- 18 Sep 2024
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Schedule Board
- Updated on 18 Sep 2024
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The Scheduling screen allows you to schedule crew visits to the customers based on opportunities won and the associated work tickets Aspire has generated for each opportunity service. Each visit is scheduled for a route that defines the crew leader and can also define the crew members. Much of the functionality is centered on branching out from the Scheduling screen.
Introduction to the Scheduling Screen
This section provides a high-level introduction to some key elements of the Scheduling screen that provide a foundation for additional detail. The primary purpose of the Scheduling screen is to schedule service visits associated with work tickets, defining routes for crews over time. When properly maintained and used, the Scheduling screen also provides a birds-eye view of the activity that is taking place in the field and provides access to the Time Entry screen that shows how crew members have spent time on scheduled work ticket visits. Time can be recorded, edited, and approved from the Time Entry screen. This is described in detail in Time Reporting and Payroll.
A Weekly view of the Scheduling screen is depicted below:
The following table provides basic descriptions of elements depicted on the Schedule Board screen image above.
Screen Element | Description |
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Manager | Each route is assigned to a manager when the route is defined on the Route screen. The manager's selection displays the routes assigned to that manager. The manager field defaults to the manager most recently selected by you who is logged in. |
Routes Filter | Use this multi-select drop-down field to filter the routes you want to see displayed on the Schedule Board. Only routes assigned to the selected manager will appear in this drop-down.
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Visit tile | Whenever a visit is scheduled for a work ticket, a visit tile is added to the schedule board to display information about the visit. If you have Full Access to Schedule Board permission, they can right-click on a visit tile to access additional options for that visit. |
Hours | The hours drop-down determines how hours are displayed on the visit tiles. It provides two options: “Man” and “Crew.” Choosing “Man” will display man-hours. Choosing “Crew” will display crew hours. |
Occurrence | The occurrence drop-down determines the meaning of occurrence numbers on the visit tiles. It provides two options: Actual and Annualized. For contracts with repeating services, Aspire creates a work ticket for each expected service occurrence when the opportunity is won. The work tickets, which may occur over multiple years, are numbered based on the expected service delivery order. This number is the Actual occurrence number. If they choose the Annualized option, Aspire will instead display a number representing the number of visits scheduled in the current calendar year. |
View Type | Allows you to select how visits are displayed, a week or month at a time. |
Include Drive Time | For systems with the Hide Schedule Progress Bar option disabled on the Application Configuration screen, Aspire displays a progress bar on visit tiles for work orders and contracts on the Schedule Board. The progress bar shows the percentage of scheduled hours worked on the job. If the Include Drive Time field value is set to “Yes,” then drive time is included when calculating the percent complete. If the value is set to “No,” then drive time is excluded when calculating the percent complete. |
Date Range Selector | Allows you to specify the period displayed in the schedule board view.
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Weekly Time Review Tab | Displays the Weekly Time Review screen for the current week. |
Show Route Assignment | Selecting this checkbox displays the names of crew members assigned to the route just below the route name. When crew members are displayed, the crew leader appears first. |
Routes | The Weekly view identifies the various routes assigned to the manager selected at the top of the Schedule Board screen. The numeric value in parenthesis following the route name is the number of crew members expected to be on the route as specified by the Route Size field on the Route screen. |
Route Week Schedule | The Weekly view displays the tiles representing the visits scheduled for the week. |
Action menu | This menu provides the following for mass-scheduling visits.
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Route Total Hours | Displays the total hours the crew is scheduled on customer sites over the day. Note that the displayed value represents crew hours, not man hours. Thus, if a three-man crew is scheduled for 8 hours on-site during the day, the value will be 8 – not 24. |
Totals | Displays the hours scheduled for all crews assigned to the specified manager for each day of the week. |
Visit tiles
Tiles are displayed on the schedule board to represent scheduled visits for work tickets. Multiple visits can be scheduled for a single ticket. Left-click on a visit tile to view the visit details at a glance, including the date, opportunity number, work ticket number, property, location, and contact details, as well as an option to go straight to the Opportunity Gantt Chart or the visit details screen.
The Equipment icon displays the name, model, and class of the equipment scheduled for a visit. If multiple pieces of equipment are scheduled, select the hyperlink to view additional details or go to the Equipment Scheduling Board. To access specific information, select the Equipment hyperlink to navigate directly to the Equipment Details screen.
The table and images below describe some examples of visit tiles on schedule boards in Aspire.
Description | Visit tiles |
The clipboard icon on the left side of the tile represents the last work ticket for both a contract and a work order with multiple scheduled visits for the specified service. | |
The cycle symbol on the left side of the tile indicates that the work ticket is part of a recurring schedule. | |
The checkmark symbol on the left side of the tile indicates that the work ticket’s status is complete. | |
The equipment symbol on the left side of the tile indicates that the work ticket visit for the day has scheduled equipment. | |
Selecting the X in the upper right-hand corner of the tile will Delete the visit. | |
The status bar represents a percentage of completed Work Ticket hours compared to the number of Budgeted hours on the Work Ticket. The system will use the calculation of Actual Work Ticket hours / Budgeted Work Ticket hours. If the Actual Work Ticket hours exceed the Budgeted Work Ticket hours, the status bar will appear in red. | |
The alternate colored text indicates that the work ticket was marked as complete in the Crew Mobile App. The work tickets status may not yet be set to complete if the time was not yet accepted on the Time Entry screen. When you hover the cursor over a completed work ticket tile displayed in gray, Aspire changes the font, making it more visible for reading. The text color reverts to gray when the cursor moves off the visit tile. |
Pop-up Menus
Three pop-up menus can be displayed on the Scheduling screen:
Menu Name | When Displayed | Visual |
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Week Pop-up Menu | Displayed when you right-click (or on a mobile device, touch) on the white space of the first tile to the right containing the route name and the name of the route members in the Weekly view. | |
Day Pop-up Menu | Displayed when you right-click (or on a mobile device, touch) in the white space area below the tiles. | |
Visit tile Pop-up Menu | Displayed when you right-click (or on a mobile device, touch) a tile representing a visit in a monthly or weekly view. The display of some options is conditional. |
The options available for each of these menus are described below.
Week Pop-up Menu
Options available when you right-click on one of the boxes in the Weekly view of the Schedule Board containing a route name are described here:
Screen Element | Description |
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Print Weekly Timesheet | This option generates a PDF file of the timesheet for the selected week and route. You can choose to print the displayed PDF. |
Print Weekly Work Tickets | This option generates a PDF report summarizing each work ticket for the selected week and route. Information includes property, work ticket #, opportunity name, property address, service, crew members, estimated hours, actual hours, materials, and labor. you can choose to print the displayed PDF. |
Day Pop-up Menu
Options available when you right-click on a route/day in the area below all visit tiles in the Weekly view of the Schedule Board screen are described here:
Screen Element | Description |
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Open Time Entry | This option displays the Time Entry screen for the selected day and route. |
Print Daily Timesheet | This option generates a PDF file of the timesheet for the selected day and route. You can choose to print the displayed PDF. |
Print Daily Work Tickets | This option generates a PDF report summarizing each work ticket for the selected day and route. Information includes property, work ticket #, opportunity name, property address, service, crew members, estimated hours, actual hours, materials, and labor. You can choose to print the displayed PDF. |
Insert Blank Day(s) | This option shifts the visits forward so that no visits are scheduled on the days being made blank, beginning on the selected day and route. When this option is chosen, Aspire displays a dialog allowing you to specify how many workdays should be shifted forward or backward, how many days forward visits on the cleared days should be moved into the future, and whether shifted visits should be allowed to land on weekend days. Additional information is provided below this table. |
Show Alerts | On the Schedule Board, Aspire displays an Alert Symbol in the lower left-hand corner of a grid cell for days on which the GPS device recognized and recorded one or more alerts (i.e., harsh braking, high speed, rapid acceleration, speeding, device tampering) associated with the primary vehicle on the route. If you right-click on that day, Aspire provides the Show Alerts option in the pop-up menu. Selecting this option displays a list of alerts for the vehicle assigned to the route. |
Insert Blank Days – Additional info
When you shift a schedule using the Insert Blank Day(s) option, a checkbox is available to Exclude Weekends. In the example below, checking this checkbox will cause the visits on Friday to shift to Monday instead of Saturday.
Visit tile Pop-up Menu
Options available when you right-click on a visits tile in the Weekly view of the Schedule Board screen and have Full Access to Schedule Board permission are described here:
Screen Element | Description |
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Open Time Entry | Displays the Time Entry screen for the selected day and route. |
Edit Visit | Option not available for tiles representing quick tickets. Displays the Visit screen to view or edit the attributes of the visit. |
Delete Visit | Option not available for tiles representing quick tickets. Removes the selected visit from the work ticket and from the Schedule Board. |
Open Work Ticket | Option not available for tiles representing quick tickets. Displays the Work Ticket screen for the work ticket associated with the selected visit. |
Edit recurring Schedule | This option is only available for work tickets having multiple occurrences as defined in the estimate. Initiates creating or updating a recurring schedule by displaying the Job Service Schedule screen. |
View recurring Calendar | This option is only available if a recurring schedule has previously been defined for the selected visit tile. Displays the Work Ticket Schedule screen, providing a high-level (full-year) view of the schedule. |
Skip this week’s visit | This option is only available for work tickets having multiple occurrences as defined in the estimate. The option is not displayed if the tile represents a monthly recurring schedule. |
Insert Blank Day(s) | Shifts visits forward so that no visits are scheduled on the days being made blank beginning on the selected day and route. When this option is chosen, Aspire displays a dialog allowing you to specify how many workdays should be shifted forward or backward, how many days forward visits on the cleared days should be moved into the future, and whether shifted visits should be allowed to land on weekend days. |
Show on Map | When chosen, it displays a Google map in a new browser tab showing the location of the property of the visit. |
Create Receipt | Displays the Create Work Ticket Receipt screen, allowing you to create a purchase receipt for items on the work ticket. This option is only available if you have the Add Receipt permission. |
Optimize Route | Select this option to reorder the visits for that day/route based on the route address inputted in the Routes screen for the most efficient navigation. Aspire removes duplicate addresses when optimizing routes via Google, ensuring up to 25 unique stops. Route optimization is available only if the Route Optimization Permission is enabled in Aspire. A green checkmark on the Schedule Board and a green halo element around the day indicate a route has been optimized. If any user reorders the visits, Aspire removes the indicator until you re-optimize the route. |
Set as First Stop | Select this option to set the visit as the First Stop for the Route, even after Route Optimization. This option is only available in sequenced-based routes. When selected, an anchor icon displays in the top-left corner of the visit tile. |
Set as Last Stop | Select this option to set the visit as the Last Stop for the Route, even after Route Optimization. This option is only available on sequenced-based routes and if you have selected a First Stop. When selected, an anchor icon displays in the top-left corner of the visit tile. |
View Completed Form | If a Complete Work Ticket Form has been published for the service represented by the tile and the crew leader has provided form responses, this menu option will be available. Selecting this menu option displays the most recent form responses for the work ticket. |
Schedule Equipment | Select this option to open the Equipment Scheduling Board and manage or schedule equipment for the visit. |
Bulk Move Work Ticket Visits
You can select more than one ticket to move on the Schedule Board. Select Bulk Move Work Tickets to view how this feature works.