How to Book a Waiting Call into Free Time on the Scheduler
You can book a waiting call straight onto the Scheduler board: pick it up from the To schedule column, and every stretch of free time long enough for the job lights up. Selecting a lit gap places the job there, and the tick beside it books it. Open the To schedule column with the button of that name on the Scheduler's toolbar first.
How do I book a call from the To schedule column onto the Scheduler?
Select the call's card in the To schedule column, select a lit gap in an engineer's lane on the Scheduler board, then select the tick (✓) beside the job to book it. Nothing is written until you select the tick.
- Select To schedule on the Scheduler's toolbar to open the column.
- Select the call's card. A bar headed Scheduling appears over the board, and the board lights the free time that fits the job.
- Choose the job's length in the Scheduling bar if it is not an hour: 1 h, 1 h 30 min, 2 h, 3 h or 4 h.
- Select a lit gap in the lane of the engineer you want. The job appears there, at the start of the cell you selected, moved if needed so the whole job fits in the free time.
- Check the day and time on the placed job. Select another lit gap to move it, or drag it.
- Select the tick beside the placed job, named Book it, to book the call for that engineer at that time.
The Scheduler says, for example, "(call number) is (engineer)’s, (day) at (time)." The call leaves the column, the count beside To schedule goes down by one, and the booking appears on the engineer's lane. ABM Service does not pick the next call for you: select the next card when you are ready. Calls are booked one at a time; there is no way to pick up several cards and book them together.
What does the Scheduling bar over the board show?
The Scheduling bar sits over the Scheduler board for as long as a call is in hand, so you can always see which call you are placing. Its first line shows:
- Scheduling, then the call number. Selecting the number opens the call; the arrow beside it opens the call in a new tab.
- The call's type, the customer's name and the call's comment.
- The job length buttons 1 h, 1 h 30 min, 2 h, 3 h and 4 h. Every job starts at an hour, and the chosen length is what the lit gaps must fit. There is no setting to start jobs at a different length, so choose the length for each call you pick up.
- A ✕ named Stop scheduling this call, which puts the call back in the column.
The second line shows the start of what was written in the call's Details, so you are not choosing a slot from one line of comment. At the right it says what to do next:
- Reading everybody’s week… — ABM Service is still working out who is free, and nothing is lit yet.
- Click a lit gap to put it with that engineer, then the ✓ beside it to book it
- Nobody has been here before — click any lit gap, then the ✓ beside it to book it — no engineer has visited this customer in the last year.
While a booking is being saved, the length buttons do nothing until it finishes.
What does Been here before mean on the Scheduler?
When you pick up a call from the To schedule column, the engineers who have visited that customer in the last year move to the top of the Scheduler board under the heading Been here before, with how many there are. Everyone else stays below under Everyone else, with their count, in the board's usual order. The two groups add up to the engineers on the board; nobody is shown twice.
Each engineer under Been here before shows how many visits they have made and when the last one was, for example "3 visits · last 2 months ago". The engineers are listed with the most visits first. This helps you send someone who already knows the site, its access and its equipment.
If no engineer has been there in the last year, the heading reads Nobody has been to and the customer's name, followed by in the last year, and every engineer is listed as usual.
Only engineers who are on the board can be lifted: an engineer hidden by the filter rail or by Which engineers is not shown in either group. When you put the call back or book it, the board returns to its usual order.
What are the lit gaps, and how does ABM Service work out free time?
A lit gap is a stretch of an engineer's free time on the Scheduler board that is long enough for the job in the Scheduling bar. Each one is a button; hover over it to see, for example, "Put (call number) with (engineer) — (day) (start) – (end)". Where there is room, the gap also shows its start and end times.
Free time is worked out like this:
- The working day comes from the Working day setting in Scheduler settings. Appointments that start before it or run past it take up the part inside it.
- Every appointment counts, including the ones your filter rail is hiding, so an hour booked for another customer or another call type is never shown as free.
- Today starts at the next quarter hour. Time that has passed is hatched and never lit, and past days offer nothing.
- Back-to-back is fine. A job may start the minute another ends.
- The job must fit. Choose a longer length and shorter gaps go dark; a job never runs past midnight.
While a call is in hand, the footer of the board explains the marks: free · click to place, where it would go and past. Moving your pointer over a gap shows where the job would go before you select it.
An engineer with nothing booked in the window is free all day, every day in view. If Which engineers is set to Scheduled, engineers with nothing booked are hidden; choose All to offer them work too.
A lit gap only means nothing is booked there. ABM Service has no holidays, sick days or time off, so an engineer who is away still shows free time; check who is working before you book, and tick only the engineers who are in under Engineer in the Scheduler's filter rail to keep the others off the board.
How do I move or stretch the placed job before booking it?
Before you select the tick, the placed job on the Scheduler board is only a proposal, so you can change it freely. Hover over it for the reminder "drag it to another engineer or another time, or pull an edge".
- Drag the job to another time or to another engineer's lane. It stays inside free time.
- Pull its left or right edge to make the job shorter or longer, within the free time it sits in. The length in the Scheduling bar follows; a length that is not one of the five buttons leaves none of them marked.
- Select another lit gap to move the job there.
- Select the ✕ beside the job, named Take this placement back, to remove the placement. The call stays in hand, ready to be placed somewhere else.
At the larger cell durations, such as 4 h or 5 h in Scheduler settings, a short job is drawn so narrow that it has no edges to pull, and pressing anywhere on it moves it. Change its length with the buttons in the Scheduling bar instead, or choose a smaller Cell duration to draw it wider.
If you choose a longer length in the Scheduling bar after placing the job, the placed job slides earlier to stay inside its free time, or is removed if the free time is too short for the new length; the lit gaps then show where the longer job can go.
Nothing has been written while you do any of this, so taking a placement back costs nothing. If the Scheduler refreshes and finds another booking now overlaps the end of the placed job, the placed job slides earlier to stay inside the free time that is left. If the time you chose has passed, its start has been taken, or the free time left is too short for the job, the placement is removed and you can choose again. Check the day and time on the placed job again before you select Book it.
Can I book a lit gap using only the keyboard?
Yes. On the Scheduler board, press Tab to reach a lit gap: the job is shown at the start of that gap. Press the Left and Right arrow keys to move it one cell at a time within the gap, then press Enter to place it there. Tab on to the tick beside the placed job, named Book followed by the call number, the engineer and the time, and press Enter to book it.
Press Esc (Escape) once to take a placement back, and press it a second time to put the call back in the To schedule column. The ✕ in the Scheduling bar does the same as the second press.
What happens after I book a call from the To schedule column?
The call now has that engineer's visit, exactly as if it had been scheduled from the call's own screen. The Scheduler reads the board again, so the booking you see on the lane is the one ABM Service saved, and the To schedule column reloads without the call.
If the call's status was the built-in Web, Open, Closed or Cancelled, booking the visit moves the call to Active, as scheduling from the call screen does.
There is no Undo for a booking on the Scheduler, and in this version a booked visit cannot be taken off the call at all, from the Scheduler or from the call screen. You can still change it: drag the appointment on the Scheduler board, or open the call and change the visit's engineer, date, time or length there.
If somebody else gave the call to an engineer while you were placing it, the Scheduler says Someone has already given this call to an engineer. Nothing is written, the call leaves the column, and you can move on to the next one. If the booking is refused for any other reason, the Scheduler shows the reason it was given and the call stays in hand, so you can put it somewhere else. If the booking could not be sent at all, the Scheduler says "(call number) could not be booked; nothing was written.", and the call also stays in hand so you can try again.
Why is no free time lit on the Scheduler?
The Scheduler says why in words when it cannot show free time for the call in hand:
- Free time is not shown in the Month view — switch to a week or a day to book this call. A month has no hours in it. Choose Day, Work week or Week.
- Reading everybody’s week… in the Scheduling bar — wait a moment.
- Everybody’s week could not be read, so nothing is shown as free. Select Refresh to try again.
If none of these is showing, the job may simply not fit: choose a shorter length, move to another week with the arrows beside the dates, or check that the engineers you want are on the board. Every day in view may also be in the past.