Business Rules – Plan Routes With Operational Constraints
Business rules serve as per-route constraints, optimizing routes by limiting distance, time, weight, package count, cubic volume, number of destinations, and revenue. These rules help businesses avoid capacity overloads and ensure drivers operate within safe limits. They also help control costs, improve delivery performance, and ensure reliability. Route4Me’s advanced constraints guarantee that each optimized route adheres to your business rules, maintaining smooth and consistent operations. This guide explains how business rules work and how to apply them to your routes.
NOTE: To use advanced route optimization Business Rule constraints, you must be subscribed to Route4Me’s Business Optimization package which enables you to plan routes for multiple drivers from a single set of addresses.
Table of Contents
Supported Business Rules – Constraints For Optimized Route Planning
Business rules, also known as constraints, are settings that define specific operational limits within route planning. These constraints help manage workload distribution, prevent overloading, and ensure routes are optimized for factors such as time, distance, and capacity.
The following table outlines the available constraints and their functions to help you optimize your route planning.
| Constraint | Description |
|---|---|
| Maximum Number Of Routes | Define the maximum number of routes that can be planned for a given set of destinations based on your vehicle and operational limits. This constraint helps manage workload distribution by ensuring that the system doesn’t generate more routes than can be serviced by your available vehicles or resources. |
| Maximum Route Duration | Limit the total time a route can take, including travel and service time. If a route exceeds this limit, the system automatically splits it into additional routes. This helps manage driver hours, accommodate vehicle restrictions, and maintain efficient scheduling without exceeding operational limits. |
| Maximum Distance | Define the maximum travel distance allowed for a single route. If a planned route exceeds this limit, the system automatically creates additional routes to stay within constraints. This helps balance workload, prevent driver fatigue, and ensure efficient route distribution. |
| Maximum Destinations | Set a limit on the number of customer locations that can be included in a single route. If the route exceeds this limit, the system automatically generates additional routes to stay within the specified constraint. This ensures that drivers are not overloaded, optimizes fleet usage, and maintains efficiency by distributing destinations evenly across routes. |
| Maximum Distance Between Destinations | Lets you define the maximum acceptable distance between each stop on a route. This ensures that stops are sufficiently spaced to avoid unnecessarily short distances, which could lead to inefficient routes with excessive backtracking or overlap. |
| Maximum Pieces | Set a limit on the number of order units that can be assigned to a vehicle on each route. When the route is planned, the system tracks the number of items being loaded and unloaded, ensuring that the vehicle’s capacity is not exceeded. |
| Maximum Weight | Set a limit on the maximum weight of orders per vehicle and route. Route4Me tracks the weight loaded and unloaded from your fleet, keeping you aware of your fleet’s current carrying capacity. |
| Maximum Volume | Set a limit on the maximum cubic volume of orders per vehicle and route. As you plan and execute multi-destination routes, the software tracks the cubic volume loaded or reserved on your vehicles, ensuring you remain aware of fleet capacity at all times. |
| Maximum Revenue | Set revenue limits for your routes, enabling you to control the expected earnings from both the entire route and individual destinations. As you plan and execute multi-destination routes, the software tracks and manages these revenue limits. |
Optimization Profile Business Rules – Predefine Constraints Per Route
To access your Optimization Profiles, go to “Settings” in the Navigation Menu and select “Optimization Profiles“. Click “Create Profile” to create a new Optimization Profile or click “Edit Profile” to modify an existing one.
Open Your Optimization Profiles
Under “Optimizations“, click “Business Rules” and enter the maximum value for each constraint.
Manual Settings Business Rules – Customize Constraints Per Route
To plan routes with customized business rules, go to “Operations” in the Navigation Menu and select “Plan New Route”. Choose your preferred route data import method (Interactive Map Editor, Copy-and-Paste, Upload a File, Import Data, or Upload Scan(s)).
When prompted to select an Optimization Profile, click “Skip” to open the manual Route Settings window.
Then, go to “Optimization” and select “Multiple Drivers” to access “Business Rules“. Enter the maximum value for each constraint. When finished, click “Create Route and Proceed to Add Addresses“.
Manage Routes Optimized With Business Rules On The Routes Map
Route4Me automatically creates routes based on your constraints. If multiple routes are planned, they are displayed in the Routes Map, each labeled with a Part number to indicate its sequence.
To view a specific address’s optimization constraints, hover over its location pin in the map. To edit an address’s constraints, right-click its map pin, then select “Modify Destination” to open the editor. NOTE: Learn more about using your Routes Map.
Add Unrouted Destinations To Routes On The Routes Map
Unrouted Destinations routes are automatically created when stops exceed optimization constraints. These routes contain destinations that couldn’t be assigned to a planned route.
While you can manually move these stops into existing routes, doing so may cause those routes to exceed their set constraints. For example, adding an unrouted destination to a route with a 40-mile maximum distance could push it beyond that limit. NOTE: Learn more about unrouted destinations.
