Zone Directory

Overview

The Zone Directory lets you define areas, regions, or locations used across various features within TransVirtual. By default, your account starts with two zones set up:

Headports — define your service locations and areas.
Auto-Assignments — automate the assignment of pickups and deliveries to drivers.

Other common examples include pricing zones that you or your suppliers define. Many users configure multiple pricing zones for different purposes.

Page Location

Navigate to Configuration > Lists and Zones > Zone Directory. The Zone Directory list page displays as shown below.

Create a Zone Listing

On the Zone Directory list page, click New Zone Listing. The Create New Zone Listing pop-up displays.

Enter the Zone Listing Name, then click Create. The new zone listing is added to the Zone List Directory.

Click the newly added zone listing. The details of the selected zone listing display on the right side of the screen.
To download all zones in the database, on the Edit Zone Listing page click Download Zones. This downloads a list of all zones as an Excel file.
To download all missing suburbs, on the Edit Zone Listing page click Download Missed Suburbs. This downloads a list of all missing suburbs as an Excel file.

Create a Zone

On the Zone Listing page, click Edit Zones/Suburbs. The Zones page displays.

Click New Zone. The Create/Edit a zone pop-up displays.

Enter the Zone Name, Other Names (AKA), and Zone Short Name in the respective fields, then click Save. The zone appears in the Zone Names list.

Note: Zone Name is the mandatory field when creating a new zone.

Import a Zone List

You can create a zone list by importing a CSV file into TransVirtual. First create a CSV file containing your zone list data. A CSV (comma separated values) file is a plain text file; to create one, open Excel and use the Save As function to select .csv as the file type.

For example, the CSV file below shows how the data looks.

The file has four columns — one each for Zone Name, Suburb, State, and Postcode. These columns define which suburbs, states, and postcodes belong to which zone in the zone list. All import files should contain Zone Name, Suburb, State, and Postcode, as this provides the best possible data.

Note: Make sure the data is entered correctly and that the document is saved as a CSV file.

On the Create/Edit zone pop-up, click Import Zones.

The Import Zones and Suburb/Postcodes Lists pop-up displays.

If your CSV file has headings, toggle Ignore First Row to Yes.
Map the file using Column Mapping. Click in each field and select the appropriate field name to match your file, from left to right.

Upload the CSV file, then click Import. Refresh the page to see the result of the import.

Note: The file may take a few minutes to import if it contains a large volume of data. In the example above, the import succeeded and three zones were created — Newcastle, Perth, and Test — each containing the suburbs defined in the example file.

Note: You can only use suburbs, states, and postcodes that already exist in the database (see Add, Delete, or Update Suburbs below). Otherwise, the file cannot be imported.

Edit or Modify a Zone

Standard Zone Lists

Click the Edit button beside the zone you want to modify.

Enter or change any of the available values:

Field	Description
Zone Name	Full name of the zone.
Other Names (AKA)	Alternate names for the zone.
Zone Short Name	Shortened version of the zone name, e.g. "SYD" instead of "Sydney".

Once complete, click Save

Advanced Zone Lists

Click the Edit icon beside the zone you want to modify. The Create/Edit a zone pop-up displays.
Enter or change any of the available values:

Field	Description
Zone Name	Full name of the zone.
Other Names (AKA)	Alternate names for the zone.
Zone Short Name	Shortened version of the zone name, e.g. "SYD" instead of "Sydney".
Location Name	Address or location name.
Address 1 & Address 2	Address lines relevant to this location.
Suburb	Suburb detail of the location.
Location Phone	Contact number for the location.
Location Email	Contact email for the location.
Time Zone	Time zone for this location or zone.
Silent Zone	Whether the zone is hidden from Mobile Device Selection.

Once complete, click Save

Note: If you cannot see the Advanced Zone List, navigate to Configuration > General > Global Setup, go to the Zone Directory Mapping section, and check the Headport Zone List as shown below.

Delete or Disable a Zone

Click the delete button beside the zone you want to delete.
Click Yes to confirm.

Note: When zones are deleted, they are disabled rather than removed. If you re-create a zone with the same name, the disabled one is re-enabled. To delete a zone and start over, rename the zone to something different before deleting it.

Add, Delete, or Update Suburbs (Zone)

You can add, remove, and change the suburbs assigned to a zone. Changes take approximately 10 minutes to become active in the system. Existing consignments with headports or route zones will not update.

Go to Zone List Directory, select the applicable zone list, then click Edit Zones/Suburbs. The selected zone details display.

Click the Suburb tab on the right side of the screen. The suburb list displays.

To filter the suburb list, enter the details in the filter column and press Enter.

On the suburb list, select the applicable suburb, then right-click it to change it. Two options display.

To add the suburb to the zone, click Add suburb to zone. To remove it, click Remove suburb from zone.

Note: When removing a suburb from a zone, if the suburb was assigned via a map or postcode rule, removing it here will not change that assignment.

Add, Delete, or Edit a Postcode Rule (Zone)

A postcode rule sets a postcode range for a particular zone.

On the Edit Zone/Suburb page, select the zone (if you have more than one in the list), then click the Rules by Postcode tab.

On the Postcode screen, you can edit, delete, and create rules.
To add a rule, click New Rule. The Create/Edit a postcode rule pop-up displays.

Set the postcode limit in numeric form, then click Create to add the rule for the selected zone. For example, to set the postcode limit for the zone between 1000 and 2000, enter 1000 - 2000.

To edit a postcode rule, click the edit icon. The Create/Edit a postcode pop-up displays. Update the value, then click Create to save it to the database.
To delete a postcode rule, click the delete icon. In the confirmation dialog, click Yes to delete the postcode from the database.

No Service and Limited Service

TransVirtual lets you create a zone list that outlines the areas you do not service and the areas you offer limited service to.

Create zones in one of your zone lists titled No Service or Limited Service.
Define which suburbs, states, and postcodes belong to each of these two zones. To create this zone list via import, your import file should look similar to the example below.

Each suburb is listed against either a No Service or Limited Service zone, depending on the category it falls into.

Once the file is created, save it as .csv and import it using the steps in Import a Zone List above. You can also create this zone list manually by following the same steps: first create the zone list, then go to Edit Zones/Suburbs and create or add the new zones.

Note: Once your zone list name is set up (before you enter the zone list and create the zones), assign it to the field shown below on the Global Setup page.

This section is found under Configuration > General > Global Setup, in the Zone Directory Mapping section. The helper icon indicates how it is used.

Note: This zone list applies to the web portal (the consignment creation page within TransVirtual) and to API connote creation. If someone attempts to create a connote for a No Service area via API, the No Service message is returned and the connote creation call fails. This setup does not apply to EDI-created consignments.

For this zone list, create two zones — one called No Service Area and one called Limited Service Area.

Note: You can have only one of these zones if you only have a No Service area and not a Limited Service area, but the zones must be named as shown above.

This zone allows custom pop-up messages for when a customer tries to book or create a job that fits one of these zones. To customise these messages, click the edit icon. The Create/Edit a zone pop-up displays.

Enter the message in the No Service Comment field, then click Save. You can add a message for the Limited Service Area zone in the same way.

Warning: When you click either edit icon, you can enter comments for both the No Service and Limited Service zones. Modify only the comment related to the zone whose edit button you clicked. If you click the No Service edit icon, enter text only for the No Service comment, and vice versa. If you click the Limited Service edit icon and add a No Service comment, the system treats all suburbs in the Limited Service zone as part of the No Service zone, and consignments with these receiving suburbs cannot be created via the web portal or API.

Once you have created the zones and added a comment, create rules for Suburb and Postcode in the same way described above.

Note: Once the zone list is implemented as above, allow 15 minutes for it to take effect.

When someone tries to book a consignment that lies in one of these zones, they see a warning message similar to those below.

No Service Areas: Any consignment that falls under this category is blocked from creation. Limited Service Areas: Any consignment that falls under this category displays a warning message, but the consignment is still created.