Recurring Routes Guide – Create Master Routes And Recurring Schedules

Efficient route planning is essential for enterprises businesses handling recurring deliveries, pickups, and service visits. Route4Me’s Recurring Routes feature streamlines this process by using Master Route Templates to create Routes which inherit the same destinations, customer details, timing, and other parameters as the Master. By automating scheduling, you can eliminate the need for repetitive manual planning, simplify operations, reduce scheduling complexities, and minimize missed or delayed visits. Use this guide to get started creating and managing Recurring Routes today.

Route4Me’s Recurring Routing automates scheduling for businesses managing recurring deliveries, pickups, and service visits, ensuring efficiency and reliability.

 

 

Create And Manage Recurring Schedules Based On Master Routes

To create a Recurring Schedule, you need a Master Route to use as a template. You can plan a new route or use an existing one as a Master Route. To set up an existing route as a Master Route, use the Routes List, Routes Map, or Routes Editor.

For the Routes List, go to “Operations” and “Routes” from the Navigation Menu. Then, click the Arrow Icon next to a route and select “Create Recurring Schedule” to use it as a Master Route.

Open Your Routes List

A Master Route serves as the template for generating Recurring Routes and is required for a Recurring Route Schedule.

 

Create A Recurring Route Schedule

Next, use the Recurring Routes Schedule Editor to configure a Recurring Schedule. Complete all fields in the Editor Panel, then click the “Create Schedule” button to finalize. For guidance on how to complete each field, reference the table below.

NOTE: Use the Schedule Preview to see all dates on which Recurring Routes are scheduled, planned, and blacklisted.

  • Dark-Blue dates are used in already created Recurring Routes.
  • Light-Blue dates are dates on which Recurring Routes are scheduled.
  • Red dates are blacklisted and won’t be used in Recurring Route Schedules to plan Recurring Routes.

Use the Recurring Routes Schedule Editor to configure the schedule, complete all fields in the Editor Panel, and click 'Create Schedule' to finalize.

Section Name Section Description
General
Master Route NameThe Master Route automatically inherits the name of the template route. However, you can rename the Master Route if you wish.
Assign UserDesignate a specific driver or field team member to the recurring schedule. Once assigned, this User will automatically be linked to all Recurring Routes generated from this Schedule.
Assign VehicleSelect a specific vehicle for the Recurring Schedule. The vehicle will automatically be linked to every Recurring Route created from this Schedule.
Schedule
Date RangeAdd a rule to specify dates on which the Recurring Schedule should begin and end. If you do not want to specify an end date, toggle “Repeat Forever“. Note: You can add more than one Date Range rule to the same Schedule. This ensures that different schedules can co-exists for the same route (daily, weekly, or monthly) and that you can make seasonal or time-specific adjustments without creating separate schedules.
Repeat FrequencyAdd a rule to define how frequently Routes should be scheduled: daily, weekly, monthly, or annually.
Repeat SettingsAdd a rule to define how often a Route Schedule should be repeated: every day, every 2 days, every 3 days, or so forth.
Exceptions
Date RangeSpecify any date range exceptions you wish to apply to the Recurring Schedule – i.e. dates when you do not want a Recurring Route to be scheduled. You may add multiple exceptions. These dates will appear in the Schedule Preview Calendar as Blacklist dates, marked red.
Other
Advanced SchedulingEstablish the number of days in advance you would like to create Recurring Routes from this Schedule.

 

When you are creating Schedule rules, you can define how frequently a rule should be repeated. To illustrate, you can, for instance, specify that a Schedule should be repeated every 3 months on certain dates. This Schedule will commence from the Start Date that you specify.

When creating Schedule rules, define how often a rule should be repeated.

 

Manage Recurring Route Schedules

You can view all of your Recurring Schedules on the Recurring Routes page. From this page, you can also make edits or delete a Recurring Schedule. To edit a Recurring Schedule, click the corresponding “Edit Schedule” button. You’ll be redirected to the Recurring Routes Schedule Editor.

To edit a User or Vehicle, hover over the field, and click the Pencil Icon to make your modification.

Open Your Recurring Routes 

View and manage all Recurring Schedules on the Recurring Routes page.

 

Manage Master Routes – Modify Or Delete Your Recurring Route Templates

To edit a Master Route, click the Down Arrow button, then “Edit Route“. You’ll be redirected to your Route Editor where you can add or remove destinations, change the visitation sequence, and make other edits.

After making your edits, close the Route Editor and return to the Recurring Route page. Any changes you’ve made to a Master Route will be automatically reflected in it associated Recurring Routes.

View and manage all Recurring Schedules on the Recurring Routes page.

 

To delete a Master Route, click the Down Arrow Button and click “Delete“. NOTE: When deleting a Master Route, any already created Recurring Routes will remain as is. However, no new Recurring Routes will be created.

When deleting a Master Route, any already created Recurring Routes will remain as is.

 

Manage Recurring Routes – Make Modifications From Your Routes List

From your Routes List, you can view all of your Recurring Routes. To find a specific Recurring Route, search for it by its Master Route name. If you have a large number of Recurring Routes, you can expedite your search for a specific Route by using the search field or by adjusting your “Filters“, “Group By“, and/or “Created Date” options.

To edit a Recurring Route, click the Down Arrow button and select “Edit Route“. NOTE: When you edit an individual Recurring Route, no changes are made to its associated Master Route or to other Recurring Routes.

From your Routes List, view all Recurring Routes or search by Master Route name to find a specific one.

 

 

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About Route4Me

Route4Me has over 40,000 customers globally. Route4Me's Android and iPhone mobile apps have been downloaded over 2 million times since 2009. Extremely easy-to-use, Route4Me's apps create optimized routes, synchronize routes to mobile devices, enable communication with drivers and customers, offer turn-by-turn directions, delivery confirmation, and more. Behind the scenes, Route4Me's operational optimization platform combines high-performance algorithms with data science, machine learning, and big data to plan, optimize, and analyze routes of almost any size in real-time.