Introduction
The Routes Page is where you can manage the Routes you created from your Orders and Services. In this guide, we will walk you through the purpose of the Routes Page, the business problems it solves, and how to use it effectively.
What It Does
The Routes Page addresses several key last-mile logistics challenges by helping you manage existing routes created through your chosen method in the TMS.
Driver and Contractor Assignment: Assign routes to drivers or contractors with ease.
Route Management: Add or remove orders from a route to accommodate changes. Add or remove stops to ensure the most efficient delivery sequence.
Route Monitoring: Track deliveries in real time. This lets you easily see where your drivers are and how your route is progressing. Knowing this information helps you communicate effectively with both customers and drivers.
Payment Basis: Set payment terms for drivers and contractors based on routes.
How to Use It
To get started, ensure you have at least one existing route ready for execution. This requires importing your Orders and Services, and creating a Route for them, either manually or through our automatic Route Planning feature. For detailed steps on this processes, refer to our existing guides.
Accessing the Route Page
Whenever you log into the TMS, you will land directly on the Routes Page as the heart of last-mile delivery operations. Here’s how to navigate and use the feature:
Routes List: Viewing Routes
The main view displays all available routes. With Filters, you can create customized views to match your preferred workflows, and save them for future use. For a more detailed guide on Views, click here.
Filter for:
Route Status
Route Start Date
Assignment Status (e.g. assigned to a driver)
Vehicle Type
Route Creation Date
Owner ID, where Owner is the company executing the route. This will be one of your existing Connections.
Pickup Location. This allows you to filter for the start address of any stop along the route.
Team
Use the column editor to add or remove columns from each view.
Suggested Views
Routes to be driven today, with indication of start address and time
Routes that still have no driver assigned, with a detail on the Contractor assigned to the route
Routes in progress now, with indication of delayed stops (if any), and the expected time to completion benchmarked to the planned time to completion
Specific routes based on Tags (e.g. routes driven with EVs, or routes on which collection points are planned)
Managing Routes
There are two ways of managing a route, depending on the complexity of the information you need and actions you want to take.
Click on any of the columns in the route view to pull up basic route information and perform key changes, such as:
Changing the route status
Assigning the route to a driver or contractor
Printing the route
Editing the route
Adding orders to the route
Click on the route ID to open the Route Details Page, for more granular details and advanced actions. In the new window, you will see:
an information panel on the left
a “command center” for the route in the center of the page
an overview of stops along the route as you scroll down the page
action buttons in the top right corner
How to Decipher the Left-Hand Side Panel (Route Info)
Located on the left-hand side of the Route Details Page, the Route Info Panel gives you a quick overview of everything related to your route. It displays 22 key data points, most of which are easy to understand at a glance. Don't worry, for any details that might be unfamiliar, we've provided brief explanations right below the panel!
ID. There are two types of IDs (also known as route slugs) for routes:
ID created through Route Planning: This is structured as M1234567-x. Here's what it means:
M1234567: The number before the dash if the common ID for all routes created during the same Route Planning session.
x: The number after the dash indicates the specific route within that planning session, starting from 1 and going up to the total number of routes.
Manual Route ID: This is structured as M12345678. It is assigned to routes created manually.
Type. By default, this will read “Solution”. Without going into the technicalities of why, we’ll just say: Ignore it safely and write it off as legacy information from a bygone era 🙂 It does not provide any valuable information about the route and we will remove it soon.
Owner. This should typically display the name of your Organization, if you are the one who planned the route.
Reference. This is defined by you at the moment of creating the route through one of the existing Route Planning methods. You can change this reference at any point by clicking "Edit Route" and typing in the desired reference.
Status. Route Statuses are explained further down the page. Scroll down until you find “Route Statuses Explained”.
Vehicle. This does not show the specific vehicle where the goods are loaded, but rather the vehicle type (van, car, truck, etc.).
Total volume of pickups.
Total weight of pickups.
Colli count. This indicates the total number of packages included on this route. "Colli" is plural for "collo". A collo refers to a single item, a box containing multiple items, a pallet, or any other trackable delivery united.
Complexity. This is computed metric based on the percentage of the route that is done in city centres. The higher the complexity, the more time the driver spends delivering orders in the city centre.
Criticality. This is a metric that measures the level of attention that should be dedicated to a route. For a more in-depth description of how it is calculated, click here.
Distance.
Estimated driving time.
Route Time Frame: The time interval in which the Route will be executed, computed as the earliest arrival time at the first stop, and the latest arrival time at the last stop.
First Pickup: Informs you about the route starting address.
Contractor: Name of the organization who is executing the route.
Payment Basis. This allows you to set transparent payment terms with your contractors.
Driver. This shows contact details of the driver currently assigned to the route, so you or your Support team can easily get in touch if needed.
Vehicle. Showing you specific information about the vehicle assigned to the route, including type, make and model, license plate and colour.
Instructions. Any instructions for the driver will be displayed here. The driver will see them when starting the Route, or in the Route Overview.
Tags. Those precious elements which help you to cluster Routes based on common elements and identify them at one glance.
Price. By default, this is an empty field and you can safely ignore it. There is no real data behind it and we are hiding it soon.
Other. This section displays a legacy ID you can safely ignore. It’s like a secret button for our team. We are hiding it soon, so disregard it for now until it disappears like a ninja on a mission 🙂
How to Use the Route Command Center
This acts as an information board and a control panel at the same time, showing you information about the route and allowing you to take various actions to update the route.
The Route ID is always displayed at the top, together with the option of adding the route to Starred Routes (or removing it).
Further down, you will find route information at a glance.
Completed Stops. This shows the number of stops the driver has already completed on the route. Use this to have a quick overview of the route progress while it's being executed, and of the route outcome once it has been completed. When all the circle is filled with green, the route has been completed. If the number of completed stops is lower than the number of total stops, it means one or more stops were failed.
Total Colli Count. Indicates the total number of parcels, packages or items the driver needs to deliver on their route. This can help you understand the workload for the route.
Colli Delivered. Indicates the total number of parcels, packages, or items the driver has successfully delivered.
Scheduled Route Start. Displays the planned time for the driver to begin the route. Once the route has started, this will show the actual route start time, allowing you to compare this to the actual start time and see if there were any delays.
Estimated Duration: Provides the estimated time it should take to complete the entire route. Use this to plan the day and adjust schedules if needed. When the route is in progress, it will show you the estimated remaining duration, calculated from the arrival time to the next unvisited stop. Once the route is completed, it will show you the actual route execution time.
Estimated Completion: Shows the projected time the driver will finish their route based on their progress and the estimated duration.
Complexity: This is computed metric based on the percentage of the route that is done in city centres. The higher the complexity, the more time the driver spends delivering orders in the city centre.
Overview of Route Stops (with interactive map)
While not live tracking, the map offers a clear picture of the route allowing you to visualise the driver’s journey from pickup to delivery. Clicking on the available checkpoints on the map reveals information corresponding to each stop, such as:
Address.
Status. The available statuses are:
Not visited: The driver has not arrived at the stop
Arrived: The driver has arrived at the stop but they have not completed the action necessary (such as delivering the goods, performing a service, picking up goods, or any other task assigned to them for that stop)
Completed: The driver has been at the stop and completed all the necessary tasks
Failed: The driver marked the Stop as Failed in the Driver App. This could be because of a deviation, such as delivery not possible, road blocked, etc.
Cancelled: The stop was cancelled as a result of the route being updated to exclude it
Type. Pick-up, Delivery, Return, or Break to indicate the driver’s action at the specific location
Time frame during which deliveries are possible at that specific stop, taken from the delivery timeframe booked by the customer in their order.
Planned task time to indicate how long the driver will spend at the stop
Estimated Arrival Time.
Estimated Waiting Time.
You can toggle the map on and off, or switch between Map and Satellite view depending on your working preferences. When a Route is completed, you will also have the possibility to check the actual driver path, built by the TMS using all the GPS signals collected from the Driver’s mobile phone.
Route Action Buttons
Assign Route to Driver: Allocate the route to one of the Drivers you defined in your Organization.
Print Route: Get a hard copy of the route, which you (or your drivers) can print, to have a backup while executing the route
Reload Route: Refresh route details in the driver’s app, in case you make changes while the Route is in progress, and the driver has not received them yet. Please note that this is just a backup, as a Driver will automatically receive all updates on the Route.
Remove Driver: Unassign the current driver.
Add Orders: Incorporate additional orders into the route.
Edit Route: Modify route details as needed.
Managing Route Stops
The stops planned along the route are displayed below the interactive map in sequential order.
Clicking on each stop will open a side window on the right, which will reveal:
Key route information, such as stop type and times to complete the stop (initial vs. current estimates)
Arrows which allow you to navigate up and down between stops
An Edit option to allow you to make changes to the stop. Clicking it will open another window where you can change route details, add tasks for the driver to complete at the respective stop. Remember to save the changes before leaving the page!
Tips for Effective Route Management with the Routes Page
Monitor Performance: Use the interactive map and stops overview to track stop completion times and optimize future routes.
Use Filters: Customize your view to focus on the most critical routes and streamline your workflow.
Managing your last-mile logistics has never been easier, right? Happy Routing!