Routes with or without a depot

NemiRoute runs work in two ways: routes, where one vehicle leaves a depot with many deliveries, and direct jobs, where one driver goes from the customer's pickup address straight to the delivery.

Where a route starts and ends

• Start: always the route's Start depot, at the route's Start time. The field is required and only active depots can be picked. A route can't start at a driver's home or at the first pickup.
• End: with Return to start on (the default), the vehicle drives back to the same depot after the last stop. Turn it off and the route ends at the last stop; distance and the estimated end then stop there.
• Stops: delivery stops (and return-to-sender stops) of orders that leave from that depot. The planner doesn't add pickup stops at customers' addresses.

An order can only go on a route of the depot that holds its goods: the order's own depot, or the depot it was scanned into. The planner refuses orders that pick up elsewhere, multi-stop jobs and direct jobs, with the reason next to the stop.

Working without a depot: direct jobs

If drivers collect from your customers and deliver straight away, book each order as a direct job:

1. In Create order, pick the customer and choose their Pickup address (an address-book address marked for pickup).
2. In Depot, choose No depot — direct job. This choice appears once a pickup address is picked. The form then says: "the driver goes straight from the pickup address to the delivery (no depot, not routed)."
3. Save the order and assign it to a driver: on the order page, from the row menu on Orders, with Assign driver on the Live map, or let auto-assign pick one. The driver app takes the driver from the pickup to the delivery, and through any extra stops of a multi-stop job.

Don't put direct jobs on a route: once you pick a start depot they leave the planner's Unassigned orders list, and the planner refuses them when you save. Dispatch them driver by driver. See Create an order.

What still needs a depot

Only routes: a company that never runs routes needs no depot in Depots:

• a driver's or vehicle's Home depot can stay empty;
• with no active depot, orders from the customer portal, imports and the API are direct jobs and need a pickup address. Without one they are refused with "Choose where we collect: this company has no depot to collect from";
• with an active depot, those orders are filed under the customer's Default pickup location or your first active depot;
• a vehicle with no route today shows at its home depot on the live map, or, with none, once it has a position.

Mixing both

Many couriers do both: direct jobs during the day and a depot run for the rest.

1. A driver collects from customers (direct jobs, or orders with a pickup address and a depot).
2. At the depot, scan the packages in on the depot's Receive / scan tab. Collected goods become At depot and show under In this depot's care.
3. Next run, those orders appear in the planner's Unassigned orders for that depot. Plan the route, Confirm load and Dispatch.

Quick answers