How to schedule a checklist

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This article is a guide to get started with schedules. It takes you through the required steps to create a a schedule and a timetable.

 

Schedules are used to control which users get to complete a checklist, for which locations and when/how often.

Before you can create a schedule a few things need to be in place. You will need at least one of each of the following elements:

• A checklist
• A target (= a location or location group)
• An assignee (= a user or user group)

 

Step 1: Create a schedule

1. Go to the Schedules tab and click create. 
2. Choose which scheduling type you want. Currently, two types of schedules are available. 
   • A calendar schedule schedules one or more checklists, to be performed within a certain period, e.g. every day between 10:00 and 12:00.
   • A continuous schedule schedules one or more checklist, which should always be available and can be performed as often as desired. Since Continuous schedules does not have a start and end time, they are not counted on the dashboards readiness gauge, no missed results will be reported etc.
3. Define the master data of the schedule through the editor. Fill out the following:
   • Title the schedule. Note: it is the title of the checklist (and not the title of the schedule) that will appear in the mobile app. Therefore, give the schedule a meaningful title to your administrators. You will most likely need more than one schedule, so name them in such a way that you can tell them apart from the list view. 
   • It is optional if you want to fill out a description. You can elaborate what the schedule is used for. 
   • Set the Time Zone. If more than one time zone is active on your organization, then you will be asked to pick which one the schedule should use (Please note that the timezone on a schedule cannot be changed once saved. In this case, you would need to create a new schedule).
   • Add the checklist(s) the schedule should apply to.
   • Add the location(s) the schedule should apply to. It is possible to select individual Locations as well as entire Location Groups. The latter will result in one instance of each defined checklist per location in the defined location group(s).
   • Add the assignee(s) who should be able to complete the selected checklists for the selected Locations (provided that the assignees have access to those locations). It is possible to select individual Users as well as entire User Groups.

 

 

If you chose continuous schedule, your checklist is now published. Otherwise, continue to step 2 to see how to manage the timetable of the schedule. 

 

Step 2: Create a timetable 

A timetable defines when and how often the associated checklists should be completed. You need to choose between a local or inherited timetable.

• A local timetable solely "belongs" to the schedule you are editing.
• A master calendar can save you time, if you have many different checklists (each with its own schedule) that all should be available with the exact same frequencies. For example, if you have multiple opening checklists that should be performed on all opening days at a certain time. In this case, a master calendar will allow you to easily adjust the timetable centrally (e.g. adding an exclusion on an opening day) that applies to all inherited schedules. You will find more information about how you inherit towards the bottom of this article.

 

1. Create a schedule. Go to schedules tab and click the "+" to create a new schedule. Check step 1 to see more about the schedule settings.
2. Create a master calendar. Go to the schedules tab and open the calendars tab. Create a calendar by clicking "+".
3. Build the timetable. The basics are the same for calendars and local timetables in schedules.

You have different options when it comes to defining the timetable. You can either create a pattern and/or select individual days or periods that the schedule should be active.

1. Create a pattern, by clicking the button configure pattern  in the tool bar. 
2. A configure page appears and presents you with the option to add one or more patterns. Click the "+" to add a pattern:
3. Define the settings of the pattern:
   • Title: The title will appear on the slots in the timetable and are especially useful if you place more patterns within the same timetable.
   • Available every: Allows you to set the days of the week that the pattern should cover.
   • Starts at: Allows you to set the time of the day from which the pattern should become active.

 

Note: Please note that you cannot schedule in the past. Therefore if you are adding a pattern to a schedule at a time when that pattern would already be started, the start time is set to the current time. (E.g. if the current time is 9 AM and you are adding a pattern that should start at 8 AM, then the start time in the calendar would be set for 9 AM "today" but remain at 8 AM in the future).

 

• Ends at: Allows you to set the time that the pattern should expire on. Please note, a user cannot complete a checklist once it has expired!
• Set start date (optional): Allows you to set a date from which the pattern should be active, if you want to plan ahead.
• Set expiration date (optional): Allows you to define when the pattern should end.

 

 

Step 3: Adding Exclusions

You can add exclusions for when you would like to effectively put the schedule on hold. For example, if  have set a pattern that runs every day, but the location might be closed at certain dates/periods. Therefore it is not relevant with active checklists at these times. To stop these from posting, you can add exclusions.

To add an exclusion you have to do the following:

1. Press the exclusion icon  at the top right of the timetable and click the "+" button. 
2. Provide a reason for the exclusion e.g. "Closed", "down for maintenance" etc.
3. Define when the exclusion period should start.
4. Define when the exclusion period should end. Please note that all time slots that an exclusion influence will be excluded in their entirety (see example in the picture below).
5. Exclude specific slots. This is optional. Tick this if the exclusion should apply to specifics and not just patterns.

 

This is an exclusion that spans from April 16th at 09.00 to April 18th at 17.00. Please note that the pattern on the 18th is excluded in its full length (until 23.59) even though the exclusion is set to end at 17.00. As mentioned this is because the entire timeslot is excluded as soon as an exclusion influences it. 

 

Step 4. Add custom periods to the schedule

Do you have checklists that needs to be completed once during the span of a longer period but the actual day within the period is up to the user? E.g. once every week, once every two weeks, once during the first week of every month, a one off on a particular day etc.

In this case you can add custom periods to the schedule.

1. Click on a date where the schedule should become active.
2. Define the start and end dates. Note: you can also set the time at the bottom.
3. Remember to press save.
4. Repeat for as many slots as you need i.e. when you want the schedule to be active.

 

Tip: If you need to create several periods with the same time span, e.g. a week, you can use the preset values feature at the top right corner of the configuration to copy the values. This will automatically fill out the information with the copied time span. 

 

 

Step 5. Inheriting the timetable from master calendars

You can inherit the timetable from one or more master calendars at the same time. You might have locations that are only open on certain types of opening days - in this case, you could create a master calendar for each type of opening day.

The schedule for a location that is only open on Type A opening days should only inherit from the "Type A" master calendar. A location that is open on Type A and B opening days will inherit from both master calendars.

To inherit from a master calendar follow these steps:

1. Click button to control inheritance  and click the + to choose which calendar to inherit from.
2. Configure calendar inheritance and define the calendar to inherit from:
   • Search for the calendar you want to inherit from.
   • Tick off "Include started specific slots" if you want to include specific slots that have already started. E.g. if you are scheduling a new weekly checklist that needs to be completed before the end of the current week/active time slot. If the new checklist should not be available before the next time slots begins, then leave it unticked.
   • Tick off "Include started pattern slots". Same as above, just applied to started pattern slots
   • Repeat if you need to inherit from more than one calendar. 

 

 

Note: You can add exclusions locally on a schedule that will override the data pulled from the master calendar(s). Finally, you can add local specifics and patterns on a schedule to add extra timeslots relative to what it is pulling from master calendar(s).