Routes
Create sales and delivery routes, give each one a territory, frequency and salesman, and set the order of stops along the way.
Why and when you use it
A route is the fixed path a salesman or van follows, such as a group of shops in one locality. Routes are the backbone of beat planning: the Beat Planner schedules routes on dates, Today's Beat lists the route's stops, and Route Productivity tells you which routes pay. The sales manager sets routes up once and adjusts them as the market changes.
Before you start
- Add your salesmen (Salesmen)
- Add the customers you visit, with addresses (Customers)
Step by step
- Open RoutesUnder Stockivio ERP, open Routes. The list shows Route Name, Territory, Frequency, Salesman, Customers and Stops.
- Add a routePress Add Route. Give it a clear name (usually the locality), the territory, how often it is visited (Frequency) and the salesman who covers it. Press Save Route.
- Open Manage StopsOn the route's row, press Manage Stops. This is where you list the places along the route in the order they should be visited.
- Add stopsPress Add Stop, choose the stop type (Customer, Warehouse/Factory, Fuel Stop or Other), pick the customer or place, set its position in the order and press Save Stop.
- Put the warehouse firstAdd your godown as a Warehouse/Factory stop at the start, so distance and planned kilometres are measured from where the salesman actually starts.
- Check Planned MetricsPress Planned Metrics to see the planned numbers for the route, such as stops and distance, before you put it on the Beat Planner.
- Bring customers onto the routeIf customers already have a Route set on their record, the Customers screen's Add customers to their routes button adds them in bulk instead of one by one.
Worked example
Sharma Traders wants Ravi to visit 18 shops in Malviya Nagar every Monday and Thursday, starting from its godown on Tonk Road. Gupta Kirana Store is the first shop on the way.
- Press Add Route; enter Route Name Malviya Nagar, Territory Jaipur South, Frequency twice a week, Salesman Ravi Kumar; press Save Route.
- Press Manage Stops on Malviya Nagar.
- Press Add Stop, type Warehouse/Factory, choose the Tonk Road godown as stop 1, press Save Stop.
- Press Add Stop, type Customer, choose Gupta Kirana Store as stop 2, press Save Stop; repeat for the other 17 shops.
- Press Planned Metrics and check the stop count reads 19.
- Add a second route, Sanganer, for Imran in the same way.
Result: The Routes list shows Malviya Nagar with 18 customers and 19 stops, assigned to Ravi. It is now ready to be scheduled in the Beat Planner and to appear on Ravi's Today's Beat.
💡 Tips
- Name routes after the locality the salesman would say out loud; it makes reports easy to read.
- Keep a route to the number of shops one person can really visit in a day, usually 15 to 30 for FMCG.
- Add a Fuel Stop for long rural routes so planned kilometres match reality.
- Set customer locations on the Beat Map first; stop order and distances are only as good as the pins.
⚠️ Common mistakes
- Making one huge route for a whole city. Split it so each route is a day's work.
- Adding a customer as a stop on two routes visited by two salesmen. Decide who owns the customer to avoid double visits.
- Forgetting the starting warehouse stop, which makes planned kilometres look too low.
सवाल
What is the difference between a route and a beat?
A route is the fixed list of stops. A beat is a route scheduled for a particular day and salesman, which the Beat Planner creates.
Can a route have no salesman?
You can save it, but it will not reach anyone's phone until a salesman is assigned here or in Salesman Mapping.
🎬 Video walkthrough (script — recording coming soon)
- Scene 1: Open Routes and explain the columns.
- Scene 2: Press Add Route and create Malviya Nagar for Ravi.
- Scene 3: Press Manage Stops, add the godown as a Warehouse/Factory stop.
- Scene 4: Add Gupta Kirana Store and two more customer stops.
- Scene 5: Press Planned Metrics and read the result.
- Scene 6: Show the finished list with Customers and Stops counts.