Find a plan that fits the constraints.
Planning and scheduling
Compare feasible schedules, routes and allocations against capacity, dates and business rules. See the trade-offs behind a proposed plan.
Can these deliveries fit into today’s round?
Combine the delivery windows, vehicle capacity and stop requirements. Review the feasible route and any orders that need a different arrangement.
Can every drop fit on the planned run?
The proposed route has to satisfy the business constraints.
PlanningIllustrative records| Constraint | Requirement | Treatment |
|---|---|---|
| Payload | Up to 1,800 kg | Hard limit |
| Customer window | 09:00–11:00 | Schedule within the window |
| Driver finish | 17:00 | Check the return journey |
Compare feasible routes and show any unassigned work.
The plan makes its assumptions and trade-offs visible. The dispatcher reviews the proposal before release.
- Exact calculation for straightforward problems where amounts can be split freely — blending, simple allocation.
- Exact search through the options where choices are either-or, the problem is small enough and precision matters — choosing suppliers, restocking with minimum order quantities, balancing stock between sites.
- Scheduling methods for problems with many interlocking rules — picking waves, deciding where each product is stored, the order of production jobs.
- Fast rules of thumb where the problem is large and perfection isn’t needed — delivery routes are built by adding each stop where it fits best, then improved within a time limit.
- One choice at a time where the problem splits up easily and ties are settled the same way every time — simple assignment of picks.
A plan you can question.
- What it started from — the time, the data and the settings, so you can show that the same inputs give the same plan.
- How it was worked out — the method and its version, with a fixed starting point so it can be repeated.
- Hard limits and preferences listed separately, each with where it came from and whether it was met. A hard limit is never quietly treated as a preference.
- Goals in order of priority, with what the plan achieves and how that compares with what you do now.
- “Workable” and “best possible” as two separate labels — best possible only when it has been proved.
- Time limits — how long it was allowed, how long it took, and whether it ran out.
- A reason for each assignment, and anything left unassigned comes with a reason and a suggested fix.
- A separate check of the finished plan, saying what did the checking, whether it is independent of the planner, and any problems it found.
- Protection against out-of-date plans — a plan expires, and can’t be applied if things have changed since it was made.
Limits are never quietly loosened.
The risk to avoid is a plan that only looks possible because a limit was quietly relaxed. Hard limits and preferences are kept and reported separately. If a hard limit can’t be met, the item comes back unassigned with a reason. It is never assigned with a breach nobody mentions.
Where a good answer now beats a perfect one too late.
- “What is today’s delivery run?” — van space and type, driver shifts and weekly hours, delivery windows, cut-off times and collections before deliveries, all as hard limits.
- “Which supplier should we buy this from?” — approved suppliers, agreed volumes and capacity, weighed against cost and delivery time.
- “How should we restock?” — budget, minimum order quantities, shelf life and space.
- “What order should the warehouse work in?” — picking waves, and where each product is stored.
- “What order should we run the works orders in?” — production scheduling against real capacity.
Frequently asked questions.
Why not always look for the perfect plan?
Because a search for the perfect plan can run out of time and give you nothing, and that happens on exactly the large problems where you need help most. A good plan, honestly labelled, is more useful than no plan.
What does “best possible” mean here?
That it has been proved no better plan exists within the stated limits. It doesn’t mean it ran out of time and returned the best it had found. That is why “workable” and “best possible” are shown as two separate labels.
Can it put its own plan into action?
No. A plan is a proposal. Before it is applied, the system checks again that you have permission and that nothing has changed since the plan was made, and refuses the whole plan if anything has.
What if a limit can’t be met?
The item comes back unassigned, with the reason and a suggested fix. It is never assigned with a breach left unmentioned.
Try it on your own records.
Book a demo and ask it a real question about your business. Every answer shows how it was worked out and which records it used.
Book a demo