All legacy Scan App articles have been moved to Internal articles on March 20, 2023.
Scan App Route Planning is a feature that was released in version 5.0.0. It allows you to plan an optimized delivery route with delivery information and estimated times of arrival.
If using containers in Scan App is new to you, we also recommend reading the article Using the Containers feature in Scan App, since you will need this feature for your route planning.
Important: You must have the Share my position option turned on in Scan App and the phone's location services turned on to use route planning.
Learn about:
- Creating a delivery route
- Making deliveries
- Editing and updating the delivery route
- Handling exceptions and errors
Creating a delivery route:
- Start by scanning all the barcodes you want included in your delivery route. They must be scanned with an event that has the Container required property. Tap Complete to continue.
- Select the option Container Name in the top. Tap the arrow to go to the Available Containers screen.
- Select an existing container or create a new one by tapping the New container button.
- Tap the new container to select it.
- Check Remember selection if you want to add more items to the same container. Tap Complete to add the items to your container.
- After your container is created, it will be available form the Containers options in the main menu.
- Tap Containers in the main menu and select All available. Assign the container to yourself.
- Tap the arrow to see the content of your container.
- If you are happy with the content, tap the truck icon to manage your deliveries.
- You can include up to 23 items to your delivery list. Use the select all icon to include all items or choose individual items one by one.
- Once you are satisfied with the list, tap the route planning icon.
- Your optimized route is now being calculated. The navigation card contains all the necessary information for your first delivery (if filled in on the shipment). 1 - name, 2 - address, 3 - phone number, 4 - message to driver.
- Your delivery route is now ready.
Making deliveries
- The first stop on your route is at the top of the list. You may call the receiver by tapping the phone icon or number and inform about your estimated time of arrival.
- If you need navigation assistance, tap the compass icon and use your preferred navigation app.
- If you need more information about the current delivery, you can tap it to open the shipment viewer.
- Once you have reached your destination, tap the barcode button to add an event for this delivery.
- After tapping Complete on the Delivered event, you will be redirected to your planned route. Your previous delivery is now added to the Delivered list. If you encounter delays along the route, you can tap the Refresh button to re-calculate your estimated times of arrival. If you want to inform the customer about being late, you can send an event like Delayed and the item will not be moved from your current delivery list.
- You are now ready to proceed with your next delivery.
- Once you have completed all your planned deliveries, the navigation card will display the message: No more deliveries!.
Editing and updating the delivery route
You may need to reorder or edit your delivery route. Maybe a receiver has contacted you to reschedule or you have added a wrong delivery to the route.
- Tap the reorder button.
- Rearrange items by tapping and dragging using the sandwich icons to the right side of the list. Delete unwanted items by using the red delete icon on the left side of the list.
- Tap the check icon when you are done. Your time and distance values will now be updated.
- In case you want to resume your optimized route, your changes can be reverted by tapping the undo button.
- If you want your toolbar in Scan App to include quick actions for Route Planning and Containers, go to Preferences > Toolbar action.
- Replace the icon of your choice by selecting it and picking a new option from the list.
- Your selected items will now be available on your toolbar.
Handling exceptions and errors
- In case a delivery is unsuccessful, you can add an Exception event and it will be marked with the exception icon.
- In case your planned route contains a delivery with an incorrect address, it will be marked with a wrong address icon. Tap the icon to manually input a new address. After this change, your route and estimated times of arrival will be updated.
- If no route could be found between your current location, the next delivery address, and your final destination, the following message will be displayed.
- You can add or adjust your final destination by going to Preferences in the Scan App main menu and selecting Route options.
- Here you can add a new address or edit an existing one to complete your route.
- You can also adjust your service time to improve the accuracy of the ETA (estimated time of arrival) calculation.
Notes
- Maximum of 23 items for one delivery due to Google Maps API limitations
- Changing your current Action Center will cancel your current planned route.
- Driving to your current delivery using the planned route requires Share my position and the device's location services turned on. The user should allow Scan App to always use location services.
- Route planning requires a valid GPS location for your current location in order to calculate distances and time between deliveries.
- You can use this feature only with DeliveryHub packages created from an installation belonging to the same owner as the current Action Center used on the device, and with named containers.
- The events In progress, Info, and Out for delivery will keep the item in your current delivery list.
- The events Closed, Exception, or Carrier Exception will move the item from your current delivery list to the Delivered / Exceptions list.