Appointments with Variable Duration

You can create loading appointments with different durations by assigning more than one time slot to a loading appointment. The shortest loading appointment possible is one time slot. The longest loading appointment possible is 7 days. Each loading appointment must consist of consecutive time slots. If you need to create a loading appointment that includes time when there are no workers at the loading point, you must include this time in the duration of the appointment.

Provisional Appointments

If you are working with docking locations, you can create loading appointments for a docking location without specifying a loading appointment, or time slots, or both. These loading appointments have the status Provisional. Provisional appointments do not fill any capacity in a loading point, and you cannot process the provisional appointments without further planning. When you enter the loading point and time slots into the provisional appointment, the loading appointment status changes to Planned and it fills capacity at the loading point. You can then proceed with the loading appointment.

Managing Loading Appointments

You can change loading appointments where the vehicle has not arrived at the checkpoint yet to different time slots in the loading point. However, appointment planners for carriers can change the time slots of their loading appointments only if the restricted planning period has not begun.

As long as both loading points are in the same docking location, you can change loading appointments where the vehicle has not arrived at the warehouse yet to different loading point. If you are using docking locations, the new loading point must have the same docking location as the original loading point.

You can cancel loading appointments where the vehicle has not arrived at the checkpoint yet.

Loading Appointment Direction

You can specify whether a loading appointment is an inbound appointment or an outbound appointment, if required.

Creating Loading Appointments for Time Slots Without Free Capacity

You can create loading appointments for a time slot for your loading point even if there is no free capacity for the slot. However, appointment planners for carriers can create loading appointments for time slots with free capacity only.

Indicating that a Loading Appointment has Arrived at the Dock

If you are using SAP Dock Appointment Scheduling without integration with SAP Extended Warehouse Management, you can indicate that a vehicle has arrived at the dock without first indicating that the vehicle has arrived at the checkpoint. You can also indicate that a vehicle has departed from the checkpoint without first indicating that the vehicle has departed from the dock.

Changing the Date and Time After the Action is Performed

SAP Dock Appointment Scheduling saves a record of the time when you update the status of each loading appointment. You can change the date and time related to actions for the loading appointment after the actions are performed. For example, if you set the status of a loading appointment to Departed from Checkpoint later than when the vehicle actually left, you can enter the actual time of departure in SAP Dock Appointment Scheduling. You can then store the actual times to analyze them later.