Time-Based Scheduling

Time-Based Scheduling 

What's New? 

Time-based scheduling enables you to schedule recurring and non-recurring visits at specific times instead of just on a specific day. This added scheduling flexibility allows you to set working hours for your crew, view available time on the schedule board, and schedule overnight visits. All Aspire clients can leverage this feature but it is particularly helpful for our clients who carry out irrigation and janitorial work.  

Configuration 

Once the feature flag is enabled, you must configure your Branch and Route settings before you can schedule time-based visits. 

Configure Branch Settings 

Enable the functionality at the branch level by taking the following steps: 

1. Go to the Administration menu. 
2. Select Organization. 
3. Choose a branch from the Branches search list. 
4. Go to the branch details screen, scroll to the Time-Reporting Scheduling portion of the page, and enable Time-Based Scheduling. 
   1. You must specify a time zone on the Branch details screen to use time-based scheduling. 
5. Click Save.

Keep in Mind

• Time-based scheduling cannot be disabled at the branch level if routes within the branches have this functionality enabled. 

Configure Route Setting and Working Hours

Once Time-Based Scheduling is enabled at the branch level, you can set your route working hours. Route working hours outline timeframes of availability to schedule a time-based visit. Follow the steps below to enable time-based scheduling at the route level and to set your route working hours: 

1. Go to the Scheduling module. 
2. Click on the three dots menu. 
3. Select Manage Routes. 
4. Click on the desired Route from the search list screen. Select Time-Based to view the option to set working hours under the Scheduling panel. 
5. Select a day for which to set your Route Working Hours. 
6. Click on the add icon. 
7. Click on the clock icon in the Start and End columns to add start and end times for the day(s) you have selected.

Keep in Mind

• The end date and time can only be selected after selecting the start date and time. 
• The times that you specify are sorted and grouped by day. 
• The time ranges that you designate cannot overlap with each other. 
  • e.g., In the case that you are creating working hours to include an overnight shift to be scheduled from 9:00 PM to 3:00 AM starting on Tuesday night, you must set a time range of 9:00 PM-11:59 PM on Tuesday and another time range from 12:00 AM to 3:00 AM on Wednesday. 
• If all possible time ranges for a particular day are created, that day will no longer appear in the Working Hours dropdown menu. 
• If time-based scheduling is disabled for a route, visit times will be removed from all visits within the route, and the sequence in which the time-based route was scheduled can be altered. The following confirmation dialog box appears when you elect to disable time-based scheduling for a route. 

Scheduling a Time-Based Visit 

Once you have set your Route Working Hours, you can go to the Schedule Board and schedule a time-based visit for a scheduled Work Ticket using one of the following methods: 

**For each method, it is recommended that you change the Hours field from Man to Crew. This will yield a better time estimate because you indicate that an entire crew, not just one person, will be carrying out the work.**

Method #1

1. Go to the Scheduling module.  
2. Click on the Work Ticket List icon. 
3. Select a scheduled Work Ticket. 
4. Click on the Add icon next to the Visits field. 
5. Designate the route under which you designated Time-Based scheduling. 
6. Click on the calendar icon next to Visit Start Date to set both the date and time for the start of the visit.  
7. Click on the calendar icon next to Visit End Date to set both the date and time for the end of the visit. 

Method #2

1. Go to the Scheduling module. 
2. Open the Work Ticket Drawer. 
3. Drag and drop a Work Ticket to the Schedule Board. 
4. Click on the designated tile. 
5. Click on the kebab menu on the right side of the tile and select Edit Visit from the dropdown menu. 
6. Click on the calendar icon next to the Visit Start Date and the Visit End Date to set the date and time for the visit. 
7. Click Save. 

Keep in Mind:

• If you try to schedule a visit that conflicts with the scheduled time of an existing visit or that takes place outside of the Route Working Hours, you will see a warning modal informing you of the conflict and prompting you to either confirm or cancel the action. 
• You can create consecutive visits in which the End Time of one visit can be shared with the Start Time of the other visit. 
• Visits without a start and end time will appear below the hourly-based schedules within a Route.  
• The Route Optimization function will be disabled for time-based routes. 
• Moving a time-based visit to a route that is not time-based will convert that visit to a day-based visit.
• When viewing the schedule in Crew Mobile, the timezone will reflect the location of the crew member using the app. 
• If you drag and drop a work ticket to a route at a different timezone, the start time will reflect the timezone of the new route. 
  • e.g. If you move a work ticket that starts at 11:00 PM CST on Monday to a Monday on a route with an Eastern standard timezone, the start time will update to reflect 12:00 AM EST on Tuesday. 

Navigating Time-Based Visits on the Schedule Board 

1. All time-based routes will have a clock icon next to the time zone used in the Route header on the schedule board. 
2. A grayed-out banner of working hours indicates no scheduled visits within the set block of time. 
3. A blue banner of working hours indicates that there are scheduled visits within the parameters of the route working hours. 
4. A block of time containing a red shade indicates that scheduled visits conflict with the time of existing visits or that the visit is outside of the Route Working Hours. 
5. A link icon will appear on placards that cannot be modified because they are part of a time-based visit that spans multiple days.
   1. In this case, you must modify this visit from the placard containing the start time. 

Overnight Visits

You can use time-based scheduling to create overnight visits.  Please keep the following in mind when scheduling a visit that spans multiple days: 

• A Multi-day visit will appear on separate tiles on the Schedule Board to indicate the days when the visit starts and stops.
  • For example, a visit spanning from Monday at 11:00 PM to 2:00 AM on Tuesday will not appear as one tile on Monday. It will appear as 11:00 -11:59 PM on the tile for Monday and 12:00-2:00 AM on the tile for Tuesday. 
• You can only view the hours, noting the visit's length in the tile's lower right corner with the Visit Start date details. The tile listing the End time will always display a duration value of 0.00. 
• You can stretch the ticket displaying the end time across the schedule board, but you must delete and drag and drop an overnight visit using the placard displaying the start time. 
  • Attempting to make changes from a tile that does not contain the start time will populate an error message. 

Quick Ticket for a Time-Based Route

If you create a quick ticket for a time-based route, you must convert it into an existing or new ticket before you can modify the time.

Job Service Schedule 

You will notice that when setting recurring visit schedules from the Job Service modal, instead of assigning a day, percentage of Hours, and a sequence value for a route, you will need to assign a Recurring Schedule type, a day, start & end time, and the percentage of hours. 

Time-Based Route	Day Route

Visit Preview 

Along with this new feature, a new Visit Preview functionality enables you to view and manage information about a visit quickly. Below is a description of all the available visit preview functions.  

Function	Description
	Click the hyperlinked time to view and manage the Visit Start/End Date, Hours/Day, and to view the Route Size associated with the visit occurrence.
	Click on the hyperlinked Opportunity number to view and manage the opportunities detail screen.
	Click the hyperlinked Work Ticket number to view and manage the work ticket details screen.
	Click on the Visit Recurrence hyperlink to view and manage visit details.
	Click the hyperlinked property name to view and manage the property details screen.
	Click on the property address to view the location using Google Maps.
	1. Click on the contact’s name to view and manage the Contacts details screen. 2. Click on the email hyperlink to send an email.

Frequently Asked Questions 

• Can I reschedule a time-based visit on a route that is not time-based? 
  • Yes, when rescheduling a time-based visit to a route that is not based on time, that visit's start and end date will be cleared out. If you drag the visit back to a time-based route, you can add the Visit Start and Visit End times using the Confirm Visit details modal.
• What happens to my visit scheduled on a time-based route if the time-based functionality is disabled on that route? The visit will still appear on the day on which it was scheduled, but the start and end times will no longer appear on the placard or in the Quick Preview window. You will need to confirm that the sequence of visits is maintained.
•   Can I bulk move time-based scheduled visits? 
  • Yes, the start and end times of visits that are moved to another time-based day will be preserved. If a visit conflicts with an existing scheduled visit, the background of the placard will be shaded in red. You can also bulk move a mixture of time-based and non-time-based visits to either a time-based or a non-time-based route. Moving time-based visits to a route that is not time-based will clear the visit start and end times. Moving a visit that is not time-based to a time-based route will require setting the start and end times for each visit. 
• What happens if I change the time zone at the branch level? 
  • You must update the route working hours and the visit start and end times. Before confirming changes to the time zone at the Branch level, you will see the following warning message if the branch contains routes with time-based scheduling.