Technician Service Scheduling

Note:  Before you can begin using the Technician Service Scheduling screen, you must complete the following steps:
- Create a non-real technician Employee Profile
- Set the Mandatory Est Compl Hrs/Dt switch in the CMBR3 table to H or Y
For details, see the Drag and Drop Service Scheduling Overview topic.

To open the Technician Service Scheduling screen, hover over the Product Support link from anywhere within IntelliDealer and select Service> Service Scheduling from the drop down list.

Note:  The Service Scheduling link will only appear if the Access switch is activated on the Authorization List For Product Support - Service Scheduling screen, and the Technician Service Scheduling screen will only appear when the Service Scheduling Method switch in the CMBR5 table of the green screen application has been set to T. If the switch has been set to W, the Work Order Service Scheduling screen will appear instead.

The Technician Service Scheduling screen allows you to view and assign work order segments to each technician at your dealership by dragging and dropping the associated work order block. Each work order block displayed on the screen can represent any number of work order segments. As of IntelliDealer 3.0, you can also differentiate between Road technicians and Branch technicians:

  • Road technicians can be assigned to work orders created at any branch
  • Branch technicians can only be assigned to work orders created at their associated Service Location, as specified on the Service Information tab of their employee profile

For details on how to assign or re-assign work order segments for both Road and Branch technicians, see the Drag and Drop Service Scheduling Overview topic. Additionally, for more information on road technicians, see the Technician Scheduling: Road Technician document.

The following search fields appear on the Technician Service Scheduling screen:

Field Description
Search

Allows you to search for work order segment blocks by work order number.

When using this field, the system will highlight any orders that meet the selected criteria in blue.

Select Technician

Allows you to filter the work order segment blocks displayed in the calendar by technician id, unless you are already filtering by a specific Shift. If a Shift has been selected and the screen is currently displaying the technicians associated to that shift, any technicians entered into this field will be removed from the calendar.

Note:  To display multiple technicians in the calendar, leave this field blank or separate the desired technician IDs with a space (do not use commas).

Shift

Allows you to filter the work orders/segments displayed in the calendar based on the shift associated to assigned technician, as specified in the Inside/Outside/Shift field of the Service Information tab.

Note:  If you select a specific shift in this field, any technicians you enter into the Select Technician field will be removed from the calendar.

Pause Auto Refresh

When this box is checked the service list will not automatically refresh when the screen loads or whenever the system automatically refreshes the list.

This is beneficial for dealers that have a large number of work orders and might not want frequent refreshes to inhibit modifications of multiple work orders.

The following fields appear on the Technician Service Scheduling screen:

Field Description
Unassigned/ Scheduled Sidebar

Depending on the selected filter, this panel will display either Unassigned work order segments (work order segments that have been assigned to a non-real technician) or Scheduled work order segments (work order segments that have been assigned to an active technician, but are not scheduled for the week currently displayed on the calendar).

Note:  If you are viewing the Branch technician calendar, only work order blocks associated to your current location will be listed in the side bar.
If you are viewing the Road technician calendar, work order blocks from every location at your dealership will be listed in the side bar.

Note:  You can configure the amount of information that will be displayed for each work order listed in the side bar using the Selection Criteria screen.

Technician

Lists all of your dealership's technicians.

Note:  If you are viewing the Branch technician calendar, only technicians assigned to your current location will be listed.
If you are viewing the Road technician calendar, only technicians for whom the Road Technician switch has been activated will be listed (as specified on the Service Information tab of their employee profile.)

In order for an employee to be listed as a technician, the following conditions must be met:

  • Technician Rate information as well as Shift Hours for at least one day have been configured for the employee on the Service Information tab.
  • The Class assigned to the technician's Employee Profile is active for service scheduling (the Omit From Scheduling switch for the selected Class is deactivated on the Classes screen)
  • The Category assigned to the technician's Employee Profile is not N/A (any employee assigned a Category of N/A will not appear on the Technician Service Scheduling screen).
  • The employee has not been terminated (the Termination Date field on the Employee Profile tab is blank)

In addition to the technician name, the total work hours assigned to all technicians is displayed at the top of the column, as well as the Weekly scheduled work hours, Totalscheduled work hours, and Over Due work hours for the selected technician (if applicable).

Note:  The values in the Weekly, Total and Over Due fields are driven by the work orders scheduled for the technician, compared to the Shift Hours configured for the technician on the Service Information tab. For example, if the selected technician has been assigned to work on 3 work orders this week totaling 20 scheduled hours and the same technician has shift hours for 6 days of the week totaling 48 hours, the Weekly value will be displayed as "20/48".

Note:  If Over Due hours are listed for a technician, the work order number that has yet to be completed will be displayed.

Note:  If the technician name appears highlighted in green, it is because they are currently logged on to a work order/segment.

Calendar View

Note:  As of IntelliDealer 3.0, there are two calendar options: one for Branch technicians, which displays work orders assigned to technicians at your current location, and one for Road technicians, who can be assigned to work orders from any branch.
To switch between the two calendars, click the Switch To Road Techs/ Switch To Branch Techs switch at the top of the screen.

The calendar view always opens to today's date and displays all open work order segments (not signed off, closed or deleted) that have been scheduled for the selected technician(s) for the next 7 days. Depending on the manner in which the work order segments have been scheduled , the order blocks will either be displayed in cascading order based on priority code (Priority Scheduled Orders), or simply listed on the Scheduled Start Date of the order (Date Scheduled Orders).

Note:  For more information about Priority Codes, see the Segments help topic.

Note:  For more information about how to schedule a Priority Scheduled Order or a Date Scheduled Order, see the Drag and Drop Service Scheduling Overview topic.

Below each date at the top of the calendar the system displays the total scheduled hours and the total available hours for all technicians on that date. The total scheduled hours and the total available hours for the selected technician will also be displayed in parentheses.

Days on which a technician is partially unavailable (based on time off booked on the Time Off Hours screen) will appear with a striped gray background. Days on which a technician is completely unavailable (based either on their Shift Hours or scheduled time off) will appear fully grayed-out and you will not be able to schedule service for these days.

Note:  You can configure the amount of information that will be displayed for each work order block displayed in the calendar using the Selection Criteria screen.

The color of each work order segment block displayed in either the calendar or sidebar represents the status of the order:

Color Description
Yellow Signifies that there should be no issues with starting or completing the order on time (ie. there are enough hours to complete and start the service on time).
Gray Signifies that the technician is currently Logged On to the order but that order is not assigned to him/her.
Red

Signifies one of the following errors:

  • The segment will not be completed by the Estimated Completion Date (based on the selected technicians available hours and number of estimated hours currently remaining on the segment)
  • No Estimated Hours have been configured for the segment
  • The number of hours worked on the segment have surpassed the number of Estimated Hours configured for the segment
  • The service for the segment will begin before the Scheduled Start Date
Orange Signifies that the selected work order segment has been assigned Reason code S (Preventative Maintenance), as specified on the Segments tab of the order.
Green (outline) Signifies that the selected technician is currently Logged On to at least one the segments represented by the block.
Blue (outline) Signifies that the selected work order block meets the search criteria entered in the Search field.

The following icons allow you to view more information about each work order segment block on the Technician Service Scheduling screen:

Icon Description
M Click this icon to view any work order memos associated to the work order on the Work Order Memo screen.
S

Click this icon to view all the segments on the selected work order number.

Note:  This icon will only appear if the segments associated to the selected work order have been assigned to multiple technicians (real and non-real).

Click this icon to view any errors associated to the selected block.

Click this icon to open the Customer - Work Order Header tab, allowing you to make changes to the order.

Note:  If the Edit Work Order switch is deactivated on the Authorization List For Product Support - Service Scheduling screen, clicking this link will open the Work Order Details screen instead.

When the selected work order has multiple segments, click and hold this icon when dragging the block to the desired date/technician. When you release the block, the Select Segments To Assign window will appear, allowing you to select the exact segments you want to assign to the technician that you have dropped the block on.

Note:  Although the Select Segments To Assign window will appear by simply clicking the icon, if you want to un-assign a specific segment you must physically click and drag the icon/block back to the Unassigned/ Scheduled sidebar, then select the segments you want to assign to the non-real technician and enter the non-real technician number on the Unassigned Technician window. A work order block representing any segments still assigned to the technician will remain on the calendar and a work order block representing any un-assigned segments will appear in the Unassigned/Scheduled sidebar. For more information, see the Un-assigning or Re-assigning Work Order Segments section below.

The Technician Service Scheduling screen allows you to perform the following actions:

Action Steps
To assign, re-assign or un-assign work order segments Drag and drop the desired work order block to either the calendar or side bar. Note that depending on where you drop the work order block can determine the priority code that will be assigned to the order. For details, see the Drag and Drop Service Scheduling Overview.
To change the Road Technician setting, Service Location, Shift or shift hours of a technician

Click the Edit Technician icon next to the desired technician.
The Employee Information window will appear.

Note:  The Edit Technicianicon will only appear if the Edit Technician Info switch is activated in security system 819.

Note:  Changing any of the aforementioned settings using the Edit Technicianicon can result in a number changes for the work orders assigned to the selected technician. For details, please see the Drag and Drop Service Scheduling Overview.

To book time off for a technician

Click the Technician name or the Need to record time off? Click here link.
The Time Off Hours screen will appear.

Note:  If the Post Hours To Work Order switch is active for the time off code you use to schedule the time off hours with, the system will force you to post the hours to a work order. This is useful when your dealership employs work orders to track paid vacation, training, sick time or other paid time off.
For details, please the Time Off (Add & Edit) screen help topic.

To create a work order Click the Need to create a work order link? Click here to add link.
The Customer - Work Order Header tab will appear.
To configure the amount of information that is displayed for each work order segment block Click the Filter icon.
The Selection Criteria screen will appear.
To view any certifications awarded to a technician (if applicable) Click the Certification Lookup icon next to the desired technician name.
The Employee Certifications screen will appear.
To switch between the Road Tech/ Branch Tech calendars Click the Switch To Road Techs/ Switch To Branch Techs switch.
The screen will refresh, displaying the selected calendar.
To refresh the calendar Click the Click here to refresh list link.
The calendar will refresh, displaying any new data.
To change the dates that are displayed in the calendar Click the Arrow icons to move either forward or backward by 1 week.