Overview
Trip Planning allows you to assign trucks and drivers directly from your fleet and crew resources instead of relying only on free-text entries. This ensures consistent naming, improved scheduling accuracy, and better visibility into shared resources.
Resource-based assignment is optional. Manual entry is still supported for flexibility, with clear indicators when an entry is not linked to a managed resource.
Trip Planning also includes built-in scheduling conflict warnings when the same truck or crew member is assigned to multiple trips with overlapping dates.
Before You Start
Before trucks or drivers appear in the Trip Planning dropdowns, they must be configured correctly in Dispatch settings. You should have access to:
Dispatch Settings > Fleet and Crew Members
How Resource Assignment Works
When creating or editing a trip in Dispatch > Trips, the Trucks and Drivers fields use searchable dropdowns that pull from your configured resources.
Each dropdown:
Supports typing to filter results
Displays resource metadata such as size, tags, or phone number
Allows selecting multiple trucks or drivers
You can also type a value manually instead of selecting a resource.
Note: Manually entered values are not linked to a fleet or crew resource and are treated as informational only.
Assigning Trucks and Drivers to a Trip
Go to Dispatch > Trips.
Create a new trip or edit an existing trip.
In the Trucks or Drivers field:
Select a resource from the dropdown, or
Type a name manually if the resource is not listed.
Save the trip.
If a selected truck or driver is already scheduled on another trip with overlapping dates, a warning appears before saving.
💡 SmartTip: To change an already selected resource, remove the existing value to re-open the full dropdown list.
Scheduling Conflict Warnings (Overlapping Trips)
If a truck or crew member is already assigned to another trip with overlapping departure and return dates, Trip Planning displays warnings, but does not block you from saving.
Where You’ll See Warnings
You may see conflict indicators in several places:
Resource dropdowns
Resources already assigned to overlapping trips are visually highlighted in the dropdown list.
Trip list and trip editor
An orange warning triangle appears on trips that have scheduling conflicts.
Clicking into the trip shows which specific resources are duplicated and the trips they’re assigned to.
When saving a new trip
A confirmation modal appears stating that one or more resources are already assigned to overlapping trips.
You can choose to Proceed anyway or cancel.
Scheduling Tab Visibility for Trip-Assigned Resources
When a truck or crew member is assigned to a trip, their "On Trip" status is now visible directly in the Dispatch Scheduling tab for every day within the trip's departure and return dates, inclusive.
This makes it easier to identify which resources are already committed to a long-distance trip before assigning them to daily job slots, without switching back to the Trips tab.
What you'll see in the Scheduling tab
An orange truck icon appears next to any resource that is currently on a trip. Hovering over the icon displays a tooltip identifying the trip and the dates the resource is unavailable.
This indicator appears for:
Trucks assigned to a trip
Drivers, foremen, and crew members assigned to a trip
Assigning an "On Trip" resource to a job slot
You can still assign an "On Trip" resource to a scheduled job. Scheduling does not hard-block these assignments.
When you drag an "On Trip" resource into a job slot, a warning modal appears. The modal identifies the trip causing the conflict, including the trip name and dates. From the modal, you can:
Proceed — The assignment is saved. The resource remains marked "On Trip" for those dates and is also associated with the job slot in Scheduling.
Cancel — No changes are made.
Note: Proceeding does not remove the "On Trip" indicator. The resource will continue to appear as on a trip for those dates, and the job assignment will also be active. Use this option when assigning a resource to a pickup-day job that is part of the same trip.
When the "On Trip" indicator is removed
If a truck or crew member is removed from a trip, the "On Trip" indicator is immediately cleared from the Scheduling tab for all affected dates. Existing Scheduling assignments for those dates are not affected.
💡 SmartTip: When building your daily dispatch schedule, look for the orange truck icon before assigning resources. Resources without the indicator are fully available for local jobs on that date.
Important Behavior to Know
Conflicts are warnings only, the system allows duplicate assignments.
This applies to drivers, foremen, crew members, and trucks.
After saving, the warning indicators remain visible on the trip as a reminder.
These warnings act as a checks-and-balances system, ensuring schedulers are aware of conflicts without restricting flexibility.
Trip conflicts are also visible in the Scheduling tab. An orange truck icon identifies resources that are already on a trip. Assigning these resources to a Scheduling slot triggers a warning modal but does not prevent saving.
💡 SmartTip: Review overlapping trip dates carefully when reusing the same driver or truck to avoid unintended double-booking.
Resource Configuration Requirements
Truck Requirements
To appear in the Trip Planning Trucks dropdown, a truck must be marked as available for trip planning.
Go to Settings > Dispatch > Fleet.
Select an existing truck, or click Add Truck.
Enable Available for Trip Planning.
Save your changes.
Only trucks with this setting enabled will appear as selectable options when creating or editing a trip.
Crew Member Requirements
Crew members appear in the Trip Planning Drivers dropdown based on their role and attributes.
Go to Settings > Dispatch > Crew Members.
Select a crew member to edit.
If the crew member’s role is Driver
Enable Available for Trip Planning.
If the crew member has any other role (Foreman, Crew, etc.)
Enable Available for Trip Planning
Enable Can Drive
Save your changes.
Only crew members who meet these requirements will appear as selectable drivers in Trip Planning.
Manual Entry Behavior
Manual entries remain fully supported for flexibility and backwards compatibility.
When you manually enter a truck or driver:
The value is not linked to a resource
A warning indicator shows it is informational only
The entry does not create or update a fleet or crew resource
💡 SmartTip: Use manual entry for exceptions, but select resources whenever possible for better conflict detection.
Capacity Settings for Shared Resources
Because Trip Planning often uses long-distance or specialized resources, you can control whether these resources affect Weekly Dispatch capacity.
Exclude Trip Planning Resources from Capacity
Go to Settings > Dispatch > Capacity Settings.
Enable the option to exclude resources tagged for Trip Planning.
Save your changes.
When enabled:
Trip Planning trucks and crew members are excluded from weekly capacity calculations.
Dispatch views remain focused on local or non-trip workloads.
Troubleshooting
A truck or driver doesn’t appear in the dropdown
Confirm Available for Trip Planning is enabled
For non-driver roles, confirm Can Drive is also enabled
I see a warning when saving a trip
The resource is already assigned to another trip with overlapping dates
Review assignments before saving
The "On Trip" icon doesn't appear for a resource in Scheduling
Confirm the resource is assigned to a trip in Dispatch > Trips and the trip is active (not closed).
Confirm you are viewing the correct date range — the indicator only appears for dates between the trip's departure and return dates, inclusive.
If the resource was recently removed from a trip, the indicator clears automatically. Refresh the Scheduling view if it persists.