Importing Jobs and Routes

The Import Jobs and Import Routes tools do not support the Internet Explorer browser. Some advanced features, such as driver shifts and multi-day routes, are also unsupported in import files. Some of these features can, however, be applied through the user interface after you have imported your jobs or routes. The import process can be used to create markers and routes, but not to update existing markers and routes.

The Job Import and Route Import tools are useful when you want to create a large number of one-off jobs or routes quickly using .csv or .xlsx format import files rather than manually, as described in the Creating Jobs and Creating Routes pages. You can also use the similar legacy Job and Route import tools that are accessed from the Jobs & Routes section of the main menu, by clicking either the Route Import or Job Import links.

For information about avoiding duplication of your markers when importing jobs and routes, read the Avoiding Duplicate Markers When Importing knowledge base article.

Importing Jobs and Routes

To import a jobs or routes file into Dispatch or Response:
 

1.Open the territory selector drop-down menu in the upper right corner of the screen and choose the territory into which you want to import jobs. A territory consists of customers, depots, drivers and vehicles. Only territories that have previously been configured in the fleet management platform (Jobs & Routes > Territories) can be selected in Dispatch or Verizon Connect® Response™.
2.Click the Import Jobs button in the tool bar above the Jobs List, or the Import Routes button in the tool bar above the Routes List. The Import Jobs or Import Routes window opens.

 

The Import Jobs or Import Routes windows include links to example job and route import files containing the key fields required to import jobs and routes. These files can be useful guides when creating your own import files. The appearance of the window that opens varies depending on the menu button you press (Import Jobs or Import Routes) but in either case you can import job and routes from the import wizard that opens (and, if you want, import both jobs and routes in the same file).

3.Select a jobs or routes import file using one of the following methods. This file should contain columns of data as described in the Job Import File Structure section or the Route Import File Structure section, be no larger than 10MB in size, and contain no more than 10,000 rows of data. If your file exceeds these size restrictions, you can split it into smaller files and import these individually:
 
Click the Choose File button near the center of the dialog. In the Windows Explorer window that opens, navigate to the .csv or .xlsx format file describing the jobs or routes you want to import and click Open, or;
Open Windows Explorer (Start+E), locate the .csv or .xlsx format file describing the jobs or routes you want to import, and then drag the file into the import pane (the box with the dotted-line border) using your mouse.
 

 

 
The import file is validated and the Import Jobs, Import Routes, or Confirmation window opens.
If the import file contains formatting errors, the Import Jobs and Import Routes windows list the number and type of errors present, and the fields that require correction. Open the .csv or .xlsx import file and edit these items. Once edited, save the file and import it again by clicking the Re-upload File button and browsing to the edited file.
If the Confirmation window opens, the import file contains no formatting errors and requires only confirmation before the import process can begin.
 

 
4.Click the Import button. The jobs or routes are imported into the specified territory and listed in the Jobs List or the Routes List.

 
Job Import Supported Columns

Job import files should contain the following columns of information about individual jobs. Not all of these columns are mandatory, but when they are used the column names in your files must be the same as those shown below.

Only the 'job.name' and a job location, such as 'job.address', are required for unassigned jobs. Assigned jobs require a job name and location, and a specified route driver or vehicle. An ‘assigned’ job is a job that has a route with a particular vehicle or driver that you want to use, or a specific route date. If these details are not provided, the ‘best’ driver, vehicle, time, and date for each job is selected by the routing engine. The import process can be used to create markers and routes, but not to update existing markers and routes.

Field

Purpose

Example

job.name

The name of the job. This field is required.

Smith Steel Pickup

job.id

The unique ID of the job. Stored as an External ID with a System Name value of 'default'. Used to identify and prevent duplicate imports.

466c4b9d-2204-400c-ac72-b0bb1c0ec9c6

job.address

The full street address at which this job occurs. Must include a street number. Required if job.lat and job.lon, or job.lat_lon, or a full component address including street_number, street_name, city, state, and post_code are not provided.

20 Enterprise, Aliso Viejo, USA

job.street_number

The street number of the address at which this job occurs. Required if job.lat and job.lon together, or job.lat_lon alone, or job.address alone are not provided.

20

job.street_name

The name of the street at which this job occurs. Required if job.lat and job.lon together, or job.lat_lon alone, or job.address alone are not provided.

Enterprise

job.city

The name of the city within which this job occurs. Required if job.lat and job.lon together, or job.lat_lon alone, or job.address alone are not provided.

Aliso Viejo

job.state

The name of the state within which this job occurs. Required if job.lat and job.lon together, or job.lat_lon alone, or job.address alone are not provided.

CA

job.post_code

The latitude and longitude pair of the address at which this job occurs. Required if job.lat and job.lon together, or job.lat_lon alone, or job.address alone are not provided.

92656

job.lat

The latitude coordinates of the job. If used, a job.lon value must also be supplied. Required if job.lat_lon alone, or job.address alone, or a full component address including street_number, street_name, city, state, and post_code are not provided.

33.584297

job.lon

The longitude coordinates of the job. If used, a job.lat value must also be supplied. Required if job.lat_lon alone, or job.address alone, or a full component address including street_number, street_name, city, state, and post_code are not provided.

-117.731632

job.lat_lon

The latitude and longitude coordinates of the job. Required if job.address, or a full component address including street_number, street_name, city, state, and post_code are not provided.

33.584297, -117.731632

job.time_on_site

The length of time that will be spent at the customer site servicing this job. Enter a duration value between 30 seconds (minimum) and 23 hours and 59 minutes (maximum) using hh:mm or hh:mm:ss formatting. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a time on site value specified.

00:30:00

job.required_driver

The driver required to complete the job. This driver will be used for the job unless they are otherwise unavailable (for example, if they are not working on the day of the job, or if the job is scheduled to occur outside their shift hours) or forbidden. If importing only a driver and not a vehicle, the driver must have a base marker.

Steve McGibbon

job.forbidden_drivers

The names of the drivers that are forbidden from completing this job. Accepted as a comma (,) delimited list.

John Smith, Chen Ho

job.type

The job type of the job. These are created from the Jobs & Routes Menu > Job Types screen (See Job Types). Only 'Stop' and 'Depot' job types are supported. 'Depot' job types are optional in your import files when importing assigned jobs: if depots are not provided, they are added automatically. If 'Depot' job types are used, job.sequence_number values are required.

Stop

job.earliest_date

The earliest date that the driver can arrive at the customer site to service this job, in mm/dd/yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy format, depending on your platform settings (click your account name in the upper right corner of the platform screen, and then select Settings > User > Region). The job is not serviced before this date. The date provided for 'earliest date' can not be after 'latest date'. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have an earliest date value specified. Date components can be separated by '/', '-', or '.'.

04/18/2019

job.latest_date

The latest date that the driver can arrive at the customer site to service this job, in mm/dd/yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy format, depending on your platform settings (click your account name in the upper right corner of the platform screen, and then select Settings > User > Region). The job is not serviced after this date. The date provided for 'latest date' can not be before 'earliest date'. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a latest date value specified. Date components can be separated by '/', '-', or '.'.

04/22/2019

job.time_window_start

The earliest time that the driver can arrive at the job location. Accepted in 24-hour hh:mm format. The time provided for 'time window start' can not be after 'lime window end'. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a time window start value specified.

11:00

job.time_window2_start

The earliest time that the driver can arrive at the job location within the second delivery time window. The second time window is off by default, and should only be used if the first time window is already set using job.time_window_start and job.time_window_end. Accepted in 24-hour hh:mm format. The time provided for 'time_window2_start' can not be after 'lime_window2_end'. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a time window start value specified.

14:30

job.time_window_end

The latest time that the driver can arrive at the job location. Accepted in 24-hour hh:mm format. The time provided for 'time window end' can not be before 'time window start'. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a time window end value specified.

16:30

job.time_window2_end

The latest time that the driver can arrive at the job location within the second delivery time window. The second time window is off by default, and should only be used if the first time window is already set using job.time_window_start and job.time_window_end. Accepted in 24-hour hh:mm format. The time provided for 'time_window2_endt' can not be before 'lime_window2_start'. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a time window start value specified.

20:00

job.allowed_days_of_week

The days of the week that this job can be serviced. Accepted as a comma (,) delimited list with values of 'mon', 'monday', 'tue', 'tuesday', 'wed', 'wednesday', 'thu', 'thursday', 'fri', 'friday', 'sat', 'saturday', 'sun', 'sunday', 'weekdays', or 'all'. These values are case-sensitive. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have allowed days values specified.

monday,tuesday,wednesday

job.priority

The priority of the job. Accepted values are 'Lowest', 'Low', 'Normal', 'High', and 'Highest'. Higher priority jobs are typically routed ahead of lower priority jobs when building routes. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a priority value specified.

High

job.tags

Tags that have been attached to the job. These tags must already exist: they cannot be created during import (See How to Define a New Tag). Accepted as a comma (,) delimited list. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a tags value specified.

Heavy goods

job.required_driver_tags

Tags that specify the driver skills or properties that must be present to complete the job. These tags must already exist: they cannot be created during import (See How to Define a New Tag). Accepted as a comma (,) delimited list. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a driver requires tags value specified.

CraneOperator

job.required_vehicle_tags

Tags that specify the vehicle capabilities or properties needed to complete the job, such as refrigeration, a boom arm, or PTO connections. These tags must already exist: they cannot be created during import (See How to Define a New Tag). Accepted as a comma (,) delimited list. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a vehicle requires tags value specified.

PTO

job.notes

Free-form notes that have been attached to the job. Like codes, these are typically used for filtering jobs. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a notes value specified.

Use side entrance

job.code

An arbitrary code associated with the job. These codes are typically used for filtering operations, together with tags. Jobs with a job type value of 'Depot' can not have a code value specified.

3256

job.load_type

The loading type of the job: either 'delivery' or 'pickup'.

delivery

job.loads.[metric]

The number of units of a given load type will be delivered or picked up at the customer site as part of this job, for example job.loads.pallets or job.loads.cases.

10

job.custom.[custom property name]

Any custom properties associated with the imported job, for example job.custom.alarm_code or job.custom.lawn_size. These properties are shown on the Jobs List and can be used to sort the grid.

2987

job.location_name

The name of the marker at which the job takes place. If no marker with this name is found, a new marker is created at the address or location of the job.

Enterprise Marker

job.location_id

The unique ID of the marker at which the job takes place. Stored either as an External ID with a System Name value of 'default' or, if you have previously configured markers in your account, as an inline marker ID (shown under the 'ID' column of the Markers screen grid). Used to identify and prevent duplicate imports.

2197jftba-ea2a-679d-b9c9-148d85e44670 or 7296330

job.description

An arbitrary but typically descriptive name used to represent the job, such as the job address or the marker name.

20 Enterprise Morning Pick-up (Short Notice)

Route Import Supported Columns

Route import files should contain the following columns of information about individual routes. Not all of these columns are mandatory, but when they are used the column names in your files must be the same as those shown below.

Field

Purpose

Example

route.name

The name of the route. Optional, and blank if not supplied.

McGibbon Morning Route

route.driver

The driver assigned to complete this route of the job. Optional unless route.date has been supplied and route.vehicle has not been supplied.

Steve McGibbon

route.vehicle

The vehicle that will be used to service this route. If importing only a vehicle and not a driver, the vehicle must have a base marker. Optional unless route.date has been supplied and route.driver has not been supplied.

Truck 10

route.date

The date that this route will begin, in mm/dd/yyyy or dd/mm/yyyy format, depending on your platform settings (click your account name in the upper right corner of the platform screen, and then select Settings > User > Region). Either route.driver or route.vehicle must be provided if route.date is used.

04/22/2019

route.id

The unique ID of the route. Stored as an External ID with a System Name value of 'default'. Used to identify and prevent duplicate imports.

217ecdba-ea2a-438d-b9c9-148489e40670

job.sequence_number

This is an optional job value that can be used when importing both jobs and a route in the same file. The order of this job in the route, starting from 0. If not included, the routing optimizer selects the optimal order of your jobs in a route. If a value is specified for any job in an import file, this value must be supplied for all other jobs. If importing jobs with a job.type value of 'Depot', job.sequence_numbers must be used, and depots must be used as the first and last jobs in the specified sequence.

0

route.start_time

The earliest start time of the shift for this route's driver when 'route.is_variable_shift' is set to 'true', or the start time of the driver's shift if 'route.is_variable_shift' is set to 'false'. Accepted in 24-hour hh:mm format.

07:00

route.end_time

The latest end time of the shift for this route's driver. Applicable when the shift is variable (that is, when 'route.is_variable_shift' is true). Accepted in 24-hour hh:mm format.

18:00

route.normal_working _time

The standard duration of the shift used for this route's driver. Accepted in 24-hour hh:mm format. Must be 24 hours or less.

08:00

route.max_working_time

The maximum shift duration possible for the route's driver. Accepted in 24-hour hh:mm format. Must be 24 hours or less.

10:00

route.is_variable_shift

Specifies whether the start time of the shift for this route's driver is fixed or variable. When set to 'true', you must also specify 'route.start_time' and 'route.end_time' values, indicating the earliest time that the shift can begin, and the latest time that the shift can end. When set to 'false', you must specify 'route.start_time', indicating the fixed time that the driver's shift will begin, and any value provided for 'route.end_time' is ignored. Accepted as 'true' or 'false'. When not specified, the territory's default shift setting is used.

true