Automatic Territory assignment

With the automation wizard

From the Territory assignment page, click on Automatic

Select your preferred territory assignment method

Method	Pre-requirements	Description
Balancing the entities	Import points or Import geographic entities.	Balances territories against one or more indicators.
As close as possible	Import points or import geographical entities and Import sites.	Assigns entities to the nearest site according to constraints.
Balancing the sites	Import points or import geographical entities and Import sites.	Balance by taking sites into account.

tm-reference-img/ecran_sectorisation_automatique.png

Click on Start

Steps in the territory assignment operation with automated balancing

Filter on	Description
No filtering	Default value. Territory assignment is performed on all points or geographical entities.
Selection	Territory assignment is performed on all the points or geographical entities selected in the table or map.
Visible territories	Territory assignment is based on all sectors declared as visible in the table.
Only those assigned	Territory assignment is based on all the points or geographical entities assigned to a territory

Balancing the entities

Number of territories	Action
Number of territories	Equitably distributes the number of points or geographical entities according to an imposed number of territories.
With a target value	Creates a number of territories based on a value or indicator
Balancing weighting field	The target value to be achieved for each territory will be proportional to the value of the weighting field indicated.

Balancing entities and sites

Balancing territories according to	Parameters
Balance by indicator [Indicator]	Number of entities Workload Indicator Up to twelve parameters can be combined.
Territory assignment priority	Five levels between compactness and balance.

Balancing territories according to

Parameters

Balance by indicator [Indicator]

Number of entities
Workload
Indicator

Up to twelve parameters can be combined.

Territory assignment priority

Five levels between compactness and balance.

Balancing as close as possible

Parameters	Description
Limit	Limit in minutes.
Capacity	Match capacities and volumes.
Compatibilities	Apply a compatibility criterion.

Balancing the sites

Parameters	Description
Territories weighting	Associate with a weighting field.
Number of sub-territories	Force the number of territories per site with the value of an indicator carried by each site.
Compatibilities	Apply a compatibility criterion.

Close balancing and entities

Route according to	Parameters
Type of route calculation	Fastest (default) Shortest As the crow flies

Advanced options

Only the grouping criterion option is available for the nearest territory assignment method.

Advanced options	Parameters
Restrict modifications	Maximum to be reallocated Apply by territory
Grouping criteria	Indicator
Journey time parameters	Number of points Limit in minutes

Balancing parameters or settings

Parameter (or setting) name	Description
As the crow flies (calculation type)	Searching as the crow flies results in a territory assignment without any reference to the road network. It is faster, and less precise, however it provides a rough idea of the simulation.
Apply by territory*	Associated to Allow editing. Selecting this option allows you to choose whether a given modification is applied by territory, or globally. When activated, the same proportion of candidate points in all territories will be subject to a change in assignment. If the option is not activated, modifications will be heterogeneous, depending on the territory.
Restrict modification	This option allows you to retain some of the previous assignment, allowing only X% of points on the map to change territory. Linked setting: Max to reassign (%)
Capacity / Volume (constraint)* or Set up volume and capacity correspondences	This constraint sets up a relation between a quantity assigned to an object and a capacity assigned to a site for the assignment. Each site can be assigned a maximm capacity. Once this capacity has been reached, no further points or geographic zones (these having themselves an assigned quantity) can be assigned to the site. These points or geographic zones will therefore be assigned to the second nearest site, if this has capacity.
Workload	Applies balancing based on an estimated journey time and on an indicator representing visit time. The journey time is the time from the first to the last visit. The journey between sites (or barycentres) and the first visit, and the journey between the last visit and the site (or barycentre) are not taken into account.
Compatibility	The application will assign to each object the site that is nearest and has the same compatibility value as the object. This indicator must be present on sites and objects.
Grouping criterion*	This option allows you to group a series of points having a common value stored in a field that renders them unsplittable in the event of an assignment. In this way, points sharing a common attribute, which can be definedby selecting the field, will be assigned to the same site.
Balance territories*	Depending on the number of points and/or depending on indicators present: - Three indicators maximum in addition to the number of points to territory the geographic points or geographical zones. - The number of points or an indicator to territory objects around the sites. - One indicator could be workload (estimated travel time, etc.) duration of visits obtained through the values of the chosen indicator)
Exclude unassigned	Unassigned objects will not be included in the territory assignment proposed.
Visit frequency*	Provides estimated journey time to weight with the number of visits made to the point in the period analysed (week, month, year, etc.). This can be linked to the Journey time indicator and edited when estimating this indicator.
Indicators	Enables balancing on the territory assignment as a function of an indicator.
Shortest (calculation type)	Searching on shortest, via the road network, results in more compact territories, because the distances travelled are minimised
Fastest (calculation type)	Searching on fastest, via the road network, results in territories that are less geographically compact, but more accessible.
Limit in minutes Limit in kilometers	A search radius around sites in terms of duration or distance can be defined. Points lying outside the search limits will not be assigned. To assign all points whatever their distance to the site, the search limit must be set to 0. This can be edited when estimating the Journey time indicator.
Number of points	Indicates the number of points used when calculating the estimation. A low value (for example, 10) takes little account of the point density. A high value on the other hand (for example 100) will give priority to the nearest points. This can be adjusted when estimating the Journey time indicator.
Geographic points / zones	Select one of three options: All, Selection, Assigned only. This functionality allows you to run the automatic territory assignment on all objects, selected objects only, or just assignedobjects.
Weighting	The target value to be reached for each territory will be proportional to the value of the weighting indicator chosen. For example, if the indicator is worth 100 for some territories , and 50 for others, those with a value of 50 will have a balancing target half as high as those with a value of 100. We could thus have territories corresponding to half-time work and others to full-time, or have targets dependent on vehicle capacities.

Territory assignment priority*

Associated to Balance territories. Defines a possible weighting in relation to the perfect balance between the different territories. When territory assignment is applied, the algorithm takes into account the statistical rule used (equal territories according to X indicators) as well as the territory’s geography (compact territory, without holes). The closer the cursor is to Balanced the greater the respect for the statistical rule will be. The closer the cursor is to Compactness the more compact the territory will be.
Under Advanced settings, when using several criteria, you can give one indicator dominance over another by moving one cursor closer to Balanced, and the cursor of the other indicator towards Compactness.

tm-reference-img/exemple_priorite_de_sectorisation_1.png

tm-reference-img/exemple_priorite_de_sectorisation_2.png

tm-reference-img/exemple_priorite_de_sectorisation_3.png

Respect all criteria*	If this is checked, when a point has several compatibilities (separated by semicolons ;) it will only be assignable to the site that also has all these compatibilities (separated by semi-colons ;).
Restrict modifications	Allows you to retain some of the previous assignments, allowing only X% of the points on the map to change territory. The Apply by territory option lets you choose whether the modification is applied by territory or globally. If enabled, all territories will have the same proportion of points that are candidates for reassignment. If not, changes may be heterogeneous across territories.
Territory assignment for visible territories only	Only takes into account territories that are visible on the map (hidden territories will remain unchanged). If no territory is hidden, this option is not available. This makes it possible to lock certain territories so they are not taken into account in an automatic territory assignment.

Workload

This option results in a territory assignment balanced on an estimation of journey time. If combined with the Visit time indicator, you will obtain a balancing on workload.

For example: despite the differences, these 2 territories have the same workload.

tm-reference-img/exemple_tps_de_trajet_1.png

tm-reference-img/commun/exemple_tps_de_trajet_2.png

Calculation type

The calculation type (fastest, shortest, as the crow flies) allows you to strategically shape the resulting territories.
Your choice will depend on the type of territories you require, the business constraints (economise on time or kilometers), as well as the geographic coverage balanced (in densely populated urban areas, balancing on shortest is not ideal, and the opposite is true for rural areas).

How are certain indicators calculated?

Number of territories	When the number of territories to generate is not a limiting criterion for the user, Territory Manager can be requested to suggest a number of territories to generate to obtain a balanced territory assignment. The user needs to define an indicator, the value of which they want to attain by territory, as for example: balance on territory potential, with all territories having a value of up to 500,000. Territory Manager will then suggest a number of territories to create, visible in the functionality, which is different from the number of existing territories. The territories suggested will all have values approximating to the maximum target value (they can exceed it by 5%).
Territory names	Following an automated territory assignment, the names of the previous territories are retained, if 50% of their points have remained within this same territory. Otherwise a new name is automatically assigned
Points with the same coordinates	Points which have the same X,Y coordinates (same address) will have their indicators concatenated. These will be treated as a single and same point attributed to a territory, which could result in imbalances.
Estimated journey time	Estimation of the time spent on the road to visit all points within a territory. This indicator is only available following an automatic territory assignment using load calculation. The estimation is calculated by assigning a weight to each point (the closer a point is to the others, the less costly it will be to visit, and conversely, a point far from all the others is more costly to visit). For each point, the journey time is calculated (via the route) to the N nearest points to determine the weighting for each, taking into account the visit frequency if this has been assigned.
Visit time	The visit time corresponds to a visit duration assigned to each point by the user. This is entered as an indicator (duration). Combined with the Journey time indicator, we obtain a balancing on workload. If a client has an estimated visit time of 20 minutes and is visited 5 times, this represents a total journey time of 1 hour and 40 minutes on the global territory assignment. The visit times are multiplied by the rounded frequency: for example 1’29 = 1 minute (rounded down to the lower value). If this visit time is multiplied by a frequency of 5 (for example) we will lose 29 seconds x 5. The impacts are nonetheless quite marginal.

Understanding the territory assignment page interface

The interface in the Territory assignment page of Territory Manager is made up of four main panes: map, table, graphs, key indicators (KPI), with a toolbar and a main menu above.

tm-reference-img/tm_page_sectorisation.png

Main menu

Accessible via the menu icon tm-reference-img/commun/tm_icone_menu.png

Home page
New Study
List of studies
Saved simulations
Compare current simulation with…
Save
Save a copy
Edit
Sharing link
Share a copy
Export

Map icons

Import your sites, your resources
Selection
Information on the map
Analyse
Configuring the map

Import objects, sites or resources

Once the initial territory assignment has been performed, you can add to it using the Import sites, resources icon tm-reference-img/commun/icone_importer_vos_sites_vos_ressources.png

Geographic objects (points or polygons)
Sites
Some territories
Layers

Additions	Pre-requirements	Import result
Points	Automatic territory assignment on points	These objects will be added to those already present in the territory assignment page.
Entities	Automatic territory assignment on geographic zones
Sites	Automatic territory assignment on points or automatic territory assignment on geographic zones	Sites integrated: - Provide access to the territory assignment around sites. - Are present in a tab of the table pane.
territories	Import of sites	Several territories can be associated with a single site. Territory assignment then creates as many sub-territories per site. The color of these sub-territories is chosen according to the color of the site.
Layer	Automatic territory assignment on points or automatic territory assignment on geographic zones	Layer objects are not selectable. See chapter Manage layers.