How can you find the cost of routes?

AntsRoute allows you to calculate the cost of your routes by taking into account two main elements:

• the hourly cost of your field workers
• the vehicle operating cost

This feature helps you monitor the actual cost of your field operations and better analyse the profitability of your routes.

To display this information in the interface, you must first enable cost calculation, then enter the hourly cost of your field workers and the cost of your vehicles.

In this article, you will learn how to:

• Enable cost calculation
• Define the hourly cost of field workers
• Define vehicle costs
• View the cost of routes

1. Enable the cost calculation option

Before you can display route costs, you need to enable the corresponding option.

1. Go to the “Settings” module.
2. From the “Settings” tab in the side menu, click on “General”.
3. Enable the option “Enable route cost calculation”.
4. Click on “Save”.

💡 You can choose whether or not to include journeys from the departure point and to the arrival point in the cost calculation.
 

2. Define the hourly cost of field workers

Once the option has been enabled, you can enter the hourly cost for each field worker.

To do this:

1. Go to the “Resources” module.
2. Click on the “Field workers” tab.
3. Click “…” next to the relevant worker and then select “Edit”.
4. Click on “General information”.
5. Determine the “Cost per hour (€/hr)”.
6. Click on “Save”.

Repeat this process for each worker if necessary.
 

3. Define vehicle costs

You can also define the operating cost for each vehicle.

To do this:

1. Go to the “Resources” module.
2. Click on the “Vehicles” tab.
3. Click “…” next to the relevant vehicle and then select “Edit”.
4. Determine the “Cost” of the vehicle.
5. Click on “Save”.

💡 A vehicle’s cost may include:

• a fixed cost
• a cost per kilometre

If you do not wish to use a fixed cost, you can simply enter 0 in this field.
 

4. View the cost of routes

Once cost calculation is enabled and the required information has been entered, you can view the cost directly in your planning.

To do this:

1. Go to the “Organise” module.
2. Open the “Agenda” tab.

A “Total cost” indicator will then appear in the interface.

This represents the total cost of all the routes displayed.

☝️ Good to know:
To view the cost of a specific route, click “…” and then select “Route details”.
 

How is the cost of a route calculated?

AntsRoute automatically calculates the cost of a route using the following formula:

Route cost =
(number of kilometres travelled × vehicle cost per km) + (working time × worker hourly cost)

Working time includes:

• driving time
• time spent at customer's home
• any waiting time

💡 The total cost displayed in the planning corresponds to the sum of the costs of all routes.
 

☝️ Good to know:

If you have also enabled the work order pricing calculation feature, the “Total cost” indicator will be replaced by “Margin” in the planning.

This allows you to directly view the profitability of your routes.
 

🙋‍♀️ Need help?

If you encounter any difficulties when creating your routes, feel free to contact AntsRoute Support by email or via the chat available from the web interface.