Routes versus tours in direct store delivery
Key Takeaway
A route is a blueprint for creating tours that lists customer stops in a set sequence and sets trip characteristics such as the Start Warehouse and Default User. A tour is the executable trip that a specific user runs on a specific day.
In direct store delivery (DSD), products go straight from a supplier's warehouse to retail stores and skip the usual distribution center. Agentforce Consumer Goods plans DSD work with two linked concepts: routes and tours. Think of the route as the plan. The tour is the trip someone actually drives.
Route versus tour
A route is a blueprint for creating tours. A route lists customer stops in a specific sequence. The visit type of each stop is assigned to the route automatically.
A tour is an executable trip for a specific day and user. Even so, a tour's duration can be more than one day. A tour contains a list of preplanned customer visits plus tour-specific characteristics and configurations.
A tour is more comprehensive than a route. Besides the customer visits, a tour also covers the activities at the start and end of the day and the specific way goods are delivered onto retailer premises.
A beverage company has a route named Downtown Loop. The route lists eight stores in a set sequence. Downtown Loop starts at the Riverside warehouse and names Marco as the driver. On Monday, Marco runs a van sales tour based on Downtown Loop. His tour holds the eight preplanned customer visits for that day. The tour also covers what happens around the visits, such as his vehicle checks before he leaves and his inventory audit at the end of the day. The following Monday, Marco runs a new tour based on the same route.