Working Areas

Working areas automatically move shipments into the responsible group or subgroup. Each working area belongs to a group and contains rules (depots, areas, goods groups). Every time a shipment is saved, X4fleet checks these rules: if exactly one active working area matches, the shipment is moved into the group of this working area. If none or more than one matches, the shipment's group remains unchanged. Working areas only apply to shipments, not to vehicles or tours.

This page first explains how the group assignment works, when it takes place and how it interacts with the planning areas. It then covers the management of working areas.

Note: The «working range» of vehicles and tours (e.g. Tour working range) refers to the range of the vehicle and has nothing to do with the working areas described here.

1. Prerequisites

• Roles: The Working Areas page is available to the Administrator, Super administrator and Dispatcher roles (see User Roles).
• No module, no setting: Working areas require neither a module of their own nor a setting. The automatic group assignment runs as soon as active working areas exist.
• Subgroups: Working areas are only useful if you work with subgroups, because they move shipments between groups.

2. How the Group Assignment Works

Which Working Areas Are Considered

A working area belongs to exactly one group, the target group. When a shipment is saved, X4fleet considers the working areas that

• are Active,
• belong to a group that the current group of the user saving the shipment has access to, and
• are valid on the shipment's Planned tour date (Valid From to Valid until).

Which groups these are depends on the current group:

So what matters is not the shipment's group, but the group in which the saving user is currently working. A user in a subgroup therefore does not move a shipment into another subgroup of the same main group.

X4fleet checks the rules of these candidates. Which rules are checked depends on the shipment's transport type.

Transport Type Determines the Rule Section

The transport type results from the kind of the from location and the to location. What matters is whether the location is a Depot/Terminal/Hub or a Service provisioning site. The transport type is determined again every time the shipment is saved.

Only the rule section of the shipment's own transport type is checked. Rules in the other sections have no influence on this shipment. The Undefined section is not a catch-all for shipments that do not match otherwise; it only applies to shipments with the transport type «Undefined».

Note: If a Collection place is active for the shipment and the location (setting Enable collection places), X4fleet checks the rules using the collection place instead of the original location.

Rule Check Step by Step

The fields of the individual rule sections are described in the «Transport order rules» tab. For each transport type, X4fleet checks the candidates as follows:

Pickup (shipment from the customer to the depot)

1. X4fleet searches for working areas whose depots contain the to location, i.e. the depot to which the picked-up goods are brought.
2. Only if no working area matches via the depot: X4fleet searches for working areas whose Or areas contain the postal code of this depot.
3. If at least one of the working areas found in step 1 also has Or areas entered, only those remain where the postal code of the depot lies in their areas.
4. The result is then narrowed down by Good groups (see below).

Delivery (shipment from the depot to the customer) – the same as the pickup, but with the from location as the depot:

1. Working areas whose depots contain the from location (the depot from which the delivery starts).
2. Only if none matches: working areas whose Or areas contain the postal code of this depot.
3. If at least one of the working areas found in step 1 also has Or areas entered, only those remain where the postal code of the depot lies in their areas.
4. The result is then narrowed down by Good groups.

Direct transport (without depot)

1. Working areas without the Matching both areas option whose Pickup areas contain the postal code of the from location.
2. Only if none matches: working areas without this option whose Dropoff areas contain the postal code of the to location.
3. Only if there is still no match: working areas with the Matching both areas option where the postal code of the from location is in the Pickup areas and the postal code of the to location is in the Dropoff areas.

Undefined

1. Working areas whose Pickup areas contain the postal code of the from location.
2. Only if none matches: working areas whose Dropoff areas contain the postal code of the to location.

Main leg (transport between depots) – depots only, no postal codes:

1. Working areas whose Pickup depots contain the from location.
2. Only if none matches: working areas whose Dropoff depots contain the to location.

The following applies to all transport types:

• Goods groups only: Working areas that have only Good groups entered in the rule section (no depots, no areas) are added as candidates for every transport type.
• Goods groups narrow down: If at least one candidate has Good groups entered in the rule section, only those candidates with goods groups remain where at least one item of the shipment has one of these goods groups. Working areas without goods groups are not restricted by this.
• An empty rule section never matches: A rule section without depots, without areas and without goods groups matches no shipment. Empty does not mean «all».
• Postal codes and areas: The postal code must be numeric; non-numeric postal codes never match. An area must also be valid on the Planned tour date. The exclusion list is checked first (it takes precedence), then the postal code list, then the postal code range from–to.

Result: Exactly One Match

• Exactly one working area matches → the shipment is moved into the group of this working area (unless it is already there).
• No working area matches → the shipment's group remains unchanged. A shipment that was moved earlier is not moved back into its original group.
• More than one working area matches → the shipment's group remains unchanged.

Tours are not changed.

To make the assignment unambiguous, check the following when setting up:

1. Is each depot entered in only one working area per rule section – or is it combined there with different, non-overlapping areas?
2. Do the postal code ranges of the areas used not overlap? Keep in mind that for pickups and deliveries, the postal code of the depot counts.
3. Do working areas that are meant to differ only by Good groups all have goods groups entered? A working area without goods groups matches in addition to one with goods groups.
4. Are all required rule sections (transport types) filled? An empty rule section never matches.
5. Do the users who enter or change shipments work in a group from which the desired working areas are considered (see Which Working Areas Are Considered)?

Examples

The following examples use fictitious data.

Example 1 – Pickup via the depot

A pickup at a customer with postal code 3000 is brought to «Depot North» (transport type pickup). The working area «North» matches via the depot. The shipment is moved into the group «Region North» – even though the customer is not located in the north, because the customer's postal code is not checked.

Example 2 – Delivery via the postal code of the depot

A delivery goes from «Depot East» (postal code 8400) to a customer with postal code 3000. No working area contains «Depot East» as a depot. Therefore the Or areas are checked with the postal code of the depot: 8400 lies in «Area East». The shipment is moved into the group «Region East».

If, on the other hand, a delivery goes from «Depot Central» (postal code 6000) to a customer with postal code 8004, no working area matches. The shipment's group remains unchanged.

3. When Is the Group Changed?

The working areas are checked every time a shipment is saved, both when it is created and when it is changed – for example in order entry or during imports. Orders from recurring orders are treated like any other saved order. Here too, which working areas are considered depends on the group in which the import or the creation is carried out (see Which Working Areas Are Considered).

Exceptions:

• If the shipment's group was changed manually with Change group & planning area (see Planning Areas), the shipment is never moved automatically by working areas again.
• The same applies to partial shipments from a way split.

There is no action that recalculates the group assignment for existing shipments.

Way and quantity split: In the dialogs for the way split and the quantity split, the group of the new partial shipments is prefilled with the suggestion from the working areas.

4. Working Areas, Planning Areas and Filters

Comparison with Planning Areas

Order When Saving

1. First, the group is determined based on the working areas.
2. Then the settings of the new group apply to the shipment (e.g. for the shipment checks or the GC rate).
3. Finally, the planning area is calculated – using the planning areas of the new group.

Visibility After the Change

A moved shipment is then located in the subgroup of the working area. Users of the main group still see it as long as Only current group is not activated. If the planning area filter is set, the shipment may nevertheless be hidden – for example if it received no planning area or a different one in the new group.

5. Navigation

Working areas are accessible via the main menu under Dispatching › Working Areas.

6. Overview (Table)

The overview shows all working areas in a configurable table. Each row represents one working area.

Columns

Several depots within one column are listed below one another.

Sorting and Column Settings

Clicking a column header sorts the list in ascending or descending order. The selected column and sorting view is saved per user and is retained after logging out.

7. Group Filter

The filter bar above the table can be used to restrict the display to specific groups.

• Group selection: A search field that restricts the list to one or more groups.
• Only current group: This toggle restricts the display to working areas of the currently selected group. If it is deactivated, working areas of subordinate groups are also displayed.

Note: The filter bar is not displayed to users who only enter web orders. The Only current group toggle is not available in subcontractor groups.

8. Create or Edit a Working Area

Via the toolbar, you create a working area or open a marked working area for editing. The Add working area or Edit working area dialog opens. It opens as a freely movable and resizable window. Up to five dialogs can be open at the same time; a working area that is already open is not opened twice but brought to the foreground.

The dialog is divided into two tabs: General and Transport order rules.

To create a new working area:

1. In the toolbar, choose to create a new working area.
2. In the General tab, enter the basic data, in particular the target group in the Group field (see section 11).
3. In the Transport order rules tab, enter the depots, areas and goods groups per transport type (see section 12).
4. Save the working area.

When creating a working area, the Valid From field is automatically prefilled with the current date and the group with the currently selected group.

After saving successfully, the overview is updated. Changes only apply to shipments that are saved afterwards (see section 3).

9. Checks When Saving

When you save an active working area, X4fleet checks the first two points; the field lengths and the date are always checked. If a check is not met, saving is cancelled with a message.

• One active working area per group and period: Within a group, only one active working area may exist in overlapping validity periods. Otherwise the message «In this date range, in the selected group an active working area already exists.» appears.
• Overlapping rules: For each transport type, the rules are compared with all other active working areas with overlapping validity that you can see. If the same depot or the same area is already entered in another working area, the message «The working area has an overlapping error: …» appears, with the name of the affected working area and the transport types in which the rules overlap.
  • In Direct transport, the following applies: if Matching both areas is activated in one of the two working areas, there is only an overlap if both Pickup areas and Dropoff areas overlap; otherwise one side is enough.
  • If the saved working area has no Good groups, every such match counts as an overlap.
• Inactive working areas are not checked for overlaps; the check takes place as soon as you activate and save the working area.
• Field lengths and date: Name at most 50 characters, Description at most 100 characters. Valid From must be entered, Valid until must not be before Valid From.

The overlap check does not rule out every multiple assignment: working areas that you cannot see in your group are not compared, and working areas that differ only by Good groups can still match a shipment together (see Result: Exactly One Match).

10. Save as New (Clone a Working Area)

With the Save As New button in the editing dialog, the current form content is saved as a completely new working area without changing the existing one. This is useful for creating a similar working area without having to enter all details again.

1. Open an existing working area.
2. Adjust the desired fields.
3. Click Save As New.

A new entry is created in the overview; the original working area remains unchanged. If saving fails, the reference to the original is retained.

Note: For an active working area, Save As New fails unless you change the Group, the validity or Active, because only one active working area may exist in a group per period (see section 9). In the copy, also adjust the depots and areas so that the rules do not overlap.

11. «General» Tab

The General tab captures the basic details of the working area:

For the group assignment, the validity on the shipment's Planned tour date counts. Unlike planning areas, working areas have no short name.

12. «Transport order rules» Tab

In the Transport order rules tab, you define which shipments are moved into the group of the working area. The tab is divided into five rule sections, one per transport type. For a shipment, only the section of its transport type is checked (see Transport Type Determines the Rule Section); how the fields are combined is described in Rule Check Step by Step.

Depots, areas and goods groups are each entered via selection fields with a search function. Start typing a search term; the system suggests matching entries that you can add to the selection. Several entries can be stored per field. Areas are managed under Areas. Working areas have no fields for Source and Salesman code.

Transport type pickup: Dropoff depots

For pickups: goods are picked up at a customer and brought to a depot.

Transport type delivery: Pickup depots

For deliveries: goods are picked up at a depot and brought to a customer.

Direct transport

For shipments from customer to customer without a depot. Only areas (postal codes) are checked, no depots.

Undefined

For shipments with the transport type «Undefined», e.g. if a location is missing or has a different location kind. This section is not a catch-all for shipments of other transport types.

Main leg (transport between depots)

For shipments from depot to depot. Only depots are checked, no postal codes.

13. Delete a Working Area

Working areas that are no longer needed can be deleted from the overview.

1. Mark one or more working areas.
2. Click the delete button in the toolbar.
3. Confirm the security prompt.

When deleting, all associated rules (depots, areas and goods groups) are automatically removed as well. Deleting several working areas at the same time is supported.

14. Toolbar and Export

In addition to the management actions (create, edit, delete), the toolbar of the working area overview provides further tools:

• Apply templates: Applies a saved column or view template to the table.
• Layout: Showing and hiding columns and resetting the table arrangement.
• Export: Exports the currently displayed list of working areas as a file. In the export, the active status is shown as «Yes»/«No», and several depots per column are listed separated by semicolons. Areas and goods groups are not included in the export.

15. FAQ

Why is my shipment suddenly in a different group? Most likely a working area moved it when it was saved: exactly one active working area matched the shipment, and the shipment was moved into its Group. Check under Working Areas which working area contains the depot or the area of the shipment. A manual change with Change group & planning area is also possible.

Why was my shipment not moved? Usually either no working area or more than one matches. Check: Is the working area Active and valid on the Planned tour date? Is the rule section of the correct transport type filled (see Transport Type Determines the Rule Section)? For pickups and deliveries, is the depot entered, or does the postal code of the depot lie in the area? Does a second working area match? Was the shipment's group changed manually earlier, or is it a partial shipment from a way split? Does the user who saved the shipment work in a group from which the working area is considered?

Where has my shipment gone? It is in the group of the working area. Users of the main group see it if Only current group is not activated. If the planning area filter is set, the shipment may be hidden because it has no planning area or a different one in the new group (see Visibility After the Change).

I changed a working area, but nothing happened. Changes to working areas are not applied to existing shipments. The new rules only apply once a shipment is saved again. There is no action for recalculating.

Are orders from recurring orders moved as well? Orders from recurring orders are treated like any other saved order. Which working areas are considered depends on the group in which the orders are created.

What is the difference between a manual and an automatic group change? The automatic change is carried out by the working areas when saving. You carry out the manual change with Change group & planning area. After a manual change, the shipment is never moved automatically by working areas again.