Whether you have a handful of service users or hundreds, distance is always a factor when trying to maximise the efficiency of your workers’ daily rounds.
Our Travel Time Estimates feature gives you an indication of the time needed to travel between visits. Using the Google Maps platform, we aim to give the most accurate estimation of the journey the care worker will take, and how long it will take them to do it. Estimates will be calculated whether they’re driving, walking, cycling, or even taking public transport.
Once activated, a non-intrusive indicator is displayed on the roster screen that gives a graphical representation of the travel time estimate.
Clicking on the indicator will show you more detailed information about the journey, including distance and expected route, as well as time.
As you shift bookings around, you’ll be prompted to update and display travel estimates for the new running order so you can check it’s suitable before committing any changes.
Clicking the carer’s name on the left hand side of the roster will show their route for that day.
Journey estimates
By heading to Settings → Roster → Journey estimates, you can set the maximum gap. This allows you to choose the maximum time between two bookings where the travel estimates will still show.
ℹ️ This has no effect on mileage or travel time payments
Travel estimates for different modes of transport
The carer’s Transport Type will dictate which mode of transport will be considered when calculating the estimate. You can change their transport by opening the carer’s profile tab, then clicking the Edit button in the ‘Other’ section at the bottom.
Gaps between visits
It’s often not needed to calculate a travel estimate if the gap between bookings is too long; the carer’s shift may have ended, they may be having lunch, or performing other duties.
By default we will exclude calculations for any visits that are more than 2 hours apart. You can change this setting in Settings > Roster > Journey Estimates.
Delays when a change is saved
It may take a short amount of time before the journey can be calculated and displayed. Once a change is saved, the calculation will be run in the background. Once the result is ready the roster screen will update automatically. The results will be calculated as quickly as possible, but in times where there is a lot to process it may take a minute or two.