Schedule a job for a fixed date or from a specified availability date

The AntsRoute platform allows you to easily schedule jobs for your field teams. Depending on your needs, several scheduling methods are available.

For example, you can:

• schedule a job on a specific date if an appointment has already been agreed with your client;
• schedule a job starting from a given availability date to find the most optimized time slot;
• schedule a recurring job for regular visits.

In this article, we explain how to schedule a job on a fixed date or based on availability date.

💡 Good to know: If you want to schedule jobs that repeat (daily, weekly, or monthly), please refer to the dedicated article.
 

Schedule a job on a fixed date

You can manually schedule a job on a specific date.
For example, when a client calls to book an appointment.

💡 In this example, we assume that your client is already registered in your AntsRoute customer database. If not, you can add a client by clicking “Plan” > “Schedule deliveries” > “Add a customer.”

Steps to follow

1. Go to the “Plan” module.
2. Click on the “Schedule deliveries” tab.
3. Enter the first letters of the customer’s name in the search bar.
4. Select the client from the drop-down list.
   
   Then:
5. Set the job duration.
6. Fill in the job details if needed.
7. Add capacities, custom fields, or attachments if necessary (optional).
8. Select the option “Plan this delivery on.”
9. Choose the planning date.
10. Select up to four time slots (optional).
11. Click the “Add” button.

Schedule a job based on availability date

This method is useful when you want to find the best available time slot in your schedule.

AntsRoute will suggest the best available time slots starting from a selected date and display the estimated additional kilometers for each option.

Steps to follow

1. Go to the “Plan” module.
2. Click on the “Schedule deliveries” tab.
3. Enter the first letters of the customer's name in the search bar.
4. Select the client from the drop-down list.
   
   Then:
5. Set the job duration.
6. Fill in the job details if needed.
7. Add capacities, custom fields, or attachments if necessary (optional).
8. Select the option “From.”
9. Choose the start date for the search.
10. Select up to four time slots if needed (optional).
11. Click “Search availabilities.”
    
    AntsRoute will then display several available time slots.
12. Select the desired availability.
13. Click “Save.”

☝️ Good to know:

Depending on your account configuration, you may need to fill in additional information, such as:

• capacities
• custom fields
• items or parcels
• skills
• service types

If your client will not be present at home at the time of the appointment, you can also:

• define a temporary address for the job location;
• select the “Remote delivery” option if the service is performed without traveling (remote maintenance, teleconsultation, etc.).

Next step: build routes

Once your jobs are scheduled, you can generate and optimize your teams’ routes.
Please refer to the dedicated article.
 

Conclusion

Scheduling jobs in AntsRoute helps you easily organize appointments for your field teams. Depending on your needs, you can either set a specific job date or search for the most optimized available time slots starting from a given date.

Once your jobs are added to the schedule, you can build and optimize your teams’ routes to efficiently organize their travel.
 

🙋‍♀️ Need help?

If you experience any difficulties scheduling your jobs, feel free to contact AntsRoute support by email or through the chat available from the web interface.