5. Availability Management

Overview

The following article provides a guide to using Lumary in conjunction with the Skedulo web and mobile applications. The screenshots provided are indicative and should be used for reference only.

Before following the steps in this guide, all prerequisite steps will need to have been taken, for example, an active client with a current service agreement will need to exist.

The Availability Management Console

The availability management console is available to manage resources availability. To access this console, the user must be a scheduler (the "skeduloUserType" field on their user profile record must contain "Scheduler").

Once the resource availability tab has been selected the user has the ability to:

• Select a single region or multiple regions to filter the resources.
• Select a single resource tag (or multiple tags) to filter the resources.
• Select the time zone in which you wish to view the availability.
• Select the date.
• Search for an individual resource.
• Determine how many records are to be displayed per page.

Figure 1. The availability management console and its filters.

Once the resource(s) are displayed the following attributes are shown for each resource record:

• Chatter Photo.
• Name.
• Employment Type.
• Managers Name (highlighted blue).
• Replicate Availability.
• View Period.

The availability grid for each resource will show their availability for each day as well as any activities and unavailability records.

There is a custom setting which will show the availabilities linked to an availability template – these will be prefixed with the letter "T."

Figure 2. The resource availability console showing a resource and their attributes.

View Period

The view period text link on the resource's record (seen above) will navigate you to a screen where the job, activity and unavailability records for that resource are shown. (These records cannot be updated.)

New availabilities and activities can be added by clicking on a clear time slot in the console.

Selecting the "All Resource" button will navigate back to the original view with all the resources shown for the region selected.

Figure 3. Viewing an individual's availability on the availability console.

Adding Records

New availability/unavailability/activity records can be added for a resource by clicking on the "plus" for the relevant day.

Availability or activities can be added for that resource.

Adding Availability Records

Availability records can reflect both availability (available for additional time outside their normal hours to complete additional jobs), and unavailability (sick, holidays leave, etc. Unavailable for jobs). For each availability type, the availability or unavailability is configured.

• Select the availability type (these are configurable).
• Select the start and end time.
• If you want to create recurring record select "Recurring." This will open a new section where details of the recurrence can be entered:
  • Skip Weekend? – Will not create a record on weekends (and Saturday and Sunday will not be available for selection in the days of the week.
  • Skip Holidays – If checked, Holidays will be respected, and records will not be created on these days. Note: Holidays can be created using the Skedulo holidays function.
  • Pattern – How the occurrence will occur. Options include weekly and every two weeks. (This can be configured to meet unique requirements.)
  • Days of Week – the days of the week the event is to be created.
  • Recur For – The number of event occurrences.

Figure 4. Creating a recurring availability record.

Adding Activity Records

Activity records are generally used to reflect work tasks that are not associated with a client, for example, a business meeting. Jobs are scheduled around activities; scheduling will look at the activities address to determine the travel time for the next job after this activity.

• Select the activity type (These are configurable).
• Select the start and end time.
• Enter a location – this will be geolocated so travel time can be calculated for proceeding jobs.
• If you want to create a recurring record, select "Recurring." See "Adding Availability Records" for details.

Figure 5. Creating an activity record.

Removal of a Resource from Jobs/Shifts when an Unavailability is Approved

When an "Unavailability" is approved, the resource will be automatically removed from the jobs, shifts, and activities for the period of the unavailability.

When the unavailability is approved, a trigger will:

• Delete the resource's job allocations that are scheduled during the period of unavailability.
• Only those job allocations that are in a status of "Pending Dispatch," "Dispatched,"  "Confirmed" will be deleted.
• Delete the resource's shifts that are scheduled during the period of unavailability.
• Delete the resource's activities that are scheduled during the period of unavailability.

Managing Existing Records

Existing records can be selected to be modified or deleted. If an unavailability record has been created but has not yet been approved, there will be the option to approve these records. Also, the record can be removed if it’s not to be approved.

When an amendment affects an existing record, a warning message will appear saying "You are trying to amend an availability for a time period where resource is already assigned to it."

Figure 6. Managing an existing unavailability record.

Replicate Availability

The availability/activity/unavailability of a resource can be replicated to a future period. Locate the period to copy and click the text button named "Replicate."

Figure 7. Replicating an availability record.

Enter in the period you wish to replicate from (SOURCE PERIOD) and the period you want to replicate to (REPLICATION PERIOD).

If you wish to overwrite existing entries (that are not part of an Availability Template), click on "Replace existing shifts for this time period?" If this is not checked the entries will be added to the existing entries.

Click "Save."

Figure 8. Overwriting an existing availability.