Capacity panel

What is capacity planning

Capacity planning helps you understand whether your existing network has enough capacity to handle the current volume and any changes in volume (e.g., during seasonal shifts).

For example, if you close one location, you need to know:

• which nearby locations could absorb the redirected parcels

• whether those locations have enough capacity to handle the added volume

• and whether you’d need to expand capacity (or add a new location)

How to access the Capacity menu

• On the Geospatial analysis dashboard, click Add new analysis and choose Area analysis.

• Click Choose date, then select a date range.

• Click Choose type of data to display and select a base layer (e.g., Shipments or Population density).

• Click the Capacity tab in the upper-right to open the Capacity panel.

What you’ll see in the Capacity menu

When you open the Capacity menu, you'll see:

Capacity strain index

• Current capacity: Based on the existing network locations that have a defined capacity.

• Estimated capacity: Based on the existing network locations plus pins with a defined capacity. It will change if you enable or disable existing locations, update a pin’s capacity, or add/remove pins with defined capacity.

The Capacity strain index tells you whether the network can handle the potential demand. For example, if it’s <1, capacity is sufficient for potential demand. If it’s >1, it could indicate the network is strained, and capacity is insufficient to meet potential demand.

Click on the info button next to Current and Estimated to see how many which types of map points are included.

Extreme locations:

A small set of locations grouped by cannibalization (overlap or competition between existing nearby locations), and utilization (how much a location is used relative to its capacity).

Extreme locations tell you which locations to monitor and which could be candidates for expansion, removal, or relocation.

How to calculate current and estimated strain

To calculate the current capacity strain:

• Click Show current network and select the locations you want to include.

• Open the Capacity tab to view the Capacity strain index.

If a location isn’t included in the calculation, it's because capacity data is missing. To check whether any locations have missing data, click Choose current network metrics > Capacity. Any locations with a 0 or without a number above them are missing data.

Capacity for existing network locations can’t be manually edited. The data is pulled from your organization’s internal systems or defined during integration.

To calculate the estimated capacity strain, you must simulate network changes. For example:

• Simulate closing or reopening an existing location: Right-click an existing location > Disable/enable location

• Simulate adding a new location:

  • Manage map pins > Add distance pin

  • Right-click the pin > Update capacity to set the daily capacity for the pin

• Simulate changing the capacity of a new location:

  • Right-click a pin > Update capacity

  • Change the defined daily capacity and click Save

For details on how the Capacity strain index is calculated, and how cannibalization and utilization are defined, see: