Control Tower: Detailed Process Diagram

We have uploaded our view on the detailed process diagram from our perspective. This means that some activities that are belonging to the Transportation Company or Distribution Center are not included. These activities are not part of our scope. This process diagram should give you insight in the activities the Control Tower does and when in the process data is exchanged between the different TC's and DC's. What data is exactly exchanged will be specified in another posts on this Wiki. Use this diagram to see where in the process you receive data and when you need to send data back to us.



We will give here a short explanation about the process diagram we developed. I will do this step-by-step.

1. The CT will receive an order. This will be an order the CT will put in manually, or maybe randomly generated later on. The CT will put this order in its database.

2. For this order the CT will start the Order Bidding Process. For each order the CT will start a new bidding process. So DC's cannot combine orders and send one offer back. The CT will sent each DC the same offer. This will be done via a XML file what data contains. Via a XSD (XML Schema) we will create a standard XML format. All data that will be exchanged between entities will be done via a XML file with a standard XSD file.

3. DC's will apart from each other determine if they can take the offer, for what price and what TC will do the transportation. Via a message they send back the information back to the CT.

4. The CT will collect the bids and choose for the most appropriate DC. Currently this is done based on costs.

5. The CT will sent each DC a message whether they have the order or not. This will be a standardized message.

6. From here on, the DC's and TC's will have their own activities. The TC will plan his trip and sends the trip info to the CT so the CT can start making a trip plan. If the TC fails to send in time their info, the CT will send a reminder to the TC.

7. When the trip plan is made by the CT, the CT will notify the DC's when they can expect the TC's.

8. When something happens, TC notifies the CT with their problems. CT will adjust the trip plan and notifies the DC's with the changed trip plan.

9. When a truck departs, the TC will notify the CT so it can start tracking the TC. Also it will send a first status update to the DC so they also know that their truck is on its way.

10. During its trip the truck will send a status update to the CT when it has arrived at the DC, when it departs from the DC and when it arrives at its final destination.

11. When the truck has completed its delivery, the CT will stop tracking the truck and the truck will stop transmitting its GPS data.