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The modeling process
begins by choosing the Start command on the Vehicle
Routing menu. This command performs two functions. It
creates a worksheet that contains a list of general instructions.
The Distance Button
on the Start worksheet creates the Distance worksheet.
When the Start command is used for a workbook that already
contains add-in worksheets, all the buttons in the workbook are
re-created. This eliminates linking problems when a workbooks
is opened on a computer other that the computer that created
it.
Before closing an add-in workbook, it is good practice to choose
the Finish command. This deletes buttons on the worksheets.
Workbooks without buttons will open on any computer, while workbooks
with buttons will work successfully on only the computer that created
the buttons.
Part of the Start Page is shown below. The first step
is to make a distance worksheet. |
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The following paragraphs describe the worksheets
created by the add-in. More detailed explanations are provided
on the following pages of this section. Click the small pictures
to open windows with larger illustrations.
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Distance Worksheet |
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The Distance worksheet is created
by the button on the Start worksheet. The distance
worksheet describes the point to point distances between
locations on a map. Distances may be computed by the length
of straight lines between coordinates or with a matrix. A
workbook may have more than one distance worksheet. |
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Planning Data Worksheet |
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The second step is to create a Planning
Data worksheet
that holds data for a specific routing instance, perhaps
the deliveries to be made on a given day. The data describes
deliveries and vehicles (called trucks). There may be several
trucks and trucks can take more than one trip. Trucks
have limited resources, such as capacity, and deliveries
use up the resources. The
times available, early and late delivery times are on this
worksheet. A duration penalty can be used to establish priorities
between deliveries. The costs of penalty violations are also
on this page. Each delivery location is associated with a
map location on the Distance worksheet. Click the Make
Plan button on the Distance worksheet to create
a Planning Data worksheet. |
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Results Worksheet |
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The third step is to create Results and Model worksheets.
Create these sheets by clicking the Make Model button
on the Plan worksheet. Each Plan worksheet has unique Model and Results worksheets.
The Results worksheet indicates the current route
and the associated truck assignments and delivery times for
the route. Buttons at the top of the worksheet call various
heuristic processes that find solutions. |
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Model Worksheet |
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The Model worksheet creates a form
used by the Opt. Sequence add-in to search for
good solutions. The Opt. Sequence add-in must be
installed to find solutions. Download the add-in from the
OM/IE add-in page or click the link at the left. |
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Map Worksheet |
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A map of the route is created on a separate
worksheet when the Map button is clicked Results
or Model worksheets . Routes of different vehicles are
indicated by colors. |
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