Aspire provides strong support for the management of snow-related services. Because of the unpredictable nature of snowstorms, business practices for managing snow services and the use of Aspire for snow management require a specialized focus.
Snow Events
When considering snow management, the concept of snow events is important. A snow event is typically a single snowfall or another severe weather event that requires the services of the organization. Aspire allows you to perform two key functions around snow events around which other snow capabilities are centered:
- Schedule visits for anticipated snow events.
- Log a weather event (snowfall) that has occurred and for which final snow depth has become available.
Optimized Snow Management Methods
In addition to the normal scheduling functions, Aspire provides two methods for efficiently making work tickets for snow events available to the crew leaders for allocating time.
- Routes Method – This method allows you to pre-define properties on each snow route for which the crew is responsible making contracted services for those properties available to the crew leader on the mobile device for assigning time. This method does not require schedulers to explicitly schedule work ticket visits on the schedule board when a snow event occurs.
- Events Method – This method allows a scheduler to quickly schedule work ticket visits on the schedule board when a snow event occurs so that the work tickets are available to crew leaders in the normal fashion in the Crew Mobile App.
Many companies choose to use one approach or the other. Some companies choose to use both methods. For example, you might choose to explicitly schedule events (Events Method) for salt routes since there is a necessity to tightly manage schedules due to multiple visits occurring, whereas plowing might need less hands-on management causing you to use the Routes Method.
The application of these methods is further developed in Snow Season Setup.