In this article you'll learn:
How to create a schedule.
What You'll Need:
- The URL for your system (yourcompany.getsmartcleaner.org)
- Username and password for your Virtual Mgr system
- A PC, Mac, Apple Device or Android device
- An internet connection
There are a number of key concepts that are used when scheduling. These are summarised in the table below.
Concept | Notes |
|---|---|
| Job Role | While its easy to think of a set of scheduled tasks being assigned to a physical person or cleaner, from a system point of view they are assigned to a job role. Job roles are a common concept used in business, for example CEO. By modelling a cleaners duties through job roles allows Smart Cleaner to easily cater to cases where a cleaner leaves a particular company and is replaced by a new member of staff. Assignment of the tasks that were associated with the cleaner that is leaving is a simple task of placing the new user in the now vacant job role. |
| Team Hierarchy | A team hierarchy is used to map the relationships between team members. This is used from a security point of view to control what data users can look at, however it is also used to group together staff that are working at similar times and typically at similar sites. |
| Roster | A roster is mapped to a team hierarchy and defines some basic information about how that teams schedule should be managed. For example the start time and end time of the team are held in their roster. |
| Scheduled Task | A scheduled task is a plan for work to be conducted by a job role at a site. The schedule task defines the days on which occurs, its period and a number of other attributes. Each day the system will create tasks for users based on the scheduled tasks setup in the system. |
Scheduling Overview
The most important concept with scheduling in Smart Cleaner is being familiar and comfortable with the fact that job roles are scheduled not people or users. People are mapped into a job role through the team hierarchy and therefore acquire their tasks from the system indirectly. This approach, while slightly more abstract allows for Smart Cleaner to offer an easier process to manage resources than otherwise would be the case.
The daily schedule typically forms the core set of tasks performed by any job role. The following screenshot shows an example daily schedule.
The daily tab of the schedule presents the set of tasks for a role in a roster for a week. The following table lists the 4 main elements presented in the screenshot above.
Element | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1 | Roster selection drop combo. This allows the user to select the roster they wish to view. |
| 2 | Job role selection drop combo. This allows the user to select which job role they would like to edit the schedule for |
| 3 | Add new button. This allows the user to select a new task type to be added to the schedule (see 'Add New Schedules' below for more information) |
| 4 | Scheduled Task. Each of the blocks in the daily columns represent a scheduled task. The scheduled tasks with the orange level 50 next to them indicate higher priority tasks defined for the user. Clicking on a scheduled task block brings up the task editor for the task, see Edit Schedule Task below for more information on editing a task. |
Adding New Schedules
To create a new scheduled task for a job role is a simple task of clicking on the Add New button in one of the daily columns. This will present a list of task types that can be created for the job role as seen in the screenshot below.
Once a task type is selected a new scheduled task block will be placed in the day and will be displayed in an editable state so that the title of the task can be entered. An example of this is shown below.
Once you've entered the title of the scheduled task hit the 'enter' button on your keyboard or the green Add button below the text box. You will then be presented with a new scheduled task block as seen in the screenshot below.
You may now click on the task to bring up the task editor where you can configure the scheduled task further, see the Edit Schedule Task section for more information on editing a scheduled task.
Edit Scheduled Task
A scheduled task defines a number of attributes that are all accessible through the Edit Schedule Task screen. This screen is shown when a scheduled task is clicked on in either the Daily tab or the Recurring Tab.
General Tab
The screenshot below shows the General properties tab of a task being edited.
The table below details each of the elements in this screen.
Element | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1 | Main tab |
| 2 | Task title. This information is displayed in both the task list and when they go to view/clock in to a task. |
| 3 | Site selection. This allows the task to be assigned to a particular site configured in the system. |
| 4 | Task description. This information is displayed in both the task list and when they go to view/clock in to a task |
| 5 | Task priority. This defaults to 0. Tasks given a higher priority are displayed in cleaner's task list first, with the lower priority tasks not being available until the higher ones have been completed. |
| 6 | Task Type selector. This allows the task type to be changed. |
Schedule Tab
The screen shot below shows the schedule tab in the edit tab user interface.
The table below details each of the elements in this screen.
Element | Notes |
|---|---|
| 1 | Day selection. A scheduled task can be setup to occur based on the week day. In the example above the scheduled task occurs on any weekdays. |
| 2 | Scheduled Task start date. A scheduled task can be configured to start occurring from a particular date (in the future or the past). If its set to start in the future, tasks associated with this scheduled task will not be created until the start date arrives. This allows for forward planning of new roles and jobs. |
| 3 | Scheduled Task end date. A scheduled task can be configured to end at a particular date. If this value is set then the scheduled task will no longer create tasks for the job role that it is associated with after the date has passed. |
| 4 | Frequency. A scheduled task can be setup to occur every other week, or once every 3 weeks etc. |
| 5 | Completion length. A scheduled task can be configured to take longer than a single day. Smart Cleaner will close off any tasks that haven't been completed by a cleaner with a special status (Finished by system). The system does this once the date the task is created on + the completion length passes. |
Still Need Help?
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