3483900 - FAQ for Dynamic Visit Planning

I. General 

Q: How to scope Dynamic Visit Planning addon?  

A: Please refer to the KBA<3136885 - How To Activate Dynamic Visit Planning (DVP)>.  

Q: How to create/update visit plans for accounts in bulk? 

A: Please refer to the help documentation Dynamic Visit Planning Add-On for SAP Sales Cloud -> Import and Export Visit Plans and Route Groups and below 2 KBAs. 

• KBA<3361172 How to Create Visit Plan for the Account via Data Import and Export?> 
• KBA<3341606 How to Update Visit Plan for the Account via Data Import and Export?> 

Q: How to maintain the visit types for DVP? 

A: Please maintain the visit type by following the steps below. 

1. Go to Business Configuration Work Center  
2. Go to Overview View  
3. Search “Visit Type” 
4. Open Activity “Maintain Visit Type” 
5. The visits maintained in this BC activity will be synced to DVP 
6. Click Add Row to add a new visit type 
7. Click Save and Close 
8. Go to Dynamic Visit Planning Work Center  
9. Go to Visit Administration View 
10. Go to Visit Type Definition  

All visit types maintained in the business configuration activity “Maintain Visit Types” will be available  

You can switch on/off “Automatic Optimization” for each visit type 

Q: Are there any analytical reports available?  

A: Currently, there is no analytical report available yet for DVP.  

Q: What is historical traffic data considered for visit list optimization?

A: DVP uses the Here map. Please kindly check the below information from Here map. 

"Historical Traffic Patterns are built from up to two years of historical speed observations. Historical traffic data is available in 100+ countries. Maps analyze historical traffic patterns for the specific route, time of day, and day of the week to estimate how long it will take to travel at a given time. It considers the distance, speed limits, and elevation changes along the route, as well as the number of lanes, traffic lights, and road conditions."  

From DVP, there is no automatic update or continuous re-optimization based on stored traffic data. It means that there is no calculation from DVP side for previous visits for the same account. There is no SAP specific implementation, instead we are using the standard APIs from Here map. Whenever an optimization is run, the request is made to Here Maps to provide the latest information at real time. Hence, whatever is the latest traffic info is expected to be returned whenever we make the call. 

Q: Is working hour considered from the start location instead of the first account to be visited? 

A: Yes, the working hour is considered from the start location. 

Q: How to delete/cancel visits in DVP? 

A: For planned visit list items, you can delete them under the Cockpit View/Visit List view. For replicated visits, the visits can be deleted and canceled in the C4C visit view. Please refer to KBA <3346051 Cannot Delete or Cancel Replicated Visit in Dynamic Visit Planning>.  

Q: Are the visits or appointments created outside DVP be considered while planning visit lists in DVP? 

A: Visit created outside DVP (ex. visit was created under C4C Visits/C4C Calendar view) is considered while planning visit lists in DVP. Currently, the appointment is not considered yet and is in our roadmap.  

Q: How much time will it take to replicate visits from DVP to Visits View? 

A: Usually, the replication will be completed within a few minutes. If the replication status remains “In Process” for a long time (ex. few hours), please report one case along with the visit list date, visit list owner information, and screenshots to SAP.  

Q: Can Adaptation mode be used for DVP? 

A: The C4C adaptation mode is not supported for DVP. If you would like to configure Cockpit Filters, please refer to the help documentation Dynamic Visit Planning Add-On for SAP Sales Cloud -> Configure Cockpit Filters.  

II. Route Groups 

Q: What are the prerequisites for the route group to generate the visit lists? Why are the visit lists not generated from my route group? 

A: The prerequisites for one route group to generate the visit lists: 

• Maintenance of visit list generation schedule for your route group's visit type and sales data (sales organization, division, and distribution channel) combination 
• The status of the route group is Active  

If the visit list is not generated for your route group, please refer to KBA< 3368761 - Dynamic Visit Planning Route Group Doesn't Generate Visit List>.  

Q: How to create route groups in bulk? 

A: Please refer to the help documentation Dynamic Visit Planning Add-On for SAP Sales Cloud -> Import and Export Visit Plans and Route Groups and KBA< 3346118 How to Create Route Group via Data Import and Export?>. 

Q: How many time zones can be specified within one route group?  

A: Only one time zone can be specified within one route group.  

Q: Can you edit the visit plans in the route group after its successful visit list generation? 

A: If visit list generation is successful for your active route group, edit button will be disabled under visit plan tab. If visit list generation is not started for your active route group, you can set the route group’s status back to “In preparation” and edit button will be enabled under visit plan tab.  

Q: Will influencing factors defined in the visit recommendation configuration and their calculated account score apply to the route group? 

A: Currently, the influencing factors defined in the active visit recommendation configuration and their calculated account scores don’t apply to the route group. The calculated scores only affect the "Plan My Day" and "Muti-Day Planning"(highest impact) in the Cockpit.  

Q: Why did the visit list optimization fail for the generated visit list from the route group?  

A: Optimization can fail under the following common scenarios: 

• If the address is not maintained at the route group header, or if the employee doesn't have an address. 
• If the start time is not maintained at the route group header, or if the employee start time is not maintained in the employee working hours. 
• If the start time of the fixed visit list item is earlier than the start time of the employee. 
• If the total service duration of the account is greater than the employee's working hours. 
• There are too many accounts planned for the specific day, or these accounts are too far away for the specific day. 

Q: What are the supported visiting frequencies for visit plans?  

A: The supported visiting frequencies are every n Day(s)/Week(s)/Month(s) (n is the number). Please note if “every once a month” is selected, the first day of the month will be visited for that account. The recommendation is to use 1 visit every 4 weeks instead of once a month.  

III. Cockpit  

Q: What’s the definition for the “All Accounts” query in the Cockpit? 

A: The "All" query for C4C Accounts list view includes all accounts except the obsolete ones. For DVP Cockpit, DVP Cockpit works with visit recommendations. It considers active, in preparation and blocked status. Only obsolete accounts are not considered also. 

Q: What’s the definition for “My Account” query in the Cockpit?  

A: In the DVP cockpit view, "My Accounts" shows only those accounts where the user is a direct owner of the account and accounts where user is assigned to the account team. 

In Accounts view, if territory management is active in your solution, “My Accounts" shows accounts where user is assigned to the territory team also. However, this is still in our roadmap for DVP. 

Q: What are the planning attributes in the cockpit? Why do you need to maintain them before generating visit lists? 

A: Planning attributes are the sales area (sales organization, division, and distribution channel) and visit type you would like these visit list items to have during their creation. We need to maintain them for visit list items generation and for matching the account’s visit plan.  

Q: What’s the difference between "Highest Impact" or "Maximum Visits" in the route preference? 

A: Choose Maximum Visits if you want the system to allocate maximum number of accounts to a visit per day irrespective of the impact. Choose Highest Impact if you want the system to allocate accounts based on the highest impact.  

Highest Impact & Maximum Visits are used to resolve conflicts. For example, if there are 20 accounts to be planned and the available slot is for just 10 accounts, the system will decide to remove those accounts that have less impact (Highest Impact is selected). In case of Maximum Visits, the system will try to ensure a maximum number of accounts is planned irrespective of the score. 

Q: Can the advanced filter in the Cockpit be customized? 

A: Yes, please refer to the help documentation Dynamic Visit Planning Add-On for SAP Sales Cloud -> Configure Cockpit Filters.  

Q: What’s the best practice for using the advanced filter with the parameters under visit recommendation in the Cockpit? 

A: There are parameters under visit recommendation for this advanced filter. Because one account can have several visit recommendations with different sales areas and visit type combination. Therefore “Account: Visit recommendations” relationship is “1: n”.   

The best practice for using visit recommendation parameters for the advanced filter in the Cockpit shows below.  

• Enable defaulting sales area setting per KBA <3451780 - How to Configure "Defaulting Sales area" for Dynamic Visit Planning Addon> 
• The sales area will be defaulted for the advanced filter from employee sales data of the user logged into the system 
• Open the Cockpit advanced filter  
• Select one visit type  
• Use visit recommendation parameter (Example: Planned visits. If "Planned Visits" = Yes, it only considers the open/in process visits planned on current date/future dates. ) 

Q: Why is no accounts query the default query in the cockpit? Why are only limited accounts available on the map?  

A: These are standard system behaviors and are designed for performance. Once DVP Cockpit view is loaded, please select your target account query, and use the “Search Map Area” button to select accounts within a region. Please refer to the KBA < 3314698 - Not all Accounts are visible in the Map for Dynamic Visit Planning Cockpit>.  

Q: How is the geocode determined for accounts in the DVP map? 

A: Please refer to KBA<3440537 Error "Geocode for account is not defined" Shows While Using DVP>. 

Q: What’s the default visiting time and preparation time for “Plan My Day” and “Multi-day Planning”? 

A: Visit duration and preparation time is copied from the visit plan if both sales area (sales organization, division, and distribution channel) and visit type match the planning attributes’ selection. If account doesn’t have a matched visit plan, the default preparation time is 10 minutes, and the default visit duration is 30 minutes. 

Q: What’s the best practice for using “Plan My Day”?  

A: It can be used for today only. If it’s used for one future date, the same visit list will be generated like the one we have for today.  

Q: Are accounts’ visit plans considered for “Plan My Day”? 

A: No, please refer to KBA< 3351795 Plan My Day in Cockpit Does Not Consider Account's Visit Plan>.  

Q: Are accounts’ visit plans considered for “Multi-day Planning”? 

A: Yes, if both sales area (sales organization, division, and distribution channel) and visit type are the same as the planning attributes’ selection. 

Q: What is the maximum day range that can be selected for “Multi-day Planning”? 

A: You can select a maximum of seven days. 

Q: What is the maximum number of accounts that can be selected for “Multi-day Planning”? 

A: You can select a maximum of 75 accounts in one go.