Assigning Jobs to Routes

When your jobs are created or imported, they remain in an unassigned state until you choose to assign them to a route or a driver. Routes and drivers can be assigned automatically by Scenarios, or manually.

When a job is assigned automatically, Scenarios first attempts to assign the job to an existing route that best fits the job's location and time window settings, and then places it in the optimal position within this route. This will not always be possible if the job is scheduled to occur outside the existing routes' time windows, or if the job is too far away from the other jobs. If this is the case, the job must be assigned manually. In some cases, you might even need to create an entirely new route to contain the job.

If you try to drop a job onto a particular route, and this action would result in a violation, one or more warnings are displayed in orange in the tool tip next to your mouse cursor. The following reasons can result in a warning message:

 

•The route, driver, or vehicle are missing a tag that the job requires.
•The route or driver has a tag that the job disallows.
•The driver is forbidden from servicing the job.
•The driver is not the job's preferred driver.
•The job cannot be serviced during the route's shift because of date, day-of-week, or time-window constraints.

Assigning a Job to a Route by Dragging and Dropping

To assign a job, or several jobs, automatically using the "drag and drop" method:
 

1.Locate the new or unassigned job in the Jobs list. Select the checkbox beside every job you want to assign. If you are only adding a single job, there is no need to select the checkbox beside it, instead click anywhere on the job row to select it.
2.Drag the selected jobs toward the Routes panel with your mouse. If you selected more than one job, these are added to the drag selection automatically. As you start dragging, note the following two changes:
 
•A pop-up text message is shown beside the job as you drag it. This indicates the name of a single job or, if you are assigning more than one job, the number of jobs.

 

 
•The upper section of the Routes panel is replaced with two blue boxes. The left box reads ASSIGN TO BEST ROUTE. The right box reads UNASSIGN FROM ROUTE.

 
3.Drag the jobs you are assigning over the left ASSIGN TO BEST ROUTE box and release. Scenarios now attempts to assign the jobs to the best matching route automatically, using the job locations and time windows to match with an existing, suitable route. If a suitable match is not found, either because it is too far away or if its addition would cause the route to exceed the route's time window or its driver's maximum shift length, the job is rejected and you must build a new route for the job.

You can also drag the job into a route row in the Routes panel, or onto a route highlight on the map. Scenarios attempts to assign the job to the specified route and automatically determine the best position for the new job.

Assigning a Job to a Route Manually

To manually assign a job to a specific route and also specify the job's order in that route:
 

1.Locate the new or unassigned job in the Jobs list.
2.Locate the route you want to assign the job to in the Routes list and click the route row so the route's jobs are listed in the Job Order panel.
3.Drag the job from the Jobs list into the Job Order panel. As you move your mouse up and down the list, a horizontal blue line indicates the insertion point of the job if you release the mouse button. The leg of the route the job would be inserted into is also highlighted on the map.

 
4.Release the job. The route is recalculated to reflect the addition of the new job, and its position.

You can also add a job to a route using the map:
 

1.Locate the job you want to add in the Jobs list.
2.Locate the route you want to assign the job to in the Routes list.
3.Click the colored Highlight button beside the route's name on the Routes list to display the route on the map.
4.Drag the job from the Jobs list to the map and onto the highlighted route. As you move the job along the highlight, the leg of the route that the job (its order in the route if released) is shown. A pop-up message is shown beside the mouse cursor as you drag the job, showing the name of the job. When the mouse cursor is placed over the highlighted route the pop-up also indicates that the operation is assigning a job to a route:

 
5.Release the mouse button. Scenarios attempts to add the job to the route. If accepted, the route is recalculated and the updated route shown on the map. This process can take a moment.