Spring 2008

Drivers and vehicles are considered separately and individually, rather than being seen as generic resources, in a new version of the Paragon routing and scheduling system. The idea is that the systems allows operators to consider the real-world work schedules and availability of specific drivers when journey plans are calculated and optimised.

The development is one of several announced to coincide with the launch of Paragon version 5. The other news from the company is that users wanting both vehicle routing and scheduling and tracking solutions can now obtain them in a single package from Paragon. This comes as part of an agreement signed with Navman Wireless.

 

The resource management capability allows Paragon to differentiate between vehicle types and sizes. It also takes account of the experience and abilities of specific drivers, and pays regard to their competence with vehicle types. And it can decide whether each driver has enough hours available to complete the required task.

This information is held in a new feature called Resource Manager - a self-contained SQL database, which can also be used to produce detailed reports. Currently it focuses on the scheduling task, but chief executive Will Salter says it may be developed in future to allow more wide-ranging management of drivers' working time.

The new system also gives users the ability to apply differential rush-hour traffic speeds to specific areas of the country, using their own local knowledge. Speeds can be applied by time of day and even by direction - and it's all done interactively on digital maps.

The vehicle tracking capability is additional to the integration Paragon already offers with various tracking system providers. As Salter explains: 'A lot of users who want a tracking system as well as routing and scheduling say they would like to buy the whole package from us, and leave us to handle all the implementation and support. Now we can offer this.'

The functionality is embodied in Paragon's Fleet Controller software, which allows users to manage the execution of its delivery schedules in real time.

Now data from the Navman tracking system can be fed automatically into this system, helping managers to monitor real-world operations against plan, and to take action where there are delays or other problems.

Paragon can also include Navman satnav with the tracking system, and can feed route information automatically to the driver for each new call.

Paragon has also added a new strategic modelling tool to its portfolio. Territory Optimiser helps users divide regions of the country automatically into territories that are balanced in terms of geography and work load. It complements the company's higher-level modelling tool, FastNet, which helps users to determine the optimum network of regions, depots and outbases for their distribution requirement.