Smart Terminal

TT acknowledgement through SMS

Previously, Vehicles  were acknowledged at the Terminal when they used to report empty at the Terminal for taking next load. Each and every vehicle was acknowledged separately through the Tcode YV40 in SAP. It was time consuming and held up the quick entry of TTs for loading. Now, with the help of SMS, customers can acknowledge the load as soon as the TT is unloaded. The system has two features i.e. receipt of product without any shortage & receipt with shortage. TT status will get updated in SAP in case there is NIL shortage and for reported cases of shortage, database will get created and will not get updated.

SMS INDENTING

Previously, Hard Copies of Indents had to be sent to operating Locations for indenting. Indent receiving time was limited to Office Hours only. These indents were noted down in OP4 datewise and the OP4 was used by S&D Officer to execute loads.

SMS Indenting has been designed  in SAP and extended to Retail and Consumer channels. It has been extended to both Delivered and Ex MI supplies.

Customer can have one primary number and multiple secondary numbers as registered mobile numbers.

Indenting of products, Status of load, Balance available in Accounts, Cancellation of Indents, Addition / Deletion  of Mobile numbers are possible through SMS.

Apart from this, the system is interactive and gives generated Sales Order Number, Billing Document Number, TT Number  and Balance of Customer  at the end of the Billing Cycle.

AUTO QUEUING

In locations provided with RFID technology and dedicated RFID sensors on vehicles, the TT is accepted in TAS no sooner it enters the TT Parking area and is pushed to SAP. Pre requisite is that it should be in an acknowledged status.  Moreover, proximity card sensor technology is also being implemented to enable auto TT queuing in SAP. At these locations, card sensors are installed at the Main Gate and the driver has to present the proximity card issued to each TT on permanent basis, for TT to get acknowledged by TAS and get pushed to SAP for further processing. Such card sensor will have display to flash TT number that has been accepted by system (driver satisfaction and be sure of TT acknowledgement). Pre requisite is that it should be in an acknowledged status.

Thirdly, VTS based TT queuing is also on the anvil. TTs will be acknowledged in system data base no sooner it enters the LOCATIONS EARMARKED ZONE specified by VTS system.

AUTO QUEUING AND PLANNING

load i.e for supplies to DEALER or CONSORTIUM DEALER. The first available sales order (among all the consortium members) matching the vehicle capacity will be considered for loading. Shipment  creation will be done on TT reporting in the predefined time limits for the location. Vehicle reporting without “Acknowledgement” or “Valid Sales Order matching TT capacity “ will be processed after 30 minutes on reporting of next TT/updation in TT queue. The basis for indent (Sales Order) sequencing will be:

• Pending indents of the previous day
• Consumer indents
• Priority dealers
• Creation date/Time (FIFO) logic
• For own loads it will be priority dealers and reporting of TT (FIFO).

This will bring in transparency and entire process will be system driven without human intervention.

AUTO GENERATION OF FAN SLIP

Auto TT planning and scheduling automatically  generates shipment  ( upon clicking the shipment icon) and is pushed to TTES for auto generation of FAN slip and its printing at security gate. Users do not need to go through the SD Cycle steps of Order/Delivery/Shipment Creation for generating FAN Slip. The proximity card permanently issued to each TT gets activated for one cycle and TT enters the terminal for loading with FAN slip and proximity card. FAN slip is generated based on logic of optimum utilization of bay. The system works with the 1 + 1 logic i.e one TT under loading and second TT waiting for loading. No sooner loading bay gets free, next FAN slip in queue gets printed automatically along with auto announcement for information to the TT crew. The process eliminates interaction with location S&D under normal circumstances. This saves time and helps in streamlining the process.

Auto capturing of QC data on invoice

Marketing Discipline Guidelines requires recording of batch number, density @ 15  Degree C and storage tank number to be mentioned on the face of the invoice. These details are being updated in SAP at regular intervals as per QC guidelines and the same get automatically printed on invoice. Unless these details are fed, invoice is not generated. In case of SKO, flash point of product being loaded along with storage tank number is printed on invoice by the system. These details are mandatory, for being entered in SAP before invoice gets generated by the system. Here also invoice generation does not happen without these details being entered in SAP. Provision has been made in TAS for system to pickup online density and temperature from the loading header for being printed on invoice. On installation of online densitometers, TT wise density will be picked up from system for being printed on invoice. These processes reduce human intervention and chances of errors are also brought down.

AUTO INVOICING

Previously in manual locations, Load and delivery confirmation had to be done through Tcodes O4G1 and O4H1 in SAP. This was followed by Tcode VF01 for Invoice generation. In automated Terminals, the two steps of O4G1 and O4H1 were automated but VF01 had to be necessarily done for Invoice generation and printing.

Nowadays, Invoice gets automatically generated as soon as the TT gets loaded at TLF, through TAS-SAP  interface, without manual intervention, thereby minimizing its waiting time inside the terminal at automated locations. Steps like Knocking off (F-30) or Excise Invoice generation (J1IJ) has also been automated bringing great relief to the S&D operator. 

For OMC loadings, B2B has been effectively implemented.

Turnaround time in TT filling at terminal, starting from entry of empty TT to exit  of filled TT has got reduced by more than 30 minutes, thereby enhancing satisfaction level of our esteemed customers. It has reduced delays on account of human intervention in the whole process.