OptaRoute

1. On first load, select your country and region from the splash screen. This scopes the map and address search to your area.
2. Go to the Setup tab and enter your Branch Hub address — this is where drivers start and end each day. You can add multiple hubs for businesses with several depots.
3. Set your fuel prices in Setup → Pricing so cost estimates are accurate.
4. Go to the Drivers tab, set the number of drivers, and configure each driver's shift start / end times and vehicle type.
5. Add jobs in the Jobs tab, then click Optimise Route to generate an optimised plan.

• Type a suburb or address in the search box on the Jobs tab. Pick from the autocomplete dropdown.
• Choose Delivery or Collection job type.
• Set a timing rule:
  • Flexible — no time constraint; the scheduler decides the best slot.
  • Booked At — must arrive at a specific time.
  • Anytime After — earliest acceptable arrival.
  • Anytime Before — latest acceptable arrival.
  • Between — arrival window (e.g. 09:00–12:00).
• Set Service Time — how many minutes the driver spends at the stop.
• Optionally set a Preferred Driver — the optimiser will hard-assign that job to the chosen driver.
• Add optional Job Notes (e.g. unit number, contact name).
• Click Add Job, or use Import CSV to bulk-load jobs from a spreadsheet.
• Save common job configurations as Templates — reusable chips that pre-fill the form.
• On Collection jobs, use the Link to delivery button to set up a direct relay — see the Direct Relay section below.

• Set the number of drivers using Update in the Drivers tab.
• Each driver has a configurable Start Time, End Time, vehicle type (Unleaded, Diesel, Electric, Rideshare), and home hub.
• Drivers set to Rideshare mode use rideshare for repositioning — no fuel cost, separate fare estimate.
• Break duration sets the minimum rest period automatically inserted into long shifts.
• Save a driver config as a Driver Template to quickly restore it later.
• Click Save Times to persist driver settings between sessions.

• Optimise Route — reorders stops across all drivers to minimise travel time while respecting all timing constraints and preferred-driver assignments. Shortcut: Ctrl + Enter
• Calculate Route — calculates cost and time for stops in their current order without reordering. Use this to evaluate a manually ordered route.
• Results appear automatically in the Results tab once complete.
• The map updates with colour-coded driver routes and numbered stop markers.
• Timing violations (jobs that can't meet their constraint) are flagged in red on the run sheet.

• Route Span — wall-clock duration from first departure to last driver return.
• Team Work Time — total combined driver hours.
• Load Spread — how evenly work is distributed across drivers (lower is better).
• Vehicle costs are broken down by fuel type (Unleaded, Diesel, Electric) and rideshare fares.
• Cost by Job — itemised breakdown showing estimated cost, km, and driver per job. Click the header to collapse the panel.
• Run Sheet — full chronological itinerary per driver. Use the search bar at the top to find any address, job ID, or driver name. Click a driver's header row to collapse/expand their block.
• On collection legs, use the dropdown to switch between Rideshare and Support vehicle pickup modes.

A direct relay links a Collection job to a specific Delivery job so the driver proceeds straight from one to the other — without returning to the branch in between. This is useful when a vehicle is collected from one site and driven directly to another job.

• On any Collection row in the Jobs tab, click the Link to delivery button to expand a dropdown of available delivery jobs.
• Select the delivery — the link is saved immediately. The button label updates to show the linked delivery address.
• To unlink, open the same dropdown and choose — Remove link —.
• The linked delivery does not appear separately in the Builder pool — it is auto-assigned to the same driver immediately after its paired collection.
• In the Builder, linked pairs are shown with a direct relay connector strip between the two rows so you can see the coupling at a glance.
• When the Optimiser runs, the delivery is always placed immediately after its collection in the same driver's sequence.

• Run Calculate Route (manual order) then Optimise Route to unlock the Compare tab.
• The compare view shows side-by-side run sheets, a job-by-job breakdown, and summary metrics (time, cost, distance, violations).
• Events that changed driver or arrival time between the two plans are highlighted with coloured indicator pills (≠ Driver / ≠ Time) on the run sheet rows.
• Rows in the job-by-job table are highlighted amber when the driver or position changed.

The Builder tab lets you hand-craft a runsheet without the optimiser — useful when you already know the best sequence or want to make fine-grained adjustments.

• The Job Pool on the right lists all unassigned jobs for the active planning date. Each pool card shows the job type (delivery/collection), any time constraint, and preferred driver.
• Use the Assign to… dropdown on a pool card to place a job on a specific driver.
• Once assigned, jobs appear in numbered order under the driver's column. Use the ↑ / ↓ buttons to reorder, or the ✕ button to return a job to the pool.
• Live cost and timing stats (total km, hours, cost, finish time) update automatically as you build the plan.
• Constraint violations are shown in amber beneath the driver name — hover each one for a plain-language description.
• Directly-linked Collection/Delivery pairs are shown with a direct relay connector and are always kept together on the same driver.
• Save common driver arrangements as Templates (bottom of the Builder tab) to restore them in future sessions.
• Click Lock & Use This Plan to commit the builder plan as the active route.

• Export CSV — download the full job list as a spreadsheet.
• Import CSV — bulk-load jobs from a CSV file.
• Email Summary — generates a formatted daily summary you can paste into an email.
• Run Sheet modal — plain-text driver instructions, per driver or all at once. Copy or print.
• Save Plan / Load Plan (header buttons) — snapshot the current optimised route and reload it later.
• Reports tab — filter and export historical route reports to Excel.

• Open the Dispatch tab to see jobs grouped by driver in a Kanban-style board (Pending → In Progress → Done).
• Click the cycle button on any job in the Jobs tab to advance its status. Changes flow to the Dispatch board automatically.
• Use Bulk Status on selected jobs to update many at once.
• Status changes are saved instantly and persist across sessions.

• Each route generation auto-saves a daily report visible in the Reports tab.
• Filter reports by date, driver, or status. Export everything to Excel with one click.
• The Change History side panel logs recent edits so you can undo / redo changes.

• Enable Multi-Day Planning in Setup to schedule jobs across more than one day.
• Set the active planning date and a horizon (1–14 days). Each job carries its own scheduled date.
• Use Auto-distribute to spread jobs evenly across the horizon's days.
• The day chips in the Jobs tab show how many jobs are on each day — click one to switch the active day.
• Optimise / Calculate only runs against the active day, so each day's plan is independent.
• Note: Multi-day planning requires a Pro account.

• In Setup → Webhooks, register a URL to receive events like route.generated and report.saved.
• Add an optional shared secret — it's sent in the request header so your endpoint can verify the source.
• Click Test Webhook to fire a sample payload and confirm your endpoint is reachable.

• Guest — quick trial mode. Limited to 2 drivers and 4 jobs. Multi-day planning, saved plans, templates, and reports don't sync to the cloud. Region must be re-selected each session.
• Pro — full feature access: unlimited drivers and jobs, multi-day planning, cloud sync for plans, templates, and reports.
• Click Create a Free Account on any guest-limit popup to upgrade instantly.

• Ctrl + Enter — Optimise Route
• Ctrl + S — Save Plan
• Alt + J — Jump to Jobs tab
• Alt + D — Jump to Drivers tab
• Alt + R — Jump to Results tab
• / — Focus the job search box
• Drag the divider between the sidebar and map to resize both panels.
• Toggle dark / light mode with the moon/sun button in the top-right corner.
• Use the Region button in the header to change country/region at any time.
• Click any driver header in the run sheet to collapse/expand that driver's events.
• Use the run sheet search bar to filter by address, driver name, or job ID — press ↑/↓ to navigate between matches.