Route Optimiser allows you to enter a delivery schedule to produce a plan of the most efficient route to take. It will tell which vehicles should make which deliveries and in what order. It allows you to have multiple vehicles and drop off points this distinguishes it from a standard A to B route planner. You can add your own variables such as guaranteed delivery times, and also set height, weight and width restrictions for larger vehicles

How do I use Route Optimiser?

Route Optimiser can be used online through http://www.routeoptimiser.com/ or by integrating it into your own system or product. This is provided through our web service APIs, all the information on this can be found at: http://www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/route-optimisation/api.aspx. Once registered for an account you will immediately have access to the product through the online control panel which is found on the website. A demo or walk through option is provided to give guidance on the steps needed to use the product.

How do I set up a delivery route to optimise?

Once you have registered for an account you will have access to the online control panel for the route optimisation. Before you can use the product you need to make sure you have either purchased credits or vehicle licences. This can be done by selecting the ‘Buy licences and credits’ box.

The first step is to set up the vehicles that will be used in the route. This is done by clicking on the ‘Set up your vehicles’ box. This allows you to fill information about the vehicles, including capacity and breaks. Depots can be set to define the vehicles start and end points, making optimising routes easier.
Now comes the actual route optimisation. Click on the ‘Optimise your routes’ box. In the section titled ‘Start’ you can set the basic information about the delivery route, for instance start time, job title and pause time. Click next when complete.
You will be taken to the next stage titled, ‘vehicles’. Here you need to select which vehicles will be involved in the delivery route. Ticking the box of the wanted vehicles and selecting whether you want the depot or new postcode as you start and end point will do this. Click next when complete.
You will be taken to the next stage titled, ‘Deliveries’. You now need to enter all the delivery points that need to be included. You can either enter these manually or upload the data. Click on the appropriate option. You can then enter the postcodes of the delivery points with their delivery sizes, start and end times and any notes. Once you have entered your entire list of delivery points click upload. Then either add more if necessary or click next.
You will be taken to the final stage titled, ‘Get route’. This is where you will initialise the route optimisation. This done by verifying the route details entered and pressing go.

What results are produced?

Once you have started Route Optimiser a summary of the route optimisation job will appear while the job is being processed. When the job is complete options will appear about the route that has just been calculated. In addition, these options and PDFs will be sent to your email.

The full summary option will open a folder containing PDF files for each vehicle and one containing all the vehicles. This summary provides a map with the route plotted on it and a table containing the route order and the times and distances.
The get directions option will open a folder containing PDF files of directions for each vehicles route. The directions will be produced in a table showing the name of the road, the instruction itself and the distance. It also provides symbols to represent each direction. This could be a directional arrow, traffic light or roundabout.
The summary CSV option provides the information in an Excel spread sheet. This makes it easily transferable between programs.
The export to Sat Nav option allows you to download the route to your sat nav. Simply plug the sat nav into your computer and select the vehicle route you want to download and then click the TomTom button.

Where do I enter the details of the routes that I want to optimise?

Route Optimiser allows you to create as many groups as you want. This allows you to have many vehicles of different types, you can give each type a name (e.g. "vans", "cars", "trucks"). When you later set up your vehicles, you can assign a group and the parameters will auto-populate accordingly.

When setting up a vehicle group what is ‘icon when optimising’?

This option allows you to assign a picture of a choice of vehicles to a particular group. This picture helps you identify and organise different groups.

Does the capacity setting have any influence on the route or is it just for the driver to know the limits?

You can set the capacity of a vehicle and the size of delivery at each delivery point for that route. Route Optimiser will identify if the delivery sizes exceeds the capacity of the vehicle. It will then schedule the vehicle to return to the depot to restock and then carry on the route.

How many vehicles can be added and used?

This depends on whether you are using credits or vehicle licences. When using the service by credits the amount of vehicles you can add is limitless. When you purchase vehicle licences you need to have a licence for each vehicle you want to include in the route optimisation. The number of licences you have will be the number of vehicles you can add.

Where do I enter the details of my routes I want to optimise?

To enter all the details of your route click on ‘optimise your routes’ that is located on the control panel. This will take you through the steps needed before optimising your route.

How do the time slot adherence settings work?

You can set deliveries to be delivered at certain time slots. Route Optimiser can plan the route to delivery in the time slots allocated. In some cases it may be impossible to comply with the stated slots due to time clashes, distance etc. Using the slot adherence settings you can set the balance between meeting the time slots and the quickest route. For instance weak adherence will mean you are not too strict on making the time slots.

Why do I need to verify a postcode when setting a vehicle’s start and finish point?

The service verifies the postcode of the start and finish point of the route before it carries out the optimisation. This makes sure that the postcodes are correct before any routes are planned. This ensures you are getting the right route, not being charged credits on wrong requests or wasting time.

What is the maximum number of delivery points that can be entered?

Route Optimiser allows you to enter up to a maximum of 200 delivery points for each route.

Can all the different vehicles results be shown on one map?

No, not at the current time. Each route is plotted on separate maps that are sent to you in one folder making it is easy to access. It does provide a summary of all the vehicles in one table showing the deliveries, time and distance values.

Do you have to pay for each vehicle added as well as the result of the optimisation?

No, the pricing structure has recently changed. It has been reduced to just either purchasing credits or vehicle licences. Using the credit service you can have as many vehicles in the route as you want with no added cost. For vehicle licences you need to purchase a licence for each vehicle you want to add, but then you can use the optimiser 400 times annually without extra charge.

Can it only be used through the website?

You are not limited to RouteOptimiser.com interface. Route Optimiser technology can be integrated tightly into your own system or product. This is provided through our web service APIs, all the information on this can be found at: http://www.postcodeanywhere.co.uk/route-optimisation/api.aspx.

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Using Route Optimiser has made my job a hell of a lot easier. Plotting the route and loading the van accordingly has allowed me to visit 70 deliveries a day in 5 hours, whereas before it would have taken 7.5 – 8 hours.

Carl Street - DHL Driver