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Services: Mobility & Additional Constraints in OBS

The Services page in OBS (under Settings) allows users to manage two key types of constraints that influence how bookings are scheduled and assigned to vehicles: Mobility Constraints and Additional Constraints.

 
What are Mobility Constraints?
 
Mobility constraints are specific designations within OBS that represent a client's mobility requirements. These codes are associated with various loading and unloading durations. The system uses these codes to ensure that there is enough room in the vehicle when allocating clients.
 
For example, a "VOLUME" value of "1" might represent one seat, while "2" could represent two seats, and so on.
 
Please note that "WEIGHT" field refers to the boot space required for a specific mobility constraint.
 
For instance, a Walking Frame (WF) mobility constraint may have a weight value of 1. If a vehicle in OLMS has a weight value of 2, it can accommodate two clients who have the Walking Frame mobility constraint at the same time.
 
A single mobility constraint can be assigned to a client's travel purpose, which means that multiple constraints may need to be combined. For instance, if a client requires a "Car Only" option and also uses a wheelchair, this specific mobility constraint should be represented as "CO/WC."
 
Mobility Constraints also play a critical role in ensuring that each client is matched with a vehicle capable of meeting their accessibility needs. For example, a client who requires a hoist for vehicle entry or exit will have this requirement defined as a specific mobility constraint within their profile.
 
Vehicles equipped with a hoist must have this attribute associated in the vehicle (run) settings. When bookings are scheduled in Transport 360, the system automatically assigns clients to vehicles that meet their specified mobility constraints, ensuring the transport solution directly aligns with each client’s requirements.
 
What are Additional Constraints?
 
Additional Constraints are specific labels created in OBS that are designed to influence how bookings are assigned to vehicles in the scheduling platform (Transport 360), essentially, they act as a filtering mechanism:
 
• When you create an Additional Constraint (e.g., naming it "Vehicle 1"), you can then assign this constraint to a client booking within OBS.
 
 
• This assigned constraint is then transferred to Trasnport 360, where it is recognised as an Attribute of that booking.
 
• In Transport 360, this same "Attribute" (e.g., "Vehicle 1") can be assigned to a specific vehicle.
 
• When the solver is run in Transport 360, it uses this matching attribute to ensure that the booking is assigned to the vehicle that has the corresponding attribute.
 
This allows for precise control over which vehicles handle certain types of bookings. Furthermore, if a booking with an additional constraint is manually placed into a vehicle without this attribute, a violation error will be thrown.
 
These constraints are crucial for ensuring specific requirements for bookings are met by particular vehicles, for instance, filtering bookings for a specialised vehicle or a vehicle assigned to a particular route or driver.
 
They also relate to "vehicle constraints" that can be selected when scheduling transport bookings for events. For example, an event may be requiring all participants to travel on a particular bus. The user would create an additional constraint name "Event 1" and assign this to the Constraint field in the event settings as shown below.
 
 
This would then ensure that all participants of this event are scheduled into the vehicle in OLMS with the "Event 1" attribute assigned to it.
 
Accessing the Services Page
 
To access the Services page:
 
1. Navigate to the "Settings" link in the main Navigation menu.
 
2. Click the "Services" link.
 
Key Actions within the Services Section
 
On the Services page, users can perform the following actions:
 
• Viewing Existing Mobility Requirements: You can view all existing mobility codes and their associated loading/unloading durations.
 
• Editing Mobility Requirements: To edit an existing mobility code, click on the relevant code.
 
This action will navigate you to the Edit Mobility Requirement page. On this page, you can adjust details such as the loading and unloading times for the mobility code and the "Weight" and "Volume" value.
 
◦ Important Note on Editing: Users are strongly advised against changing Constraint names without rigorously checking for potential overlaps with other constraint names or conflicts with other departments.
 
• Adding New Mobility Requirements: To add a new mobility requirement to the system, click the "ADD MOBILITY REQUIREMENT" link.
 
This will take you to the "Add Mobility Requirement page," where you can enter the details of the new mobility requirement and click the "ADD MOBILITY REQUIREMENT" button to save it. This is also where you would specify the "VOLUME" value for the new requirement
 
 

Linking Mobility/Additional Constraints to Transport 360

When a new mobility constraint or additional constraint is created in OBS, it does not immediately sync to Transport 360. The constraint must first be linked to a booking that has been synced to Transport 360 before it becomes available within the scheduling platform.

However, users can proactively create that additional/mobility constraint in Transport 360 and assign it to the required vehicles/runs. When a booking with the constraint passes through to Transport 360, it will automatically link up to the constraint/attribute in Transport 360 if the name and code matches.

When a booking is created in OBS, any mobility or additional constraints are passed through as an Order Attribute in Transport 360 when the booking syncs across.

To ensure these bookings are scheduled correctly, users must create a corresponding Run Attribute in OLMS and link it to the Order Attribute. Once linked, ticking the “Compatible” checkbox confirms that bookings with that attribute can be assigned to runs (vehicles) with the matching run attribute. 

Attributes and Constraints can be linked up from the Admin page in Transport 360 as shown below:

If a booking has come through from OBS with a new constraint, it will be displayed in the Order Attribute column as shown below.

The user will now need to create a Run Attribute with the same details, and then link the Order Attribute to the Run Attribute.

Attributes can be added by selecting the "+ADD" button on the Attributes & Constraints page as shown below:

In this example the "CO/H" order attribute was passed through from OBS with a booking, this means that the user will only need to create a matching "Run Attribute" and then link the existing "Order Attribute" to the new "Run Attribute".

Once the Run Attribute has been created, users must link the Order Attribute to the corresponding Run Attribute by clicking the "LINK" icon, selecting both attributes, and marking them as "Compatible" as illustrated below.

Once the above step has been completed, the order and run attributes will appear linked on the Attributes & Constraints page as shown below:

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