Groom Route Mapping

Route mapping helps businesses plan and manage employee travel by using configured start and end locations, scheduled appointment times, and travel distance to show accurate start-of-day and end-of-day estimates. The map view gives staff a clear way to review routes, reorder appointments for efficiency, identify schedule delays, and add planned stops such as lunch breaks.

Setting your options

To use route mapping, you need to set the start location.  This is under Manage, New Feature Settings.

You can opt to use the business address that’s set under Setup, Business Info or you can add a different address here.

Add Start and Ending hours.  This will be used to calculate the employee’s start and ending hours.

Accessing the Map

You can view the route mapping on the appointment screen by clicking the Van button.

You can view the route mapping on the Dashboard, under Full Day View and the Employee tab by clicking Route Map.

Using the Map

Start of the Day

This setting will use both the Start of the Day time entered in the New Features tab and the Start location’s distance from the first appointment.

For example, say the Start of the Day is 7:30am.

The employee’s first appointment is scheduled for 9am.

The employee’s Start location is 22 mins away from the 1^st appointment.

The employee’s Start of the Day will show as 8:38am.

Appointment list and reorder options

You can view the route and stops of each appointment on the map.

You can reorder appointments by clicking and dragging them to the new order.

In this example, it would be more time efficient to switch appointments 2 and 3.

Click on Shaggy’s appointment and drag it to be after Bobo’s appointment.

The Map will show if there is any delay in the appointment.  In this example, Shaggy’s appointment is scheduled for 10am but it was rerouted to be completed after Bobo’s appointment that is scheduled for 11:30am so there will be a delay.

End of the day

This setting will use both the End of the Day time entered in the New Features tab and the distance of the last appointment from the End location.

For example, say the End of the Day is 5pm.

The employee’s last appointment is scheduled for 2:30pm and will take an hour. 

The last appointment is 27 mins away from the End location.

The employee’s End of the Day will show as 3:57pm.

The screen will also note how much time is left available from the last appointment to the end of the day, 1 hour and 3 mins in this example.

Adding a Stop

You can add breaks on the route, for example lunch.

Add the address for the stop, name and how long it will take.

It will be added to the list of appointments and be assigned a number so you can easily see it on your route.

Key Points

·        Set the route start location using either the business address or a custom address.

·        Enter start and ending hours so route mapping can calculate accurate employee start and end times.

·        Access route mapping from the appointment screen or from the Dashboard in Full Day View under the Employee tab.

·        Use the map to view each appointment route, stop sequence, and estimated travel timing.

·        Reorder appointments by dragging and dropping them into a more efficient sequence.

·        Review delay indicators when rerouting causes an appointment to occur later than scheduled.

·        Use end-of-day estimates to understand travel time from the final appointment to the ending location and any remaining available time.

·        Add planned stops, such as lunch breaks, by entering the stop address, name, and duration.