Available in: Axsy Mobile for Salesforce, Axsy Field Service, Axsy Public Sector, Axsy Retail Execution
The Axsy Mobile App provides users with a way to see an optimised route across the Visits, Events or Service Appointments they have scheduled on a given day.
NOTE: Route optimisation is currently only supported for the Visit object, the Event object and the Service Appointment object.
When initially opening the Routes screen from the main menu of the Axsy Mobile App, the user's list of Visit, Events or Service Appointments for the current day will be listed in chronological order based on their scheduled start times. It is possible to change the displayed date by selecting the drop-down and choosing a different date.
For the displayed date, selecting the Optimise button will then re-order the list of Visits based on the most efficient route that is found. The starting location and ending location of the route will always stay fixed when selecting the Optimise button - only the locations in between are re-ordered.
NOTE: Performing route optimisation does not actually re-schedule the start or end times of any Visit, Event or Service Appointment. Those records are not edited as part of the route optimisation procedure.
While route optimisation can be performed both online and offline, the exact method of optimisation differs whether the user has an internet connection or not.
Online Route Optimisation
When a user has an internet connection, route optimisation makes use of the Google Maps API cloud service. As the Google Maps API has knowledge of actual road layouts, this information is included as part of the route optimisation algorithm.
Selecting the Optimise button while online will display the optimised route - with road layouts taken into account - with a solid red line.
NOTE: The Google Maps API has a maximum limit of 25 waypoints when querying for directions. If more than 25 Visits, Events or Service Appointments are included in optimisation, the Axsy Mobile App will fallback to offline route optimisation, as described below.
Offline Route Optimisation
When a user is offline without an internet connection, or more than 25 locations are to be included as part of the optimisation, route optimisation is done locally within the app. With offline route optimisation, it is the distance between locations - without road layouts taken into account - that is used with the optimisation algorithm.
Selecting the Optimise button while offline will display the optimised route - based solely on distance between locations - with a dotted red line.
Re-Ordering or Removing Locations from the Route
Re-Ordering Start and End Locations
The specified start and end points of the route are maintained during optimisation - only the locations in between are eligible to be re-ordered. To change the start or end point prior to performing optimisation, user can drag-and-drop a different location to either the first spot or the last spot in the list of locations and re-perform optimisation by selecting the Optimise button.
Removing Locations from the Route
To remove a location so it is not included in the optimisation, users can select the trash can icon and then re-perform the optimisation using the Optimise button.
Resetting and Refreshing the List of Locations
To reset the list of locations back to its original chronological order - including returning and locations that were previously removed via the trash can icon - select the Reset button.
To refresh the list of locations to include any recently created Visits, Events or Service Appointments, select the Refresh button.
Turn-by-Turn Navigation
Next to each location is an arrow button which can be used to launch the device's native mapping app to get turn-by-turn navigation directions from the user's current geo-location to the selected location.
Viewing the Visit, Event or Service Appointment Record
Location records included in the route list will all have either a Visit, Event or Service Appointment as their parent record. To view the parent record for a location you can either:
- Select the name of the location in the list. To return to the map view, select the Show map button.
- Select the inverted-drop icon for a location on the map. To return to the list of locations, select the back arrow button in the top-left of the screen.
Configuring Route Optimisation
Configuring route optimisation with the Axsy Mobile App is done across 3 different steps:
- Enabling Routes as an option in the Axsy Mobile App's main menu.
- Configuring the settings to use for Routes using the Axsy Config Tool.
- Configuring the API credentials for accessing the Google Maps API.
Adding Routes to the App Main Menu
To access route optimisation in the Axsy Mobile App, the Routes main menu option needs to be made visible using the Axsy Config Tool.
Please see this article for more information on configuring the app's main menu: Main Menu Settings
Routes Settings in the Axsy Config Tool
Further configuration is required to define what object and object field is to be used to populate the route optimisation list. Also, for performing route optimisation while offline, an additional setting is available to adjust how the offline algorithm balances speed vs. accuracy.
Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Sobject | Select the object that is available for route optimisation. The choices are:
|
| Relationship to Location | For the selected object, defines the "dot notation" path to the lookup field with the Location record to be used for a given Visit, Event or Service Appointment. Example for the Visit object where the location is based on the Visit's Retail Store: Place_RetailStore.LocationId Example for the Service Appointment object where the location is defined by a custom lookup field - with API name Location__c - that is directly on the Service Appointment: Location__r |
| Offline Optimisation Convergence Speed | Number between 1 and 99 that determines the "convergence speed" of the offline algorithm. Higher values work slower but give more accurate output. |
API Credential Settings
Online route optimisation makes use of the Google Maps API. Access to the Google Maps API is secured through the use of authentication credentials, which must be provided when making calls to the API. Please see this article for information on how to configure the Google API credentials to use with online route optimisation in the Axsy Mobile App: API Credentials for Route Optimisation