Round planner

Last updated September 21, 2026

A walker or sitter drives the same twelve stops most days, in whatever order the bookings happened to be taken. That is not a route. Twenty minutes a day of avoidable driving is around eighty hours a year, and it never appears as a line on anything, so nobody ever decides to fix it.

Pick a day and a person, and this puts the visits in a sensible order — then, if you want it, moves the times to match.

Distances are as the crow flies

Straight-line distance between postcodes, not driving distance. Real roads are longer, by a different amount on every round. That is fine for working out the order — a shorter straight-line route is almost always a shorter drive — but it is why the screen never says “you will save 4.2 miles” as though somebody had measured it.

Anyone already told a time gets told again

This is the part to understand before pressing the button. Reordering a round changes the times, and some of those times have already been emailed or texted to a customer. Any visit that moves has its confirmation and reminder flags taken back, so the next reminder run sends the new time. The screen says how many people that is before you press anything.

A day that has already happened cannot be rewritten, and visits with no postcode we could place are listed separately and left exactly where they are rather than guessed at.

Choose the day and the personLeave it on Everyone for a one-person round.

Read the two distancesAs it stands, and in the suggested order. If there is nothing in it, it says so.

Check who has been toldThe note under the button says how many customers will be written to again.

Use this orderThe times are rewritten, keeping the same start to the day.

Example

A walker with eleven Tuesday visits books them as the calls come in. The round planner shows 34 miles as booked and 24 in a better order; two clients have already had a confirmation, so those two get an updated time when reminders next run.

FAQ

Will it move a visit I have promised for a particular time?
It will, and that is why it tells you. Any visit that moves has its “told” flags cleared so the customer is sent the new time. If somebody must be seen at nine, plan the round before you confirm them — or reorder and let the updated confirmation go out.

Can I plan yesterday?
No. The round has been driven and the invoices may already be out; rewriting it would only make the records disagree with what happened.

Why is a client missing from the list?
They have no postcode we could place on a map. They appear under “Not on the map” and are left alone. Add a postcode to the client record and they will join the round.

How does it decide the travel time between stops?
Distance divided by an assumed average speed, which you can change. It is a guess, and a better one than the alternative of pretending each visit starts the moment the last one ended.

Will it ever make my round worse?
No. If the order you already have is as good or better, it says so and offers nothing.

Miles or kilometres?
Miles by default. Switch it in Settings if you would rather have kilometres.