In this article, you will learn about Onfleet's Advanced Routing tool, also known as Core ART. This feature is available for Enterprise customers.
This feature is accessed through the Onfleet Dashboard and it includes both Route Optimization and Auto Dispatch functionality.
If your organization currently has enabled auto-creation of Route Plans through Route optimization, all the tasks you optimize using the Advanced Routing tool will become a route plan.
This article will cover:
- Enablement & APIs
- Accessing Advanced Routing
- Getting Started
- Optimization Settings
- Advanced Optimization Settings
- Optimizing a Route
Enablement & APIs
The Advanced Routing feature is optional, please reach out to your organization's Customer Success Manager if you are interested in enabling Advanced Routing. When the Advanced Routing feature is enabled, the legacy Route Optimization will still be available allowing your organization to not disrupt any current route planning processes while testing and updating integrations to Advanced Routing.
Advanced Routing supports APIs for Route Optimization and Auto Dispatch.
Route Optimization: https://onfleet.com/api/v2/advancedRouting/routeOptimization/run
Auto Dispatch: https://onfleet.com/api/v2/advancedRouting/autoDispatch/run
For ease of access, API documentation is also available in the Advanced Routing screen for Route Optimization and Auto Dispatch:
Accessing Advanced Routing
Once the Advanced Routing feature has been enabled for your organization, you can access it by selecting the "Advanced Routing" tab on the dashboard.
Getting Started
Similar to Route Optimization tool, you will need two or more tasks created and available within Onfleet to be able to run the Advanced Routing tool. When you are ready to optimize a route, select the "Advanced Routing" tab on the dashboard.
Once on this screen, select "Route Optimization" from the drop-down menu on the left-hand side.
Please Note: The center of the screen will be blurred out until two or more tasks are selected for optimization.
Select the tasks you would like to optimize, you can also select the "Filter" option on the bottom screen to view future dated tasks. The tasks will either be under "Unassigned" or a team container.
Optimization Settings
Once you have selected the tasks you would like to optimize, you will then be able to select and set your optimization settings. The settings for this screen are “sticky” and will be remembered for the next RO run. If needed, you can change these settings with each optimization.
Select and set your optimization settings such as:
- Maximum number of tasks per route
- Default Service Time per task
- Maximum allowed delay time per task, set in minutes
- Default driver schedule.
- Start and End times for routes.
- Default driver vehicle capacity.The maximum capacity of the vehicle. The quantity of each task will be accessed against this setting.
- Vehicle Speeds.Speeds for the five pre-configured vehicle types: vehicle, truck, motorbike, bike, and walking. Speeds will be applied based on the worker's vehicle.
- Route "Starts From" and route "Ends From". Select where drivers will start and end their routes.
Advanced Optimization Settings
The Advanced Routing feature also allows you to use advanced optimization settings for your route, such as:
Measurement Type
Determines how the distance between two points is calculated.
Street:
References street-level data: speed limits, directionality, and other travel conditions. In the absence of sufficient data, falls back to the Haversine measurement type.
Haversine:
Quickly estimates travel by calculating the distance between two points (“as-the-crow-flies”) using average travel speeds. Works better where street-level data is not available.
Capacity Management
How Onfleet calculates capacity. Individual Driver Capacity will override Default Vehicle Capacity.
Relative:
Pickup tasks reduce available capacity. Dropoff tasks increase capacity. These settings take into account the order of tasks to ensure drivers will not exceed capacity if they follow the planned order.
Absolute:
All tasks (pickup or dropoff) reduce available capacity. Linked tasks are treated as a single task in this calculation. (This resembles legacy Onfleet capacity management).
Optimizing a Route
Once you have selected your tasks and set your preferences for your settings you can then optimize the route. Select "Optimize Tasks" located at the bottom of the screen.
Review and Confirm the number of tasks and drivers in the route optimization.
If there are any warnings with the selected tasks or drivers, details will be displayed in the middle of the screen.
If optimization setting changes need to be made, click the back arrow in front of the ‘Review and Confirm’ header to return to the settings screen. If there are no issues, click the ‘Confirm’ button to generate the routes.
When the optimization is complete, the "Accept Optimization Results" screen will display. A summary of the Routes, task count, distance, and time on duty will be displayed.
Clicking the ‘Accept’ button will generate these routes, displaying them the associated drivers in the dashboard. On-duty drivers will also be notified of the assigned route.
Click the ‘Adjust optimization’ button if changes need to be made to the route optimization results. You will immediately be returned to the settings page.
Once you accept the optimization, you will be able to view the routes in the Dashboard Map and sidebar.