Colobbo route optimisation works out the best order and times for a technician's day, so they spend less time driving and more time on site. You preview the plan, choose Apply, and can undo it straight after. Plan one person's day in a click, or hand it waiting jobs and a team and let it share the work out, inside working hours and around existing bookings.
What does Colobbo route optimisation do?
Tool | What it does | Where you find it |
Plan someone's day… | Puts one person's day in the best order and times. | The ⋯ button in the planner's top bar, or Plan in their panel |
Plan routes for several people… | Shares waiting jobs between the people you pick. | The ⋯ button in the top bar |
See someone's route… | Draws their day as numbered stops on the planner map. | The ⋯ button in the top bar |
Plan my day | Shows a technician the best order to drive their visits. A suggestion only. | The Colobbo app, Agenda tab |
This arrives with the next Colobbo app update. It applies to Plan my day and the Agenda tab on the phone; everything else here is available now.
For planners and dispatchers
How do I plan one person's day?
Open the Resource Planner and go to the day you want.
Choose the ⋯ button in the top bar, then Plan someone's day…, and pick the person. Or click their name to open their panel and scroll to the plan section, titled with the day, for example Plan Wed, 21 Oct.
Choose the button with the day's name on it.
Read the result: total driving, distance and when they would be back, for example 1 h 56 min driving · 91.8 km · back by 3:40 pm. Each stop shows the drive before it, and a new time badge marks every booking that would change.
If you are happy, choose Apply 4 new times (the number matches your plan), then Move them. Choose Not yet to keep looking.
To go back, choose Undo in the bar at the bottom of the screen. It stays for a few seconds.
Worth knowing:
It starts from where their day starts: the person's start location (home, office or another address). Where they have shared their location in the last 15 minutes, today's plan starts from where they are now. See How live technician locations work.
It keeps every promise. A booking with a promised arrival window stays inside it. A visit it cannot reach in time is left alone, and you are told.
Any-time and all-day bookings are not moved. They are listed under Also that day, kept as they are.
Lunch is respected where your admin has set a break.
It plans today or later.
How do I plan many people at once?
One plan can take up to 100 jobs and up to 30 people.
Optional: in To schedule, tick the jobs you want planned. With none ticked, Colobbo takes the waiting jobs on the map, most important first.
Choose the ⋯ button, then Plan routes for several people…. With jobs ticked it reads Plan routes for the 6 ticked jobs.
Under Jobs, untick anything you do not want. Under Who, tick the people. Colobbo ticks some for you: anyone who already holds one of the jobs, and up to ten people with nothing booked that day within 50 km of the jobs.
Choose Each job takes, from 30 minutes to 8 hours.
Optional: choose Furthest from their start (10 to 200 km, or Any, in a straight line), or More options (below).
Choose Plan. Nothing is booked yet. You are looking at a preview.
What do the planning options mean?
Option | What it does |
Least driving | Fewest kilometres and hours on the road. A sound place to start. |
Most jobs done | Fits in as many jobs as the day allows. |
Most important first | When not everything fits, critical, high and overdue jobs win. |
At most … visits each | A cap per person, counting what they already have. |
Only people with the skills each job needs | Hands a job only to someone with every skill it needs. A job that already has a person stays with them. |
Furthest from their start | How far a job may be from a person's start. Assigning by hand is never limited. |
What do the results mean?
The plan opens with a summary such as Planned 5 of 7 jobs · 1 h 10 min driving · 42 km, then a block for each person with the new jobs and the drive before each stop.
You see | It means |
new | A waiting job the plan has given this person. |
new time | A booking they already had, now at a different time. |
approx. address | The address was only found to the street or suburb, so the drive is a guess. Worth a check. |
Missing skills: … | The skills the person does not have. A warning, never a block. |
Left out | Jobs the plan could not place, grouped by reason, with a one-click fix where there is one. |
Jobs left out come with a plain reason:
Reason shown | What to do |
no address on the map, or too far away to reach that day. Check its address | Fix the address in To schedule. A job far from everyone is usually a typo. |
no gap in anyone's day long enough to drive there and do it | Try the next day, or shorten Each job takes. |
further than the distance set from everyone ticked | Plan it with a wider distance, or assign it by hand. |
no one ticked has every skill it needs | Tick someone who does, or plan it without matching skills. |
it's someone else's job, and they aren't in this plan | Tick that person, or assign the job by hand. |
there isn't time to drive there before its booked time; it stays as it is | Nothing is lost. Decide whether to move it yourself. |
How do I apply a plan, and how do I plan the rest?
Choose Apply plan…. Colobbo says exactly what it will do, for example Book 5 jobs for 3 people and move 1 visit to its new time?
Choose Book them (or Move them when the plan only moves visits). Choose Not yet to go back.
The jobs are booked through the board's usual checks, and an Undo bar appears. For a plan like this it stays up for 15 seconds.
The panel says what is left, for example Booked 5 jobs. 3 still to plan. Choose Plan the rest… or Assign by hand.
The board's own rules still run on every booking, so a plan can never double-book someone.
How do I see someone's route on the map?
Choose the ⋯ button, then See someone's route…, and pick a person. The map shows where the day starts, their bookings numbered in driving order, and the road line between them, with a summary such as 5 stops · 1 h 56 min driving · 91.8 km.
See How to use the map on the Resource Planner for the rest of the map.
How are technicians told about a plan?
Each technician gets one message per plan, about 30 seconds after the plan's last change. If you press Undo before then, nobody hears about it. See Planner and schedule notifications.
For technicians
How do I plan my own day on the phone?
Plan my day shows the best order to drive your visits, with the drive before each one. It is a suggestion and saves nothing, because your office sets the times.
Open the Colobbo app and go to the Agenda tab.
Choose the day. Plan my day appears for today or a later day when you have at least two visits.
Tap Plan my day. You see the order, the drive before each stop and a small map. Tap Done to close.
How do I get directions?
On the Agenda tab, tap My route for a map of your day with directions. Tap Navigate on a stop to open directions in your phone's maps app. A stop marked Address found only roughly may be a street or suburb rather than a door, so check it with the office if it looks wrong.
For admins
The Colobbo team switches route optimisation on for your company, so ask your Colobbo contact if you do not see the tools above. Usage limits apply.
Four settings make plans better:
Where each person's day starts. Open a person's panel and use Start location: their home address, your company's office, or another address. Technicians can also set their own under Day starts from in the app.
Working hours. Plans stay inside saved working hours. Without them, the planner assumes 8 am to 5 pm.
The lunch break. Go to Settings › Organisation › Organization Details › Resource Planner and choose Lunch break in route plans. Pick a length and the window it can start in, then Save for everyone. Only an admin can change it.
Skills. To match jobs to skills, add skills to people and to jobs. See How to set up the Resource Planner (admin).
Tips for getting the most out of it
Set start locations first. Without one, plans begin at the person's first visit.
Fix no address jobs before planning. They are the most common reason a job is left out.
Frequently asked questions
What if I do not like the plan?
Adjust the options or close the panel. Nothing is saved until you apply. After applying, press Undo while the bar is showing.
Does it move bookings that customers made themselves?
No. It never moves a promised time.
Does it stop me booking by hand?
No. Plans guide, they never block.
Why does it say Estimate?
Road routing is not set up for your company, so drives are straight-line estimates. Treat the times as approximate. Ask your Colobbo contact.
Why does it say route planning is not set up on my account?
Route optimisation is not switched on for your company, or your usage limit has been reached. The message names the reason. Ask your Colobbo contact.
Why was someone not planned?
The plan names the reason: no start place, working hours over, or any-time bookings fill the day. Fix that and plan again.
Can a technician run it for me?
No. Technicians use Plan my day for themselves; the planner's tools are for people who plan the work.
Related: How to book, move and assign work on the Resource Planner, How to use Colobbo AI in the Resource Planner (it can fill a day with the same planner) and How to set up the Resource Planner (admin).