Multi-day route planning involves the strategic organization of routes that span across two or more days, typically used in long-distance logistics, field service operations, or tour planning. Unlike single-day routing, this approach must consider vehicle availability, and time-sensitive delivery or service windows across multiple days.
Efficient multi-day planning ensures that resources are optimally allocated while adhering to legal requirements such as driver hours-of-service regulations. It also accounts for customer time preferences, allowing for better coordination and continuity in service.
By using our advanced routing software, businesses can significantly enhance planning accuracy, reduce operational costs, and improve customer satisfaction in complex, time-extended operations.
This blog post explains how to make Multi Day Route Plan in Routin Team.
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The process is completed in nine steps.
1.Click the Daily Plans on the left side menu.
2.On Daily Plans screen click Add New Daily Plan.
Type the name of the plan. Select start date of the multi day plan (Plan Date) and the distribution start time (Start Time). Select the depot where the routes will start or end.Then click Save.
3.The Plan Screen displays three sections. Drivers are displayed on the left, stops are displayed in the middle, and the map is displayed on the right. The depot location is marked on the map.
4.Drivers defined for the depot will be automatically added to the plan. To create a new driver, click add button above the Drivers section, then click the Create New Driver button and define the driver. (For more information, see the blog post "How to create a driver ?")
5.Add stops for drivers to visit. There are several ways to do this. You can add addresses one by one by entering the address (house number and street/avenue name) in the Address Search field above the Stops section and selecting the address from the options provided.
If you want to upload multiple stops at once, click the Add button on the right above the Stops section. Then click the Add Stops Using an Excel File button.
To upload addresses in bulk, click the "Download Sample Excel File" button.
Open the sample excel file. Fill in the Address Data in corresponding fields as shown in the sample stops. Don’t forget to add latitude and longitude of the stops, if you have them.
Click the “Browse” button and upload your excel file.
The stops will be uploaded to plan screen. If you see a warning sign on some of the stops, click the big red warning button right above the screen.
When you click the red warning sign above, you will see the stops that address text does not exactly match the address found in the system. You will see Entered Address Text and Matched Adress Text and the location of the Matched Address on the map. If you think result is correct, click Approve button. If you want to change the Matched Address click Change button and select the best alternative in the dropdown list.
If you think that Entered Address Text must be corrected, click Change button. Entered Address Text will be copied to Matched Address Text field. Change the text as you wish and select best matching address in drop down list.
6. Click Optimize button in Planning Screen
Select Start and End locations and Click Options Menu. Select “Fleet Optimization(VRP)”. Get “Activate Vehicle Capacity Constraints” selected. Get “Multi Day Route” enabled. Enter “The number of planning days”. Click “Optimize Plan”.
7.Result will be displayed on map and on stops section. Total load of the stops is distributed over entered number of days, taking into account the capacity of the vehicle. As seen below, there are multiple routes for the same driver which are created for multiple days.
8. You can send the routes one by one using the red flag button on driver panel.
Or if you want to send all the routes at once Click Send button next to optimize button.
The driver must download and login to The Routin Team Driver App (Google Play, App Store) before sending step.
For more on loging on to the driver app, go to blog post “How to use driver app?”.
9. You can monitor the progress of the driver on map and on stops section.
