Route Optimization & Memorization available on Premier Tier, only.
The Route Optimization tool can be used to place the stops on a route in the most efficient order based on the event locations, as well as the Driver’s Operation location.
In this article:
Before Optimizing a Route
Before you can begin optimizing routes, you will need to complete the setting adjustments & configurations listed below:
Add a Location to Each Operation
Navigate to:
Setup > More > Operations
Select Edit next to the Operation
Complete the location details
Select Update Operation
Select Start/End Location for Drivers
⚠️ If a driver's start/end location is missing, optimization may fail with "unable to schedule all events." To fix it, click the arrow next to the driver, select Set Route Start/End Location, then select Reset to Operation Address (or enter a valid address) and click Save. Then select Optimize Route again. When set to the Operation Address, the start/end fields may look empty. This is expected.
⚠️ A changed start location is saved per driver and carries over to other days. Routes you already optimized won't change unless you select Optimize Route again for that day.
Option A: Based on Operation Address (Best used if starting at an office/warehouse)
Navigate to:
Setup > Users
Select the User’s Name
Select their designated Route Operation
Select Update User
⚠️ The Operation location for the selected Route Operation is used as the Driver’s starting point when optimizing their routes.
Option B: Based on Other Start/End Location (Best if starting from driver's home)
Click the down arrow next to desired driver
Select Set Route Start/End Location
Fill in new address location(s) and click Save
Click the down arrow next to the driver again and this time select Optimize Route. This will rearrange the route based off the new start/end location.
Optimize a Route
Once you have completed the Operation & User updates, follow the steps below to optimize a route:
Navigate to:
Route Planner > Route Planner
Add events to a Driver’s route as outlined in this article: Schedule Recurring Visits
Select the arrow to the right of the Driver's name
Select Optimize Route. If the Job is recurring, a popup will appear asking if you'd like to make this change to only this date or to all subsequent, uncompleted visits.
💡The gaps between the optimized events represent drive time.
Additional Notes
The range of your work day determines the length of time available for events on a route. For example, if your work day is set to start at 7:00 am & end at 3:00 pm & your default length for optimized visits is 60 minutes, it is not possible to fit 10 stops on an optimized route. The available minutes divided by the visit length sets the maximum number of stops. If a route has more stops than that, optimization will fail. To fix this, shorten the visit length, extend the day using My Day Starts At and My Day Ends At in Route Planner Settings, or manage the route manually. Optimization works on one day at a time.
The only way to "undo" an optimized route is to manually move the events back into their original order.
Route Optimization can only be used on an entire route. It is not possible to exclude a stop on a route when using this tool.
This tool should not be used if the order of events for the Driver on a given day needs to be controlled (i.e. your Clients schedule Visits for specific times of the day).
The Route Optimization does not take into account the start point being your end point. To prevent your driver/crews/salespersons from traveling too far, SingleOps suggests that companies with multiple crews should assign each crew/salespeople to a specific area to minimize drive time and distance.
Route Optimization uses a third party routing engine to build the most efficient loop it can, but results won't always be perfect. Review the order after optimizing. Setting a custom start/end location may give a different result.
Setting Visit Length
Default
The default length for optimized Visits can be set to 15, 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes. This must be set by a SingleOps team member.
Man Hours
The Visit length can also be determined by setting a Crew Size on the Driver’s User page.
Navigate to: Setup > Users
Select the User’s Name
Update their Crew Size:
If a Visit being Optimized has an Assignee with a stipulated Crew Size, as well as estimated Labor, the default Visit length will be overridden by the following calculation: Estimated Labor/Crew Size
⚠️ When you drag a visit onto a route manually, its length is based on estimated labor hours divided by crew size, rounded to a time that divides evenly into the hour, and capped at 10 hours. Hours beyond the cap are ignored. You can still edit the visit length manually afterward.