Before any field observation begins, we request six months of dispatch logs from clients commissioning a route performance audit. The request sounds straightforward, but the logs we receive vary widely in completeness. Incomplete records extend the review timeline and limit what the findings can support.
At minimum, we need dated route sheets showing stop sequence, planned arrival and departure times, and actual times where recorded. Depot departure and return times for each run are essential. Without return times, we cannot calculate total elapsed duration or identify end-of-route delays.
Driver identifiers help us distinguish recurring patterns tied to specific routes from one-time anomalies. We do not publish driver names in reports, but the identifier allows us to confirm whether a delay repeats across multiple shifts on the same corridor.
GPS exports are useful when available but not required. Many of our clients operate with paper route sheets and manual time entries. Handwritten logs with legible times work provided they cover enough days to establish a pattern—typically ten to fifteen runs on the corridor under review.
We also ask for any internal delay reports or customer complaints related to the corridors in scope. These documents often highlight problems dispatch teams already suspect but have not yet quantified. Cross-referencing complaints with timing data strengthens the findings report.
Organizing logs by corridor rather than by date speeds our initial review. If your dispatch system exports by route number, that format is ideal. If logs are organized chronologically, a simple index mapping dates to corridor names saves several days of sorting at our end.
Clients who prepare logs in this format typically move from scope call to first field visit within five business days. Those requiring extensive data reconstruction before observation can add two weeks to the front of the engagement.