# Route Lifecycle and Status

November 3, 2025

## In this article, you will learn about the route status definitions and the overall lifecycle of a route in Dispatch fleet management software.

## Route Status Summary

A route’s status dictates the expected next steps a user can take when interacting with the route. The route status can be found on the **Dashboard** page within the Route Details of a Vehicle. Review the below table for route status definitions.

|     |     |
| --- | --- |
| **Delivery Status** | **Definition** |
| **_Preparing_** | A route is associated with a vehicle and in the process of being built, optimized, and validated on the Dashboard. |
| **_Sent to Driver_** | Route has been sent to the driver for pickup. |
| **_En Route_** | Driver is currently completing stops on the route for today. |
| **_Complete_** | All stops on the route have been completed, canceled, or marked as incomplete. |
| **_Optimizing_** | When a user clicks the Optimize My Route or Plan My Routes button, it may take a few seconds for the results to be returned. While waiting for a result to be generated, some functionality may be limited to avoid conflicts. |

## Route Lifecycle Workflow

### Route Creation

A route is created in Dispatch when one or more deliveries have been assigned to an active vehicle on the **Dashboard.** The **Active Routes** section on the vehicle will show the status of **_Preparing_** _._

The route status will remain in **_Preparing_** as the route is updated, amended or optimized.

_Please check out the article [Building a Route](https://support.dispatchit.com/en/articles/8654611-completing-a-route) for additional detailed steps around assigning, optimizing, and removing deliveries from a route._

### Sending the Route to the Driver

A route will transition to the status of **_Sent to Driver_** when the route has been sent to the driver for vehicle loading and delivery pickup. A push notification is sent to the driver with delivery and route details at this step in the process.

After the driver has confirmed they have picked up the deliveries by swiping to complete the pickup stop on the mobile app, the route status will be **_En Route_** as the driver takes off to complete the route.

_Please check out the articles [Sending a Route to a Driver](https://support.dispatchit.com/en/articles/8654471-send-route-to-driver)_ _and [Completing a Pickup](https://support.dispatchit.com/en/articles/8654611-completing-a-route) for additional detailed steps around these processes in the Web App and Mobile App._

### Route Completion

After the driver has completed all deliveries within the route, the route will be completed and route details will become available in the **Completed Routes** section on the vehicle.

_Please check out the article_ _[Completing a Route](https://support.dispatchit.com/completing-a-route)_ _for additional detailed steps around this process in the Mobile App._

### Route Optimizing

When a user clicks the Optimize My Route or Plan My Routes button, it may take a few seconds for the results to be returned. In order to preserve data integrity while waiting for an optimization result to be generated, the following functionality will be unavailable:

- Edit a route
- Edit a delivery on the route being optimized
- Cancel a delivery
- Reorder stops on a route
- Send route to a driver

This functionality will be limited in both the web UI and the API.

If you have questions, please contact us at [connectsupport@dispatchit.com](mailto:connectsupport@dispatchit.com). A Dispatch team member will reach out to you for support.