Get started with Routes

With the ever-growing demand for home delivery services, routes help you stay current with your customer base and offer a convenient service. This guide covers the basic setup and usage of routes in SPOT, along with the most common settings.

Setup

Route Setup

To begin, navigate to the route settings in Program Configuration:

Setup > Program Configuration > Store > Route Settings > Routes → click Add

You will now have a new route, and its settings are automatically displayed on the right.

At minimum, we recommend defining the following settings:

Setting	Recommendation
Name	Reflect the route days, the general location of the route, or both — for example, ‘West Jordan Tues - Thurs’.
Active	Must be checked.
Route Type	Set to Dynamic.
Default Days	The standard days on which the route runs.
Price Table	Assign the applicable price table.
Promise Date	Assign the promise date table this route will use.

Tip
You can save time if you already have a route and want to copy most of its settings to a new one. Right-click the existing route in the left settings column and select Copy, then right-click Routes and select Paste. At minimum, you will need to change the name of the new route.

Add Customer to the Route

Once the route has been created, add the customers you want to visit.

From the SPOT home screen, go to the Delivery tab, select your route, and click Insert Stop.

Use the customer lookup screen to choose your customer if they are already in SPOT. If needed, you can create the customer now by choosing Add a New Customer at the bottom.

Enter any customer-specific delivery instructions and click OK.

The ‘Days to visit this stop’ fields on the insert stop page are filled from the default route settings in Program Configuration. You can make any custom changes needed for the individual stop at this time. For a more detailed look, see Insert/Edit Stop Explained.

Adding Multiple Customers to a Stop

In some instances you may want more than one customer at a stop — in an apartment building, for example. This is easily accomplished through the insert stop button.

Warning
Removing a multiple stop will remove all customers on the stop. This is not reversible.

Select the stop to which you would like to add the customer, then click Edit Stop.

Click Insert.

Use the customer lookup screen to choose your customer if they are already in SPOT. If needed, you can create the customer now by choosing Add a New Customer at the bottom.

Choose Yes or No for using the selected customer’s address as the stop’s address, then click OK.

Congratulations! You now have a single stop with multiple customers. You can repeat this process as many times as necessary. If needed, you can remove a single customer from the stop using the Remove button.

Add a Driver to the Route

Once the route has been created, it’s time to add drivers. Navigate to Program Configuration > Store > Route Settings > Drivers, select Add, then Create new ‘Drivers’ to add a new driver.

Enter contact information for the new driver. You can optionally save a photo of your driver by selecting Driver Image: navigate through the prompts and select a file on your computer to use as the driver’s image. You will then be able to use this image in automated email messaging to your customers, notifying them of pickups.

After you’ve created your routes and drivers, assign drivers to routes: navigate to Program Configuration > Route Settings > Routes, select the needed route, scroll down to Primary Driver, select the appropriate driver from the drop-down menu, and click Save.

Insert/Edit Stop Explained

Every field and control on the Insert/Edit Stop screen, at a glance:

Field / Control	Description
Insert Stop	Inserts a new stop on the route. If a route stop is selected when this button is used, the new stop is placed in front of the selected stop; with no stop selected, it is placed at the end of the route.
Linked Stop	Use this if you want a route stop to follow another stop with no exception — an apartment located next to an address, an office in a building, or an address SPOTMap cannot resolve. For example, if you use stop 10 as the linked stop and stop 10 moves to 22, your defined stop moves with it.
Stop #	The stop number you would like to insert. If you selected a stop before choosing Insert Stop, that number is displayed. You can type any number here and the stop will be inserted at that position; a number higher than the current stop count places it at the end of the route.
Address, City, State Zip, Phone	By default, the selected customer’s information fills these fields. If the customer has a route address defined via the ‘more address’ button on their profile, that address is used.
Days to visit stop	The default days the stop is visited. For example, a customer specified as a Tuesday–Thursday stop is included on the manifest when it is run for any Tuesday or Thursday.
Accounts	The list of customers located on this stop. Most route configurations include one customer per stop; multiple customers on a single stop suit an office building or a retail business with a single address.
Delivery Instructions	Instructions included on the manifest for the office or the delivery driver — for example, “Deliver to the back door”, “Make sure you close the garage door”, or “Do not leave clothes in bad weather.”
View Customer	With a customer selected in the account list, takes you directly to that customer’s profile.
Use Address	With a customer selected in the account list, uses that customer’s address (or route address, if available) as the stop address. Useful when multiple customers share a stop and you want a particular customer’s address used.
Insert	Adds customers to the stop.
Remove	Removes the selected customer from the stop. At least one customer must remain selected to create a route stop.

Tip
Create a customer using the office or apartment building’s name and address for the stop itself. You can then assign your resident customers to the now easily identified stop.

Usage

Route Manager

The Route Manager screen provides quick and easy tools to streamline your route operations.

Tool	Description
Remove Stop	Removes the selected stop and any customers assigned to it from the route. If you remove a stop, the only way to get it back is to recreate it.
Print Bag Tags	Prints bag tags for all customers on the route or just the selected customer. Requires the workstation bag tag printer and template to be set up.
Customer View	Displays the selected customer’s profile.
Move Stops	Moves existing customers within the same route or from route to route, or alphabetizes the current route.
Print Route Report	An alphabetical listing or a list sorted by stop number for the selected route, including every customer on the route.
SPOTmap	Opens a map with all route stops marked.
Delivery Manifest	Begins the process of generating a manifest — see Running a Delivery Manifest.
Post Orders	Begins the process of selling out orders — see Posting Orders.
View Orders	Displays all open orders for the entire route.

Running a Delivery Manifest

The culmination of a route is the delivery manifest — it gives drivers all the information needed to complete their deliveries.

Begin by selecting the Delivery Manifest button from the Route Manager page, then select the delivery date for the manifest. You will be prompted for the type of manifest to run and the level of detail to print.

Select the type of manifest:

Type	What it includes
Full Manifest	All stops scheduled for the day, including all customers with static or on-demand visits assigned — even stops/customers with no orders promised or ready for this date.
Scheduled / Delivery Date	All stops that have promised/ready orders or an on-demand visit defined.

Select what manifest information to print:

Format	What it shows
Detailed Manifest	Line-by-line invoice detail including department, pieces, amount, unpaid amount, and balance, for all orders due or ready for the customer (specific information may vary based on settings/templates).
Summary Manifest	A single line per stop with the total number of orders, pieces, and amount due.

Posting Orders

The Post Orders process is designed to make delivering orders and posting to the customer’s A/R as simple as possible. The post orders screen works in conjunction with manifests generated for the route — an invoice will not appear on the post orders screen unless it has been on a manifest. Once a driver has completed the route, they can return and use the post orders screen to mark the orders that were actually delivered.

Begin by navigating to the Route Manager screen for the route you intend to post orders for, then select the Post Orders button.

Ensure that all orders delivered on the route are marked with a green check mark, then select the Post button. This will charge each customer based on their payment preference.

Tip
You can scan orders that were not delivered at the top of the screen to remove their check mark.

Tip
A ‘P*’ in the sell column indicates an unresolved price-later issue that must be addressed before closing the order.

Common Settings

Company

Setup > Program Configuration > Company > Route Settings

Setting	Description
Auto Enable Account for Route Customers	When enabled, a customer added to a route is automatically made an A/R customer and added to your default billing group.
Show Only Ready Orders on Manifest	When enabled, only orders in a ready status appear on your manifest. When disabled, all orders ready or promised on or before the day the manifest is run appear.

Setup > Program Configuration > Company > SPOTMap Settings

Setting	Description
Mapping Component	Set this to System Default.

Store

Setup > Program Configuration > Store > Route Settings

Setting	Description
Show Only Ready Orders on Manifest	May be set to “Yes”, “No”, or “Use Company Setting” to defer to the company level. Setting this to “Yes” causes the Route Manifest (and therefore Post Orders) to include only racked orders.

Setup > Program Configuration > Store > Route Settings > Routes > (Your Route)

Setting	Description
Use Custom Invoice Template	This check box enables the setting below.
Custom Invoice Template > Edit	You must use the import/export function inside the editor. You can export a template from: `Setup > Program Configurations > Company > Report Settings > Document Templates > Invoice template`

Setup > Program Configuration > Store > Customer Settings

Setting	Description
Show Route Eligibility	Shows a non-route customer’s route eligibility in the search screen and on the visual invoice.

Workstation

Setup > Program Configuration > Workstation > Mark-in Settings

Setting	Description
Prompt for Counter / Route Order	When enabled, prompts the clerk for ‘all’ customers or just ‘route’ customers to mark the Quick / Detail for counter pickup or route delivery.

Setup > Program Configuration > Workstation > Customer

Setting	Description
Verify Map Address	Enables a button on the ‘General’ tab of the ‘Customer View’ screen, allowing the user to verify/map a customer’s address immediately as it is entered. Useful for verifying a new customer’s address before their first delivery.

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