Scheduler Workflow

[RobsImports]

As we become more familiar with the quirks of the scheduler, we find it would be very useful to have the ability to visually see the difference between a waiter appointment, a vehicle here being worked on, and a vehicle that is scheduled to be dropped but not yet arrived.
Also wondering how hard it would be to modify the system to not smash together entire appointment blocks. Example; Customer 1 is scheduled for 7 hours of work, Customer 2 has a short 1 hour job that needs to be routed in the middle of Customer 1's job. The entire 7 hour block gets skinny and the information is unable to be read. If the system was modified so only the short 1 hour section of the 7 hour block would get skinny then the visual representation would be more effective.

[davesdowntownconoco]

I'll throw in my 2 cents. Getting used to the scheduler, but, like others, I'm finding a few quirks that are making it a little difficult.

1. When scheduling, it asks for a vehicle input. This is fine, however, many times, I don't yet have the customers vehicle or the information. Usually, I then cancel and create the appointment. Several times after doing this, the program creates a new blank vehicle under the customer screen. Then when I create an R.O. and select the correct vehicle, it leaves a blank vehicle stored. Then when I go to print my tech worksheet, there is no vehicle information printed even though I have the correct vehicle with VIN on the R.O.

2. I'm on board with everyone else. The time- slot style scheduling is nice, but it's not enough. I have no way of knowing now if a scheduled appointment is a posted invoice or if it still needs payment. Color coding of appointments would be fantastic, especially like it used to be for "estimate," "RO," or "Posted." Also, having the ability to change colors based on whether a vehicle has arrived or not or is a waiter or not would be excellent.

3. Waiters should have their position on the schedule locked. They should only be able to move by opening the appointment editor. As another user had mentioned, a lot of times we schedule all-day work to fit around our waiters.

That's all I can think of for now. I definitely like the bold step forward and I hope that the team is able to continue improving the scheduler. It's definitely a step in the right direction! Thanks for all the hard work!

Dan

[Silky7]

I'll throw in my 2 cents. Getting used to the scheduler, but, like others, I'm finding a few quirks that are making it a little difficult.

1. When scheduling, it asks for a vehicle input. This is fine, however, many times, I don't yet have the customers vehicle or the information. Usually, I then cancel and create the appointment. Several times after doing this, the program creates a new blank vehicle under the customer screen. Then when I create an R.O. and select the correct vehicle, it leaves a blank vehicle stored. Then when I go to print my tech worksheet, there is no vehicle information printed even though I have the correct vehicle with VIN on the R.O.


Dan

Dan,

Thanks for your feedback! When you have a moment, could you PM the steps you take in this process? I'm unable to replicate the blank tech worksheet.

[Silky7]

Wondering if there is a way to block off a time slot on the schedule for all of the technicians. Example; shop meeting from 12-12:30 that all technicians will be at. Currently it seems I have to create a bogus appointment separately for each technician to visually represent the time slot is full. I've tried shop events, but that does not assign a technician and so visually it does not close off that time slot. I'm sure there is a way to do this, I'm just not finding it. Thanks for the help.

Currently you would need to make a Shop Event for each Technician individually. We'll look into this.

[gordiesgarage]

We love the idea of the new scheduler but are having a hard time adapting it to our workflow.

Here is our original process for scheduling:
1. Click New from WIP Screen
2. Enter customer info
3. Enter/Select vehicle info
4. Write up the order using canned jobs and entering parts
5. Select the Date and Time of the appointment
6. Exit out of the estimate

The reason we write up the appt using an estimate is because it allows us to look up parts, order parts, see history, recommend services that are due during the appointment process. It also allows us to change the appointment time and have it updated on the WIP screen.

Here is our updated process for V7.0.2
1. Click Schedule
2. New Appointment
3. Fill in customer name
(If new it makes you enter the name of the customer twice. Err!)
4. Select correct vehicle
5. Fill in the appointment date and time
6. Click New Estimate (This allows us to look up history, order parts, etc...)
7. Fill in the appropriate jobs/canned jobs

This process works good as long as the customer doesn't call and change the appointment. If you change the appointment time it doesn't update on the WIP screen.

What we would like to see:
1. Full integration of the schedule time on the WIP screen and Scheduler
2. Allow to start the appointment from the NEW button
3. Have the WIP screen appointment times reflect that of the Scheduler

[Johnny5]

This process works good as long as the customer doesn't call and change the appointment. If you change the appointment time it doesn't update on the WIP screen.

What we would like to see: 1. Full integration of the schedule time on the WIP screen and Scheduler 2. Allow to start the appointment from the NEW button 3. Have the WIP screen appointment times reflect that of the Scheduler

Create the estimate as you normally would, then from the WIP screen right click on the estimate, and select Appointment. In the next update; the schedule times from the WIP are tightly integrated to the schedule. It's evolving nicely.

[RobsImports]

This process works good as long as the customer doesn't call and change the appointment. If you change the appointment time it doesn't update on the WIP screen.

What we would like to see: 1. Full integration of the schedule time on the WIP screen and Scheduler 2. Allow to start the appointment from the NEW button 3. Have the WIP screen appointment times reflect that of the Scheduler

Create the estimate as you normally would, then from the WIP screen right click on the estimate, and select Appointment. In the next update; the schedule times from the WIP are tightly integrated to the schedule. It's evolving nicely.

This information is awesome! Wondering now if the same process could be adapted to an RO vs an estimate on the WIP screen?
The concern we run into with using estimates is that the preordered parts are linked to a different # then the RO is. In other words the Estimate is identified with a different # then it is once converted to an RO. Or another option would be to have the estimate and RO share the same identifying #. This makes linking parts invoices with work orders much more difficult.

Also as the integration happens between the Scheduler and WIP screen will the scheduled time on the WIP screen change and/or be modifiable? Currently it is not, which renders the scheduled time on the WIP screen useless.

[Johnny5]

The same process can and will apply to Repair Orders. Write the RO, leave the tech off the assignment for now. Right click on the RO from the WIP screen, drag the appointment to the tech you want to associate it to, and save.

[ricmorin]

This information is awesome! Wondering now if the same process could be adapted to an RO vs an estimate on the WIP screen?
The concern we run into with using estimates is that the preordered parts are linked to a different # then the RO is. In other words the Estimate is identified with a different # then it is once converted to an RO. Or another option would be to have the estimate and RO share the same identifying #. This makes linking parts invoices with work orders much more difficult.
Also as the integration happens between the Scheduler and WIP screen will the scheduled time on the WIP screen change and/or be modifiable? Currently it is not, which renders the scheduled time on the WIP screen useless.

The easiest way to alleviate the numbering inconsistencies between Estimates and Repair Orders when preordering parts is to use Special Orders. When converted to a Repair Order, Special Orders RETAIN THE SAME NUMBER. In addition, they play nice with online ordering and PO tracking, unlike Estimates.

[fixitwithfred]

We just got the 7.0 update friday. Threw a hella monkey wrench in our workflow.
I see a few things that would be awesome on the new scheduler.

#1: Need a way to see total hours schedule for a tech per day. It seems to do it off of billed hours now. Depending on productivity, that will be inaccurate.
#2: Need a way to indicate waiters and lock down their appointment time.
#3: Need a way for the drop offs to fill in the space between waiters.
#4. Seems like the WIP times/dates need to communicate with the scheduler.
#5. When you upsell work, the updated time on the workorder should update the time consumed on the scheduler.


For now we're making due. Seems that there is a learning curve here. I can see that it will be better in the long run, but for now it is more of a hindrance then a help. Can't wait for a patch to come out and some instructional videos. I watched the ones at the beginning of this post.

[Bill Coniam]

I appreciate the intent, when revising the scheduler – to allow for individual technician scheduling or to block out use of a piece of equipment...however.

It seems that he primary purpose of a scheduler, to load the shop while serving customers was totally lost.

I need to be able to load my shop with hours so that I make money...but not overload it, so my customers don’t get upset.

What has been lost in the update is the fact that I can no longer, AT A GLANCE, tell where we stand: there are no hours per appt, no total hours scheduled, we can no longer see how many of these appointments have already arrived throughout the day, and (with reduced notes visible at a glance) - whether or not there is a ride coming in shortly, before my driver leaves the shop.

The ability to choose (like Regular, etc) “list view” (like the old scheduler) that would give us some what we lost would be a good “patch” until a well-thought-out revision can be prepared.

[Johnny5]

Hi Bill and welcome to the forum, I'm betting you are on version 7.02. Your totals at a glance are in version 7.0.3 which can be downloaded and installed from http://m1files.com. We continue to evolve the calendar. and scheduling capabilities. You will see several functional additions in version 7.0.4 which is being worked on right now.
JD

[Bill Coniam]

[Johnny5]

The ability to choose (like Regular, etc) “list view” (like the old scheduler) that would give us some what we lost.

The Appointment Tab in the scheduler:

sched2.jpg (165.25 KiB) Viewed 8214 times

[BERGMANS1]

While the appointment tab has its own use, it does not take the place or provide the same information as the previous schedule. The appointment tab only shows job hours. Job hours is not easily changed, mine always shows 0 which is not helpful. Then you have order hours and scheduled hours. I think it is excessive.

If I had the option to go back to the original schedule I would do it in a second. All the new features are great, but until the new schedule at least does the few things that the old one did I am not going to be satisfied I am sorry.
You added a bunch of bells and whistles to the car but removed the drivetrain in my opinion.

The new schedule is like a calculator. There are basic calculators and scientific models. Maybe we can have a choice of which one we want. I am fine with the basic calculator, I am not trying to find out the specific gravity of my customer. I am on version 7.0.3 as a note.

[Bill Coniam]

Thanks for the reminder of the search function, but the "search" you posted while great to find a name or a car, it shows all appointments, it will not, even sorting by date, show me my workload at a glance. And the "status" column isn't much help if they are all going to say simply OPEN or CLOSED, whether the car is here yet or not.

I agree with your comments below your screen shot.

[Johnny5]

The ability to choose (like Regular, etc) “list view” (like the old scheduler) that would give us some what we lost.

You added a bunch of bells and whistles to the car but removed the drivetrain in my opinion. The new schedule is like a calculator. There are basic calculators and scientific models. Maybe we can have a choice of which one we want. I am fine with the basic calculator, I am not trying to find out the specific gravity of my customer.

I am on version 7.0.3 as a note.

We are working on it. In the meantime have you setup all the parameters outlined in the setup document?

[Bill Coniam]

Probably did every modification we could to make this version more usable, but since the available documentation is such a long wordy list, go ahead and include the related text (you referenced) here for all of us in this post to be safe.

While on the topic,

The appointments that span more than one day have plenty of room, yet include no notes (very important to us) and amazingly, no sold hours?

Those same multi-day appointments - how about a time that is easier to read like 7:30 am, rather than the world's smallest analog clock face?

And to make sure of my clarity on a paramount point - PLEASE let us tell at a glance, whether it is still an appointment or has turned into a repair order or an invoice.

I know I'm a pain, but this is important enough to our shop that I'm back on the forum from so long ago that tech support couldn't even fine me. Thanks!

[Johnny5]

Probably did every modification we could to make this version more usable, but since the available documentation is such a long wordy list, go ahead and include the related text (you referenced) here for all of us in this post to be safe.

While on the topic,

The appointments that span more than one day have plenty of room, yet include no notes (very important to us) and amazingly, no sold hours?

Those same multi-day appointments - how about a time that is easier to read like 7:30 am, rather than the world's smallest analog clock face?

And to make sure of my clarity on a paramount point - PLEASE let us tell at a glance, whether it is still an appointment or has turned into a repair order or an invoice.

I know I'm a pain, but this is important enough to our shop that I'm back on the forum from so long ago that tech support couldn't even fine me. Thanks!

Every one of these are included in v 7.0.5 dues in a few weeks. Some of the changes to 7.0.5 can be seen in 7.0.3 which is available from M1Files.com. Tech support can help with that.

Regards,

JD

[Bill Coniam]

Thanks for all your hard work on this.

Can I suggest that the little red pop-up that says the "ENDS is before the STARTS" not pop up right in the way of the work you are doing? Better yet, wait, just give us time to finish, we'll probably get it right ourselves...and only pop up a warning when we go to save something the system doesn't like.