How to Set the Visit Time and Check for Clashes
A scheduled visit has two facts: when the engineer is due and how long the visit lasts. In the Schedule engineer dialog you set them under When, or by dragging the proposed slot on the engineer's day, which appears under the boxes once an engineer is picked and shows any clash as you go.
How do I set when the engineer is due?
Use the three boxes under When in the Schedule engineer dialog: Due is the date and time the visit starts, End is the time it finishes, and Duration is its length in hours and minutes. Change any one and the other two follow.
- Due moves the whole visit. The duration stays the same, so End moves with it.
- End sets the length. The duration becomes the time between Due and End; an end at or before the start gives a 15-minute visit rather than being refused.
- Duration is typed as hours and minutes, for example 01:30 for an hour and a half, and moves End.
A new dialog starts at the next whole hour, one hour long. What ABM stores is the due date and time and the duration; End is worked out from them, just as it is on the Scheduler.
If you type something that is not a time, the box keeps what you typed but the visit does not move until the value makes sense. A Duration that is not in hours and minutes, or is 00:00, is marked as a problem and is simply not taken: the visit keeps the length it had, and when you leave the box it shows that length again. A Duration of 24 hours or more is not taken either. The one visit that can have no length is an older one stored with none, which opens with Duration at 00:00 and cannot be booked or saved until you give it a length. You can also set the time by clicking or dragging on an engineer's line in the Engineer list, and by dragging the proposed slot on the engineer's day.
What is the engineer's day under the Schedule engineer dialog?
Once you pick an engineer, their whole day appears under the fields of the Schedule engineer dialog as one lane, with the hours marked across it. It shows their visits already booked and the visit you are proposing, so you can place it by eye.
The lane's heading shows the engineer's picture and name, the day with Previous day and Next day either side, a Today button and a key (scheduled, proposed · free, clash, and past on today).
- Each booked visit is a chip showing its call number, customer and times, coloured by call type as on the Scheduler. A visit with no length is shown as no duration.
- Two visits at the same time share the lane as two halves; three or more become one chip reading, for example, ×3 calls. Hover over it to list them.
- On today, the time before now is hatched and a line marks the current time.
- The proposed visit is the solid slot showing its times and free or clash with its length.
The lane covers the working day, 08:00 to 18:00, whatever Working day you have chosen in the Scheduler's settings, and stretches to whole hours to contain a visit set earlier or later. The line under the engineer's day says what you need to know:
- the engineer's name, is free and the day and times, when the slot fits;
- Clashes with and what it overlaps, when it does not;
- Checking the day… added at the end while the engineer's bookings for that day are still on their way;
- Availability could not be loaded: and a reason, when the bookings did not arrive, so the lane cannot be trusted. Close the dialog and open it again.
Beside it a short hint repeats the gestures: drag the slot to move it · pull an edge to change the duration.
How do I move or resize the proposed slot on the engineer's day?
Drag the proposed slot along the engineer's day in the Schedule engineer dialog to move it, or pull either edge to change how long it is. It moves in quarter hours, and Due, End and Duration update when you let go; on a new call the engineer pill at the top of the screen follows too, while on a saved call the pill keeps showing the booked time until you press Done.
- Drag the middle of the slot to move the visit to another time the same day.
- Drag the left edge to change the start and keep the end, or the right edge to change the end and keep the start.
- Release. The boxes under When now show the new time.
From the keyboard, focus the slot and press the Left or Right arrow key to move it a quarter hour at a time. Hold Shift and press an arrow key (Shift+Right arrow) to make it a quarter hour longer or shorter.
The slot cannot be dragged before now on today, and it cannot be made shorter than 15 minutes. Nothing is booked while you drag: on a saved call the visit is booked only when you press Done.
What happens if the visit clashes with another booking?
A clash is shown, never blocked. When the proposed visit overlaps a visit the engineer already has, the slot on the engineer's day turns to the clash style, its label says clash, and the line under the lane says Clashes with followed by the times, customer and call number of each visit it overlaps.
You can still press Done and book it. Sometimes a double booking is what you mean, such as two short jobs at neighbouring sites or a visit that will really start when the other finishes, so ABM Service tells you and leaves the decision with you.
Visits that only touch are not a clash: one ending at 14:00 and another starting at 14:00 is simply a full day. A booked visit with no length counts as a clash when it falls inside your slot. Every visit booked for the engineer counts, whatever its status, so a visit at a cancelled or finished status still shows on the engineer's day and can be named in Clashes with. The check knows only visits on calls, not holidays or time off.
The clash check includes everything the dialog knows about:
- On a new call with several engineers pending, the other engineers you have added show on the lanes as This call, so you cannot double-book the same engineer twice on one call without seeing it.
- When you change a visit that is already booked, that visit is left out of the check, so it never clashes with itself.
How do I look at another day for the same engineer?
Use Previous day and Next day beside the date in the engineer's day under the Schedule engineer dialog, and Today to come back to today. Browsing another day does not move your visit: the line under the lane says Browsing followed by the day and — the proposed slot has not moved.
While you are browsing, a button at the edge of the lane says slot is on followed by the day and time of your proposed visit; press it to go back to that day. To move the visit to the day you are looking at, drag out a time on the empty lane, as the hint drag out a time here to move the slot to that day says. The visit moves to that day, with the start and length you drew.
The day shown follows the visit whenever the visit itself moves to another day, for example when you click a line in the Engineer list or type a new Due. You cannot browse before today.
Why can't I book a visit overnight, in the past or with no length?
The Schedule engineer dialog keeps to the same rules as the Scheduler, so that every visit can be drawn on the board and read by the engineer.
- Not in the past, by pointer. On today, the earliest time a click or a drag offers is the next step after now; the past is hatched and a slot is never dragged into it. A date and time you type into Due yourself is taken as typed.
- Not overnight. A visit must start and end on the same day. If it would run past midnight, Done says An appointment starts and ends on the same day. Book two visits instead, one on each day.
- Not a day or more. The Duration box does not take 24 hours or more, and a visit that arrives with such a length is refused with An appointment is shorter than a day.
- Not zero. A visit needs a length. An older visit stored with none opens with Duration at 00:00, and Done says The appointment needs a duration. until you give it one.
The working day drawn in the dialog, 08:00 to 18:00, is a guide only: you can type a Due outside it, and the engineer's day stretches to show it.