can be switched off in the Print Setup.
After printing Templates it is necessary to re-select a task from the left window. This
is done to avoid excess printing on the bottom of Templates (and Pre-printed forms).
Once a Group has been set up as required (and all required Students are loaded)
these processes can be run on ALL against all the students listed in the Group.
PASSES : Please see the next Chapter 19.4 for details.
ALL-LOGS: This task will display the Student Log File for EACH student in the Group
list. Using the right mouse bottom to print these Log files will print out the students
one to a page.
LETTERS : This task is intended to manage all correspondence with Students. To prepare
for using this system it is necessary to prepare a set of the documents that will be used.
Each Document should be identified with a document number such as :
D001 - Student details not provided.
D002 - Student not paying at time of Travel.
D023 - Misbehaving on Bus.
D024 - Student interfering with other Students.
D044 - Excellent Conduct Award.
These documents should then be preprinted with the document number centre top line
and a gap of 7.5cm (3 inches) to the start of the document body (text). The second side
of the page can also be printed with document content.
The heading printed by the system looks similar to this where :
ATN: is the name of the
Parent or Guardian, name and address of the Student, cc: is the detail which is entered
into the mandatory Group screen field for the Doc. Code Description (stationery code) and the
comment line without a heading ( It is particularly pleasing....... ) is what was entered
into the LETTERS : comments field.
ATN : George van der Walt
Jeffrey Costigan ,
add1,
add2, suburb JC, QLD. 4567
cc: Principal -- 25-05-2010
Re : D044 - Excellent Conduct Award
It is particularly pleasing for us to be able to send this Award to Jeffrey. Thank you, im
When this letter is processed the date, time and Doc. Code information is also added to
the Student Log file with the login name of the person who processed the LETTER.
These tasks (buttons) do NOT require any Student to be selected :
CLEAR : This will empty the Group. There will be NO STUDENTS in the Group.
INCLUDE : Click on this button to create a Group consisting of ALL the Students on file.
This option could in fact be used to give a quick summary report of all Students on file.
It is not essential to do anything with the display.
APPENDED : Normally a CLEAR would be run before running this task. After selecting a
school from the drop down box, ALL the Students on file for that school will be added to
the Group. If a School does not appear on this drop-down menu and you know that it is
loaded to
BusWise then you should EDIT that School
(Organisation) and make sure that the Org. Type contains an E (E = Education facility).
STORE : First select one of the five Lists to the left of this button. Click on A, B,
C or D. When STORE is clicked the Group (as displayed) will be saved in the chosen
List. If the Lists are going to be kept for a length of time or consistently for the
same purpose (the last set of Passes printed) make a note of this fact.
RELOAD : First select one of the five Lists to the left of this button. Click on A, B,
C or D. When RELOAD is selected the GROUP currently listed on the screen will be cleared
and the List that was selected will be loaded into the Group.
START-NEW-YEAR : Only Level 5 security can run this task.
This task will clear the Pass Issued date for ALL Students on file and load the new
Expiry Date, entered in the date field, for passes about to be printed for Students
for the a year.
Go to STUDENT / Group-ADMIN to manage Student passes.
Once all the students who need to have passes issued are collected in the GROUP then we
are ready to print out a PAGE of GROUP passes. The Passes are set up to OVERPRINT an
8-up Business Card form as a
background template. The
BusWise software CD ( as
downloaded from the website ) includes a copy of Avery DesignPro 5. This can also be
downloaded rom the Avery website at www.avery.com. This is software which allows you to
design your own templates for use with Avery stationery. The template used for passes
is Avery C2354 8-up Business Cards. Use can be made of this Avery product or you can
overprint the Bus Passes on the Template on normal white A4 paper and laminate them. The
Group Management Screen enables the collection of Student Names until there are 8
available to fill a page.
The task button is :
PASSES : The Expiry date that will be printed on the Student Bus Passes is shown on
the right hand side of the screen on this line. This date is loaded to the system at
the start of each year by selecting the START-NEW-YEAR task at the bottom of the screen.
The background picture (in colour) for the Bus Passes needs to be printed on
8-up Business Card Stationary and the Student details will be OVERPRINTED on these
cards. The cards can then be laminated and cut up as required for issue to the Students.
A good use of the STORE lists can be made by collecting Student names in one of
the lists until a multiple of 8 are collected and then this task can be run. It can
be run with only one student to print but that would be uneconomical.
The task will update each Student record with a date that the PASSES is run, the
Student Log File will be updated with the date and time (and the user login name) with
a note that a Bus Pass was printed. The Passes will then be displayed on the screen.
Right click the mouse and choose Print from the menu to transfer the screen to the
printer for printing. Note that the display on the screen bears no resemblance to
what is printed. The structure of the printed reports are controlled by a special
template file. If problems are experienced with lineup or similar call
BusWise or email support@buswise.net with a copy
of the problem and a new template file will be emailed back.
This task can be run as often as necessary. Each time it is run the pass issued date
will be updated and the Student Log File will have an entry recorded.
From STUDENT / LIST ALL provides three TYPES of Display/Listing.
The EXTENDED display is a two line per student report in more detail than the BASIC
display and the DRIVER Type is suited to the information needed by the Driver on the
ROUTE in question but does not contain information which is of a more personal nature.
The display structures are identical for each of the SORT SEQUENCES except the column
that relates to the SORT SEQUENCE selected is the sort key for that display.
The only way to understand these options is to display them and compare them.
The mouse right click with PRINT selected from the menu presented with send any displayed
screen to the printer if hard copy is required. Should you want ro save paper and transfer
the display to a.PDF file on disk then install the PDFCreator-0_9_8_setup.exe utility
provided with your install copy of BusWise. When installed this utility provides an
alternative to your normal printer when a document is printed. This alternative
produces a .PDF file which can be saved to disk and printed or viewed later.
As used for Student Letters and Behaviour Management.
The document registration module and the task which will enable incoming documents to be
scanned and tracked for each STUDENT will be provided within the next two version
releases of
BusWise
The Charter System facilitates the control of bus trips for :
a: Company Charters - Multi-bus, multi-day trips.
b. Single Job Bus trips - one off trips to Points of Interest (TPs)
c. Multi-Trip Bus Schedules - such as repetitive transport for school sports events
d. Tour Management.
The Charter System provides the ability to :
1. Add and Maintain a set of names and addresses called ORGANISATIONs
2. Add a primary address for each Organisation with as many ADDITIONAL ADDRESSES
or locations as required.
3. Make use of the TimingPoint module to provide the identification of Points of
Interest (POIs) - by adding notes or information to existing or additional TPs.
4. Prepare either simple or complex QUOTES for each and every Charter. QUOTES
can also be stored and used for any later Charters. The QUOTE feature is very powerful
and ALL enquiries should be prepared using the Charter section of BusWise. If a quote is
not successful then
the quotation should be printed and then deleted so that it
does not progress to the WorkSheets.
5. Easily prepare complex timetables for multi-scheduled group transport requirements
which interface with the QUOTE system for easy and controllable costings.
6. Control payments for the Charter services. This is an easy to use and very
simple process and can be interfaced to modern accounting software if required.
7. AUTOMATICALLY Interface into the
BusWise
WorkSheets thus enabling ALL Operation activities to be centralised and controlled
from the ONE Daily Diary Interactive Screen and thus
8. Facilitate the allocation, control and rescheduling of buses and drivers as
required -PLUS-
9. Produce accurate, up-to-date and complete Driver Run Sheets for each trip -AND-
10.Send quotations to customers as either INVOICES or eMails as required.
11.REPLICATE a Charter Booking. This creates a COPY of the selected Booking ID
with blanked out payment details and a NEW ID NUMBER.
If the ID selected for replication has a start date
before to-days date then BusWise will create the new ID with start and end dates dated
1 year (365 days) ahead. This facilitates the correction of these dates using the EDIT
function. Multi-TRIP destination Charters (Type M) cannot be replicated.
The Charter system makes the process as simple as possible by stepping through the
requirements from any schedules provided or over the phone with a customer. Data entry
requirements are minimal, simple and checked for logical errors as they are processed.
Most of the data is SELECTABLE as
BusWise steps through
the process. This process is all carried out on a single screen as it is scrolled down.
The ORGANISATION name is selected from the available ORGANISATION Table. The Pick-up
point is then selected from the ADDRESSES associated with that specific ORGANISATION.
Next the DESTINATION TYPE is selected with the choice of :
i. No specific destination - notes are entered with the BOOKING details.
ii. An address is selected from those already loaded for that Organization.
iii. A specific destination is selected from the TimingPoint Table.
iv. A ROUTE / TRIP is selected from the previously defined ROUTE table. The ROUTE
is identical to that used for the URBAN bus services but the TPs listed on the TOUR
could be various cities or country locations that go to comprise that TOUR.
v. Constructing a Multi-Trip table which is made up of any number of trips from the
Pick-up point to any TP with dates and times and Group names for collection and/or returning
from TP to Pick-Up Point. The Multi-Trip Tables remain as part of the Charter Booking and
the entry table allows automatic repetition for multi-weeks etc...
The common details required for a BOOKING are then entered into the BOOKING
section. The next two entries are optional information. Firstly is the QUOTE information
which allows the creation of a QUOTE SHEET for the Booking or the costs can be entered
directly into the QUOTE box. Secondly is the PAYMENT box which identifies the type of
PAYMENT ( on ACC or AMEX or M/CARD etc....), the date the Payment is made and a RECEIPT
number. The date and receipt number can be entered at the time of payment.
Most of the information on the Booking can be edited and changed until
such time as it has been included on the appropriate WorkSheet. Bus and Driver allocation
and any other notes, applicable to the Charter, are then made on the WorkSheet. The Worksheet
will display the COMPLETE Charter Booking on the click of a button on the WorkSheet.
CHARTER - Cht.Admin - •ADD New Organisation AND Primary Address :
(A School is an Organisation. Please change A to E - Education - for Org. Type).
The Address nickname is a quick-reference name to be used for this address for this Org.
For the PRIMARY address this would normally be -Admin Office- or similar. Other address
nicknames could be -Factory-, -Training Centre- etc... Ensure that all the fields
marked with an asterisk ( * ) have information entered or else
BusWise will
not add the information to the table and an error message will be displayed. Note that
some entry must be provided in Phones -*Business. Use -tbs- or -na- if this is unknown
A new PRIMARY ADDRESS must be added to an Organisation after the
Organisation data has been entered.
Any notes that are entered under Organisation and Address
will be shown on the Driver Run Sheet. The PRIMARY Address should be the administration
area for the Organisation and INVOICES and QUOTES should be posted to this address. The
email address entered here will be used for emails to THIS Organisation.
CHARTER - Cht.Admin - •EDIT Organisation and selected Address :
can be used to make changes to the Organisation and or Address details. The
Organisation box will always be present WITH the address box that is being selected to
ensure that information is logical for both.
CHARTER - Cht.Admin - •ADD New Location/Branch/Address to Organisation :
should be used to add further addresses specific to this Organisation.
CHARTER - Cht.Admin - •EDIT Organisation and selected Address :
can be used to make changes to the Organisation and or Address details. The
Organisation box will always be present WITH the address box that is being selected to
ensure that information is logical for both.
CHARTER - ADD Booking or View-Action - provides access to DESTINATION
After selecting a the PICK-UP ADDRESS and -Display Details- there is a choice of
-Select Destination Type- or -NEW / Refresh Booking-.
Either can be selected to SKIP the selection of a DESTINATION TYPE. This will mean that
NO Destination will be allocated to this booking. Any details concerning the Charter or
its destination can then be added to the Notes in the Booking box.
Should -Select Destination Type- be clicked then selecting -No Destination- which is the
last item in the Destination Type Menu will also ensure that no destination is selected.
CHARTER - ADD Booking or View-Action - provides access to DESTINATION
After selecting a the PICK-UP ADDRESS and -Display Details- there is a choice of
-Select Destination Type- or -NEW / Refresh Booking-.
Click on -Select Destination Type- and then -Org. Address- (which is the default)
to be presented with the Destination selection box for those addresses which have been
added for the selected Organisation. Select the required address for DESTINATION from
those offered in the drop down box. Then click on -NEW / Refresh Booking- to be
presented with the NEW BOOKING, QUOTATION and PAYMENT Boxes for completion.
NEW BOOKING : Details to be entered/corrected :
Booking Reference : This is a name by which the Booking
can be easily recognised. This MUST be entered.
A suggested structure could be -- abbreviated Org. name + brief
description of Charter + 001 (in case you have a number of these bookings for this organisation)
Resources : These MUST all be entered. Seats= number of
passengers, Buses = number of buses required and Grade defaults to 555555 and is changed
to suit organisation policies as required.
Start date : Cannot be before today and logically the END date
cannot be before the Start date. Entered as dd-mm-yyyy (d-m-yyyy can be used)
Start Time : Entered as hhmm not hh:mm so 2:45 PM would be 1445.
Logically the START time should not be before the time now id the Start date is today
and the END time must be greater than the Start time.
Notes : Can be used for any purpose required. These notes will
display (print) on Driver Run Sheets, Invoices and eMails.
QUOTATION :
$$$$$$.cc for : Are all entered as dollars or dollars with a
decimal for cents if required. The columns provide the ability to identify the COSTS for
kilometers travelled, total dollars attributable to the hours required for the Charter,
dollars attributable to any daily charges and/or the value of once off charges. The
OTHER value can be used on its own if only a single total cost needs to be identified.
A Quotation can be constructed for later use by using the QUOTE OPTIONS at the bottom of
the screen. These are described in Chapter 22.1 below. If a Quotation is allocated
(added) to this Booking then the values from the Quotation will override the values
entered in the QUOTATION box.
PAYMENT :
Payment Type : This is intended as a reference only. ACC, VISA or
any other reference is acceptable. If these payment details are to be used as interface
to external accounting software then this Type entry would be significant for that
software.
Date : Effectively shows the date of the Booking entry to start
with and when the Receipt / Ref. number is entered on receipt of payment then the date
should be corrected as well to reflect the date of payment in later listings/reports.
BusWise assumes that the Booking is UNPAID until a Reference number or Receipt number is
provided. Blank = UNPAID.
-NEW/ Refresh Booking- can be used at any time to refresh the screen with the data entered.
When all the data has been entered then -SAVE THIS BOOKING- will record the Booking in the
Booking Table. The Booking IS NOT SAVED until this button is clicked. Quotations can
be built and saved while working with this Booking screen but the final Booking will not
be saved until -SAVE THIS BOOKING- has been selected.
If there are errors in the data entry which can be recognised they will be displayed after
-SAVE THIS BOOKING- has been clicked. The Booking details are however retained and they
can be re-displayed and corrected until the Booking is accepted by BusWise.
CHARTER - ADD Booking or View-Action - provides access to DESTINATION
After selecting a the PICK-UP ADDRESS and -Display Details- there is a choice of
-Select Destination Type- or -NEW / Refresh Booking-.
Click on -Select Destination Type- and then select Timing Point and click on
-Process Destination- for the drop down menu to select a -TimingPoint- (TP) or Point of
Interest (POI) to be used as the destination for this Booking.
THEN click on
-NEW/ Refresh Booking- to continue to the BOOKING and other data entry boxes discussed
in Chapter 21.2 above.
CHARTER - ADD Booking or View-Action - provides access to DESTINATION
After selecting a the PICK-UP ADDRESS and -Display Details- there is a choice of
-Select Destination Type- or -NEW / Refresh Booking-.
Click on -Select Destination Type- and then select -Defined TOUR/ ROUTE- and
-Process Destination- for the drop-down box to select the required TOUR for this
Charter Booking.
A TOUR, as presented in the Selection box is prepared in exactly the same way as a
ROUTE is prepared in the ROUTE module. ROUTEs become TRIPS or TOURS depending on how they
are defined. It is suggested that ALL Tours carry a prefix of Tnnn in the ROUTE HEADER.
ROUTEs that are defining TOURs would be a collection of POIs rather than TPs as such and
the POIs could be remote towns or locations which go to make up a TOUR. Please refer to
Add TPs to a Route Header
for further information about the construction of ROUTES.
THEN click on
-NEW/ Refresh Booking- to continue to the BOOKING and other data entry boxes discussed
in Chapter 21.2 above.
CHARTER - ADD Booking or View-Action - provides access to DESTINATION
After selecting a the PICK-UP ADDRESS and -Display Details- there is a choice of
-Select Destination Type- or -NEW / Refresh Booking-.
Click on -Select Destination Type- and then Multiple Trips. Click on -Process Destination-
to continue.
THE CREATION OF A MULTIPLE TRIP DESTINATION IS CARRIED OUT ON A NEW SCREEN.
1. Use the drop-down box to select a destination(TP or POI) for the TRIPs.
2. Enter a short meaningful name by which this Multiple Trip SET will be recognised. This
is the name that will be used in the BOOKING box as a reference name to tie it all together.
The structure should be -CXX college Swim Groups / 001 - or similar.
3. Select TP and enter name as defined in 1. and 2. THEN click on the -Click here-. This
will open the Multiple Trip Table for Charters data entry screen. The screen contains
the Table Entry Block, a listing of the current table and a set of actions that can
be carried out on the table.
4. By referring to the request form, fax or other request documents from the School or
College (or any other organisation) the requirements are entered into the Table.
Trip Date : The date on which the bus is required.
Time : The time that the first Group is to picked up from the
Pick-up point as hhmm thus 2.45 PM would be 1445.
Group to Transfer to destination : As Group A or Class 2B or
Chess Club etc.
Group to Transfer from Destination : On the first trip there would
probably not be a Group to upload for return to the Pick-up point yet so this should be
left blank. NOTE that at least one Group to Transfer field must have a name else the
entry will not be accepted.
Trip duration : Minutes : MUST BE ENTERED. This time is used for
the allocation of buses and drivers so it must be as accurate as possible and should
include a provision for loading time and some delay time.
Trip duration : Kilometers : This entry is optional but should be
completed because it provides important information for the calculation of the quotation
and later bus statistics.
5. Click on -ADD-Trip- and if there are no errors the entry will be added to the Table
and the Table display will be refreshed.
6. Check that the entry is correct. If it is not then enter the M-T ID number (first
column of the Table) for that row and click on -DELETE-Trip-
7. Continue until all the entries have been included in the Table
FOR THAT DAY.
The data entry process is much faster if the TAB-KEY (usually above the CAPS-LOCK) is
used to skip from one entry box to the next.
8. Once the first DAY has been entered the cycle is normally repeated for another day.
If this is the case then using the Trip Date to define the day that requires to be
duplicated enter the next DATE required for that SET and click on -DUPLICATE-. All the
entries for Trip Date : will be created in the Table for the new date specified.
9. Frequently the same SET defined for the first date will be repeated on the same
week-day for a number of weeks. If this is so then enter the number of additional weeks
required in the WEEKS box and click on -DUPWEEK-.
10.Check that all your entries are as required. NOTE that each TRIP assumes the use of
1 bus only. If any TRIP requires multiple buses then those Trips should be kept together
in one Multiple Trip Table and the number of buses increased as required when the
BOOKING details are completed on the BOOKING screen.
11.When the Table is correct and as required
CLICK ON -SAVE TABLE- . If
-SAVE TABLE- is not click then all the entries will be lost.
12.When the Table has been saved the Multiple Trip Table screen must be closed to return
to the booking screen.
13.To finalise the entry on returning to the Booking Screen click on -NEW / Refresh Booking-
and the complete Booking including the Muti-Trip Table will be displayed.
Continue entering the BOOKING and other data entry boxes as discussed
in Chapter 21.2 above.
22.1.a The QUOTATION MODULE OVERVIEW :
The Quotation section of Charter remains dormant and need not be used unless required.
The Quotation system of
BusWise addresses the
Costing/Quote Details paragraph of
the Booking Schedule only. It is an external module which needs to be activated.
Select -Create or Edit Quotation System and Tables for CHARTER- from Charter Tasks and
after a valid set of Quotation Parameters have been loaded then the Quote Module will be
activated and ready to use.
The Quotation Module provides :
a) The ability to define all of the charges which the organisation requires to be taken
into account for the preparation of a quote including the current applicable rates for
each charge. These rates can be updated as required. The structure of the Parameter
File caters for the entry of comment lines into the QUOTATION FORM,
values to be entered into the QUOTATION FORM which can be multiplied
by the rates defined, values entered which can be added to the rates -OR- values which
can be entered to be applied to all fields entered (such as a number of buses or overall
discounts).
b) A parameter driven quotation preparation form called the QUOTATION FORM which can be
stored and then selected for one or more bookings so that the four relevant quotation
sub-totals ( for kilometers, hours, days and grand-total ) can be stored in the
appropriate fields of the booking schedule. The QUOTATION FORM does all of the
quotation calculations and can be displayed separatedly at any time.
c) Ongoing reference to the QUOTATION FORM including a listing of the Quotation
that is attached to a Booking when the Booking is displayed.
22.1.b Entering the QUOTATION PARAMETERS :
Select -Create or Edit Quotation System and Tables for CHARTER- from the Charter Tasks.
BusWise will present a table of all the
Parameters that are loaded to the system at the time.
If this is the first time that you are using this Task there will be no parameters loaded
and the Table will only list the column Headings. Remember that what is being entered
into this parameter file is a question or description which (unless it is a COM ActType
- which is for inserting comments, suggestions or instructions into the QUOTATION FORM)
is going to request the entry of a VALUE which will then be applied to the RATE
entered for the PARAMETER depending on the ActType of the parameter which has been
selected. If this perspective is not understood then the questions, as they are listed in
the QUOTATION FORM could be meaningless, ambiguous or even misleading and prompt for an
illogical answer. Also remember that multiplying any RATE or VALUE by zero will give
a zero result. Also take care with the Seq. because this is the sequence in which the
questions or comments will be presented on the QUOTATION FORM.
Step 1.
Select the Action Type. This is a list of the ActTypes and what they will
achieve when the parameters are presented for completion in the QUOTATION FORM (QF).
>HRS - The VALUE entered on QF MULTIPLIED by RATE entered in this parameter.
Any calculations made for this ActType will be accumulated under Hours on the Booking.
Example - Total Hours for Charter with URBAN BUS.
When this question is presented in the the QF this will require
a VALUE for the number of hours that the bus will be used for a one day Charter.
This would be MULTIPLIED by the RATE per Unit entered into this parameter.
If the bus was to be used for a Multi-day Charter it would be more appropriate
to to use a Daily Rate, rather than an Hourly Rate, and the question would be set up
using the DAY ActType so that the quote would be structured with the $$$$ being accumulated
in the DAY accumulator of the Booking.
KMS - The VALUE entered on QF MULTIPLIED by RATE entered in this parameter.
Any calculations made for this ActType will be accumulated under Kilometers on the Booking.
Example - Total number of Kilometers for Charter for one bus.
When this question is presented in the the QF this will require
a VALUE for the number of Kilometers that the bus will travel for the full Charter. The
VALUE should only be for one bus even if it is a Multi-bus Charter because there should
be a ActType REP at the end to multiply ALL the entries made for each bus.
DAY - The VALUE entered on QF MULTIPLIED by RATE entered in this parameter.
Any calculations made for this ActType will be accumulated under Days on the Booking.
Example - Total number of Driver Days without commentary.
When this question is presented in the the QF this will require
a VALUE for the number days that a Driver will need to be provided. In this case the
driver will not be a qualified Tour guide and will not be expected to provide any
commentary. Note that any VALUEs in the QF or RATES in the parameters can be
entered as a decimal. Thus 0.5 or .500 would be evaluated a one half of whatever
the RATE or the VALUE as entered.
VAL - The VALUE entered on QF is ADDED to the RATE and then ADDED to the sub-total
which may already be in the Quote (Value of the Total Quote) accumulator.
Example - One-off charges applicable for the Charter.
The RATE entered into the parameter would probably be zero in this case unless there was
an overall charge for administration of every Charter for example.
COM - This is a commentary entry and will be displayed in the QF in the
sequence as entered in the Seq.
Example - Please print a copy of ALL quotes and file in QUOTE cabinet.
A RATE entered into the parameter for COM would have no meaning and would be ignored.
REP - The VALUE entered into the QF is MULTIPLIED by the RATE entered into
this parameter and THEN MULTIPLIED BY the sub-total each and EVERY accumulator in
the Booking. So if we loaded a 1 into the RATE for the parameter and then entered
a 1 when the VALUE was entered into the QUOTATION FORM then the REP ActType in
question would make no change to any of the accumulators. This also means that
if EITHER the VALUE or the RATE is entered as zero then ALL the accumulators
would be reduced to zero.
Example - Please enter the NUMBER of BUSES to be used for this Charter.
A RATE entered into the parameter for this REP would have to be 1 or 1.000. When
the VALUE is entered into the QF then all the accumulators that have been sub-totalled
so far will be multiplied by that VALUE. A VALUE of 1 would result in no change. A
VALUE of two (2.0 or 2 or 2.000) would mean that all the VALUES entered into the QF so
far would be the cost of one bus for all the charges included and required and they
would all be MULTIPLIED by 2.0 to cover the cost of sending 2 buses.
Another example could be used for adding a GST to the QF after all the charges have been
tallied.
Example - Please enter 1.10 into Quotation to add normal GST. Else enter 1.0.
In this case the RATE entered into the parameter would be 1.0 so that zero GST could
be charged if necessary. If GST is always charged then it would be slightly simpler to
load the RATE as 1.10 and the question as
Example - Please enter 1 for normal GST charge to apply.
Step 2.
Enter the Seq. This is the sequence in which this parameter will be presented on the QF.
COM (comments) can be positions before or after any active parameter as may be required.
If a REP ActType were to be used in the middle of a QF then the VALUE entered into the
REP parameter would be MULTIPLIED by the RATE and EACH AND EVERY ONE OF the accumulators
( HRS, KMS, DAY and QUOTED) totalled so far would be affected. NONE of the accumulators
loaded AFTER the REP ActType would however be affected.
Step 3.
Each of the Examples listed above would be entered in the Parameter Definition /Question.
The parameters are limited to 64 characters.
Step 4.
Each of the RATES as they are discussed in the ActTypes above would be entered into this
-This Value Field - nnnn.ddd - is the RATE per unit Action Type- field of the parameter.
When all the fields have been entered and checked to ensure that they would read logically
when they are displayed on the QUOTATION FORM then select -Add Definition-.
Parameters can be added or removed at any time. When a Quotation is stored for future
use and reference ALL the details are stored in the Quotation Table so that any changes
to the parameters will only affect future quotation preparation.
Should you wish to delete a parameter then
SELECT THE QUOTATION ID (last column in the table displayed) Enter the ID number in the
last field on the screen and click -Delete Definiton-
If you wish to change a definition/Question first delete it and then RE-ENTER the
Definition/Question IN THE SAME SEQUENCE NUMBER.
22.1.c Completing the QUOTATION FORM (QF):
A Quotation Form must be attached to a booking. Start by -ENTER NEW Booking- and when
all the booking details (order numbers, dates, Seats, buses, dates, times and Notes)
have been entered then select -Prepare-QUOTE-. If the Quotation Module has not yet
been activated yet you will be told to create the Quotation Parameter file and where to do so.
If tomes have not been entered you will receive a message something like
-SYSTEM INVALID input to F/ToSecsTsfromTe start end-. Just select -GoTo NEW Booking-.
Else you will be presented with the QUOTATION FORM.
The entries made in the Booking Form will be summarised at the top of the QF as a guide
for the completion of the QF.
First enter a brief description of the quote as a quote NAME. This should enable you
to recognise the quote name should you wish to use the same quote with a later booking.
Then step through the form logically applying what VALUE you are entering against the
RATE listed from the parameter file using the following guidelines :
-HRS-, -KMS-, and -DAY- take the VALUE * RATE and add this to the respective accumulator.
-VAL- takes VALUE + RATE and adds that to the Quote sub-total accumulator. NOTE :
because of the structure of this -VAL- ActType KMS + HRS + DAY do not = Price Quoted.
Any -COM- comments are displayed in the right sequence without the -COM-.
-REP- takes VALUE * RATE * KMS accumulator, then VALUE * RATE * HRS, then
VALUE * RATE * Quote sub-totals. NOTE : because of the structure of the -REP-
zero should never be entered into a -REP- statement
Select -Calculate and Save- the quotation Form which will advise you the Quotation ID
which you may need to note for future reference. This will save the QF to a table
for future application to another Booking if needed.
THEN click on -GoTo NEW BOOKING- which will re-display the Booking Form with all
of the QF entered into the Costing fields ready to be saved with the Booking.
21.6 Attaching an existing QUOTATION to a Booking :
A Quotation Form must be attached to a booking. Start by -ENTER NEW Booking- and when
all the booking details (order numbers, dates, Seats, buses, dates, times and Notes)
have been entered then under -SAVE THIS BOOKING- will be the Option of selecting
an existing Quotation for this Booking.
Unless you already know the QUOTE ID you wish to use Select
-View and Select an Existing Quote-.
BusWise
will open a new screen and allow you to
review the existing Quote Table to check if there is a suitable match for your current
requirement. When you have found a suitable Quote TAKE NOTE (REMEMBER) the Quotation ID
number, Close the screen (which will return you to your Booking Form), enter the ID
number into Quote ID number and click on -ADD-THE-QUOTE-. This will redisplay the
Booking Entry form with the Quotation referenced (next to NEW Booking Details)
and all the values entered into the Costing Details.
CHARTER - View-Action - provides access to Payment Control
When a payment is recieved an oficial recipt should be issued and the PAYMENT box
accessed by selecting View-Action, choosing or entering the ID for
the required Booking and clicking on -EDIT BOOKING-. The Date : and the Receipt/Ref :
number should be entered into BusWise.
CHARTER - LIST ALL - displays the status.
The selections available under FINANCIAL provide all the status reports necessary to
control Charter payments.
Each BUS that is required for a Charter is entered in a separate row on the WorkSheet.
The START and END dates entered into a Charter Booking control the dates that the Charter
will be shown on the WorkSheet. Each time that a WorkSheet is displayed for a particular
day it scans ALL the Charter Bookings for Bookings which need to be serviced on that day.
Multi-TRIP Bookings are analysed trip by trip to assess when they are due. BusWise does
not use the Booking box (as displayed in the Booking screen) but searches all the
individual trips as they are loaded to the Multi-TRIP Table.
Another important aspect of Multi-TRIP Destination Bookings is the CONCATENATION
feature. Most Multi-Trip bookings can be satisfied by the allocation of a bus (or buses)
to the Charter for all the trips needed for that Charter. The alternative is to
analyse each and every trip so as to maximise the use of buses across many Charters of
this nature. This can be done because of the power of the bus selection process which
is available for allocating buses on the WorkSheet. How this is to be done depends
on the policy of the bus company. The choice can be made by setting the Multi-Trip
allocation process to be followed by the system in the User Parameters.
SYSTEM - SYS-ADMIN - •Load USER DEFINED PARAMETER Values -
j) Concatenate MULTI-TRIP days : will accomplish this setting.
When Charters are included on the WorkSheet they have different structure to that of
a normal SHIFT. This is a list of the differences column by column :
Active When NOT active there is a B in the column in addition to the red bar.
When active the column contains a C in addition to the control button.
SHIFTIn place of the SHIFT Number the column shows the Booking ID number and when
the control button is clicked the complete BOOKING is displayed + return to WorkSheet.
NotesContains a brief summary of the details of the Charter. The Grid/Grade
(as 555555) is followed by a / THEN S for a single day Charter with day 1 of 1 days -OR-
M for a Multi-DAY Charter with day 2 of 3 days etc. -OR- C= for Multi-TRIP Charters
with the CONCATENTION set to NO (=N) or YES (=Y). This is followed by P - with the
number of passengers and B - which defines the Bus count.
ClassContains the word BKNG for a normal destination and TRIP for a Multi-Trip
Booking
DayContains CHT for Charter.
To ensure that the logic of bus and driver allocation is maintained the following rules
apply to the allocation of buses and drivers FOR MULTI-DAY CHARTERS :
a) The initial allocation MUST be made on Day 1 of the Charter (M- 1 of n). Changes can
be made to later days of the Charter provided the initial allocation has been made.
b) ALL the days for a MULTI-DAY Charter must have been allocated to their respective
WorkSheets BEFORE a bus or driver can be allocated to that Charter. This is accomplished
by clicking on the NEXT button to display the WorkSheet until all the days for that
Charter have WorkSheets initialised. It is possible to have a WorkSheet allocated with
ONLY a Charter on it. The rest of the WorkSheet can be applied when required.
c) If a Charter is deleted from the Charter module ALL references to that Charter will
be removed from the WorkSheets (except those WorkSheets which have been archived).
d) If a bus is removed from a Charter it will be removed from all future days of the
Multi-DAY Charter and wil need to be reallocated on ALL future days individually.
Select OPERATIONS / Supervisor/ WEEKLY-7d here are the tasks that will be run :
Part 1.
A check will be made of WorkSheet and ROSTERARC Tables
to ensure that
the dates chosen are valid and logical.
ALSO the WorkSheet table will be checked to ensure that all the WorkSheets
for this week are present and have been completed.
This means that every row on the WorkSheet must be CONFIRMED or
DELETED. DELETED means that the shift/booking was not run and thus deleted.
Part 2.
The complete weeks set of WorkSheets (7) will be extracted from the
WorkSheet table and moved into the ROSTERARC table.
This becomes the ARCHIVE copy and many functions in
BusWise
use the ARCHIVE instead of the WorkSheets.
The IDs copied will be listed so that users can keep a hard copy
of information archived.
Part 3.
Controls will be loaded to an audit file so that
BusWise
can further check Weekly runs are completed and correctly requested.
The weekly tasks MUST be run on a weekly basis because the objectives of
these weekly runs is twofold
FIRSTLY - to ensure data integrity and suitable backup and recovery
points for the
BusWise system
SECONDLY - To convert daily operational activities ( WorkSheets in
particular ) to Company Data ( as Rosters ). As an example the Drivers
Payslips need to be an auditable document aligned with a file which is
backed up on the computer system to reflect the same results should it
need to be rerun. This process is assured by the fact that the WorkSheets
are stored in the Roster Archive as part of the Weekly run. The
Driver Payslips need to be printed from the Archive which cannot be
altered once it has been established. If the Driver PaySlips ( or for
that matter the Bus Statistics ) are listed ( printed ) from the day-to-day
WorkSheets then they will identified as such.
The Weekly Run for
BusWise must therefore
be run FOR EVERY WEEK. It does not
necessarily need to be run the minute the week ends. As long as it is run
before the next week is run as far as
BusWise
is concerned. However be
advised that it is a good discipline to get into a habit of doing the
weekly tasks at a specific time each week.
These are the Weekly runs which are built into
BusWise.
Users are welcome
to suggest other requirements which could be incorporated into
BusWise. We
would welcome any input on this subject. Interfaces can also be discussed.
RUN THE WEEKLY RUN:
OPERATIONS / Supervisor/ WEEKLY-7d will present the starting screen.
Part 1. NB AFTER
BusWise has been properly
BACKed UP up to CD.
A copy of the complete current WorkSheet will be copied to another table to
ensure data integrity.
Part 2. A check will be made of WorkSheet and RosterARC Tables to ensure that
the dates chosen are valid and logical.
ALSO the WorkSheet table will be checked to ensure that all the WorkSheets for
THE week are present and have been COMPLETED.
This means that every row on each WorkSheet must be CONFIRMED or flagged as SKIPPED.
Skipped means that the shift/booking was cancelled. This in turn
means that a cancelled/deleted Booking will need to be DELETED from
the Charter module BEFORE being deleted from the WorkSheet or else
BusWise will just reload the Booking into the
WorksSheet the next time it is
displayed 7.
Part 3. Controls are written to an audit file so that
BusWise can
further check Weekly runs are completed and correctly requested.
Further Steps will be added to BusWise as the
system matures and users suggest further
actions.
THE REASON FOR THE SINGLE LINE AT THE TOP OF THE INTRODUCTION SCREEN IS TO
ENSURE THAT THE BROWSER SCREEN IS WIDE ENOUGH FOR THE
BusWise BARCHART SCREENS.
IT WILL NOT AFFECT THE OPERATIONS OF
BusWise.
If the screen is too narrow then the barcharts (eg. bus and driver selection screens) will
be automatically truncated and they will not line up with the scales. It may be necessary
to construct a special .CSS file to resolve the problem for some systems. Please contact
support@buswise.net for further assistance if necessary.
WARNING --- TAKE CARE WITH RUNNING SKYPE :
WampServer MUST NOT BE RUN AT THE SAME TIME AS YOU ARE RUNNING SKYPE unless
you modify the PORT settings in Skype.
This applies to the same TIME and on the same computer system.
Wamp and Skype unfortunately use the same communication port being port 80.
If it IS necessary to run the two systems at the same time
and on the same computer system then one of the systems must be corrected to
make use of another port. It is a very complex process to reset WAMP so please contact
support@buswise.net for more information. -OR-.
MODIFY the port connection on Skype (applies to Skype Version 4.2.0.155) :
Select Tools / Options / Advanced / Connection where you will find that the box
-Use port 80 and 443 as alternatives for incoming connections-
is ticked. Click on this box to remove the tick and THEN select -Save-.
This will stop Skype from using the port 80 connection ( which is actually a little
bit naughty ) and the effect will take place the next time that you start up Skype.
WARNING --- TAKE CARE WITH RUNNING SKYPE :
1. LOGIN QUICKLY :
TAKE CARE WITH CAPITALS and/or LOWERCASE letters.
The cursor should be positioned in the UserName block. Type your user name
eg. aaaaa or JustinXYZ etc...
Press Tab Key (Usually on left of keyboard above CAPS LOCK)
Type your password eg bbbbb or JuStiN123456AbCd etc....
Press Tab Key.
Press ENTER KEY.
Then go to the left-hand window panel and select your appropriate Menu / Task List.
2. SEND A SCREEN TO THE PRINTER FROM Windows Explorer > 5.0 IN
BusWise :
Right click anywhere in the frame/window/document that you wish to print.
Select Print Preview from the menu presented by your browser.
Another screen will be presented with the OPTION (in the case of Print)
to -print the screen as it is- or to -print the selected frame only-.
Frame only is required.
Try this process with this window as a -Print Preview-.
3. BACKUP YOUR BusWise SYSTEM AND DATA :
The most efficient and most secure way to backup
BusWise is to
copy the complete system from C:\wamp (including the directory name)
to a CD. If your data has become fairly large then copy to DVD or TAPE
Even if your database has become VERY big this is still the simplest
and safest way of making backups
REMEMBER to store one backup off your premises so that you are
in a position to recover from any disaster.
BusWise includes an excellent CD/DVD
burner called CommandBurner.
You can run this program from the C:\wamp directory directly. Just remember
reset the options to DIRECTORY COPY
Backups should be run DAILY but at the very least WEEKLY to ensure that
the system is secure. Always backup just before you do any significant
changes especially when you are installing a new update from
BusWise.
JUST TO BE ON THE SAFE SIDE.
4. UPDATES AND THE BugList:
UPDATE and a list of all currently identified BUGS are available on the
BusWise website
at www.
BusWise.net (note dot NET not dot COM).
This website can also be accessed if you are
online to the internet by clicking on the first line of the LOGIN SCREEN.
The BugList documents any known bugs or anomalies or program errors with a solution
for getting around them. This is usually achieved by using another Task in the
BusWise
system.
BusWise does NOT make any attempt to
automatically update your system. We believe that
this should be a decision taken BY YOU. So you decide when to check if there are any
updates or if you need to apply it. Impala
BusWise will send all customers an email
if we are aware of any bug which can cause your operation or your data any possible damage.
To identify whether you have the latest version or not please do the following :
1. Check your current version number on the LOGIN SCREEN. (The first screen after you have
logged in to
BusWise.) The number is of the
format BW05V111 where 05 is a major release
and 111 is the version of the loaded
BusWise software.
2. Go to the website and check the version available on the left panel under DOWNLOADS
which will be Upgrnnn where nnn is the latest available.
Please log out any current users while doing this upgrade. Wampserver can be left running.
BEFORE DOING AN UPGRADE BE SAFE BY :
a) TAKING A FULL SYSTEM BACKUP OF
BusWise and
b) RENAME THE DIRECTORY C:\wamp\www\BusWise to be say C:\wamp\www\BusWise000 or 001
The reason for this is to ensure that the upgrade DOES create a new
BusWise directory.
To UPGRADE from the website download Upg020 M2 or similar.
This is a self-extracting compressed .ZIP ( .RAR) file called bwupgrade.exe.
Extract the file by double clicking bwupgrade.exe. This will direct itself to the
correct Directory - C:\wamp\www\
BusWise -
5. ESTABLISH DEFAULTS FOR OVERNIGHT SHIFTS ASAP :
OverNight Shifts are extremely
fragile because they extend over a
period of two days. (Rather like Charters) so the allocation of Bus and
Driver needs in fact to be coordinated over two days. In other words
GREAT CARE needs to be taken about allocating a Bus or a Driver to an
OverNight SHIFT because it is VERY IMPORTANT to allocate the SAME BUS and
Driver to the afternoon part on Day1 and the morning part on Day2.
(Or vice versa if that has been your choice.
This challenge
can be avoided if OverNight Shifts are subjected to the Default Bus
and Driver facility. This is s good process to follow even if the default
option is ONLY used for OverNight Shifts and no other Shifts.
See Glossary which describes Defaults and Chapter
11.2.0 defines how these are created. Because the OverNight shift is
one entry at the Shift level
BusWise will
allocate the Bus and Driver
combination into both periods (pm day 1 and am day 2)
that are created for the WorkSheets.
6. CHANGE THE LOGO PICTURE - TOP OF LEFT SCREEN :
CREATE a .JPG file of the digital picture that you wish to use.
Copy this file into the folder C:\wamp\www\BusWise\yourfile.jpg
yourfile.jpg should be less than 60 KB else it will slow down the loading of
BusWise. A utilty to shrink the size of .JPG
files has been included with
BusWise.
It is freeware. Run Quicksize and select file, locate yourfile.jpg, size the file,
close Quicksize and you will have a new file called yourfile-small.jpg.
RENAME the file called
thebus.jpg to be thebus.jpg.old.
THEN RENAME the image which you have just loaded (yourfile.jpg -OR- yourfile-small.jpg)
to be
thebus.jpg
Before any of these data loading tasks are applied to the
BusWise
tables ensure that a complete BACKUP is created.
The purpose of .CSV files is to enable users to load data to
BusWise from
SpreadSheets which could be
a) modified version of SpreadSheets used for the
current operation of the users business or
b) manually entered to capture data in a more familiar manner.
This method does however carry additional risk of errors.
NB... TimingPoints need to be added to Routes using
ROUTE / Add-TP-Route task from BusWise.
For each task listed below there
are files called SSL_xxxxx.ods ( for Open Office ) SSL_xxxxx.xls ( for MS eXcel )
located in the
BusWise directory c:/wamp/www/BWdata.
The files may not be
moved to another directory else
BusWise will
not be able to find them.
Additional files with the word SEC in the file label is available as backup.
There is also a current .CSV file which could be used by system admin staff
to understand what
BusWise expects. These
files will need to be overwritten
when new .CSV files are written from the SpreadSheets
or renamed if you wish to keep them.
The xxxxx defines the data that is to be loaded. If DRIVER
data is required then the file SSL_Driver.ods ( or .xls ) would be
double clicked to open in the appropriate software OpenOffice or MS eXcel.
The details of how
to complete each column in each of the SpreadSheets is described below.
Once all the data has been entered into the SpreadSheet the Spreadsheet should
be saved as SSL_xxxxx.CSV. The default structure for .CSV files is that the
first row contains the headings, data is separated by a comma (,) and text is
surrounded by double quotes (""). The .CSV file must be saved in the same
directory.
The appropriate task is then selected
SYSTEM / SUP-ADMIN /
S. Spreadsheets for loading data from .ODS to MySQL. and
BusWise will
add the data to the table from the .CSV file created.
The loaded data should then be carefully checked to ensure that
it is correct by viewing the details with a
BusWise task. If errors are found
they can normally be edited in
BusWise
but if the errors are too numerous then the
BACKUP, recommended above, should be reinstalled
the spreadsheet/s corrected, saved as .CSV and then re-loaded and rechecked.
The .CSV file is deleted after being used by
BusWise
to avoid the possibility of duplicate records.
C27.1- Driver details SpreadSheet:
The DriverID is automatically created by
BusWise.
Staff-No
Company payrolls usually require the allocation of a unique Driver Staffnumber
to each employee. If you do not have such numbers which would help
BusWise tie
the driver into your payroll or bookkeeping systems then a UNIQUE identifier
should be manually selected. It is a good idea for this to have an alphabetic
prefix such a D001 or D1 or similar and progressing from there.
FirstName
Driver First Name sometimes referred to as a Christian Name or could
be a NickName.
Given Name
Driver given / registered name as it appears on drivers licence etc.
Mobile Phone
If one is available. It is a good policy for all drivers to have mobile phones.
Some organisations will provide drivers with a company owned unit.
GradeID
Also called a Grid number in
BusWise.
If unsure whether this is required,
use the default number of 55555 which
BusWise
uses as the middle-of-the-road
Grade. Companies can change these later to indicate competence, service time,
licence rating or experience levels once familiar with
BusWise and how this
grading is used.
Home Phone
It is a good idea to include any area code. This maintains conformity in the
event of interstate usage or expansion.
Address 1
and
Address 2
Always use Address 1 if one of the lines is not required for the residential
and or postal address and will be left blank.
Suburb
Residental suburb.
State
and
PostCode
DOB d-m-y
So as to avoid confusion all dates entered into
BusWise should follow the
pattern of DD-MM-YYYY. Preceding zeroes are not required but the YYYY should
include the century just to avoid the occasional system anomaly.
eg 7-6-1956 for seventh june
Driver Licence
Drivers normal motor vehicle licence number as registered with Transport.
Expiry Date
Of the normal drivers licence. see DOB above.
Bus/Passenger Authority
Passenger vehicle authority or similar as appropriate for company location/state.
Expiry Date
Of the passenger vehicle authority. see DOB above.
Notes
Free format and reasonably unlimited notes can be entered here.
For example : Driver cannot work over easter holidays. Requires every Monday
off so that he can look after his children. Has promised to upgrade passenger
authority by 31/11/2011 to drive bendy buses. etc. etc.
C27.2- Timingpoint details SpreadSheet :
TimingPoints are discussed in Chapter 6 of this HELP file. It is important to
take great care with the loading of these TimingPoints because they provide
the reference points for may activities across the company operation.
Particular attention needs to be placed on TPs to ensure that any later
expansion of either
BusWise or the organisation
which will use these TPs will
not require them to be re-loaded. Examples of future use include :
a) addition of GPS references or Map References if they are not already used
b) map grid references screen which will show the current location of a bus
c) introduction of electronic route/shift sheets on board buses etc...
Timingpoint – 40 char
Please ensure adherence to the Rules defined in Chapter 6.1 to avoid
duplication of TPs and consequent extensive confusion.
Gps – 26
Normally this entry is left blank. If you do already have this information
in a SpreadSheet extracted from a GPS unit then it would be a very good idea
to load that information at this time.
MapPage – 3
This is the page number ( 123 ) from the relevant map chart such
as provided by UBD
or Gregory etc.... This can be left blank and updated later.
MapRef – 4
This is the reference grid ( M13 ) from the relevant map chart
such as provided by UBD
or Gregory etc.... This can be left blank and updated later.
Notes :
Free format Notes area. This can contain specially structured information
which can later be searched by
BusWise.
If this facility is identified please
contact support@
BusWise.com for information.
C27.3- Route Header details SpreadSheet :
Please ensure that you understand the TimingPoint references discussed in C27.3
and C6.1 in this HELP file.
Route No
This alphanumeric field ( either alpha, numeric or mixed ) is the name by
which the company recognises a specific ROUTE. It is a succession of TimingPoints
which are tabled together to ensure the strict map route that a bus needs
to follow so that the timetables, created by the organisation, can be
adhered to. The suffix of the number used should be reserved to differentiate
the inbound routes from the outbound routes or any other variation
For example : Route 3331 is the Route from A to B. Route 3332 is the same route
but from B to A and Route 3335 could be from A to B via C.
School Routes could be recognised by a prefix of S as S3331 or S12B etc.
Route Starting TP
The Terminus ( or TP ) where the Route will commence.
Destination TP
The Terminus ( or TP ) where the Route will be completed.
Mins.
The number of minutes from the Starting TP to the Next TP on the run. Not the
minutes required for the complete route. This is to ensure that we can add
detour ( additional ) TPs into the Route at a later time without having to
ensure that any other dependency is catered for. Any errors caused by
increasing the time needed for a Route will be reflected in the Shift analysis
which can be called as a
BusWise task at any time.
Kms Next TP
The TOTAL number of Kilometers which this Route will run. In this case this
number will have to be edited if any of the TPs are changed.
Grid
Also referred to in
BusWise as a Grade
( in the case of a Driver for example )
this field is intended to describe the resource allocation limitations which
will apply to this Route. The default is 555555 and can be updated at a
later stage when the conditions and limitations have been defined for the
specific company needs. For example 655555 could signify that this is a
major city route and 355555 could signify that this route is a School route
only. This grading can be overridden by the grade applied to a SHIFT when
the limitations of the route could change.
Desto
Certain buses have destination codes which are used to set the Destination
Signs or Ticket machines etc.. This is a free format 6 character field.
Notes
Any notes can be recorded about a route here . They will be reflected on the
Route Sheets when they are printed so an immediate use would be the Left Right
( or driving instructions ) for the driver to get to the next TP.
C27.4- Shift details SpreadSheet :
This Help section will be written as soon as the task has been fully tested.
Select OPERATIONS / Monthly.
A fully detailed explanation of these tasks will be described as soon
as the user needs have been established. As
BusWise
is of the opinion that
calendar months are possibly not that significant - and in fact often cause
major confusion - we anticipate that weekly routines will provide all the
information necessary for statistical and legal purposes. ianm.
C29.0 STANDARD OPERATING TIMES -- SOT
Appendix 3
describes how to load existing information about TimingPoints,
Routes and Shifts to
BusWise on a step by step basis.
This assumes that you have
all of your documents and information in place and functional.
Because
BusWise is very structured, and thus
has a number of disciplines in place,
it is certainly worth considering an alternative approach to loading all your
data to gain the significant operational and management benefits offered by
BusWise.
If this is possible then it
is an excellent opportunity to
review the operations area and potentially gain huge benefits with a few changes.
This chapter describes how to use
BusWise to
TRANSLATE A TIMETABLE
(as issued by a Public Utility for Passenger / Customer use) and translate it
(or them) into a functional WorkSheet with optimum SHIFTS allocated in the process.
There are SIX steps required to achieve this :
2. Build all the Routes using these TimingPoints
3. Using the SOT section enter all the sot_routes = every departure time
required for every Route
4. Using the GENERATION section of SOT build a set of InterimShifts and load
these as DEVELOPMENT SHIFTS
5. Use
BusWise to build a WorkSheet from the INITIAL
DEVELOPMENT SHIFTS created.
Restructure the Shifts by using the Bar Chart allocation process for the
drivers and then the -Analyse Driver Hours- report and /
or the ALL-SHIFTS / SIGNON-TIME sequence report to decide the optimum
mix of Routes on each Shift for minimum resource (bus / driver) requirements.
6. Covert your DEVELOPMENT SHIFTS to NORMAL SHIFTS and then
create the WorkSheets (Your INTERACTIVE DAILY DIARY SHEETS) for a convenient time
period into the future. This would normally be about one month in advance so that the
Driver Rosters can be printed off.
Version 2 or the DEMONSTRATION DATA has been built following this 6 step sequence
using the PUBLIC TIMETABLE issued by TRANSLINK for BRIBIE ISLAND Routes 640, 641,
642, 643 and 644. A .PDF copy of this timetable is provided. View the
Bribie Island TimeTable
C29.1. Select ROUTE / TimingPoints / TP-ADD-GPS /
The process for adding TimingPoints (TPs) is defined at
TimingPoints (TPs) / Locations / Coordinate :
C29.2a. Select ROUTE / Route-Add-New /
The process for defining ROUTES (Trips) Headers is defined at
Create a Route Header :
C29.2b. Select ROUTE / Route-EDIT /
The process for adding TimingPoints (TPs) to ROUTES (Trips) is defined at
Add TPs to a Route Header :
SOT is a
BusWise abbreviation for SHIFT
OPERATIONS TABLE creation processes. It is in fact also STANDARD OPERATION TIMES for
the bus routes. ALL of departute times for ALL of our ROUTES need to be entered.
The Public TimeTable such as
Route 640
can provide all the information needed to create the SOT ROUTES table which will
drive all of SOT utilities/tasks that follow.
Select
SYSTEM / SOT-ADMIN / Run SOT Table Setup:
for the FIRST TIME that we start using the SOT Tasks in
BusWise.
Take care not to use this AFTER you have entered information into SOT because it will
ALL be destroyed. (This is an example of using the correct Security Level when running
the system. Only Level 5 access CAN run this Task.)
NEXT select
SYSTEM / SOT-ADMIN / 1. EDIT TimeTable requirements... :
Select a Route that we have already created so that we can add ALL
the required running times required by the TimeTable. Start processing from the first
ROUTE to make sure that none are missed. Using the Bribie Island TimeTables we start with
ROUTE 640a - Woorim to Caboolture.
BusWise
will present the Processing SOT - TimeTable entries screen which starts
with a table of all the existing ROUTES already added to this ROUTE-set. Initially
only the Table Headings will be shown.
Refer to
the TimeTable
and the appropriate Route including its correct PATTERN or prefix code (640a -
which we added to differentiate inbound ROUTES from OUTBOUND Routes or slightly
varying ROUTES on different days of the business week etc...
Quick Entry - using keyboard mainly :
Once first entry has been completed.
Enter time. (NB 24 hour as 1306). Press Tab. Press Tab. Press enter. Press tab.
Press Tab.
and Enter next time ......
Time for Route to start :
Pick the departure time on the TimeTable for the selected Route
and enter the time that the first trip is due to leave the TP. All
BusWise times are entered as 0513 for 13 mins
past five, not 05:13
BusWise
displayed all its times as 05:13 because it is easier to read than 0513 but
0513 is easier to enter than 05:13. Please enter 24 hour clock times 1423 for 23 mins
past 2 o'clock PM etc.
INTERIM WeekDay to be used when selecting SOT for
INTERIM SHIFT table :
Most TimeTables are grouped into WeekDay sets to easily identify those Routes
that are serviced over Saturdays, Sundays or Public Holidays etc. When we
need to identify our SHIFTS we will need to be able to group all of the
appropriate Routes together for a particular day to ensure that all the
services are correctly delivered on that day. This is now identified in our
sot_routes tables to enable
BusWise to create
SHIFTS appropriately.
This WeekDay identifier is abbreviated into a 3 charter identifier and as we
are pretty sure to have a set of Routes that run on WeekDays we recommend the
use of M-F for a Monday-to-Friday-set for each Route. If you were now
entering times for the Saturday Routes, enter Sat. For Sunday use Sun. Hopefully
Public Holidays will be run with the same set of Routes as either Saturday or
Sunday. If not, then it may be necessary to have a P-H group for Public
Holidays. Remember to create as few groups as you possibly can because this
will considerably reduce the work when compiling all of the Shifts for a
specific calendar period.
Select -Add Route and Start Time- and then -Continue- . The system loops and
presents a screen for the next entry with most of the details ready from the first
entry. So all we need to do is enter the time ( 0613 ) for the next Trip for 640a.
Carry on until
ALL the TIMES have been
entered into their respective Routes from the TimeTable. There is a report you can
display to check to ensure that you have not missed any by selecting
SYSTEM / SOT-ADMIN / 2a. List ALL routes that ......
-OR- SYSTEM / SOT-ADMIN / 3. SOT - InterimShift Table Processig Menu.
Presents the -SOT Creating InterimSHIFT Table- Screen with all its build options. There are many
potential changes that can be made to this screen! It has been structured to enable
the application of a number of subjective ideas as to the creation of the most economical
and effective shifts. The default criteria are structured based on the assumption that
Drivers are the most critical component in terms of both availability and cost especially
considering a number of limitations which exist with regard to award payment structures,
cost of overtime and legal limits imposed. The final test of these SHIFTS is when the
payroll and statistics for both driver and bus are projected.
BusWise is specifically structured to enable the
generation of these details for WHAT-IF conditions using Development SHIFTS and
WorkSheets which can be generated for far distant future dates, executed and analysed and
then destroyed without affecting the current workload.
First time through :
Choose -Rebuild the TEMP Table .... -
Select a WEEKDAY from the drop-down list. This list is a summary of all the WEEKDAY
options that were loaded into the SOT Table when we entered the TIMETABLE.
If this selection is empty then Step -C29.3. Select SYSTEM / SOT-ADMIN / -
has not been completed.
CHANGE REPORT SEQUENCE FOR DISPLAY OF SOT Table is ignored because it is used in
conjunction with Use the Table that was built last time ( REPORTS ONLY )
Choose -G. PREPARE ---INTERIM SHIFT FILE.
Choose -Clear the STATS ANALYSIS TABLE- to ensure that the Statistics Table, which
is Table that saves a row of information for each time that this
- G. PREPARE ---INTERIM SHIFT FILE - is run. This enables comparisons of results when
changes are made to the parameters that drive this program.
Specify the PREFIX for the SHIFTNAME. The WEEKDAY selection made above will extract ALL
the ROUTES that have have have been entered for that WEEKDAY. This entry defines how
we want to identify our SHIFTNAMES so that they are recognizable as being the SHIFTS
being run on those days. If we choose - M-F - as the WEEKDAY above then a prefix of
W for our shifts would be appropriate.
BusWise would
then create a number of Interim SHIFTS called W001, W002, W003 etc..
If it was - Sat - then Sa would be appropriate.
WEEKDAY for the SHIFT HEADER should be the same as the WEEKDAY chosen above. This
entry will be placed in the DAY field af each SHIFT created and so enable us to select
all SHIFTS with a DAY=M-F when we are building the WorkSheets. Because of the special
nature of the use of the CLASS field in the SHIFT seletions this SOT process will
create ALL SHIFTS with a CLASS of - NOR - and any special requirements can be created
later.
The next six fields that follow, Minutes for ChangeOver at a Terminus .... etc are all
self explanatory. The defaults for this screen are provided with the system and these
defaults can be changed in the User Parameter File as well as when this SOT process
to create Interim Shifts is run.
Check the RULE for selecting the NEXT TRIP that is available : THere are three alternatives
for this choice.
A= Use ANY TP to select the next available ROUTE to be included in the
SHIFT
subject to the use of the Proximity Table. We discuss the building of the
PROMIMITY TABLE below. This Table ensures that the system chooses a TP which is not
too far away (in terms of both time and disdance) to start the next Trip.
T= the next Trip (ROUTE) to be added to the SHIFT must be the same as the ending TP from
the last Trip.
R= (the default WITH WAIT UNLIMITED) the next Trip to be selected
must be the same TP and the ROUTE must ALSO be the
same ROUTE as the last trip.
Click on -Continue- and
BusWise will now apply all the required Route
times that you have entered for the selected WEEKDAY and create an InterimShift Table.
The next screen will tell you how many records were read during the process,
for the WEEKDAY selected, and compiled into the InterimShift table and various.
We now have a complete InterimShift file ready for processing.
Select SYSTEM / Ishift-ADMIN / H. Display the last Inter Shift Table.... -OR-
U. -OR- S. to display the results of the above creation process. These tasks do not
change any data. When these Tasks are selected G. will be unchecked if it was checked.
The
SOT Create InterimSHIFT in the
Appendices Help File provides another perspective of this Task. The output
is totally dependent on how the Public Timetables have been structured.
All that emains now is to build a set of DEVELOPMENT SHIFTS from the Interim SHIFT
Table which has been created once we are happy that it is the most efficient Table
that can be created automically. There will be further fine tuning before the
DEVELOPMENT SHIFTS can be used LIVE.
The Interim SHIFT table created by SOT processing can be viewed with task
SYSTEM / Ishift-ADMIN / H. Display the last Interim Shift Table after G.--- .
Go to SYSTEM / SOT-ADMIN / 4. APPEND DEVELOPMENT SHIFTS from InterimShift Table
( -OR- 5. ) to create a set of Development SHIFTS.
Go to SHIFT / LIST ALL / -Continue- to see all the shifts that been created. These shifts
will have a red bar in the second to last column showing that they are
DEVELOPMENT shifts.
Click on a Shift number button (column 1) to see the complete shift with all the TPs
that have been allocated to this SHIFT.
Go to SHIFT / Shift.ADMIN / Select one of the created Shifts and click on -Continue- to
view the Shift as we have done -OR- Selct one of the Shifts as well as clicking on
EDIT Shift HEADER and then -Continue- to enable you to change the TP structure
for this SHIFT.
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Before the Development Shifts can be really useful for the creation of
WorkSheets it is best to have the BUS and DRIVER information loaded. It is OK to
use MINIMAL DATA at this stage to get the basic bus and driver identification records
in place. They can be corrected with all the details at a later time.
The Shifts will already produce complete WorkSheets but they are
somewhat meaningless until you can start allocating resources.
Loading Buses is an example.
Once they are loaded then Shifts can be analysed for efficiency, Shifts can be
merged and appended to other shifts to reduce driver numbers and all the
benefits of the
BusWise WorkSheet and resulting
reports can be used effectively.
At this point in time you have an up-and-running tool for the optimization of all your
bus despatching which will satisfy ALL the requirements of the TimeTables.
30.0 Data Flow to create Rosters :
In Chapter 11 the use of WorkSheets for planning Bus/Driver allocations is
discussed in detail. The process of loading Bus/Driver DEFAULT allocations into the
SHIFTS is explained. When those particular SHIFTS are used to generate future
WorkSheets then the Bus/Driver combinations assigned to those SHIFTS as DEFAULTS
will be loaded to the new WorkSheet so that the process of Bus/Driver allocation
does not need to be repeated each time. This means that 5 WorkSheets could be
generated for a work week ( Mon to Fri ) as one request however this would mean
that the Bus/Driver allocations would be the same for every day of that week.
Using the WorkSheet as a planning tool we could structure the SHIFTS allocated for a
FULL WEEK ( Mon - Sun ) to optimise the rotation process through the seven day cycle.
This could be applied to a 5 day week if a different set of drivers were used over the
weekends. This process can be tested using the ROSTER-PREP process until the there is
a comfortable balance for the Drivers when the roster sheets are restructured each
week to create a balance of maximum days off AND hours worked for the rotation.
This is achieved by being able to store the Bus/Driver DEFAULT allocations for a
full week. The ROSTER-PREP task stores this information so that the Driver shift cycles
become very easy to maintain. The initial set-up requires a number of trial runs but
this process is easy to follow and the complete process is laid out in the
ROSTER-PREP screen.
Before starting the ROSTER-PREP process you will need to have a FULL WEEKs WorkSheets
available. The actual dates ( past or future ) for these WorkSheets does not matter as
long as they are available for EACH DAY of a FULL WEEK because they need to be loaded to
the TABLE SET one day at a time via the SHIFT Tables. The process is therefore :
a) Choose a Monday WorkSheet (note the actual date -
which does not have to be a Monday)
b) The Bus/Driver from that WorkSheet DATE are loaded to the SHIFTS as DEFAULTS.
c) From the ROSTER-PREP screen the DEFAULTS are loaded from the SHIFTS to a selected
TABLE SET for a specific day ( Mon in this case).
This process a) through c) is now repeated for each day of the week Monday through
Sunday and they are all loaded to the same TABLE SET for each of the respective days.
When the TABLE SET is now displayed if gives a complete Roster for A WEEK. This WEEK
can now be used as it is repeatedly or it can be automatically RESTRUCTURED from one week
to the next so that it enables a complete cycle through ALL the SHIFTS for each Driver.
This cycle can easily be followed on the ROSTER-PREP screen. Here is an expanded
explanation of that screen.
The script in RED is the script that appears on the ROSTER-PREP screen.
=========================================== PART 1 ==========================================
Select the TABLE SET that we are using. The default is SET U (Urban).
There are three TABLE SETs available, called 1, 2 and 3 or U, S and C which can be used
in any way that you like. The suggestion is that U is used for Urban SHIFTS, S is
for School SHIFTS and C is held in reserve in case we have any Custom requirements.
Custom requirements could arise when the creation of WorkSheets cannot be managed with
the use of DAY and CLASS in the SHIFT headers alone. This just provides another set of
options
THE TABLE SET THAT IS TO BE USED FOR ALL THE TASKS ON THIS SCREEN IS SELECTED HERE !!
-OR- Run the TABLE SET Backup / Recovery Task
.......Always take a backup before changing or updating Tables.
These three Tables can be backed up, restored from their back up or copied from
one TABLE SET to another TABLE SET using this task.
By reading ALL the information on the screen the functions are logically explained.
-OR- Clear the selected TABLE SET ---
This is done if TABLE has not been used yet -OR- to clear TABLE. CARE!!!
-Clear-PreAlloc-.
Before the TABLE SET has been used or should you wish to clear the Table to reload all
the information to the TABLE SET then this task is run by clicking on - Clear-Pre-Alloc.
This will if fact delete the TABLE SET and create a new one. It will not delete or change
the backup copy of the TABLE SET. Each TABLE SET has its own backup. One only.
When a TABLE SET is copied to backup the backup is
completely overwritten by the TABLE SET. If you wish to clear a backup for some reason
then you would need to clear the TABLE SET and copy the cleared TABLE SET to its backup.
If you only wish to display the selected TABLE SET then click -Continue-
Having selected the TABLE SET that you wish to use, or leaving the default as 1/U if
that is the one you wish to use then clicking on this -Continue- button will display
the roster. The roster can be printed (as can any screen) by using the right-click and
selecting print from the drop-down menu that is offered
=========================================== PART 2 ==========================================
Loading Information into the Pre-Allocation Tables :
Information for Pre-Allocation comes from the ALL-SHIFTS listing in
BusWise.
A suitable WorkSheet needs to be set up.
If it is already set up with Drivers/Buses then the WorKSheet can be selected
by this Link to MASTER.Admin
-Apply DEFAULT DRIVERS and Buses .......-
Having created a WorkSheet for all the days of the week that are relevant to your
operation ( 5 days = Mon to Fri or all 7 days = Mon to Sun ) EACH WorkSheet has to
selected for the appropriate day ( a Mon WorkSheet for the first day, a Tue WorkSheet
for the second day etc..) and loaded to the SHIFT defaults one day at a time. The
-Apply DEFAULT DRIVERS and Buses .......- does this task.
When the set of DEFAULT Drivers/Buses for a specific day have been loaded to the
appropriate SHIFTS from the WorkSheet
then the Drivers/Buses can be loaded to one or more DAYS in the TABLE SET which has been
selected above.
XX Only Display the existing TABLE -AND-- XX
There is no INPUT action to be taken
-OR- XX
SELECT Drivers AND Buses from SHIFT DEFAULTS. (Buses without Drivers will be ignored)
The first two selections here are merely for program control and are selected (black dot)
by default. They are unselected (white dot) automatically when some other selection is
made. To activate PART 2 of the PreAlloc ( ROSTER-PREP ) process -SELECT Drivers AND
Buses..... - must be clicked. - There is no INPUT...... - will automatically be
switched off (unselected).
-AND- Change OUTPUT day. By default it is set to Mon = Monday
Always Identify the OUTPUT DAY where you wish to store the data in the TABLE SET :
XX Mon XX Tue XX Wed XX Thu XX Fri XX Sat XX Sun
The TABLE SET day ( Mon thru Sun ) must now be selected to receive the output from
SHIFT DEFAULT Buses/Drivers that have been loaded from the appropriate WorkSheet. This
will create the specific DAY of the WEEK that we are going to use as our WEEKLY
DRIVERS ROSTERs.
You can store Drivers/Buses from a single WorkSheet into one or many
days in the TABLE SET.
By loading the DAYS one at a time we will build up a full week which looks very much
like a calendar when it is displayed. This is our weekly Driver roster and when it is
displayed as a driver roster ( choose the task DRIVER / Rosters / and the appropriate
TABLE SET 1/U or 2/S or 3/C that you wish to use )
and the driver roster can be displayed or printed with
the heading that is typed into the 12 character free-format block provided for this
purpose. Note that the TABLE SET is therefore a WEEK, any WEEK. The week starting date
that the TABLE SET is to used for is only defined when it is displayed / printed.
=========================================== PART 3 ==========================================
LOAD GROUP number to a TABLE SET to enable future ROSTER RESEQUENCING (optional):
When the TABLE SET was created for the it was created so that all the SHIFTS allocated
to one DRIVER are located on one ROW. This establishes the shift combination for that
week for each Driver. So that the TABLE SET can be displayed and re-arranged IN ORDER
while maintaining the weeks structure we need to add a defined GROUP NUMBER to each row
of SHIFTS that have been loaded.
Driver Fred Blogs has a shift allocated to him for each day of the week. The roster
displays this, and has it loaded in the Table as, one specific ROW. When we wish to
restructure this Roster for the next week we wish to move the Drivers down one row so
that the Drier that is on ROW 1 this week is moved down to ROW 2, ROW 2 to 3 etc... and
the last ROW needs to move to ROW 1. This is fine for the first week but we need to
allocate a GROUP NUMBER to each GROUP of SHIFTS = EACH ROW. So that we can start with
the same ROW as we did for our first week. By having a GROUP NUMBER we can ensure that
the next week when we run the restructure the same process will be followed in the same
sequence so that the Driver in ROW 2 from the first week can now be RESCHEDULED to ROW 3
for the following week.
This GROUP NUMBER (particularly if we RESCHEDULE Drivers for ALL 7 days) enables a
tiered structure to be put in place so that no Driver is scheduled to go directly from
a Sunday on duty this week to a Monday on duty the next week and finish up doing seven
( or more ) days in a row. This is against the employment rules and would also create
an unhappy driver. So by careful planning with the day off-duty and locking the ROWs
in the TABLE SET into a particular sequence this situation is avoided.
If Driver only work a 5 day schedule the tiered structure does not need to be planned
but the ROWS in the TABLE SET still need to be sequences to ensure that Drivers are rotated
through the full cycle of SHIFTS that are available.
PART 3 is designed to enable loading of the GROUP NUMBER into any of the TABLE SETS.
This task can be run so that the TABLE SET can be optimised to make use of Driver
planning .
This is done by allocating Group numbers to a TABLE SET.
This will ensure that the SHIFTS that are GROUPED together in a SPECIFIC ORDER
stay that way.
The DRIVER work conditions can be maintained and the HOURS WORKED each week
are balanced fair division of work.
Zero Group numbers are not moved when RESEQUENCING is done.
Use this link - Apply Group Numbers to a TABLE SET - to go to this Task.
Having prepared the rosters and carefully checked the result by displaying or printing
the TABLE SET, the structure of the roster can be checked to ensure that it
conforms to all of the planning that has been done.
We are now in a position to create a set of WorkSheets for the first week. This is
done by running OPERATIONS / OPS.Admin / •Create NEW or ADD to Daily Worksheet/s .
This can be done by selecting the appropriate number of WorkSheets, the appropriate
starting date for the WorkSheets, the appropriate DAY and CLASS for the set of SHIFTS
required PLUS selecting the correct TABLE SET from
-- SELECT Bus and driver DEFAULTs -OR- ROSTER PREALLOCATION
XXUse NO Bus/Driver defaults -OR- XXShift Default or Preallocation
XXSet U XXSet S XXSet C --
that is located on that screen just above the
-Prepare the WorkSheet- button.
The selections made on the create WorkSheet screen would be something like :
1) number of days = 5 ddmmyyyy = 7-9-2009 DAY = M-F CLASS = NOR leave X set to default of
Active WorkSheets... set X on the final line to X Set U
That would complete the set for Mon-Fri. We would now need to create WorkSheets for
the Sat :
2) number of days = 1 ddmmyyyy = 12-9-2009 DAY = Sat CLASS = NOR leave X set to default of
Active WorkSheets... set X on the final line to X Set U
AND the Sunday :
3) number of days = 1 ddmmyyyy = 13-9-2009 DAY = Sun CLASS = NOR leave X set to default of
Active WorkSheets... set X on the final line to X Set U
AND you will probably need to run all the School SHIFTS as it is School IN week
4) number of days = 5 ddmmyyyy = 7-9-2009 DAY = M-F CLASS = SCH leave X set to default of
Active WorkSheets... set X on the final line to X Set S . This is assuming that we
have followed the same processes listed above to load all the School SHIFTS into
the TABLE SET C.
We now have the full set of WorkSheets that can be used by the operations room for that
week. We need to print the Driver Rosters for that week so that they can placed
on the DRiver Notice Board.
5) Go to DRIVER / Rosters / Select A and enter the date as 7-9-2009 and -Continue-
This will give you a single set of sheets with ALL the Drivers in Driver Sequence and
all the SHIFTS which they are required to work for that full week.
-OR- 6) Go to DRIVER / Rosters / and select 1/U and -Continue- followed by
Go to DRIVER / Rosters / and select 1/S and -Continue- which will give you two sets
of sheets which would be structured in the calender format that we used to prepare them.
1U would provide all the Urban Runs and 1S would be all the School runs.
Having completed all the required documents for the Operations Section
for the week of the 7-9-2009
we are now ready to do the same for the week of 14-9-2009. This is when we use PART 4
of the ROSTER-PREP Task.
=========================================== PART 4 ==========================================
Use the selected TABLE SET and RESTRUCTURE the TABLE SET for the next week :
The only thing we now need to do is RESTRUCTURE Roster TABLE SET for the week by
first copying the TABLE SET ( U in our example above ) to Backup ( see PART 1 above)
and then entering TODAYS DATE in the block provided as a check
X RESTRUCTURE selected TABLE SET ................ and -Continue-.
The TABLE SET is now ready to use for the Urban runs. You may or may not wish to
RESTRUCTURE the School Runs. If you do then do the same again but ensure that you
select 2/C at the top of the page in PART 1
All the is now needed is to step through 1) to 6) above and all the documents are
prepared for the next week. Any changes that are made to SHIFTS etc will be reflected
when the WorkSheets are called up to run on the required day. Drivers who are on leave
and Buses that are in the WorkShop will NOT appear on the WorkSheets on the actual day
and SHIFTS will be marked accordingly for reallocation.
Enter todays date to CONFIRM that the PREALLOC Table is to be overwritten
dd-mm-yyyy
If you have not already done so,
PLEASE make a back-up of the selected TABLE SET.
-- TABLE SET Backup / Recovery Task --
XX RESTRUCTURE selected TABLE SET by DRIVER in GROUP order - provided PART 3 has been done.
This will place the DRIVER in Group 1 into Group 2, 2 into 3 etc
and the LAST Driver into Group 1. Buses will remain with the SHIFT.
If PREALLOC is used to prepare DRIVER ROSTERS then
the same TABLE SET must be selected when creating WorkSheets.
When the NEW BOOKING screen is displayed for entry of the Booking details this is followed
by
Costing/Quote Details. The information that can be entered here is
Kilometers , Hours, Days and Price Quoted in $$$$$.cc .
These are intended to be used as Quote Categories.
These details can be entered as required for information or action
and will be stored in the booking section of the Charter as they are entered.
The Payment By is for information and does not link into any other facility at this time
(Apr 2010). When payment is received the date and a receipt / ref number can be entered
so that
BusWise will not list the booking as
unpaid in the Unpaid Booking Report.
Use can however be made of the Quotation System in
BusWise.
This is accessed by selecting -Charter Booking Calculation Sheet-. If the Quotation
System has not yet been initiated you will be referred to CHARTER /
-Create or Edit Quotation System and Tables for CHARTER- to initiate the System. This
task creates a TEMPLATE ( a set of questions, called parameters, which define
the way that you wish to create and store a Quotation FORM ).
This TEMPLATE is to enable you to define the needs of your organisation. The
Quotation TEMPLATE is a Check Sheet and Calculator which will enable data to be entered
then stored for this booking as well as ANY future bookings. The Quote is available to be
used with any Organisation. The TEMPLATE serves as a calculator.
Creating the Quotation TEMPLATE :
CHARTER / Cht.Admin / -CLEAR and/or Create a Quotation TEMPLATE-
The Quote TEMPLATE consists of a) an ID - which is a unique number for the TEMPLATE so
that a parameter can be deleted. b) a Seq. number - which is the sequence in which the
parameters are shown AND calculated when to create a Quotation Form. c) the Quote Definition
- which is the Question or Heading that is presented on the Quotation Form. This
question will request appropriate information to be entered into the value field
depending on the ActType selected d) an ActType - Action Type is
the way that the VALUE entered into the QUOTATION FORM
will be calculated for the TEMPLATE value fields KMS, HRS, DAYs and VAL.
The ActType is explained, with examples of how it is used,
in the next paragraph. AND e) nnnn.ddd is the value which is applied to the defined
question according to the selected ActType.
< br />
EVERY ENTRY MUST HAVE A SEQUENCE NUMBER ASSIGNED TO IT IN THE ORDER THAT IT MUST
APPEAR ON THE QUOTATION FORM AND THE SEQUENCE IN WHICH THE TEMPLATE WILL BE CALCULATED.
For example the GST can ONLY be calculated as the last line of a TEMPLATE.
Examples of the QUESTIONS and VALUES for each ActType :
Remember that these are QUESTIONS that will be posed on the Quotation Form for quantities
to be entered.
HRS-Hours Seq:10 Q:Total Hours for Charter with Urban Bus. $$$ Val:47.00
HRS-Hours Seq:20 Q:Total Hours for Charter Coach. $$$ Val:65.00
KMS-KilometersSeq:30 Q:Total number of Kilometers for Charter. $$$ Val:1.85
DAY-DaysSeq:40 Q:Number of Driver Days without commentary. $$$ Val:100.00 -OR-
DAY-DaysSeq:50 Q:Number of DRIVER days WITH commentary provided. $$$ Val:150.00
VAL-OnceOffSeq:60 Q:Charge for Return Ferry costs. $$$ Val:3200.00
COM-NotesSeq:70 Q:All Costs above will be changed by REPs below. NO VALUE
REP-RepeatedSeq:110 Q:Number of Buses being used for Charter. Unit Val :1.00
REP-RepeatedSeq:120 Q:Enter BALANCE AFTER Corporate Discount for THIS Charter.
Unit Val : 1.00
WHENEVER REP ( which is intended to REPEAT a multiplier across all quote categories )
is used, the sub-totals for KMS, HRS, DAY and VAL are multiplied by BOTH the value
entered into the PARAMETER and the value entered into the TEMPLATE. If no action is intended
for a particular REP entry then BOTH values should be one (1.000). The entry in the
parameter file should always be 1 if a value is to be entered into the
TEMPLATE when the calculation for the Quote is being prepared.
THE REP ActType MUST HAVE A SEQUENCE NUMBER GREATER THAN 100. This is a
BusWise check
to try and ensure that the REP ActType is not ACCIDENTLY placed in the middle of the
TEMPLATE. Should HRS, KMS, DAY or VAL need to be applied AFTER a REP then those
HRS, KMS, DAY and/or VAL entries should be placed after the REP eg sequence > 110 etc.
The REP ActType will take the sub-total of HRS, KMS, DAY, VAL processed UP TO the sequence
number selected for the REP and mutiply each of the valuetypes KMS, HRS, DAY and VAL UP TO
THAT SEQUENCE NUMBER and mutiply them by the UNIT value for the
REP ActType entered into the FORM. The REP could also be used to apply an overall discount
to a Charter should a structure-of-discounts be set up. This is shown in the second
example above.
NOTE that
BusWise MULTIPLIES this
value so the entry in the TEMPLATE would
need to reflect the BALANCE of the values required AFTER the discount has been applied.
A discount of 20% would therefore be entered in the TEMPLATE as a a value of 0.800 being the
BALANCE of 80% after 20% has been deducted. This is an adaption of the intended use
of the REP (REPeat) parameter and could be useful.
These Questions will ALL be presented for data to be provided for a Quotation Form.
The data that is provided when preparing the Quote (using the Quotation Form)
will be applied according to the
values loaded into the TEMPLATE to arrive at a total cost that will be
transferred to the Booking from the Quotation Calculation screen when
-Load Quote Table- is selected.
The Quotation Calculation Form : ( from the Charter Booking Screen. )
Step 1
Process a NEW Booking until the details for the booking have been completed for
Seats, number of buses, bus grade, start date and time AND end date and time have all
been entered. Click on -NEW / Refresh Booking- to refresh the screen. All information entered
is carried forward to the refreshed screen.
THEN Click on -Prepare-Quote- .
Step 2 : Prepare Quote :
The details of the Booking that has just been entered will be displayed.
Enter a name for the Quote so that when a list of all the quotes is displayed by
BusWise
as some time the Quote can be recognised and selected to be used for another similar
Charter. An example : Full day sports - single bus etc...
Then complete the information to be entered for each of the Quotation Questions that are
presented as they were prepared in
CHARTER TASKS / Create or Edit Quotation System and Tables for CHARTER
HRS - Require the number of HOURS that the Charter will take for the Question asked. For
example : How many normal BUS hours? . If the Charter was for 7 hours, add on time to get
to the pick-up from the depot times two (there and back) and add that to the 7 hours.
The number entered * the Rate will be stored in the Hours total and the Quote Total.
KMS - Works the same as the HRS but will be multiplied out and added to the Kilometers
and the Quote Total.
DAY - Works in the same way as HRS but will be multiplied out and added to Day
accumulator and the Quote and the Quote Total.
VAL - The value entered will be added to the Rate (if any) and then
will be directly ADDED to the to the Quote Total only.
COM - Is just a comment line that is shown on the Quotation Form as a guids and the
COM will not be displayed. This comment will also be included in the Quote
display/print.
REP - The value entered here will be MULTIPLIED by the rate ( so if the value
entered OR rate has been
entered as zero then the answer will be zero AND ALL the other values will be reduced to
zero ). All the accumulators, HRS, KMS, DAY and Quote will then ALL be MULTIPLIED
by the answer from Value * Rate. If the accumulators are to remain unchanged then
both Value and Rate should contain 1. If every Quote is to have GST loaded then RATE
should be 1.000 and the Value should be entered as 1.1 so as to increase all the
accumulators by 10%. If REP is to be used as a discount of say 20% then Rate should be
loaded as 1.000 and Value should be entered as the expected answer after taking off
20% which is 80% and the Value should be entered as 0.800. This parameter is very
powerful but must be used with great care.
Once all the Values have been entered ( the Rates are all loaded into the Parameters )
then click om -CALCULATE and SAVE- to save the QUOTATION into the Quotation table for
any future use if required.
BusWise will display
a confirmation/edit screen and when
-GoToNEWBooking- is clicked
BusWise will re-display
the complete NEW Booking as it
has been entered with the Quotation included. If all is correct then click
-SAVE THIS BOOKING- and the Booking will be loaded to the system.
-OR- An existing quote can be chosen after Step 1 to be re-used.
Step 3 : Select previous/existing Quote :
IF -View and Select an Existing Quote - is selected after Step 1 a new window will be
opened so that you can select the ID number of an old Quote to be used in the New
Booking by closing the Old Quote Screen and entering the number selected into the
space provided and then clicking on -ADD-THE-QUOTE-. The procedure is then the same
as if you had prepared a new QUOTATION.
LP Workflow Process :
Any computer system is designed around a workflow process. After consulting a number of
Operators this Workflow Process was pieced together as being a simple but effective
way of dealing with this rather challenging responsibility.
When the driver returns to the depot after his shift he will take any Lost Property
items which he has found on his bus and, depending on the size of the item,
will either
a) Place the item in an envelope of some sort -OR-
b) Tag the item with a label using string or elastic bands etc....
The envelope or label will be marked by the DRIVER with Date, Shift
(and Route if known) and placed ready for Operations Staff
Operations Staff will take the item and enter the details into
BusWise Lost Property
OPERATIONS / LostPropAdd (see next), CLEARLY MARK THE ITEM with the Reference Number/ID
provided by
BusWise and the Item will then be placed in a
Lost Property Area which should be split into three areas : small (items in envelopes
such as mobile phones etc..),
medium items, long items (umbrellas in particular) and larger items. They should be
placed in Reference-Number-Sequence in each of the areas. This will make it much
easier to find the Items later.
Customer can then phone in or come into the depot to identify their property
The Staff member dealing with the query will go to OPERATIONS / LostPropFind and by
entering the Specific or Primary or Classification Identifiers and / or General Keywords
the Item can be located.
The Item can then be flagged WITH THE OWNERS telephone number for later collection or
flagged AND marked as COLLECTED when appropriately identified and released to the Owner.
Loading a NEW LP Item :
When OPERATIONS / LostPropAdd is run for the first time
BusWise will create all the
necessary Tables and will also load a set of words known as Classification Dictionaries
ready for use to guide the identification process for LP items. < br />
The Lost Property ADD screen is split into 4 specific areas which can be entered.
The FIRST area covers the details which should be on the envelope or label entered by
the driver. However as they are not ALWAYS provided only the date that the LP Item
was handed in should be completed.
BusWise defaults
to todays date in the hope that
most of the items will be loaded to
BusWise on the
day that they are handed in. If an
illogical/invalid date is entered
BusWise will load
it as 00-00-0000.
The SECOND area is called the Primary area because if this information is available
then the Item is MUCH easier to identify. Many mobile phones will display their own
number. This is the number that should be entered in here. A Serial number (first 10
characters) can also be entered here if easily visible. If there is a Security Mark,
such as initials or code, engraved on the Item that should be entered.
THIRDLY are the four Classification Codes. The first three of these codes are
MANDATORY and some keyword MUST be selected or added here. The selection list is
shown by
BusWise when the grey button with the
down-arrow is clicked. The selection is
made by clicking on the most suitable keyword and then progressing to the next
Classification. If there is no suitable keyword listed then a NEW KEYWORD can be used and
PERMANENTLY added to the list of Keywords for that Classification in
BusWise, by entering
a new keyword in the -Add New- field. Do not add a new keyword without carefully
checking that the word that you wish to add is not already available under one of the
other Classifications. For example the item may be easily identified as a plastic cup.
Those are however TWO KEYWORDS as -cup- under Type and -plastic- under MadeOf. If a
duplicate keyword is entered into any Classification then
BusWise will CRASH OUT with a
Duplicate Keyword message and the LostPropAdd will have to be started from the
beginning again. This is to ensure that the dictionaries remain as meaningful as possible
because if duplicates and inappropriate keywords are added to the dictionaries THEY WILL
BECOME EXCEEDING DIFFICULT TO USE.
FOURTHLY the General Description Keywords.
AT LEAST ONE KEYWORD MUST BE ENTERED HERE
or else
BusWise will ignore the Item and will
not load the details. An important keyword
to enter here as the first keyword under General would be which area the Item will be
stored in. In keeping with the Workflow above this could be something like small, long,
medium or large. If the Item was a black mobile but also had red stripes then it is
important to enter the two keywords -red- and -stripes- in here.
You may have selected -wallet- as the Classification Type but in this General area it
would be VERY important to enter owner id details -Graham- -Bloggs- -suburbname- etc.
Any additional information included here will assist in later identification.
In the case of a parcel it may be tied with -string- or -yellow- -wrapping- etc.
BusWise searches are NOT case-sensitive so
whether you spell Graham as graham will
not make any difference. It is sometimes easier to capitalise because
we are accustomed to do so.
We suggest that you frequently read through the Keywords for each of the Classifications
until you have some feeling for the keywords which are appropriate for each of the
Classifications.
When all the entries have been made and checked click on -AddEntry-.
If the Item is successfully loaded then
BusWise
will present a message like
LP Item Reference/ID number nnn has been loaded
This Reference/ID number should be CLEARLY MARKED on the envelope or label and must be
used as the stacking sequence in the LP storage area.
Finding an LP Item and Marking as Claimed or Disposed of :
When a customer phones to enquire about an item or calls at the depot to identify and
collect an item this can be handled through
BusWise
at any level of the organisation.
Go to OPERATIONS / LostPropFind and
BusWise
will present the 4 levels of identification.
SPECIFIC Identification can be entered if known. If the LP Reference/ID number is
known then that is unique and
BusWise will go
directly to the Information Screen for a
single item and processing if required. Similarly the Owners phone number would do the
same unless this person has lost a number of items.
PRIMARY Identification is similarly specific if the information is available.
There is no need to enter further information if SPECIFIC or PRIMARY information is
available. ELSE
The first three CLASSIFICATION Identifiers MUST BE SELECTED. The fourth is optional and
will reduce the number search results if known.
The GENERAL keywords are similarly not essential but will reduce the number of search
results presented. If the owners name of a wallet is known, for example, then the result
is likely to be unique.
If no information is entered into the Search screen and -Locate-Item- is clicked
a message
Query was empty will appear on screen and the Task will have to
be restarted.
If
BusWise does not find any items on file then the message
Search has returned NO information will appear after clicking on -Locate-Item-.
This can occur if any information is misspelt. Be especially careful not to use spaces
in any keywords. A space means that you are trying to use two keywords. Or try using
fewer keywords and then selecting a specific item from the table of results.
Return to LP Find.
This emphasises the value of the Classification Identifiers if they are used correctly.
If
BusWise finds a single result then the Item
SCREEN will be presented with all the
available information and the actions that can be taken for that Item.
If
BusWise has more than 1 result then it is
presented in a TABLE form and the item will
be able to be identified by manually discussing any specific keywords that have been
entered with the customer. All the keywords associated which each Item are shown in the
Table. Once an Item has been uniquely identified then the Ref/ID number can be clicked
in the Table to take you to the Item Screen and the actions that can be taken on the
Item Screen.
THE ACTIONS available on the Item screen are:
The Ownerphone number is displayed if it exists in the record already. This would be the
case if the customer has phones in, identified the item and the person who took the call
has entered the phone number for future identification. If not entered this can be done
or the existing number can be changed if incorrect. The -Upd-Owner-Phone- can then be
clicked.
If the Item has been positively identified and will be handed over to the owner then
the Owner Phone Number MUST be entered, the envelope or label can be
signed by the owner, marked and filed if that is a requirement, and the
-Upd-Phone-AND-Mark-Collected- MUST be clicked. This will remove the Item from the rest
of the daily LP activities and can only be found again by using the SPECIFIC
identification fields on the LP Find screen.
Expanding the Classification Dictionaries :
Please Note :
Keywords should NEVER be removed from the Classification Identification Dictionaries
because Items which have been loaded to the LP Table will be almost impossible to find
When
BusWise initially loads the Lost Property
Module eg. when the -LostPropAdd- Task is
selected or when the task is run as a
SYSTEM / SUP-ADMIN / L. Load TEXT FILES into the Lost Property Dictionaries. See help C31.
the Classification Identification Dictionaries are loaded from text files located
in the \BWdata\directory. This task can be run at any time provided the text files
have only been added to and not changed in any other way. When the task is re-run
BusWise will ignore any attempt to load a duplicate
entry unless it is in another
Classification.
Words can be added to the text files using NotePad or similar basic editor that does add
a linefeed to the end of the keyword added when -enter- is pressed. The four test files
that are provided with
BusWise after Version 21
are as follows :
$file1 is \BWdata\lpd_type.txt - for Classification ID TYPE
$file2 is \BWdata\lpd_colour.txt - for Classification ID COLOUR
$file3 is \BWdata\lpd_madeof.txt - for Classification ID MADEOF
$file4 is \BWdata\lpd_mnfgr.txt - for Classification ID MANUFACTURER
Creating and Loading TP - Google Map Addresses for Proximity Reference Table :
The Proximity Tables Provide a very powerful reference tool for the organization
whether they are used for the purpose of generating the InterimSHIFT table or not.
Many decisions need to be based on the knowledge of the distance between any two of
the TPs that are required for the ROUTES. This is particularly true for TPs which
serve as TERMINI ( or is it Terminuses ? ) - The Start TP and the End TP for a ROUTE.
In most GPS based systems a Terminus has to have a whole string of very complex data
attached to the Terminus.
BusWise will accept any
TP that is the START of a ROUTE or the
END of a ROUTE as a Terminus for the Proximity Reference Table. The tasks are really
very straightforward although entering the actual Proximity information can be a bit
tedious. Impala is continuing research in an effort to automate the Google (c) lookup
process.
The Proximity Reference Table will also facilitate the completion of the DISTANCE
information in the SHIFT HEADERs which in turn will increase the accuracy of the BUS
STATICTICs.
The Promity system is based on Three Tables. Firstly the PROXIMITY BASE Table which is the
list of all the TPs that need to be included in the second table which is the PROXIMITY
CROSS REFERENCE Table. The CROSS REFERENCE Table lists the KMs and MINS between each of
the TPs -BUT- in the CROSS REF. Table each of the TP pairs only appears once. This is to
reduce the amount of work when editing the CROSS REF. and inserting the distances and
minutes required by teh Table. And thirdly the PROMIXITY REFERENCE Table which is
prepared by the sytem from the CROSS REF. Table and which creates a set of TPs for EACH
every TP to enable quick reference to the Table when it is listed and to enable
BusWise to make rapid use of the Table.
NOTE It is VERY IMPORTANT to ensure that there is a TP called -BUS DEPOT-
included in your TP list before starting to prepare the PROXIMITY Tables. Ensure that
this TP has the Google Map © included after the bar ( | ) if necessary.
The PROXIMITY BASE Table is a list of all the TPs that are either Start or END TPs from all the
Routes=Trips loaded.
The PROXIMITY CROSS REFERENCE Table is the list of all the TPs in the BASE Table but
CROSS-REFERENCED to provide the distance between each and every one of them in
minutes and kilometers. This has to be manually completed at this time.
THE FULL REFERENCE TABLE is a list of each TP in col1 with a full set of all the other
TPs in col2 for each of the TPs in col1.
Select SYSTEM / TPprox-ADMIN .
-OR- Select SYSTEM / SOT-ADMIN / 6. Load the Km distances between ...........
to manage the Proximity Table Tasks.
The number of rows=records in the BASE Table are stated with the opening screen. If
there are no= 0 records in the BASE table then go to D. to create the BASE Table AND a
new REFERENCE Table. TAKE CARE. If the CROSS REF. Table already exists do you need to
update it by creating another BASE Table??
A. List Base Table with ability to show maps and then use the
TP button to a check against the Google Maps(c) facility.
Each individual TP should be checked to ensure that the address information is valid
and that it does produce a map as required. Do NOT proceed with creating the Reference
until these HAVE BEEN CHECKED. If a TP does not satisfy the validity test then the
TP must be corrected with a valid TP address. At the bottom of each Map display is
a link to go directly to the GPS-TP name edit. The existing TP name MUST NOT be changed
because it is the recognised description for that TP
and is referenced in ROUTES and many other places in
BusWise. All that is
necessary is to establish a Google(c) friendly address and insert this after a bar ( | )
which is placed after the existing TP address. As an example -St Johns College- would
probably be invalid and needs to be changed to
-St Johns College|44 Juta St, Wellstead Park- or
-St Johns College|Juta St & McBride Av- until the address becomes suitably unique for
Google Maps ©. When all the TPs are Google-OK then we must go to E. to create
the Proximity Reference Table.
Select
B. List and EDIT the Reference Table to display
the Proximity REFERENCE TABLE after it has been created using E. It
contains a START TP (A) and an END TP (B) for each and every combination of the ROUTES
and if the Google© check has been done with A. then all the addresses are Google-ready.
Click on the -Get the distance between two TimingPoints- using Google Maps at the
bottom of the screen to open a new window with the Distance Calculator. Step through
the Reference Table one pair at a time loading the TP A and the TP B into the
Distance Calculator (use Ctrl-C to copy and Ctrl-V to place each of them in the
Calculator Screen) and click -Search- for each pair. The Screen will
display the distance in miles AND kilometers for each pair.
Return to the TP Proximity Ref. Screen (Leave the Distance Calc. open) and Click on
the relevent tpID button on the right of the screen. Enter the Distance provided by
the Calculator AND THEN ENTER the minutes. The minutes value is the one that is
important for evaluating suitable restart points for the SHIFT calculations.
The minutes should be calculated by taking the distance in Kilometers divided by
2 and then taking one minute off the answer to arrive at a reasonable time.
If you know or have
another and more accurate value for the TIME IN MINUTES use that, else estimate the time
that will be taken based on the formula offered -OR- reduce this formula to 1 min per
kilometer if the greater part of the distance is covered on motorways etc.. Click on
-Replace all Details- when BOTH numbers have been entered. If the minutes is left blank
then
BusWise will not make any use of the Proximity
Table. Return to the Calculator Table to
do the next TP pair until the complete Table has been loaded.
Select
C. List the FULL Reference Table after F. has been completed.
D. Create a NEW Proximity BASE Table
If the SYSTEM / SOT-ADMIN / Run SOT Table setup .... has been run then this table has
already been created. Normally there is no harm done by rerunning this table. It is
re-loaded with any possible new TPs each time that a SOT-ADMIN REBUILD is requested to
ensure that it is as complete as possible for E. below.
The contents of this Table can be displayed with
A. List Base Table with ability to show maps
E. Create a NEW Proximity CROSS Reference Table
TAKE CARE
This Table is somewhat tedious to load from the Distance Calculator and should NOT be recreated
unless absolutely necessary. It is created using the Proximity BASE Table created in D.
and completed by running B. - the LIST and EDIT Process.
Select
F. Create a FULL Reference Table
With the Proximity FULL Reference Table completed
BusWise is able
to process the creation of the InterimSHIFT Tables with considerably more accuracy.
Creating and Loading a Student :