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
System → System Settings → Features
There are options in this screen to disable feed plans. Disabling the plan will not hide the feed delivery scheduling screen (see below), but we will not be able to generate the deliveries if this is disabled.
Security permissions for the screen is under the "Feed Management" section of the software.
Managing The Schedules
Feed Management → Feed Delivery Scheduling
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
Only one schedule is used on a given day- we can't schedule two or more to overlap. When we build out the schedule, we take records in a certain priority. If we find a record of that priority then we use it, otherwise we look for the next lowest one until we find none. The priority is listed here:
- House Single-Day
- House Recurring
- House 7-Day Occurrence
- Farm Single-Day
- Farm Recurring
- Farm 7-Day Occurrence
- Division Single-Day
- Division Recurring
- Division 7-Day Occurrence
Example:
Let's say we set up our 7-day division schedule, scheduled a few days off for the farm, but scheduled some availability for a house on that farm. You can see that the house takes priority over the farm and division, while the farm day on the 25th takes priority over the division whish would have otherwise been opened on that Friday.
Recurring records will be applied to every month and day for every year until it is deleted. Single instance records are only for that specific date. If we looked at a flock for these same facilities next year the house record would not be included in the delivery windows.
It is important to note that when there are no schedule records for a Division, Farm or House when a flock's feed plan is being calculated, then it will perform the default feed plan function of scheduling deliveries when they are needed, with no regard to operation hours.
Changes to the Feed Plan (Deliveries during Delivery Windows)
Few changes have been made to the feed plan. The only one of note is that now, after the software has decided that a batch of consumption has satisfied a delivery criteria and becomes a feed plan record, we compare that record to a delivery window to validate that it can be created.
These are the different scenarios that we will run into with feed plans:
Deliveries Calculated Inside of a Delivery Window
A delivery that the software identifies as needing to be performed inside of a delivery window will remain unchanged. They will be created as they have always been.
Deliveries Calculated Outside of a Delivery Window, But On an Operational Day
A delivery that is scheduled on an operational day, but outside of a delivery window, will have it's delivery dates updated to conform to the delivery hours.
- If a planned delivery was calculated to be delivered before the delivery window, the date will be updated to the start time.
- if a planned delivery was calculated after a delivery window the delivery date will be updated to the end time.
Deliveries Calculated On a Non-Operational Day
These deliveries are logged in the messages section of a generated feed plan.
We will move the deliveries back and try to fill the bin to capacity. Any remaining feed will be regenerated into the feed plan moving forward. If there is a delivery on a non-op day that cannot be delivered prior because of bin capacity, we will move it back to the next operational day, if the start consumption date is greater than the delivery date. We will highlight these deliveries in Orange to let you know that there is a chance you birds will run out of feed due to this scenario.
Auditing the Results
A column was added to the feed plan detail to audit the delivery schedules. After calculating a feed plan, Open the "Feed Plan Detail" audit screen.
A new column called "Open for Business" has been added to align with the flock's consumption hours. If a delivery window is found it will be logged here, the logged info will tell you:
- Is it Operational?: "X" if it is.
- What Type of record it is: (1 = occurrence, 2 = recurring 3 = single-day schedule).
- What level: House, Farm, or Division.
- What date is logged on the record (for recurring and single-day): MMDD format.
- What Time Window: Starting hour-Ending Hour.
