Logging in to Daily Planner for a new dispatch day, you will normally see the Routes panel empty, and some number of unloaded orders. If no routes are built for that day, you can click Build Routes button to initiate the Route Building Wizard.



Workflow

There are four steps within the Route Building Wizard: Route (Order) Dates, Truck Profile, Boundary Files, and Preview with Optimize. Once you have completed all the information needed for a step, click Next to move to the next step. As you complete the steps, the circle of the completed step circle will turn green with a checkmark, indicating your progress through the workflow. If you need to return to a previous step to review or change an entry you can navigate to that previous step by clicking on the step circles at the top of the window. If you return to a previous step to change data, you will need to proceed through the wizard from that point forward in the workflow.


Route Dates (Unloaded Order Selection)

The Unloaded Orders step is where you select a date or date range to search and select unloaded orders for new routes. The date range is used to select order delivery dates within the current branch. Select a date range, and click Search Orders. A list of available unloaded orders will appear. You can uncheck any orders that you wish to remove from the route-building process. The list of orders can be sorted by clicking on the column headers. This will help you find large orders or specific orders in the list. You can also add additional columns of information in the Order List's upper right corner. When satisfied with the list of orders for the routes, click Next to continue.


Truck Profile

The Truck Profile step allows for the selection of a truck profile and provides a dropdown list of all available truck profiles for your branch. You can select a dispatch date for the tracks to begin their routes. For each truck profile, you will see the list of all trucks within that profile. Like the Order List, there is also the option to add and remove data columns to see additional information about the trucks. If you wish to remove a single truck or group of trucks from this route-building process, simply uncheck the required trucks in the list.


To modify truck profiles and/or truck records, use DRTrack. You can navigate to DRTrack either through direct login or through the Bento menu in the top right of Daily Planner or by clicking View Truck Profiles in the Route Building Wizard.




Truck Profile Management

The truck profile in DRTrack controls the collection of vehicles assigned to each dispatch fleet. Users may manually add a Truck Profile in DRTrack by navigating to Admin > Truck Profile and clicking the Add Button in the top right corner. Truck profiles created in DRTrack will be available to select during route planning in Daily Planner.


Truck Master Management

The truck master is the collection of constraints required at the vehicle level. These constraints include Volume Limits, Hours of Service Rules, Cost Factors, Work-time Rules, Depot or Origin Location, Special Equipment Instructions, etc. The Truck Master is also managed in DRTrack.


To create a Truck Master in DRTrack, navigate to Admin > Truck Master and click Add. Truck masters can also be uploaded from DirectRoute to DRTrack. Truck masters stored in truck profiles in DRTrack will be used in Daily Planner to create routes.


Boundary File

The third step in the route-building wizard is the boundary file selection page where you can choose to build routes without a boundary file, use an existing boundary file that was previously uploaded, or upload a new boundary file.


When building routes with a boundary file, the boundary codes for each polygon will be applied to all orders within the named polygon, even if the order cannot be loaded onto a route for capacity or work time reasons.


Preview with Optimize

The fourth and final step in the Route Building wizard workflow is the preview with optimize after loading option. This page allows you to review the configuration to be used to create the routing solution, before commencing the automated portion of the workflow. The checkbox to perform the “Optimize Routes after loading” is located in the bottom right near the action button to Build Routes.” 


After clicking Build Routes, it may take several seconds for the application to complete the route-building process. A progress bar indicates the progress of the automated route-building process, an indicator banner in the top right portion of the screen indicates the route-building process has been initiated, and a completion indicator shows the number of routes created and any unloaded orders remaining, which could not be automatically loaded onto routes.


Fleet Solution

When the route-building wizard is complete, a list of route cards will appear in the route panel. The map will also reflect the route lines, stops, and unloaded stops. To view stops within a route, click on the route card or select the pushpin icon located on the route card header. Additionally, you can view up to three routes at a time by “pinning” the routes. The unloaded orders panel can also be opened with the route panel, three pinned stop lists, for a total of 5 columns of information.


The Truck Profile and Boundary File used for the fleet solution of routes will appear in the header at the top right. You can also view quick stats on the planned routes and unloaded orders in the footer. These statistics will update as you make changes to your routes. You can view statistics about the boundary areas and the stops in the boundaries by navigating to the boundary file tab on the left menu and selecting the boundary file used.


TIP: Route Planners may want to create routes more manually, or geographically on the map, the application provides additional tools covered int he editing routes section using the Lasso and Create Route tools.