Jobs & Scheduling Guide

1. Understanding Jobs in Roll-Off

In roll-off operations, a job represents a single unit of work involving a container and a customer site. Unlike package delivery where each stop is independent, roll-off jobs are interconnected. A pickup depends on a prior delivery, and a delivery requires an available container.

What Is a Job in Klau?

A job in Klau captures everything needed to execute a container movement:

• Customer & Site: Who requested the work and where it happens
• Job Type: What kind of container movement (Delivery, Pickup, Swap, or Dump & Return)
• Container Size: The size of container involved (10, 15, 20, 30, or 40 yards)
• Requested Date: When the customer wants the job completed
• Time Window: Morning, Afternoon, or Anytime preference
• Priority: Normal, High, or Urgent scheduling importance

The Job Lifecycle

Every job moves through a predictable lifecycle. Understanding these states helps you manage your workload and communicate with customers.

Job vs Dispatch Relationship

In Klau, a Dispatch is a collection of jobs assigned to a specific driver for a specific date. Think of it as a driver's daily work order.

The dispatch also includes the route metadata: estimated start and end times, total drive time, and optimization details like chain opportunities.

2. Job Types Deep Dive

Klau supports four primary job types, each representing a different container movement pattern. Choosing the right job type is essential for accurate scheduling, route optimization, and inventory tracking.

Job Type Decision Tree

Not sure which job type to choose? Follow this decision tree:

Service Time Estimates

Klau uses default service times for each job type. These represent the on-site time (excluding drive time) and are used for route optimization and ETA calculations.

These times can be customized in your company settings. Actual job durations are tracked and used to improve future estimates.

3. Creating Jobs

Creating jobs in Klau is straightforward. The job creation form guides you through all required information while Klau validates availability and provides real-time feedback.

Step-by-Step Job Creation

Selecting Customer and Site

Klau maintains a customer database with associated sites. A customer can have multiple sites (e.g., different project locations), and each job is linked to a specific site.

• Existing Customers: Start typing to search by name, phone, or email. Select from the dropdown to auto-populate customer details.
• New Customers: Click "Create New Customer" to add a new customer inline. Required fields are name and at least one contact method.
• Site Selection: After selecting a customer, choose from their existing sites or add a new site address. Site addresses are geocoded for route optimization.

Container Size Selection

Klau tracks inventory by container size. When you select a size, you'll see:

Below each size, Klau displays current availability. Green numbers indicate healthy stock. Yellow or red indicate low stock or potential stockout for the requested date.

Adding PO Numbers and Notes

Additional fields help with billing and driver communication:

• PO Number: Customer's purchase order for invoicing. This appears on weight tickets and invoices.
• Job Notes: Internal notes visible to dispatchers. Use for special instructions like gate codes or contact information.
• Driver Instructions: Notes specifically for the driver, visible in their mobile app. Keep these brief and actionable.

4. Recurring Job Scheduling

For ongoing projects or service agreements, Klau supports recurring job schedules. Instead of manually creating a job every week, you can define a template that automatically materializes jobs on a set frequency.

Setting Up a Recurring Job

Automatic Materialization

Klau's "Materializer" engine automatically creates concrete job instances from your templates as you view the dispatch board.

5. Time Windows

Time windows let customers specify when they want a job completed. Klau uses these preferences during route optimization to ensure customer expectations are met while maintaining efficient routes.

How Time Windows Affect Optimization

Klau's optimizer treats time windows as constraints that must be satisfied:

• Morning jobs are prioritized early in the route sequence, often before any afternoon-constrained jobs.
• Afternoon jobs are scheduled later in the route, even if they're geographically closer to the yard.
• Anytime jobs fill in gaps and allow the optimizer to minimize total drive time without constraint conflicts.

Best Practices

• Use Anytime when possible: The more flexibility you give the optimizer, the more efficient your routes become.
• Reserve Morning for high-value: Morning constraints limit route options. Use them for customers who truly need early service.
• Balance your windows: A day full of morning jobs creates afternoon idle time. Mix windows to keep drivers productive all day.
• Communicate proactively: If you can't meet a requested window, call the customer before the day of service.

5. Priority Levels

Priority levels help you communicate which jobs matter most when the optimizer is building routes. Use them strategically to ensure your most important customers get served first.

Impact on Route Optimization

The optimizer considers priority as a soft constraint with escalating weight:

• Normal: No additional weight. Pure efficiency optimization.
• High: Adds preference weighting. Will be scheduled earlier unless it significantly hurts overall efficiency.
• Urgent: Strong constraint. Placed first in sequence, may sacrifice some route efficiency to ensure early completion.

When to Use Each Priority

6. Job Pinning & Constraints

Sometimes you need precise control over when or how a job is executed. Klau's pinning system lets you lock specific aspects of a job while still allowing the optimizer to work around those constraints.

Types of Pins

When to Pin vs Let Optimizer Decide

Pinning is powerful but should be used sparingly. Each pin reduces the optimizer's flexibility and can lead to less efficient routes.

7. The Schedule View

The Schedule View provides a calendar-based overview of all jobs across your operation. Use it to see the big picture, identify scheduling conflicts, and plan capacity.

Calendar Overview

The calendar displays jobs by their requested date, color-coded by status:

Filtering Options

Quickly find the jobs you're looking for with these filter options:

• By Status: Show only unassigned, assigned, or completed jobs.
• By Driver: See jobs for a specific driver or unassigned jobs only.
• By Customer: Find all jobs for a specific customer across dates.
• By Container Size: Filter by 10, 15, 20, 30, or 40 yard jobs.
• By Job Type: Show only deliveries, pickups, swaps, or dump & returns.

Week View vs Day View

Identifying Scheduling Conflicts

The Schedule View highlights potential issues:

• Overbooked Days: Days with more jobs than driver capacity are highlighted in red.
• Container Shortages: Days where scheduled deliveries exceed projected inventory show a warning indicator.
• Unassigned Jobs: Jobs still unassigned for today or past dates are flagged for immediate attention.
• Time Window Conflicts: Multiple morning-pinned jobs on the same driver are highlighted as potential issues.

8. Managing Jobs

Jobs often need modifications after creation. Klau makes it easy to edit, reschedule, or cancel jobs while maintaining data integrity and audit trails.

Editing Job Details

Most job fields can be edited until the job is completed:

• Always Editable: Notes, PO number, driver instructions, priority, time window.
• Editable Until Assigned: Customer, site, job type, container size.
• Requires Unassign First: Changing core job details on an assigned job requires unassigning first to prevent driver confusion.

Changing Job Dates

Rescheduling a job is straightforward:

1. Open the job details panel.
2. Click the date field or "Reschedule" button.
3. Select the new requested date.
4. Klau will check inventory availability and warn of any conflicts.
5. Confirm the change. If the job was assigned, it will become unassigned.

Cancelling Jobs

To cancel a job:

1. Open the job details panel.
2. Click "Cancel Job" in the actions menu.
3. Optionally add a cancellation reason.
4. Confirm. The job status changes to CANCELLED.

Cancelled jobs are preserved for historical records and reporting. They no longer affect inventory projections or route optimization.

Deleting vs Cancelling

9. Job Status Tracking

Klau provides real-time visibility into job progress. Understanding status transitions helps you manage customer expectations and respond quickly to issues.

Understanding Status Transitions

Monitoring Completion

Track job progress in real-time:

• Dispatch Board: Jobs change color as status updates. Completed jobs move to the bottom or hide based on your view settings.
• Driver Location: See where each driver is and which job they're working on.
• ETA Updates: As drivers progress, ETAs for remaining jobs update automatically.
• Notifications: Get alerts for job completions, delays, or issues.

Handling Delays and Issues

When things don't go as planned:

• Automatic ETA Updates: If a job runs long, Klau recalculates ETAs for all subsequent jobs and can notify affected customers.
• Job Reassignment: If a driver falls behind, you can reassign later jobs to other drivers.
• Issue Logging: Drivers can flag issues (site access problems, customer not ready, etc.) that appear on the dispatch board.
• Incomplete Jobs: If a job can't be completed, it can be marked as such with notes for follow-up.