Planning is truly the brain of the operations in Gordon Last Mile. Here you can plan your routes and set yourself up for success. For users to plan routes, make sure they have access to:
‘Planning’ module on an account-level
The specific depot
In this article, we’ll give a high-level introduction to Planning and highlight where you’ll find.
🙋What’s the difference between batch and route?
A route can be described as a driver's shift. It is a string of deliveries put together in a chain to be as effective as possible. The complexity and duration of each route depends on the vehicle capacity, vehicle availability, and time windows constraints.
A batch is a collection of routes created by our route optimisation engine. Each batch may contain one or multiple routes depending on the total number of orders. Our platform provides a great overview of your route(s) on a per-batch basis.
🆚 Routing vs Batch Overview
We have divided the route planning process into two different views:
Routing overview
Batch overview
Routing overview is where you begin the route planning. Here, you’ll see all available orders that are ready to be planned on a route and select your general settings. Batch overview is where you see the processed result, make changes, and approve your routes.
🚚 Routing overview
Selection & Filters
Type | Description | Mandatory |
Depot | Depots with available orders for the specified delivery date. You can only route one depot at a time. | ✅ |
Area | Geographical areas that are created and assigned in the order switch. | ❌ |
Delivery Group | Delivery groups with available orders. You can select several delivery groups and include them in the route planning. | ❌ |
Time Window | Time windows of the available orders. You can select several time windows to route in the same batch. | ❌ |
Errors | This includes partial matches and missing coordinates. These need some attention before you can move on with the route planning. | ✅ |
Note: You can also select orders with the help of our Lasso Tool. It's an interactive tool that lets you select a geographical area on a map. It can be used alone or combined with above-mentioned filters.
If no filters are applied, all orders will be selected and included in the routing.
Batch Settings
This section allows you to set a batch name, service type, and capacity type.
Type | Description |
Batch name | Enter a batch name so that you can easily find your routes. All routes within a batch will have the same base followed by an individual number, for example, "GCF 12”. |
Service time | Set a default service time that will be applied to all stops. This is particularly important when delivering to new addresses. |
Dynamic service time | Our platform uses machine learning and will, if activated, use historical service time data to previously known stops. |
Vehicles | Add the desired number of vehicles needed for the batch. You can either use a saved preset or create new vehicles. |
Batch status
Once you’ve clicked ”Start routing”, the orders are added to a batch and you’ll find them under ”Batches”. Here you can track the progress of your batch:
In progress - Batch is currently being routed
Unhandled - Batch is done routing, but not approved
Approved - Batch has been approved and is visible in Activity
Invalid - Batch failed to route
👀 Batch overview
The batch overview consists of three main components: a left-side panel with batch summary, a draggable panel route list (including timeline), and a map in the middle.
Batch summary
Results
A summary of the batch result containing important data and KPIs such as:
Routes - Number of routes
Orders - Number of stops
Distance - Driving distance (in km)
Duration - Total duration of all routes
Orders/h - Average number of orders per hour
Orders/route - Average number of orders per route
Delivery groups - Delivery groups included in routing
Batch Settings
Display settings used to create this batch. This includes:
Service time
Dynamic service time
Vehicle availability
Routing information: We also display data when the batch was created, by who, and routing duration.
Route list
Detailed information and KPIs for each route.
Data | Description |
Route | Route number |
Orders | Number of orders on route |
Adj Time | Adjusted start time of route |
Gate | Gate assigned during routing |
Load | Planned load time |
Start | Planned start time |
End | Planned end time |
Duration | Route duration (from load to end) |
Distance | Driving distance (in km) |
Waiting | Waiting time on route (no driving or delivery is taking place) |
Stops/h | Number of orders per hour |
Capacity | How much of the vehicles capacity is utilized. |
Weight | Total weight on vehicle |
Actions
Show timeline - Press this button to see the route list as a timeline instead
Remove routes - Remove the selected route(s) from the batch*
Regenerate colour - Change route colour on the map*
* The action can be performed at one or multiple routes.
Map
When selecting a route from the route list, it’ll appear on the map. You’ll be able to see the suggested route and stop sequence of each order.
If you click on an order, you’ll see a tooltip box with information about the order. From there you can navigate to the Order details page.