MULTI-DAY PLANNING
Planning does not have to fit into a single day.
Evaluate deliveries that span several days together with vehicle and driver availability. Place tasks on suitable days and build the daily routes in one shared planning process.
CHALLENGES
Why is planning each day separately not enough?
- 1
Deciding delivery days
Some tasks must happen within a specific time range, while others may have several suitable times in the planning period.
- 2
Resource capacity that changes by day
Vehicle and driver availability can differ across the planning period.
- 3
One day’s decision affecting the others
An assignment made today can change the capacity left on the following days.
HOW TRACKINIA HELPS
How does Trackinia build a multi-day plan?
A multi-day planning period
You choose a period of up to 14 days in one plan, and separate routes are created for each day.
Time rules for tasks
Delivery time windows and earliest start times decide which days a task can fall on.
Resource availability by day
Drivers’ date-specific working hours and vehicle shifts define the usable capacity of each day.
Constraints and task assignment
Capacity, time windows and service durations are evaluated together across the whole period.
Reviewing results
You review the daily routes on the map and timeline and publish the plan.
IN DETAIL
The scientific framing of multi-day planning
In the literature, routing problems that span several days go by different names. The periodic vehicle routing problem (PVRP) asks that each customer be visited a given number of times on allowed days in the planning period; the choice of days and each day’s routes are decided together.
The value of multi-day planning lies in one day’s decision affecting the others: placing a flexible shipment early uses that day’s capacity and may push out a constrained shipment. Planning each day separately cannot see this interaction.
How does this work in Trackinia?
- 1
Planning period
A single plan can cover up to 14 days. Each day gets its own routes.
- 2
A task’s eligible days
A task’s release time and dated time windows decide which days it can be placed on.
- 3
Daily resource status
Drivers’ date-specific working hours and vehicle shifts decide each day’s usable capacity.
- 4
Replanning
Remaining work and resources of a published plan can be recalculated. A calculated proposal is not active until published.
Scope and limits
- Tasks have no separate “eligible days” field; the rule is expressed through release time and dated time windows.
- Recurring visit templates do not exist today; tasks and dates are defined for each plan.
- A single trip spanning several days (an overnight journey) is not planned.
EXAMPLE SCENARIO
A two-day planning period
One shipment can be delivered on Monday or Tuesday, while another can only be delivered on Monday. On Monday, vehicle capacity is enough for just one of them.
Illustrative example: this scenario shows how the product can be used. It is not a customer case or a measured result.
- 1
A two-day period is chosen and each task’s time rules are defined.
- 2
Planning day by day could put the flexible shipment on Monday and make the other one infeasible.
- 3
A plan that looks at both days puts the Monday-only shipment on Monday and the flexible one on Tuesday.
- 4
The operations team reviews both days’ routes and publishes the plan.
Frequently asked questions
What is multi-day route planning?
It plans deliveries that span several days in a single planning period, together with vehicle and driver availability. Separate routes are created for each day.
How are the suitable days for deliveries determined?
A task’s delivery time windows and earliest start time decide which days it can fall on. The calculation places tasks according to these rules and each day’s resource availability.
How is it different from daily planning?
Daily planning builds the routes of one day. Multi-day planning handles the whole period together. It does not mean one vehicle making a single trip that lasts several days.
How many days can be planned at most?
Up to 14 days in a single plan.
Is multi-day planning the same as periodic routing?
No. Periodic routing aims at visiting customers on a repeating schedule. In Trackinia, multi-day planning places the tasks of the chosen period onto days; recurring templates do not exist today.