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Guide 4

Optimize with delivery windows

Optimizing puts the stops in the best order along real roads and gives every stop an arrival time. Delivery windows tell the optimizer when each customer can receive their delivery.

Route settings

Click Route settings at the top of the builder. The same options are in the New Route window:

Date and Start time
When the driver leaves the depot. Arrival times are counted from here.
Start — depot
Where the route starts.
Round trip
The route ends back at the start point. Without it, the route ends at the last stop, or at the stop you mark End route here.
Minutes per stop
How long a stop takes, by default. You can change it for a single stop in its details.
Group parcels
Several parcels for one address make one stop, and the time at the stop counts once. The driver sees the parcels grouped.
Keep my order
Skip optimization and follow your list; arrival times are still calculated along real roads.
The Route settings window with the date, start time, depot, Round trip, Minutes per stop, Group parcels and Keep my order
Route settings apply to this route only.

Stop details and delivery windows

Open a stop's details (on a computer, the pencil on the stop; on a phone, the stop itself). Here you set:

  • the stop type: Delivery, Pickup or Visit;
  • End route here, to finish the route at this stop (not shown with Round trip);
  • the recipient, the phone and notes for the driver;
  • a delivery window in From and To, and the Minutes at this stop;
  • the stop's proof of delivery; see Proof of delivery;
  • the parcel code.
A stop's details with the stop type, End route here, the recipient, a delivery window from 13:30 to 14:30 and the proof of delivery
A delivery window from 13:30 to 14:30.

Windows from your file are filled in already. Set both times, or clear both.

Optimize

  1. Make sure the depot is set and no addresses are waiting to be fixed.
  2. Click Optimize Route. It takes a few seconds, a little longer for a big route.
  3. Check the result: every stop has an arrival time, the route follows real roads on the map, and the summary shows the distance and the time on the road.
An optimized route: stops in order with arrival times, a stop with its own proof of delivery, and the route on real roads on the map
After optimizing, every stop has an arrival time.

Stops that would miss their window are marked late in red, with how late they'd be. Change the order, the start time or the window.

Change the order by hand

Drag a stop by its number to another place in the list. The button at the bottom changes to Re-optimize: click it to optimize again, or turn on Keep my order in the route settings and recalculate the times for your order.

You can also add, edit or remove stops after optimizing. The route is saved automatically; recalculate before the driver leaves so that the arrival times are right.

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