Define a customer’s opening hours

Opening hours allow AntsRoute to schedule jobs while taking your customers’ availability into account.

You can:

• define default opening hours;
• add specific opening hours for certain periods;
• delete existing opening hours.

This feature is especially useful if you use broad time windows or if your customers’ availability changes regularly.

💡 Important: Any update to a customer’s opening hours will invalidate future optimization results already calculated for that customer.
 

Define default opening hours

Default opening hours correspond to the customer’s usual availability for each day of the week.

Steps to follow

1. Open the Customers module.
2. Search for and open the relevant customer record.
3. Click the Opening hours tab.
4. From the Default row, click … > Edit.

💡 Note: You can also edit the default opening hours by clicking the “Default opening hours” button located above the table.

You then have two options:

• keep the Always open option enabled;
• or define specific opening hours for each day.

Add opening hours by day:

1. Disable the Always open toggle.
2. Click the blue + button to add a time slot.
3. Enter the opening and closing times.
4. Click Save.

💡 Tip: You can add multiple time slots for the same day, for example:

• 08:00 AM – 12:00 PM
• 02:00 PM – 06:00 PM

Add specific opening hours for certain dates

You can define different opening hours for a specific period, for example:

• during holiday seasons;
• for an exceptional closure;
• for a seasonal schedule.

Steps to follow

1. Open the Customers module.
2. Search for and open the customer record.
3. Click the Opening hours tab.
4. Click + Hours.
5. Select the relevant week in the calendar.

Then:

• keep Always open enabled;
• or disable this option to define custom opening hours.

Add time slots

1. Click the blue + button.
2. Enter the desired opening hours.
3. Click Save.

Delete opening hours

Steps to follow

1. Open the Customers module.
2. Open the relevant customer record.
3. Click the Opening hours tab.
4. Locate the opening hours you want to delete.
5. Click … > Delete.

Import opening hours from an Excel file

If you manage your customer database using Excel imports, you can also define customer opening hours directly in your file.

Expected format

Add one column for each day of the week:

• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• etc.

In each cell, enter the opening hours using the following format:
08:00-18:00

To add multiple time slots for the same day, separate them with a comma:
08:00-12:00,14:00-18:00

Conclusion

Configuring opening hours helps improve route planning and reduces the risk of scheduling jobs when customers are unavailable.

Remember to update these hours regularly to keep your route optimizations accurate and aligned with your customers’ constraints.