The most common way to add orders (pickup and delivery jobs) to your route plan is to import them using a CSV (comma separated values) file. A CSV file is simply a spreadsheet that has a filename ending with .csv. Like any spreadsheet, it can be opened in Excel (MS Windows) or Numbers (macOS). In order to correctly create a route plan, Parcelizer can only accept CSV files in a specific format - you can download a sample file to see what that looks like.
To import your spreadsheet and add orders to a route plan, follow these steps:
Create a Route Plan
Log in, and navigate to the Route Plans Listing page (https://dashboard.parcelizer.com/route-plans). Click the [New Route Plan] button on the top right.
After that, the app will prompt you to choose a name (use something descriptive e.g. "Daily Courier Delivery - Tuesday") and delivery date (the actual day that you are going to be making those deliveries).
You are now in the Route Plan module. On the next page, click ( 1 ) [Add Orders] followed by ( 2 ) [New Order] > [Upload] to enter the Upload New Orders screen. Download ( 3 ) [sample.csv] at the bottom left to see what the data upload file looks like.
The sample.csv template comes with the following fields (below) by default. Each row contains information for an individual order (most commonly a package that needs to be picked up and dropped off e.g. an item to be collected from a retail store or warehouse and delivered to the customer's home address, but it could be anything really - flowers, hot food or even cannabis delivery).
Column | Notes |
order_ref | Unique reference number (typically an invoice number) that you use to identify the package. If you leave it blank, Parcelizer will automatically generate one for you. |
user_group | The name of the user group that can view this order. Users belonging to a user group can log in with their email address to view details of all orders tagged with the user_group name. |
pickup_name | Name of the customer you are picking up the order from. If you are picking up this order from a warehouse, use "Warehouse" as the pickup name. |
pickup_from | The earliest time in hh:mm format you need to pick up this order. For example, if you are picking up an item from a store and it only opens at 9 am, put "09:00" in this field. |
pickup_to | The latest time in hh:mm format you need to pick up this order. For example, if you are picking up an item from a store and it closes at 5 pm, put "17:00" in this field. |
pickup_address (required) | The address of the customer you are picking up the order from. Make sure to use a full address that includes a zip code e.g. "111 E 2nd Ave, Vancouver, BC V5T 1B4, Canada". Do not put the unit number or any other information in this field (you can put this in the notes field). |
pickup_phone | Phone number of the customer you are picking up this order from. Remember to include the country code and plus sign e.g. +17789123456 for US/Canada numbers or +6593456789 for Singapore numbers. |
delivery_name | Name of the customer you are delivering the order to e.g. "Helen Mckenzie". |
delivery_from | The earliest time in hh:mm format you need to deliver this order. For example, if the customer specified that he wanted his package delivered between 3 pm and 5 pm, put "15:00" in this field. |
delivery_to | The latest time in hh:mm format you need to deliver this order by. For example, if the customer specified that he wanted his package delivered between 3 pm and 5 pm, put "17:00" in this field. |
delivery_address (required) | The address of the customer you are delivering this order to. Make sure to use a full address that includes a zip code e.g. "198 W 18th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5Y 2A5, Canada". Do not put the unit number or any other information in this field (you can put this in the notes field). |
delivery_notes | Extra information that might be helpful to the driver e.g. apartment address, customer preference etc go here. |
delivery_phone | Phone number of the customer you are delivering this order to. Remember to include the country code and plus sign e.g. +17789123456 for US/Canada numbers or +6593456789 for Singapore numbers. |
Upload Spreadsheet
Drag and drop your spreadsheet onto the shaded area. On the next screen, you'll get to match your spreadsheet's column names with Parcelizer's data fields. If you used the sample.csv as a template, most of the columns should already be correctly matched. If not, look for the field name ( 1) on the left. Click ( 2 ) [Add Attribute] on the right and click the ( 3 ) [Add] button to the right of the column name you want to match the data field to. Click anywhere outside the popup to dismiss it.
Once you are done, hit [done] to upload your data. If everything was parsed correctly (no geocoding or validation errors), the orders should show up highlighted with the status draft . Click [Add to Route] on the bottom right to add the orders to the route plan.
View Stops on Map
If these steps were followed correctly you should see the orders (pickups are shown as circles, deliveries as squares) on the map.
And that's how you add orders to a route plan using the bulk upload feature! If you have any questions about how to make Parcelizer work for you, don't hesitate to contact support@parcelizer.com.