Route Optimization Checklist (500+ Routes Daily)

Pre-Flight Gate (Before Tuning Constraints)

• Success metrics agreed (on-time, miles, hours, stops/route, cost, service reliability).
• Data owners named (customers, geocodes, service times, time windows, vehicle attributes, driver schedules).
• Exception policy defined (what dispatchers can override; when overrides are required).
• Driver workflow defined (navigation, sequence adherence, proof-of-delivery, exception capture).
• Integration inventory complete (order feed, proof-of-delivery, telematics/ELD, billing).

Go-Live Gate (Stability First)

• Phased rollout plan approved (region/branch waves, not "all at once").
• "Stop / slow down" triggers defined (override spikes, missed windows, route infeasibility).
• Daily route QA process established (spot-checks and exception-based reviews).
• Dispatcher/driver training complete (what to trust, what to escalate, how to report exceptions).
• Command center live (intake, severity, comms cadence, escalation path).

Key Risk Callouts (Route Optimization)

Hypercare Expectations (Vendor ↔ Org)

• Daily tuning cadence for 2–4 weeks (KPIs first, then exceptions, then rule changes).
• Severity SLAs defined (route infeasibility, failed optimization runs, integration failures).
• Override review loop enforced (each override has a reason; reasons map to fixes).
• Exit criteria defined (override rate stable; on-time stable; no recurring critical failures).
• Knowledge transfer completed (runbooks, "how to tune," monitoring ownership).

Exit Criteria (Minimum)

• Optimization runs succeed on schedule for 10 business days.
• Override rate within target and trending down (especially on priority lanes).
• On-time performance stable (no systemic misses tied to routing logic).
• Dispatch and drivers use the standard workflow (exceptions are captured consistently).

Long-Term Maintenance (Routing Quality)

• Weekly data hygiene (geocodes, time windows, service times, customer changes).
• Quarterly constraint review (seasonality, traffic shifts, new customer patterns).
• Monitoring owned (failed runs, infeasible routes, API latency, integration failures).
• Policy governance (who can change constraints; how changes are tested and approved).