Introduction
The feed plan feature allows users to generate feed records based on flock consumption and bin availability on houses. One of the greatest shortcomings of this feature is that it lacks some logistical elements. One example of this is delivery times- with the exception of some settings we can set for buffered delivery dates, the software will recommend that feed be delivered outside of the operating hours of the feed mills that produce them, and the farmers that receive them. This feature will be the start of resolving that.
Prerequisites
To calculate planned feed deliveries that occur within delivery windows, we will need:
- Flocks with feed profiles, and other feed plan configurations.
- Security affiliation to flocks and facilities.
- Security access to the delivery scheduling screen.
Configuration and Security
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Operation Schedules for divisions, farms and houses are all managed in the same screen.
When the form first loads, A division will be selected, and it's scheduled will be loaded. Farm and Houses are optional, but we can manage their schedules at the same time.
After selecting a division and optional farm and/or house click the "Load" button. When the schedules load, the selected facilities' names will be listed on the tabs above the schedules. We must pay these mind- if we change the lookup selections above without clicking "Load" we may think we are editing a different schedule than we actually are!
The functions on the form are as follows:
- Save: Saves any changes to the schedules.
- Reload: Resets the schedule to the last saved changes.
- Close: Closes the form.
There is a context menu option to "Delete" selected single day or recurring records. the 7-day schedule records cannot be deleted.
The types of schedules are as follows:
Weekly (7-Day Schedule): This is where we will set up our business hours. We can specify what days we are operating, and between what times. We can also add a comment for the day. At present, there is no way to split shifts.
Recurring Schedule: if we want to specify a day and month that will be an exception to a rule, holidays being a good example, we can enter them here. Every year, the recurring value will be used on that date instead of the settings from the 7-day schedule.
Single-Date Schedule: For specific dates that will not occur every year we can enter a setting on a specific date. Once this date has passed for scheduling, it will not be reused- it will only be honored on that specific date for that year!
We can create these schedules for Divisions, Farms and Houses. This is a good way to reconcile our operating hours with the hours of farms and houses we will deliver feed to. In the example provided, I selected a farm under a division that is closed on Wednesdays and Sundays. I modified the dates for the farm schedule, as well as made Thursday a non-operating day. I also added a single-day closure on 10/1/2020.
For every other farm in this division, the division schedule will be used. For this farm, this schedule will be used whenever a value is found, if not, it will fall back on the Division. The same relationship applies between houses and farms.
We'll explain this relationship more below.
Determining a Delivery Schedule
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