Introduction
A manual route refers to a delivery or service route that is planned and organised by hand, rather than using optimisation tools. This method allows for greater flexibility and customisation, enabling you to prioritise specific orders and adapt to unique last-mile delivery circumstances.
Before creating a manual route, ensure you’ve added bookings to the TMS. Bookings can be either a service or an order, and every route starts with a booking.
How to Create a Manual Route
Navigate to Orders. On the left-hand side menu, click Orders
Organise your orders (optional). Use Filters to arrange orders in a way that optimises your workflow (e.g. prioritise by group or urgency, using the Tags and Delivery Date filters)
Select Orders and Create Route. Manually select the orders you want to include and click “Create Route from X Orders”.
Choose Manual Route & Name It. In the right-hand window, select the “Manual tab”. Give your route a clear and descriptive name (more on that below!). Finally, choose a vehicle and click “Create Route.”
Optional: Tick the “Create Collection Point” box if your selected vehicle serves as a pick-up location for your customers.
Naming the Route: Make it Matter!
Align route names with your existing operational flow or mirror naming conventions from your ERP. Choose a route name that makes sense within your current processes and allows you to easily identify the planned deliveries on that route at a glance.
Optimising The Route
While manual route creation allows quick planning, it is not a method that creates optimized routes. The orders will be added to the route in the order in which you have selected them.
To ensure efficiency, we recommend:
Reviewing the route on the Routes Page before assigning it to a driver
Rearranging the stops if you identify inefficiencies.
Additional Resources
Click here for more information on managing stops along a route.