Manage an item database

By using the item database, you can enter the items that your company offers and that your drivers deliver during their routes. To create a new item, you need to enter the reference, the name and the corresponding price.

Once your items have been created, you can determine the quantities to be delivered for each new delivery you plan.

During the delivery process, your drivers can indicate whether items have been delivered in conformity, delivered with anomalies or not delivered. If the option is enabled, they can indicate the quantities of items actually delivered. You can also ask your drivers to fill in additional fields depending on the status of the item indicated.

To set up your item database, follow these steps:

• 1. Enable the “Item management” function.
• 2. Create new items.
• 3. Determine the quantities of items to be delivered.
• 4. Add custom fields linked to the validation of items.
• 5. Validate the delivery of items from the mobile app.
• 6. Track the delivery of items.
• 7. View the state of an item after the validation.
• 8. Access the history of delivered items.
• 9. Insert a table of items in the report.
• Option: Manage the quantities of items delivered.
• Option: Hide the price of items on the mobile application

 

1. Enable the “Item management” function

1. Go to the “Settings” module.
2. Click on the “Settings” tab.
3. Click on “General settings”.
4. Enable the function “Package or item management”.
5. Select the “Item management” option.
6. Click on the “Save” button.

   

💡 The item database is linked to only one site (warehouse, point of sale or agency).

 

2. Create new items

Once the function has been activated, you can enter the different items offered by your company in the “Item database” tab.

First option: Add items manually

1. Go to the “Settings” module.
2. Click on the “Item database” tab.
3. Click on the blue “+” circle in the top right-hand corner.

   

4. Enter the “Reference”.
5. Enter the “Item name”.
6. If necessary, determine the “Unit” (up to 5 characters).
7. Determine the “Price”.
8. Click on the “Save” button.

   

☝️ Good to know: The default currency is the euro, but you can change it if necessary by following the steps described in this support article.

☝️ Good to know: You can define the item as a “default item”, i.e. it will be automatically added when planning a delivery.

 

Second option: Import a file with items

If you already have a file with a list of items, you can import it in Excel or CSV format. Your file must include the following three columns: Reference, Item name, Price.

1. Go to the “Settings” module.
2. Click on the “Item database” tab.
3. Click on the “Import items” button.
4. Click on the “Upload your file” button.

 

3. Determine the quantities of items to be delivered

During delivery planning, you can add items to be delivered. For each item, you can enter the quantity (number of units) to be delivered. Let's take the example of planning a delivery from “Plan” > “Schedule deliveries”:

1. Enter the name or reference of an item using the “Items” search bar.
2. Select the item from the drop-down list.
   

   

3. Enter the quantity to be delivered.
4. Complete your delivery planning.
   

   

☝️ Good to know: If you are displaying the details of a delivery, you can access an “Items” tab. From this window, you can change the quantities of the items to be delivered, but you can also add other items.

 

4. Add custom fields linked to the validation of items

You can choose to display additional fields for your drivers to fill in when validating an item from the mobile application.

1. Click on the “Settings” module.
2. Click on the “Custom fields” tab.
3. Click on “Validation of an item”.
4. Start by creating a category that groups together several fields by clicking on “Create a category”.
5. Click on “Create a field”.
   

   

6. Enter a “Name” for this field.
7. Determine the “Field type” :
   • Text
   • Date
   • Integer number
   • Check box
   • List
   • Photo
8. Determine if the field is required or not.
9. If necessary, add a “Trigger”.
10. Click on the “Save” button.

    

☝️ Good to know: In particular, you can decide to display fields based on the item status defined at the time of validation. For example, if you want to display extra fields for items delivered with anomalies, you can create a custom field with the “State of the item” trigger and the value “Delivered with anomaly”. For example, you could add a photo field.

 

5. Validate the delivery of items from the mobile app

From the AntsRoute mobile application, drivers can see at a glance the items to be delivered for each delivery. At the time of validating a delivery, your drivers must indicate whether the items have been delivered in conformity, delivered with anomalies or not delivered.

Once your drivers have started their routes from the mobile application, they need to follow these steps:

1. Display the details of a delivery.
2. Click on the button “Complete the delivery”. 
3. For each item, choose one of the following options: 
   • Item delivered in conformity – ⁣
   • Item delivered with anomaly –
   • Item not delivered – 
4. Click on the “Next step” button.
5. If you have created custom fields linked to the “Validation of an item”, you need to fill in these fields as soon as you select the state.
6. Fill in the other required fields and click on “Confirm”.
   

   

☝️ Good to know: If necessary, your drivers can change the state of an item after a delivery has been validated.

 

6. Track the delivery of items

From the “Monitor” module of the AntsRoute interface, you can track the delivery of items. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to the “Monitor” module.
2. Click on the “List of items” tab.

💡 You can filter the display of data by clicking on the indicators above the table:

• Deliveries done with items delivered in conformity;
• Deliveries done with items delivered with anomalies;
• Deliveries cancelled or done with items not delivered;
• Ongoing deliveries.

💡 Ongoing deliveries include deliveries with the following status: not assigned, planned, postponed, ongoing, confirmed and pending.

 

7. View the state of an item after validation

From the “Monitor” module of the AntsRoute interface, you can view the state of items for validated deliveries. To do this, you need to display your driver's route from the panel on the right.

In the box for validated deliveries, you can see the coloured circles to the left of the item names to check their states. Here are the three states possible:

• Item delivered in conformity – ⁣
• Item delivered with anomaly –
• Item not delivered – 

☝️ Good to know: If you are viewing the details of a validated delivery, you can also access an “Items” tab. From this window, you can filter the display of validated items by state. For example, you can display not delivered items at the top.

 

8. Access the history of delivered items

From the analysis module, you can access the history of items delivered. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Go to the “Analyse” module.
2. Click on the “History of items” tab.
3. Select a period from the calendar.

💡 You can filter the display of data by clicking on indicators above the table:

• Deliveries done with items delivered in conformity
• Deliveries done with items delivered with anomalies
• Deliveries cancelled or done with items not delivered
• Deliveries not completed.

💡 Deliveries not completed include deliveries with the following status: planned, postponed, ongoing, confirmed and pending.

☝️ Good to know: If you let your drivers manage the quantities of items delivered, you can view the quantities planned, the quantities loaded (only in pick-up & delivery mode) and the quantities delivered.

 

9. Insert a table of items in the report

If you use our function for generating and sending service reports, you can insert a table of delivered items in these reports. To do this, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to the “Settings” module.
2. Click on the “Reports” tab.
3. Click on the “Add” button.

   

4. Define a “Name” (for internal use).
5. Click on the AntsRoute icon and select the variable “Table of items”.
6. Click on the “Create” button.

   

   

 

Option: Manage the quantities of items delivered.

From the AntsRoute mobile application, drivers can indicate the quantity of items delivered for each delivery. If you have activated the pick-up and delivery mode, you can also indicate the quantity of items loaded.

Step 1: Activate item quantity management

First, you need to activate the function in the settings on the web interface. To do this, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to the “Settings”.
2. Click on the “Settings” tab.
3. Click on “Mobile application settings”. 
4. Enable the option “Activate item quantity management”. 
5. Click on the “Save” button.

   

Step 2: Enter the quantity of items delivered when validating a task

1. Display the details of a delivery.
2. Click on the button “Complete the delivery”.
3. Indicate whether the item has been delivered in conformity, delivered with anomalies or not delivered.
4. Indicate the quantity delivered by clicking on the “-” and “+” symbols.
5. Click on the “Confirm the delivery” button.
6. Click on the “Next step” button.

   

☝️ Good to know: From the details of a route in the “Monitoring” module, you can view the quantity planned, the quantity loaded and the quantity delivered.

 

Option: Hide the price of items on the mobile application

If necessary, you can hide the price of items from your drivers on the mobile application. To do this, follow these simple steps:

1. Go to the “Settings” module.
2. Click on the “Settings” tab.
3. Click on “Mobile application settings”.
4. Deactivate the option “Activate price display for items and/or deliveries”.
5. Click on “Save”.