How to Schedule More Than One Engineer or Change a Visit
A call can carry several engineers' visits, on different days and at different times. On the call screen you add another with the plus button beside the engineer pill at the top of the screen, named Schedule another engineer, or with Add engineer on the Scheduled visits card; you change a booked visit by opening it from the pill, its menu or the card.
How do I add a second engineer to a call?
Open the call and select Schedule another engineer, the plus button joined to the right of the engineer pill at the top of the call screen. A dialog headed Another engineer for this call opens; choose the engineer and the time, and press Done. Each press of Done books one visit, so repeat it for a third engineer.
- Open the call from the Calls list.
- Select Schedule another engineer, the plus button beside the engineer pill.
- Choose the engineer and the time in the dialog.
- Press Done. The visit is booked and added to the Scheduled visits card.
You can do the same from the Scheduled visits card with Add engineer, or from the pill's menu with Schedule another engineer once two or more engineers are on the call.
Each engineer is booked on their own. If you add three and the third is refused, the first two stay booked, which is how the ABM desktop application behaves too. On a new call, the extra engineers wait with the call and are all created with it when you press Save call.
Adding a visit to a call at the built-in status Web, Open, Closed or Cancelled puts the call back to Active, and the dialog says so before you press Done. Adding a second engineer to a call that is already Active leaves its status alone.
What does the header show when several engineers are on a call?
With two or more engineers on a call, the engineer pill at the top of the call screen shows up to three of their pictures or initials, the number of engineers, for example 2 engineers, and first followed by the day and time of the earliest visit. The earliest visit counts even if it is already in the past.
Select the pill to open a short menu headed On this call. It lists every engineer in the order they are due, each with the day and hours of their visit, and ends with Schedule another engineer. Select an engineer in the menu to open the dialog on that visit.
With one engineer, the pill shows that engineer's name and the whole of their visit, such as the day and the hours, and selecting it opens the dialog on that visit directly. With nobody, it is the plain Schedule engineer button.
On a saved call the Scheduled visits card lists the same visits in the same order, so the header, its menu and the card agree on who is first. On a new call the card's pending rows stay in the order you added the engineers, so there the pill's first may be a different engineer from the card's top row.
How do I change the time or engineer of a visit that is already booked?
Open the visit from the engineer pill at the top of the call screen, from its On this call menu, or from its row in the Scheduled visits card. A dialog headed Change this visit opens on that visit; change the engineer or the time and press Done.
- Select the engineer pill, or the visit's row in the Scheduled visits card.
- Change the engineer in the Engineer box, or the time under When or on the engineer's day.
- Press Done. The visit moves there and then.
Changing a visit is the same move as dragging it on the Scheduler: it changes who and when, nothing else. It never changes the call's status, so the dialog shows no reopening notice. At its foot the dialog shows This visit is followed by the visit's status.
If the call has unsaved changes, ABM Service saves the call first and then moves the visit, so your typing is not lost.
The visit's Notes box is read-only in the Change this visit dialog, labelled the engineer's memo, read-only for now.
Why can't I change the notes on an engineer's visit?
A booked visit's notes cannot be edited from the call screen in this version. In the Change this visit dialog, which opens from the engineer pill at the top of the call screen or from the visit's row in the Scheduled visits card, the Notes box is read-only and labelled the engineer's memo, read-only for now. It shows the start of the notes the engineer reads for that visit.
The notes are set when the visit is booked. When you schedule an engineer, the Notes box in the dialog is empty with the hint Defaults to the comment: type the notes you want the engineer to have, or leave it empty and the visit's notes are the call's Comment.
To send new words to engineers whose visits are already booked, change the call itself instead. Change the call's Comment or its Details document and press Save with the update switch on in the Scheduled visits card (it reads, for example, "Update the 2 scheduled visits", and is on unless you turn it off): every engineer's visit on the call is then given the call's comment and the text of its details.
Why does a visit have a padlock, and why can't I change it?
A padlock on a visit means its action status is one the Scheduler will not move either: Closed, Matched, Cancelled, Send Error or Finished. That work is history, so the visit cannot be moved or given to somebody else from the call screen.
When you select a locked visit in the On this call menu, in the Scheduled visits card or from the pill, ABM Service does not open the dialog. Instead it shows a note where you pressed, for example This visit is Finished. followed by A visit at this status cannot be moved or given to somebody else — the Scheduler refuses it for the same reason. Book another engineer instead. Hover over a locked row to see the reason in short: the status followed by — this visit can no longer be changed. The note goes away on your next click or when you press the Escape key (Esc).
To send someone back to the job, book a new visit with Schedule another engineer. If a visit's status changes to a finished one while your dialog is open, Done is refused with This action's status does not allow rescheduling.
Can I remove, cancel or mark a visit finished from the call screen?
Not once it is booked: there is no way to take a booked visit off a call from the call screen in this version. The Change this visit dialog can move a visit or give it to another engineer, but it has no remove button, because on a saved call the visit is already booked. A visit booked by mistake stays on the call; open it with Change this visit and give it the right time or engineer.
A visit's status cannot be changed in ABM Service either. There is no way to mark a visit Finished, Cancelled or any other action status, on the call screen or on the Scheduler: the Change this visit dialog shows the status at its foot, after This visit is, for reading only. To finish the job, change the call's own Status at the top of the call screen to your company's closing status, such as Closed, and save the call. To send somebody back to the job, book a new visit with Schedule another engineer.
On a new call that has not been saved yet, you can take a pending engineer off: open them from the header pill or the Scheduled visits card and press Don't schedule at the foot of the dialog. Nothing was written for them, so nothing is left behind.
Why won't the engineer pill or the plus button open while a visit is being booked?
While a visit is being booked, the engineer pill and Schedule another engineer refuse to open anything, and hovering over them says The visit is being booked — this opens again once the database has answered. The dialog in front of you shows Booking… on its button at the same time.
This stops a second booking starting before the first has finished. Save on the call is off for the same moment. Wait a second or two: when the booking lands the dialog closes and both buttons work again.