Auto-Scheduling

Please note that this is preliminary documentation and is subject to change.

Using the Auto-Scheduler.

The Auto-Scheduler tool allows you to quickly allocate your Advisors' time to your Campaigns, depending on the hours required for each Campaign, as defined in your Campaign Settings.

Using the 'Auto-Schedule' tool, you can block schedule your Advisors' time to a Campaign, based on current availability or priority preference, as defined in the Program Settings. Using the 'Allocate Now' tool, you can quickly allocate the selected Advisor's available time to the Campaign, and the 'Select Allocation' allows you to select parameters governing how the Advisor's available time is allocated to the selected Campaign.

The Auto-Scheduler display consists of 3 panes - 1) The Campaign Selector pane, the Range Selection pane, and the Resources pane.

The Campaign Selector pane displays a list of your current Campaigns, which can be grouped by Campaign Group, Campaign Type or Campaign Client. To quickly change the grouping, click on the appropriate tab at the bottom of the pane (note that your selection will be save across Scheduler sessions). To select a Campaign, click on it with the mouse - when a selection is made, the program will refresh the Resources pane to display information relevant to your selection.

The Range Selection pane displays a Calendar - you can select an appropriate range of dates for your Auto-Scheduling operation by clicking on the first date you require, and while holding the right mouse button down, dragging across the calendar to select the end date you require. Once you've select a range of dates, the program will refresh the Resources pane to display information relevant to the new range.

To display multiple calendars in the Range Selection pane, drag its borders to make it bigger. Another method of selecting your Date Range allows you to select a range of dates beyond the capability of the monthly calendar to display. To do this, click on the first date you wish with the mouse, to highlight it. Using the forward buttons at the top of the Calendar, scroll to the month and year you require (you can also achieve this by clicking on the Month/Year display at the top of the Calendar, and scrolling down through the popup that appears. Before you select the end date you require, press and hold the SHIFT Key - then select your end date for your range by clicking on it with the mouse. This date, and all intervening dates to your start date, will now be selected. Note that if you've chosen a very large date range, it may take the program a moment or two to collate and display the relevant Resource and schedule information.

The Resources Pane displays a list of Advisors who have been allocated to work on the selected Campaign, along with how many hours they're expected to work in the date range you've selected, the number of hours that have already been allocated, and how many hours are available.

As in the above picture, colours are used as a visual indication of current status -

Note that the hours displayed in the data grid are expressed in Decimal Format (for example, 1 hour and 45 minutes is displayed as 1.75 hours). This display convention is used throughout the Scheduler.

Although the initial setting for 'hours to be allocated' defaults to the number of hours required for the Campaign in the period, you can change the amount as required. Pressing the 'Allocate Now' button will start the automatic process - the program will search for a minimum time period (based on your 'Smallest Time Unit' Selection) and book the time out to the selected Campaign.

Note that the Auto-Scheduler tool might not be able to fulfil all the hours requested, depending on the availability of your Advisors and other time booking restrictions - the amount of time actually booked will be displayed at the end of the Auto-Scheduling process.

The parameters governing the time periods that can be selected (morning/afternoon/evening) can be set up in the Auto-Scheduler options. Pressing the 'Allocate Now' button will start the automatic process - the program will search for a minimum time period (based on your 'Smallest Time Unit' Selection) and book the time out to the selected Campaign, for the Advisor who's currently selected. The scheduled items will also be limited to the time period option selected.