Routes & Distribution
In this course, learn about the comprehensive route module that allows users to see and build routes in advance, schedule and plan distribution services, dispatch and execute work, and consistently capture OS&D.
Created by CXT Software Virtual Learning Team
Key Concepts
- Route module overviews and workflows
- Contract vs per stop rating
- Driver pay
- Route workflows (including location scanning)
- Parcel scanning and OS&D
- Intermediate Level
- 100% Online
- Available on Mobile
- 10 Comprehensive Lessons
- Includes 19 Videos
- Automatically Saves Progress
This course is curated for users who need to create, edit, and manage routed work in the Operations App. We’ll cover both administrative and operational components of the routed features available.
The Routes and Distribution Course is what we call a “content-specific” course, and it’s intended to cover information about a specific content topic inside the application. This type of course is role agnostic, and is not focused on details pertinent to a certain employee’s role in the company. For example, if a driver or customer calls into dispatch with a question or issue about a route – any Operations App user who supports routes will need to know about the setup and operations to be able assist.
New to our learning library? Check out our Getting Started page for helpful tips on the interactive elements in each course, navigating the course lessons, and where to get help if you need it.
Below is a brief outline of what you can expect to learn from each of the lessons in this Routes & Distribution Course.
This lesson introduces the building blocks of routes in the Operations Application. We’ll cover everything from where to get started, how to create routes and route stops, and how each piece links together. This lesson’s outline includes:
- Planning
- Tutorial of the planning section where routes are built and maintained
- Creating new routes
- Review of the important configurations for routes
- Creating and using route groups
- Contracts
- Locating, creating, and editing contracts for route and distribution work
- Understanding the different contract billing types
- Introduction to recurrence schedules
- Contract Stops
- Association between contracts and contract stops
- Locating, creating, and editing contract stops
- Important fields on the contract stop form
- Walk through options for recurrence schedules
- Association between contract stops and posted route stops
This lesson reviews the various options for rating route work. Routes consist of different types of stops, and there are different rating options available for each. This lesson’s outline includes:
- Review rating options for contract stops
- Imported & On-the-Fly Route Stops
- Discuss stamp rate charts and when to use this method
- Outline each rating option available
- Highlight the item capabilities for accessorial items for routed work
- Route surcharges, including offsets available
- Route Stops Created from Orders
- Viewing Posted Route Stop Rating
- Including differentiating between posted contracts and posted stop rates
- Route Stops on Invoices
This lesson’s outline includes:
- Route Driver Pay Setup
- Cover various pay styles available
- Discuss driver surcharge calculation options
- Viewing Driver Pay
- From the dispatch board
- Using the Estimated Delivery Commission Report
- Troubleshooting route driver pay
- Driver Settlements
- Creating driver settlements and a walkthrough of the settlement creation process
- Displaying and emailing settlements
- Explore created settlements
Route chaining creates a way to track parcel chain of custody for the full lifecycle of a parcel. This lesson covers:
- Why use route chaining?
- Differences between route chaining and parcel chaining
- What do we mean by downstream and upstream
- See some chaining examples and their setup
- Where to view parcel chains
Review additional route configurations that support common operational workflows.
This lesson includes:
- Defining parcel items and common usage
- What are stop types
- Location barcodes nd their setup
- Holiday Posting Schedule
- Creating Holiday Posting Schedules
- Adding to the recurrence schedule
- Configuring required driver input
Posting routes is a necessary step to create routes and stops each day. In this lesson, learn about:
- What is “Posting”?
- Explore manual posting
- Setting up automatic posting
- Troubleshooting posting
- How to upost
- Finding the audit trail
Route mappings and route sort rules are configuration options used to automate routing. In this lesson, learn about:
- Route Mapping
- Setting up route translations
- Override rate charts description and example
- Route sort rules usage and example
- Troubleshooting assistance for route mapping and route sort rules
Dispatching is usually done automatically, however sometimes changes may need to be done on the fly. In this lesson, we cover:
- Difference of assigning stops vs manual dispatching
- Explore posting routes
- Route Dispatching
- Dispatch by dragging and dropping
- Marking a stop as the next stop
- Important common fields for dispatching
- Common right-click menu options for dispatching
- Route Optimization and Assisted Dispatch
- What is CXT Route Optimization
- Assisted Dispatch on the dispatch board
There are certain views and workflows in the Driver App specific for drivers to complete route and distribution shipments. This lesson covers:
- What is displayed on the Stops List
- What Geofencing/GPS looks like in the Driver App
- What are status codes
- Scanning in the Driver app
- Parcel scanning including master barcodes
- What happens in the app when you set force location scanning
- Receiving section of the app
Avoid confusion o unexpected behavior by going over a few frequent questions and issues arise when working in the route and distribution area of the application.
This lesson goes over the following:
- Locating Records
- Using business unit or fleet restrictions
- How to show all expired or disabled routes, contracts, and contract stops
- Dispatch Board
- How to view completed routes
- How to view routes from another date
- Additional Troubleshooting Topics
- What to do when unposting routed work and you get a warning
- What to yo when stops on a route are unexpectedly marked as completed without driver interaction
- What to do when a route stop is not triggering message formats