How to Choose Which Engineers and Work the Scheduler Shows
The Scheduler starts with every active engineer and every visit in the dates you are looking at. You can narrow it to the engineers with work, to one customer, or to some call types, call statuses, action statuses or engineers, using the filter rail on the left of the Scheduler and the toolbar above the board. To jump to one engineer without hiding anybody, use Go to engineer above the list of names.
How do I show only the engineers who have work on the Scheduler?
Choose Scheduled under Which engineers, at the top of the Scheduler's filter rail. The board then keeps a row only for engineers with at least one appointment in the dates on screen, which is useful when you have many engineers and only a few are booked.
- All — Every active engineer keeps a row, busy or not. This is where the Scheduler starts, so that you can see who is free as well as who is busy.
- Scheduled — Only engineers with an appointment in this window.
The same choice is on the left half of the date button in the Scheduler's toolbar, which reads All or Scheduled. Select it to open a small Which engineers panel with the same two buttons; close it with Close, by pressing Escape, or by clicking elsewhere.
Switching between All and Scheduled only hides or shows rows; it does not read the board again, so it is instant. The footer then says how many of your engineers are showing, for example "8 of 40 engineers". When other filters are on, Scheduled counts only the appointments those filters let through.
How do I find one engineer on the Scheduler?
Type part of the engineer's name in the Go to engineer box, in the top-left corner of the Scheduler board above the engineer names, and pick them from the list. The board scrolls to that engineer's row and highlights it. Nobody is hidden; this only moves the board to the right place.
- Select the Go to engineer box.
- Type the start of a first name or surname, part of a name, or the engineer's initials. Accents do not matter, so typing "jose" finds "José".
- Choose the engineer from the list with the mouse, or with the Up and Down arrow keys and then Enter.
The list offers up to eight matches, best first: names that start with what you typed, then names with a word that starts with it, then names that contain it, then initials. Each match shows the engineer's name with their photo or initials, and at the end of the line a number such as #12, which is the engineer's place in the list of rows on the board. If nobody matches you will see No engineer matches followed by what you typed.
The box searches the engineers on the board as it stands. If your filters or Scheduled have hidden an engineer, clear them to find that engineer. Press Escape once to close the list and again to empty the box, or select Clear engineer search. The highlight goes when you change the dates or the filters.
How do I show one customer's appointments on the Scheduler?
Type the customer's code, name or address in the Customer block of the Scheduler's filter rail and pick the customer from the list. The board then shows only that customer's visits, for every engineer.
While the board is narrowed to one customer, a line under the toolbar reads One customer: with the customer's name, followed by — a new call from this screen is logged for them. That is a reminder that New Call and a slot you mark out on the board both start a call for that customer. Select the customer's name in that line to open the customer, or Show every customer to remove the filter.
You can also change or clear the customer from the rail's Customer block, from the Customer chip in the toolbar, or with Clear the customer filter. Only one customer can be picked at a time.
How do I filter the Scheduler by call type, status or engineer?
Tick the items you want in the Scheduler's filter rail, under Call Type, Call Status, Action Status or Engineer. The board reads again at once and shows only the visits that match. A list with nothing ticked does not filter at all.
- Call Type — your company's call types.
- Call Status — your company's call statuses: where the whole call has got to.
- Action Status — where this engineer's visit has got to, from the fixed list ABM uses, such as Open, Travelling, On Site, Finished and Cancelled. A call worked by two engineers can be at a different action status on each engineer's appointment, which is why this list is often more useful on the Scheduler than Call Status.
- Engineer — keeps only the ticked engineers' rows on the board.
Each list has Select all and None on its heading, and a Search filters… box at the top of the rail finds a list or an item by name. The More button beside an item offers Show only this, which ticks that item alone in one step. The coloured square beside each item sets its colour, which the Scheduler uses when Colour by in Scheduler settings names that list.
Changing any filter clears the appointment you had selected. Your filters are remembered with the board's layout, so while the star (★) in the Layouts control is on Last Used Layout, which is where it starts, the Scheduler opens with them next time.
What are the chips beside the date button on the Scheduler?
Each chip in the Scheduler's toolbar is a filter that is switched on, named by its list — Customer, Call Type, Call Status, Action Status or Engineer — with what it is set to. A chip names up to three items and then says how many are selected.
- Select the chip itself to change that filter without opening the rail: tick or untick items and select Apply, or select Clear filter to remove it. On the Customer chip you pick a different customer instead, and the pick applies at once.
- Select the small cross on a chip to remove that one filter at once.
- Select Clear all filters, the cross after the last chip, to remove every filter together.
The Filters button at the left end of the toolbar hides the filter rail to give the board more room, and shows it again. While filters are on, it carries a count of how many items are ticked across all the lists, with a picked customer counting as one, so you can see the board is narrowed even with the rail hidden. With the rail hidden, the menu button and the Scheduler title move to the toolbar.