Product Updates

We've added a new Route Option to assign drivers tasks and reminders of additional steps they must complete before starting a route, completing a delivery stop, and/or marking a route as complete. Driver tasks can be enabled and configured from the Route Options page:

Driver tasks can be added in two different styles, depending on the nature of the task:

• Checkboxes: Use this type of task to provide drivers with a list of tasks that can be checked off individually as they're completed:

• Radio buttons: Use this type of task to provide drivers with a list of options for a task, where only one possible option can be selected to complete the task:

Optional: Each individual task can be set as "required," meaning a driver will be unable to mark a stop as Attempted or Delivered until the task is completed. Enable tasks as requirements by checking the "Delivered" and/or "Attempted" checkboxes from the "Required to mark order as:" section below each task.
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Driver tasks can also be added to a route's Start and End locations independently, to differentiate between stop-level tasks and tasks that need to be completed in order to begin or complete a route:

• To configure End location tasks, a route's End location must be set to a physical address (such as your shop or warehouse), or Loop back to start. End location tasks cannot be configured if a route's End location is set to "Use the last stop in route".
• Optional: After adding any Start location tasks, check the "Required to start route" checkbox below that task to force a driver to complete tasks before they can begin delivering a route.
• Optional: After adding any End location tasks, check the "Required to mark route as completed" checkbox below that task to force a driver to complete tasks before they can complete a route.

As routes are completed, you can access pending or completed tasks and their timestamps on any Route page from the "Tasks" column for any Start/End location or stop on a route:

Drivers using the EasyRoutes Delivery Driver mobile app can access and complete tasks for route Start location, individual stops, and route End location directly from the app:

Optional: If certain tasks are configured as "required", drivers will be alerted of pending tasks, and will be unable to tap Start or select any "Mark as..." buttons until tasks are completed:

For more information on enabling and configuring Driver tasks on your routes, see the support article for this new feature.

Note: Drivers will need to update to the latest version of the app (v1.0.35) in order to access and complete assigned Driver tasks from the EasyRoutes Delivery Driver mobile app.

Version 1.0.34 of the EasyRoutes Delivery Driver app is now available to download for iOS and Android, featuring a number of usability improvements and UI updates, including:

• All available notes pertaining to a stop (Order note, Stop note, and/or Customer note) are now shown directly below the "Order items" section for that stop:

• Depending whether Address, Lat/Long or ZIP/Postal Code is selected as your Navigation mode, the "Go to..." button below the map for a stop now more clearly displays which navigation mode will be used to get directions to that stop:

• Enabling "Include second address line when navigating" from the app's settings menu will include the second address line stored for a stop (if applicable) when navigating to that stop:

• Improved support for photo Proof of Delivery capture and storage
• Fix for occasional issue when using Waze to navigate routes on Android
• Various bug fixes and miscellaneous UI improvements

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Other EasyRoutes Updates:

• You can now include Item vendor in printed packing slips - from EasyRoutes Settings > Packing slips and labels section, scroll to the "Packing slip options" section and ensure the "Item vendor" checkbox is selected from the "Items" subsection:

• You can now include the Start location row when exporting a route:

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We've made a number of usability improvements to EasyRoutes in order to further streamline your route planning workflows:

• Clickable Route Options: Route Options that are enabled - on the Orders page and Route or Route Group pages - can now be clicked to jump directly to and highlight that Route Option's configuration panel, bypassing the need to use the "Add/Edit Route Options" to modify any active Route Options:

• Route Page "Select all" Improvements: We've enhanced app behaviour when using the "Select all" checkbox on the Routes page to display the total number of routes that are currently selected. This update also resolves rare occasions where certain Filters did not apply consistently when using the "Select all" checkbox:

• Route Printing Options: We've added new checkboxes to the Print Preview settings for a route - you can now toggle Order notes, Stop notes, and/or Customer notes on and off individually when printing a route:

• Address Book / Company Name: When using the Address Book feature, a customer's Company variable (when available) is now displayed to the right of a saved customer's name. When searching the Address Book, any entries with matching Company variables will now also be included in the search results:

• SMS Notifications - Shipping Contact: We've added a new setting that prioritizes the phone number listed under an order's shipping address when sending SMS notifications - particularly useful when the individual who placed an order is different from the individual receiving it (i.e. gifted orders). For additional information on which contact phone number will be used when sending SMS notifications, see this support article.
  To enable this feature, from EasyRoutes Settings > Notifications section, scroll down to the "SMS Notifications" subsection and check the box for "Send SMS to shipping contact phone number if available":

EasyRoutes now provides real-time driver location data for active and completed routes, including:

• Live GPS location of drivers on active routes;
• A new Tracking tab for active and completed routes, featuring at-a-glance information as stops are completed in real-time;
• A new option for displaying live driver location on customer order tracking links when a driver is one stop away.

Note: Real-time driver location tracking is currently only available on EasyRoutes Premium and Enterprise pricing plans.

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How to Enable Real-Time Tracking:

To enable real-time driver tracking, from EasyRoutes Settings > Driver settings tab, in the Real-time tracking section, check the box for "Enable real-time tracking":

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Real-Time Location on Routes:

Once a route is dispatched and started by a driver, real-time location data can be viewed live from the Tracking tab of any Route page:

• A driver's current position (outside stop #4 above) and past route path will display as a large dot and dashed line on the map, alongside the solid route navigation line.
• Stops marked as Delivered will display with a green dot (stops #1 and #2 above).
• Stops marked as Attempted will display with a red dot (stop #3 above).
• By default, the route will auto-refresh as GPS updates are received, but this can be paused and/or restarted using the buttons above the map.

Routes that are planned as part of a Group can be tracked simultaneously by selecting "All routes" once viewing a Route Group's Tracking tab:

When tracking a Route Group, the real-time location dot will display in the same colour as the route it applies to (instead of red) in order to prevent confusion over which driver applies to which route:

The route summary and Orders table below the map will also update in real time as stops are completed. Any Proof of Delivery items are available to view under the "Proof" column as soon as they're uploaded by a driver:

Once routes are started, a new "In progress" card will appear on your EasyRoutes Dashboard displaying any routes that are actively being delivered and tracked. Click the name of any in progress route to jump directly to the Tracking tab for that route:

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Real-Time Location on Customer Tracking Pages:

Real-time driver location can also be displayed in customer order tracking links - enable this feature in EasyRoutes Settings > Order tracking, from the Tracking page options section; ensure "Map" is also selected from the Display sub-section:

Customer tracking links will then include real-time driver location (represented by an orange car pin, as shown below) when a customer's stop is next in the driver's route. More info on configuring real-time driver location on customer tracking links can be found here:

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Real-Time Location on Delivery Driver App:

Drivers will need to update to the latest version (1.0.32) of the EasyRoutes Delivery Driver app in order to take advantage of real-time tracking on their routes. The app may also request additional location permissions in order to consistently update location data when the app is running in the background during deliveries:

Once real-time driver tracking is enabled and permissions are properly approved, drivers will see a blinking red dot on the route list and individual route pages for any route that is actively being tracked. Drivers have the option to tap "Stop tracking" to disable live location tracking, and will be prompted that real-time tracking will be enabled again when tapping "Resume" to continue their route:

For more information on how to enable, configure and utilize real-time driver tracking on your routes, check out the latest post on the Roundtrip blog or the support article for this new feature.