B737-800
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Total 25000
Human-Machine Interface; Situational Awareness
Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Clearance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Air Traffic Control Provided Assistance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented; Flight Crew Overcame Equipment Problem; Flight Crew Requested ATC Assistance / Clarification
Chart Or Publication; Procedure; Human Factors
Over ZQA; evidently we turned outbound on the ZQA transition to ZBV vs. direct ZBV. The assigned route was to join the arrival at ZBV. ATC directed us to correct course and proceed direct to ZBV. During loading of the route in FMS; selecting the STAR; ZQA was the only transition which included ZBV. Because of the discontinuity created by selecting that transition; now 2 ZQA's and 2 ZBV's existed. I believe I may have incorrectly placed the transition point; thereby loading the transition instead. I suspect the route check was acceptable because it was consistent with the transition. During a subsequent phone call to ATC; we were advised that numerous others; including several airlines and general aviation; have been doing the same since the recent route/airway changes have been implemented. In our case; if this is what happened; I believe the duplicate ZQA and ZBV fixes and all of their associated points loaded by selecting the transition; the similar identifiers (ZQA/ZBV); as well as the transition point being only available by selecting the ZQA transition; may have created the confusion during the loading and subsequent 'clean up' of the route in the FMS.
B737 Captain reported enroute clearance deviation due to FMC loading procedural error.