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  2. Scheduling & Routing

Glossary of Route Optimization Errors

Product Team
Updated

When you optimize a route in ServiceCore, the locations, appointment times, service durations, and distance information are calculated together automatically to return a new version of the route stops in optimal order.

Most times this goes off without a hitch. When route optimizations go wrong, we'll let you know by displaying an on-screen message telling you what part of the route is causing the issue so you can take steps to resolve the problem.

In this article you'll see a glossary of the error messages you may see when route optimization fails. We've also included steps to resolve each issue.

Before You Start

Here are a few things to keep in mind before you optimize a route:

  1. Route optimization requires there to be three or more stops on the route which can include any combination of destinations and jobs
  2. All locations on the route must have valid Latitude and Longitude
  3. For information on how to create jobs and destinations with valid Latitude and Longitude, please review these help articles:
    1. Add a Site
    2. Add a Destination
  4. When using any of the schedule views to optimize a route (Week, Day, List, Map, Directions) you will need to click on "Refresh Schedule" in order to see the newly optimized order of stops

What constraints are used during route optimization?

Route optimization takes into account the follow pieces of information every time you click "Optimize Day" for a route from the Schedule:

  1. Departure Time
  2. Departure Location
  3. Travel time between each stop
  4. Service duration of each job and destination
  5. Appointment times (access hours) of each job
  6. End location
  7. Traffic (based on the average traffic for that day and area for the past two years)

Why is this so special?

Here are a couple scenarios to describe how route optimization works smarter and harder for you, and when optimization will work or fail:

When Route Optimization Will Work When Route Optimization Will Fail
The new route optimization will put stops in an optimal order. For example, if you have a combination of jobs and destinations like this:
  • Your driver is leaving the yard
  • During rush hour at 8:00am
  • To drive to a job that's 30 minutes away
  • And the job has an appointment time of 8:30am to 9:30am
  • And the job will take 30 minutes to complete
In this case, you're good to do. Your driver will make it to the job site at 8:30am to complete the 30-minute job before the time window closes at 9:30am. Then your driver can move on to the next job or destination on the route. ServiceCore handles all of these calculations and ordering of stops so you don't have to do it all yourself.		 Also, the new route optimization will let you know when you won't make it to a job on the route in time. For example:
  • Your driver is leaving the yard
  • During rush hour at 8:00am
  • To drive to a job that's 30 minutes away
  • And the job has an appointment time of 7:30am to 8:30am
  • And the job will take 30 minutes to complete
We'll let you know the route optimization can't be completed with the current route and job constraints. Your driver won't make it to the job site in time to complete the 30-minute job before 8:30am. In this case, you can change the departure time to be earlier in the morning, or adjust the appointment time to offer a longer time window to get the job done.

 

FAQs

When creating a job, if the "Time Window" is 8AM - 9AM, and the duration is set to 3 hours, what will happen?

In this case, routing will fail. That's because a 3 hour job cannot be started and finished in a 1 hour time window. Optimization will fail when the service duration is greater than the time window.

To prevent route optimization from failing, edit the job to only set a “Start” time of 8AM for the “Time Window” and leave the “End” time empty. Then, route optimization will work because it will route the driver to the job site by 9AM to do a 3 hour job.

If a pick-up job has a time window of 1:00PM - 2:00PM and the job takes 15 minutes to compete, what will happen?

In this case, route optimization will work. That's because the time window is greater than the job duration.

Glossary of Route Optimization Error Messages

In the examples below:

  • "S123" is an example name of a Site
  • "Springfield Landfill" is an example name of a Destination
  • "J123" is an example Job Number
  • "John S." is an example User Name
Error Message Definition and Steps to Resolve
Could not parse a latitude/longitude from site S123 One of the job site locations on the route has invalid Latitude or Longitude GPS coordinates. To fix this, follow these steps:
  1. Navigate to the site shown in the error message
  2. Click Edit Site Information
  3. Go to the Location section of the Edit Site Form
  4. Double check that the Latitude and Longitude fields are filled out
  5. To have ServiceCore calculate coordinates automatically, click Calculate Coordinates
  6. Click Save
  7. Return to the page where you saw the error message
  8. Refresh the page
  9. Click Optimize Day again
Could not parse a latitude/longitude from destination Springfield Landfill One of the destinations on the route has invalid Latitude or Longitude GPS coordinates. To fix this, follow these steps:
  1. Navigate to Settings > Schedule > Preferences
  2. Locate the destination that was in the error message
  3. Check the box for Geolocate Destination
  4. Double check that the Latitude and Longitude fields have coordinates filled out
  5. Click Save
  6. Return to the page where you saw the error message
  7. Refresh the page
  8. Click Optimize Day again
Optimization failed. You must provide at least 3 destinations Your route only has one or two stops. Three or more stops are required to optimize a route. To fix this, follow these steps:
  1. Add another job or another destination to the route until there are three or more stops on the route
  2. Click Optimize Day again
Optimization failed for John S. on Jan 1, 2022. The route contains an invalid combination of times and durations for J123, Springfield Landfill. Route optimization may have failed for the following reasons:
  • If a job has a service duration which is longer than its time window.
  • If service duration at a job + drive time to the next job causes the driver to arrive after the next job's appointment time.
  • If departure time + drive time to the first job causes the driver to arrive after the job's appointment time.
  • If the list of jobs makes it impossible to reach the last site by its appointment time/time window when "End route at last address" is selected.
  • If a job site is not routable via existing roads, like if the site is on an island, or if the route requires newly built roads which are not yet a part of our routing provider's map data.
    • If you suspect newly built roads are causing your route optimization to fail, please contact ServiceCore Support so we can put in a request to add the roads in our routing provider.

Important Notes:

  • If a job has a time window start time without a time window end, this is treated as a hard appointment time. Routing will fail if the driver cannot reach the job before or at the appointment time.
  • Drive time now factors in historical traffic patterns to give more accurate results. Drive time through a major metropolitan area is likely to be longer during weekday rush hours.
Other Error Messages Not Listed Above If you encounter an error that isn't listed above, please submit a support request for ServiceCore to assist you.

 

 

 

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