Pieces Constraint – Route Planning Business Rule

With Route4Me’s dynamic routing software, you can effortlessly account for the number of all pieces/items associated with your route stops at a touch of a button. When planning and driving your routes, Route4Me enables you to track the dynamic number of pieces loaded on your fleet and always be aware of the current carrying capacity of your vehicles. Whenever your drivers have to visit and service multiple stops of different types, you can make sure that your vehicles always have enough space onboard and the right number of items is delivered or picked up. Moreover, with Route4Me’s near real-time data synchronization, managers and dispatchers back at the office can make changes to the number of items associated with any order, and the drivers who are out in the field can receive instant live updates on their mobile devices using Route4Me’s Android and iOS apps.

Viewing and Modifying Pieces Parameters on the Route4Me Web Platform

To view or change the number of pieces for a particular stop, first, open the route that contains this stop in the Route Editor and then click on the corresponding stop to open it. In the “Pieces” field of the “Order” section, you can view how many pieces are associated with the stop. Depending on the stop’s type (Delivery, Pickup, etc.), the number of pieces defined in the corresponding field can be set to be either picked up or delivered at the customer’s location. To modify the “Pieces” value, click on the corresponding field and then input a new value respectively. To apply the same number of pieces to all stops on the route, first, click on the gear icon in the “Pieces” field and then select the corresponding option.

To learn more about different stop types, visit this page.

Adjusting the Summary Table to Display Pieces Parameters

To view the total number of pieces for the entire route, you can use the Summary Table. To do so, first, click on the gear icon next to the route’s name.

After that, go to the “Vehicle Utilization” tab and then check the following boxes:

• – Pieces: Displays the total number of pieces being picked up or dropped off on the entire route;
• – Pieces Maximum: Displays the maximum number of pieces permitted for the entire route;
• – Pieces Utilization: Displays how many pieces are actually utilized throughout the entire route based on the aggregated data of all route stops (in percentage).

For the Summary Table to display the “Pieces Maximum” and “Pieces Utilization” parameters, you need to define the “Maximum Pieces per Route” value in the route’s “Optimization” tab when planning the route or when the route is already planned.

Once enabled, “Pieces,” “Pieces Maximum,” and “Pieces Utilization” values of the entire route are aggregated based on the “Pieces” data of all route stops and displayed in the Summary Table at the bottom of the interactive map.

To learn more about using and customizing the Summary Table, visit this page.

Viewing Dynamic Pieces Parameters in the Route Manifest

To track the dynamic number of all pieces for the entire route, you can use the Route Manifest. To do so, in the Route Editor, first, go to “View” and then select “View Manifest” respectively.

Next, in the Route Manifest, check the “Pieces” box in the “Order” tab and “Remaining Pieces” box in the “Operations” tab. After that, you can track how the number of pieces changes throughout the route, after each stop. Depending on the stop type (Delivery, Pickup, etc.) the number of pieces can increase and decrease accordingly throughout the route.

To learn more about using and customizing your Route Manifest, visit this page.

Exporting Pieces Parameters

To export all “Pieces” data for the entire route, first, go to “File,” then select “Download as” from the list and after that select “Export CSV” respectively.

Next, check the “Pieces” and “Remaining Pieces” boxes to add the corresponding data into the export file and then click on the “Export” button to download the file to your device. You can use the “Field search” to find the corresponding boxes.

To learn more about exporting your route data, visit this page.

Viewing Pieces Parameters on Route4Me’s Mobile Apps

To view the number of pieces for a particular stop from Route4Me’s iOS and Android mobile applications, first, you need to open the route that contains the corresponding stop. Next, tap to open the stop you want to check and then select “Destination Info” from the stop’s menu. The example below shows how to view the number of pieces for a particular stop using Route4Me’s iOS app. To view the number of pieces for a particular stop from an Android device, repeat the similar process using Route4Me’s Android app.

Route4Me provides near real-time data synchronization across all associated computer and mobile devices so that any changes made from the Route4Me Web Platform can be effortlessly synchronized with Route4Me’s iOS and Android mobile apps in a matter of seconds. Thus, managers and dispatchers back at the office can modify the number of pieces for any stop/order and instantly synchronize these updates with the mobile devices of the drivers who are out in the field.

To learn about planning and optimizing routes with the Advanced Pieces Constraint, visit this page.