Upper Launches Easy-to-Access Timeline View To Facilitate Delivery Operations

At Upper, we understand how difficult it could be working on multiple route maps. Especially, when you get last-minute changes or have unavailability of drivers. That’s why we have come up with the “Timeline Module”, which will help you manage time-based deliveries smoothly.

By rolling out the ‘timeline view’ feature, the admin will have enhanced visual appeal and save their valuable time. For example, if you want to rearrange stops, simply drag and drop the location pin, reoptimize and that’s it.

This admin side feature will help you keep a bird-eye view of the delivery management and constraints would be easier to remove. Let’s dive deeper into it.

Introduction to Upper’s Timeline Module

The timeline mode basically offers a view of the timeline of your multiple delivery projects. While reviewing routes, if the admin needs to apply the new changes, it would be a lot easier. Enabling it, you will see the number of stops, route plans, and tasks assigned to the delivery drivers. 

It allows you to edit stops, reassign, or add new stops to the route plan. Plus, it displays stop information when you hold the location pin. Even you can select the time range to set the timeline according to the number of deliveries. 

With the introduction of the timeline view, the admin user can swap routes, lock route plans, or reverse the routes. Entering the timeline view will enable the multi-stop selector tool so that the admin can include or exclude the stops in a matter of seconds.

How To Use Timeline Module?

Once you are all set with your optimized route plan, you can select the ‘timeline view’ from the top right corner. As soon as you enter from classic view to timeline mode, it will display multiple projects with the stops divided into a time frame.

It is a handy feature for the admin managing the large-size delivery teams. Here is how they can use it by following the below steps:

1. Enter the “My Route Plans” and select the routes from the admin panel,
2. Optimize the plan before proceeding to the “review route” tab,
3. Click the switch icon placed in the upper right corner,
4. Enable “Timeline mode”.

Now, since you have chosen the timeline mode for reviewing routes, you can reorganize the route plan with the help of the below-stated options.

1. Manual Scheduling

This feature helps you create a route schedule manually. Of course, Upper works on the autonomous process to assign tasks to the delivery crew. But in case you want to manually change the driver due to a specific reason, you can do that within seconds.

For rearranging the route schedule manually, simply drag the location pin and drop it to the desired place. If you misplaced the location pin, select the “undo”’ button from the right side or reset the entire route plan. Following the route adjustment, select the “reoptimize” button (below the time range option) and get the best routes.

2. Lock Route

The administrative user will have the authority to lock or unlock the multiple route plans from the list. By doing so, stops will remain unchanged even if you mistakenly drag the location pin. Therefore, the pre-planned routes will not be affected and changes will be applied to the unlocked route plan.

Locking the route plan is a simple process:

• In the timeline view, place the cursor on the route map you want to lock.
• Select the “Lock route” button located near the driver’s name (left side).

3. Swap Routes

This newly-launched feature works when you have more than one route and multiple delivery drivers. By choosing the “swap routes” option, you can internally swap the routes with another driver (who is not part of the selected route). The swapping option works well when you want to reassign the routes to the new driver without making changes. 

For swapping routes, select a three-dot menu from the right side of the driver’s name > Go to the first option “swap route with driver” > Select the new driver from the pull-down menu.

4. Reverse Route

When you are planning routes for numerous deliveries, there are strong chances of change in starting and ending points. As per your need, the “reverse route” option resets the starting point as the final destination and considers the endpoint as the new start point.  

A simple tap on the reverse button and your route plan will have a new start and endpoint, Rest of all stops lying between the source and a destination point will remain the same.

This is how you can reverse the route:

• Click the three-dot menu (from the driver’s column)
• Go to the second option “Reverse Route”
• Then hit the reoptimize button (below time range)

5. Add Stops

No matter if you got a single stop or multi-stop locations to add, you can add them anytime from the timeline menu itself. Tapping on the add stop button, a new window will pop up where you can add the stop details. At this stage, enter the buyer’s name, set priority, change the color of the location pin, set the time window, stop type and mention the stop number. 

The “Add Stop” button is the last option, placed under the three-dot menu in the driver’s column.

6. Multi-stop Selector Tool

The timeline mode has multiple ways to reassign stops with just a few clicks. One of the easiest ways to reassign them in the one go is to activate the multi-stop selector tool. The tool will help you choose pre-added location pins by drawing lines and then gives an option to reassign. 

It is a crucial tool in the admin panel which allows you to cover the location pins with the pointer to create a separate layer and reassign it to the new driver.

Picking a multi-stop selector tool is easy, here is how:

1. Open the route plan (in timeline view),
2. Select the “drawing icon” in the top-left corner,
3. Now, the multi-stop selector tool will get activated, 
4. Drawing the lines around the pins you want to reassign,
5. Following the selection of location pins, pop-up will open, 
6. Reassign the routes by entering the driver’s name.

7. Unscheduled Stops

If you have stops affecting the given time window or dealing with major road constraints, the unscheduled stop window will pop up. As soon as you generate a route plan and enter the timeline mode, you will get the list of unscheduled stops (if found). 

The pop-up window will not only list those stops but also gives you an option to fix all of them. It’s an amazing feature under the timeline mode that assist you to fix unscheduled stops in less than a minute. As a result, your route scheduling process will not be interrupted at any point.

For instance, let’s say you are done with optimizing routes and entered the timeline mode to review the route map. It will indicate the warning sign if there are one or more unscheduled stops. 

This could be possible if the stops entered has road connectivity issues or problems with the shift timings of drivers. However, in this case, you can select the “How to fix it” button to accept the suggestions. Then, the system will automatically resolve them instead of asking you to do manual edits.

Switch To Timeline Mode On Upper

A timeline view is a simpler way to analyze the multi-stop route plan and carry out quick changes without spending too much time. Opting for the autonomous way of route planning and optimization, who doesn’t like to drag and drop? This is what exactly the timeline view does. It saves your time from editing stops and offers you to drop the location pin wherever you want.

With Upper, you can similarly adjust the stops and reoptimize the plan. Also, swap routes, reverse the route, lock routes, reassign them, or even get rid of unscheduled stops. Hence, the timeline module will reduce your route planning job and boost delivery efficiency.