Vikram's Order Circles

A phone app that turns forty morning orders from different shops into delivery rounds before the afternoon power cut.

Who this is for

Vikram runs a godown on the edge of Wardhaman Nagar in Nagpur, supplying rice, oil, atta and soap to about forty kirana shops. There is one tempo, two bikes and three delivery boys. Orders arrive by WhatsApp and phone from seven in the morning. By half past ten the loading has to start, because the power usually goes around two and the godown goes dark and hot.

How the job is done today

Vikram reads WhatsApp messages aloud while Sanjay writes them into a long notebook. Then Vikram sits with the notebook and a pen and draws rings around shops that are near each other, arguing with the drivers about which lane comes first. A shop that calls at ten gets squeezed into the margin. Once the lights go, nobody can find the page, and at six the drivers phone in to ask which shops paid cash and which will pay by UPI later.

The screens, in order

1. Morning orders — Lets Vikram or Sanjay put in each shop's order as it comes in, so all forty sit in one list instead of across chats.
2. Make circles — Lets Vikram drop each order into a circle by area, so shops that are close together go out on the same vehicle.
3. Order the stops — Lets Vikram arrange the stops inside a circle in the order the driver should reach them, the way Vikram already knows the roads.
4. Hand over — Gives each circle to one driver and puts that full list on the driver's phone before the vehicle leaves the gate.
5. Driver's round — Shows the driver the next shop, what to unload there, and lets the driver mark it delivered and note cash, UPI or pay later.
6. Evening tally — Shows Vikram which shops got their goods, what came back, and how much money each driver is bringing in.

What it keeps track of

• Shops — shop name, owner's name, area, phone number, a landmark the drivers use
• Orders — which shop, what items and how many, which morning, total in rupees
• Circles — which morning, name of the circle, which driver, the stops in order
• Drivers — name, phone number, tempo or bike
• Deliveries — which order, delivered or brought back, paid by cash or UPI or pay later, amount collected

The one decision that matters

Where the day's plan lives. One way keeps everything on one shared list that every phone reads live. The other copies each driver's circle onto that driver's phone at hand over, and the phone works from its own copy until it gets signal again. It should be the second. When the power goes, the godown's wifi goes with it, and the drivers are often in lanes with weak signal. A driver standing outside a shop must never see a blank screen. Marks made during the round wait on the phone and join Vikram's tally once there is a connection.

What to leave out of the first version

Leave out automatic route planning on a map. Vikram already knows which lanes flood and which shopkeeper opens late, and a computer's shortest path would be argued with and ignored. Leave out stock counts in the godown too. The first job is getting forty orders out the gate on time. Stock can come once the mornings are calm.

How you would know it worked

The tempo and both bikes leave the gate before noon with every morning order on a circle, and at six nobody phones Vikram to ask which shops still owe money.

Build it

Paste this in and let it run.

I run a godown in Nagpur that supplies about forty kirana shops, and most mornings I get their orders on WhatsApp and phone. I need a phone app where my helper and I can put in each order as it comes, then I drop the orders into circles by area and put the stops in the order I want them. Then I give each circle to one of my three drivers, and it should appear on that driver's phone. The power goes most afternoons and signal is weak in some lanes, so once a driver has their list it must keep working on their phone without internet. The driver taps each shop as delivered and notes whether they paid cash, UPI or will pay later. In the evening I want to see what was delivered, what came back, and how much money each driver is bringing in.