Create the job
In this example we are creating a job at a location named The Odyssey Complex.
The Job Type (Wiring) has three skills requirements and the Scheduling Priority is High. The location has a number of scheduling pre-conditions:
It is in the Core Service Area
It requires a Scissor Lift Permit
Its has restricted access hours (Monday - Wednesday only)
There is one technician excluded from this location
The Scheduling Priority is set using the dropdown menu shown below:
View the Policy and Scheduling Requirements
After setting the location, job type and priority we save the job. Scrolling down to the Scheduling Policy section we can see the key information that will be considered scheduling the job:
Policy Name
Policy Description
Job Type
Skills required by the Job Type
Service Area(s)
Location Access Hours
Permits
Excluded Technicians
Reviewing this section allows us to ensure that the job will be scheduled as expected. For example, if the Service Area was blank, this would let us know that the location is not inside any service area and Smart Scheduler would not be able to assign a technician.
Adding Time Slots and Setting the Duration
If a job is to be Smart Scheduled, it can only have a single time slot.
Every new job contains one time slot by default. The Scheduled Date and Time of the time slot defaults to the time of the job’s creation. This can be left as is, or it can be changed during creation or subsequently.
The duration of the time slot defaults to 0h 0mins. This should be set to the expected duration of the job, but it can can be left at zero. Note that Smart Scheduler assumes a duration of 15mins for such jobs.
The Scheduled Date and Time is used when filtering jobs by date in the Unassigned Jobs List. However it is ignored by the Smart Scheduler because the optimization engine will reschedule jobs until it finds the most optimal plan for all technicians.
Scheduling the Job
Congratulations! The job is now ready for manual scheduling or scheduling via Smart Scheduler.
Other data such as custom fields, tasks, items, attachments can also be added to the job, but these are not taken into account when scheduling the job.
Things to note when preparing jobs for Smart Scheduling
Multi-Stage Jobs
The Smart Scheduler does not schedule multi-stage jobs (jobs with more than one time slot).
Multi-stage jobs display a warning icon and message in the Scheduler’s Unassigned List to indicate that they cannot be be Smart Scheduled. We recommend that such jobs are scheduled manually by dragging and dropping.
Crew Jobs
Jobs which contain a crew but which have not been assigned a Job Lead will not be scheduled by the Smart Scheduler.
Such jobs are flagged by a warning icon and message in the Unassigned Jobs List.
Assigned Jobs (Locked Jobs)
Jobs which are assigned to a Job Lead (with/without a crew) will not be rescheduled by the Smart Scheduler. Such jobs are treated as ‘locked’ on the basis that an appointment has been made with the customer and should be respected. The Smart Scheduler will build the plan around a technician’s locked jobs.