Territory Orders Routing – Plan Routes with Order Territories

Route4Me’s Delivery Management System enables you to easily import, store, manage, and optimize routes with hundreds of thousands of orders. Additionally, you can sort your orders by custom-shaped geographical territories based on your unique routing and business needs. Furthermore, you can use your Order Territories to optimize multi-driver and multi-vehicle last-mile routes. In this guide, you can learn how to open and manage your Order Territories, filter orders by territory and status, and use your territories for optimizing routes. Additionally, you can learn how to plan routes using your Orders List.

NOTE: Depending on your account configurations, you may have different features enabled. To enable or disable specific features, please contact your Routing Expert or Route4Me’s Support Team.

Open and Manage Order Territories

First, go to “Territory Orders” from the navigation menu to open the list of all Order Territories available on your account. To manage a specific Territory, click on the three dots menu icon next to this Territory and then select the preferred option. Specifically, you can use the Territory for planning routes, change the Territory’s name and color, or delete the Territory.

Additionally, you can select a custom Optimization Profile for each individual Territory. An Optimization Profile is a template with predefined route settings and optimization constraints. Accordingly, when you plan routes using a specific Territory, its selected Optimization Profile will be automatically applied, and the routes will be optimized based on that profile’s settings. Additionally, learn how to Create and Use Route4Me’s Optimization Profiles.

The “You Have N Orders Outside Territories” indicator shows how many orders that are scheduled for the selected date are located outside the displayed territories. Accordingly, the orders located outside the displayed and selected Territories will not be included into the routes planned using the selected Territories.

A Route4Me Territory is a geographical area on the map that is defined by its custom-shaped borders. You can create Territories by simply drawing them on the map. Accordingly, if the address of an order is located within the borders of a specific Territory, this order is automatically associated with this Territory. Additionally, you can learn how to Create and Manage Territories.

Plan and Optimize Routes Using Territory Orders

First, filter orders in your Territory Orders by date or date range using the “Time Period” calendar. Next, filter orders by the “Stop Type” (i.e., Delivery, Pickup, etc.) and “Order Status“. Specifically, only Sorted and Scheduled orders can be used for planning routes. Additionally, you can learn more about Route4Me’s Order Management System Order Statuses.

After filtering orders by date, stop type, and status, the “Total Orders” column will display the total number of orders within each territory that are scheduled for the selected dates and fit the used filters. After that, you can select a single or multiple Territories for planning combined or separate routes.

Plan Combined Route – Optimize Single Route with All Orders

The “Plan Combined Route” option allows you to plan a single route with all orders within all selected Territories. First, select one or multiple Territories that you want to use for planning the route by checking the boxes next to them. After that, click on the “Plan Combined Route” button.

Next, schedule the route by selecting the preferred date in the “Route Start Date” calendar. After that, select the preferred Optimization Profile that will be used to optimize the route. Finally, click on the “Continue” button to optimize the route.

Next, the system will plan and optimize a single route with all orders within the selected Territories. Accordingly, the route will be optimized based on the settings in the selected Optimization Profile and scheduled for the selected date. When the system plans and optimizes a single route, this route is automatically opened in Route4Me’s Route Editor.

Plan Separate Routes – Optimize Routes with Separate Territories

The “Plan Separate Routes” option allows you to plan separate routes with the orders within each individual Territory without overlapping with other Territories. First, select one or multiple Territories that you want to use for planning routes by checking the boxes next to them. After that, click on the “Plan Separate Routes” button.

Next, schedule all routes by selecting the preferred date in the “Route Start Date” calendar. After that, you can change or keep the same assigned Optimization Profile for each of the selected Territories. Additionally, you can remove selected Territories from the list by clicking on the X icon next to them. Finally, click on the “Continue” button to optimize the routes.

Next, the system will plan and optimize one or multiple routes with the orders within each individual Territory, without overlapping with other Territories. Equally important, routes within each individual Territory are planned based on its assigned Optimization Profile settings. Accordingly, depending on the Optimization Profile assigned to a Territory, the system can plan one or multiple routes with the orders within this Territory. When the system optimizes multiple routes, they are automatically opened on Route4Me’s Routes Map, where you can simultaneously view and manage multiple routes.

Dispatch Routes to Drivers and Track Order Progress

Furthermore, you can dispatch optimized routes to your drivers and vehicles. When using Optimization Profiles, routes are automatically dispatched to the driver and vehicle assigned in the used profile. Additionally, you can dispatch routes to drivers and vehicles manually. To manually dispatch a route to a driver or vehicle, assign the preferred user to the route or assign the preferred vehicle to the route.

Accordingly, when a driver is assigned to a route, this driver can open and complete the route using Route4Me’s Android Route Planning App or iPhone Route Planning App. As drivers navigate and complete routes, the orders on those routes automatically change their status in real-time.

Moreover, as orders are loaded on routes, delivered, and completed, they change their status in real-time. In detail, once an order is included into a route, the route is dispatched to the driver. Next, the driver can use Route4Me’s Mobile Driver App to load the order on the route, deliver, and complete the order. When the driver updates the order’s status, the route progress and the order’s status are automatically updated in your Orders List in real-time. When an order is successfully delivered or completed, it gets the “Done” status. Additionally, learn more about Route4Me’s Delivery System Order Statuses and Order Lifecycle.