Before you can create an optimized route plan, you need to add drivers. Adding drivers to a route plan is as easy as adding orders. Here's how.
Adding Drivers to Parcelizer
Click on the [Drivers] tab on the top navigation bar. This brings you to the Drivers Listing page. Next, click the [New Driver] button on the right.
This brings up the New Driver Modal, where you can fill in information describing the driver. Only the Driver Name and Phone Number fields are required, but it's helpful to enter as much information as you can.
Here's what each field represents:
Column | Notes |
Driver Name (required) | The name used to identify your driver. This could be his actual name e.g. "Bill" or the license plate of his vehicle e.g. "CA762X". |
Email address of the driver, if he has one. | |
Phone Number (required) | Your driver's phone number. It's important that you get this right because we'll use this number to send the route to the driver's phone. Remember to add the country code and plus sign e.g. +17781234567. |
Capacity | The maximum number of packages that your driver can carry at a single time. For example, if he can only fit 10 packages in his vehicle, put 10. It can also represent the maximum weight of his vehicle e.g. 100 kg. This information is used by the routing algorithm to make sure the driver's load never exceeds his vehicle's capacity. |
Shift Start | The time in hh:mm format that the driver starts work. This is the earliest time that he can start picking up and delivering orders. |
Shift End | The time in hh:mm format that the driver ends work. This is the latest time that he can start picking up and delivering orders. |
Start Location (required) | The start location of the driver. Typically this is the driver's home or the warehouse where orders are consolidated. |
Driver Skills | Use this field to match specific orders with drivers that are equipped to do those orders e.g. a driver with the "VIP" skill can pickup and deliver "VIP" orders. |
You can also select a color for each driver using the built in color picker (next to the Driver Name field). The color remains the same for every route plan the driver is added to.
Add Driver to Route Plan
Now it's time to add your newly created driver to a route plan. Click on the [Route Plans] tab on the top navigation bar to return to the Route Plans Listing page. Next, click the [New Route Plan] and enter a Name and Date for the route plan. Add your orders (Single Order / Bulk Upload) and then hit [Add Drivers] on the bottom right. Select the driver you just added by clicking the checkbox next to his name
Finally, click [Add to Route] and [Optimize Route] to add the driver and have him assigned optimally to the route plan. If you need to change the driver's start and end locations or shift times, you can click on the [Drivers] tab on the left and edit the fields directly by clicking on the pencil icon that appears when you hover your mouse pointer over the field you want to change.
And that's how to add drivers to a route plan! If you have any questions or feature requests, please reach out at support@parcelizer.com.