Luminar Works Glossary: Canonical Terms and Synonyms

Summary

Luminar Works uses precise terms for people, equipment, locations, and planning concepts, which can differ from the everyday words your team may already use (like "depot", "driver", or "route"). This glossary defines the canonical terms used across the product and documentation, and lists common synonyms so that your familiar industry language maps onto the correct Luminar Works term. Wherever documentation or the interface uses a specific word, this is the term to check.

Prerequisites

- None. This article is a reference guide and can be read by any user at any time.

How to use this glossary

Terms are grouped by theme below. If you're looking for a specific word your team uses day-to-day (e.g. "waybill", "route", or "depot"), check the "Also known as" line under the closest matching canonical term.

Organization and account terms

- Business Unit (BU) - a distinct operational division within your organization, such as a distribution warehouse or regional sales office. It's the home base for planning; resources and trips belong to a Business Unit. Also known as: depot, warehouse, branch.

- Business Type - the configuration of a Business Unit as either Time-Constrained (planning around Agents' time) or Capacity-Constrained (planning around what Assets can carry or handle).

- User - an authenticated individual who interacts with Luminar Works, with permissions or roles determining access.

- License - provides an organization access to Luminar Works per its subscription, defining available modules and any resource limits. Also known as: licence, seat.

- Module - a subscribable set of capabilities that layers on top of Luminar Starter without restructuring your existing configuration.

Resource terms

- Resource - an Asset, an Agent, or a combination, that conducts trips. Also known as: vehicle, driver, fleet, team member.

- Agent - a person who conducts trips and completes tasks in the field. Primary resource in Time-Constrained Business Units. Also known as: driver, sales rep, technician, field worker.

- Asset - a vehicle or equipment assigned to trips based on capacity. Primary resource in Capacity-Constrained Business Units. Also known as: vehicle, truck, van, equipment.

- Primary resource / secondary resource - in each Business Unit, one resource type is required for planning (primary) and the other is optional (secondary). Agent is primary in Time-Constrained; Asset is primary in Capacity-Constrained.

- Resource Type - whether a resource belongs to your organization (Company Owned) or a third party (Third Party).

- Speed profile - a resource attribute reflecting its travel speeds, considered inherently within map sets.

- Active / Inactive - resource states; an Active resource is eligible for planning, an Inactive one is not (this does not affect license count).

Customer and location terms

- Customer - the business or individual the work is for. Holds service requirements, windows, and contact details, inherited by its Sites. Also known as: client, account.

- Site - a physical location where a Customer is serviced; belongs to one Customer only. Also known as: delivery point, pin, point, location, stop.

- Hub - a common entrance to a group of locations (not available at launch).

Task terms

- Task - an individual piece of work at a customer location, classified as drop-off, pick-up, or service. Also known as: invoice, waybill, order, sales order, job, stop.

- Drop-off - a task where stock is delivered to the customer. Also known as: delivery.

- Pick-up - a task where stock is retrieved from the customer. Also known as: collection.

- Service - a task where work is performed without necessarily transferring stock (e.g. maintenance, inspections). Service tasks do not have sizes.

- Item - a product SKU or work action associated with a task (not available at launch). Also known as: product, SKU, work piece, line item.

- Size - the quantifiable amount of capacity required by a task.

- Priority - task precedence during planning: High, Medium, or Low.

- Ready - a task state: eligible for planning but not yet planned.

- Blocked - a task state: ineligible for planning, e.g. canceled or retracted by the customer.

Planning terms

- Plan - as a noun, the organization of tasks into trips; as a verb, the process of creating and maintaining trips. Also known as: route/routing, schedule/scheduling.

- Planning horizon - the date range selected for a planning run; the hard outer boundary of a plan.

- Trip - a planned sequence of tasks assigned to a resource. Also known as: route, load, manifest, run.

- Visit - a stop at a Site where one or more tasks are grouped and conducted as a single unit. Also known as: stop, call.

- Gantt - the visual planning interface for arranging tasks into trips along a timeline.

- Drag-and-drop - the manual planning interaction of dragging tasks onto trips on the Gantt.

- Map - the geographic display of locations and trips, using regularly updated map sets.

- Travel - the movement of a resource between locations. Also known as: path, leg, drive time.

- Constraint - any limitation, rule, or requirement that must be satisfied during planning. Also known as: rule.

- Trait - a definable attribute on an Agent, Asset, or task acting as a compatibility requirement.

- Capacity - the maximum quantifiable amount a specific Asset can carry, handle, or contain.

- Unit of Measure (UoM) - the unit in which Size and Capacity values are expressed.

- Optimize / optimization - using mathematical algorithms to find the best planning solution, provided by Smart Planning.

- Drop-cost - the penalty cost incurred for not being able to plan a task or group of tasks.

- Reload - the process where a resource returns to the Business Unit or a designated location to empty or replenish before a new trip. Also known as: replenishment.

Time terms

- Operating window - when an entity may be active (Business Unit or resource level). Also known as: operating hours, working hours.

- Service window - when work may be conducted for a Customer, Site, or task, inherited down that chain. Also known as: time window, delivery window.

- Blackout window - a defined period during which travel is prohibited (part of the RestBreak Management module).

- Break - a planned stop during a trip for meal times, fatigue, or legal rest (part of RestBreak Management). Also known as: rest.

- Wait - a planned period where a resource is idle until a window opens. Also known as: idle time.

- Start / End - the beginning or closing point of a window, event, or process.

- Duration - the span of time an activity, task, or visit lasts.

Status terms

- Status - the state of an entity.

- Planning - a state where an entity is part of an active planning dataset and cannot be edited or deactivated.

- Planned - a task/trip state indicating association to a trip.

- Published - a task/trip state indicating the entity is confirmed and locked; only published trips are retrievable via CSV/REST API.

Cost terms

- Cost - the total monetary cost of a plan.

- Fixed Cost - the cost for using a resource, incurred per start-up. Also known as: use cost.

- Variable Cost - the cost of using a resource per unit (distance, time, or visit). Also known as: cost per km, cost per mile.

- Rating - an evaluation or grading of quality, value, or performance.

Mobile execution terms (coming soon)

The Luminar Works mobile app for Agents is coming soon and not yet available. These terms relate to it:

- Execution - carrying out a plan in the field. Also known as: actuals.

- Workflow - a configurable sequence of questions/inputs Agents complete during execution.

- Accepted - a trip state: accepted by the Agent on the mobile app.

- Enroute - a task state: Agent in transit to the Visit. Also known as: on the way, in transit.

- In progress - a task state: the Visit is currently active.

- Suspend - a trip/task state: suspended, to be completed later.

- Completed - a trip/task state: the entity has been completed.

- Terminated - a task state: the task cannot be completed (e.g. premises closed). Also known as: abort.

When to contact support

Contact support if:

- A term used in the interface or in another help article doesn't match any definition in this glossary.

- You believe a term is being used inconsistently between the product and the documentation.

- You need clarification on how a specific term applies to your Business Unit's configuration.

For anything not covered in this glossary, reach out to the support team via the Helpdesk.