Task-Based Schedules

Creating a task-based schedule begins just like creating any other type of schedule. However, setting up the schedule frequency and detail information is done differently. To create the schedule:

1. Access the Schedule module by clicking the Schedule link at the top of the page.

2. Select the Create Schedule tab.

   The Create Schedule page opens.

3. Enter the basic information for the schedule as you normally would--property, type and subType, description, assignment, and so on.

   Do not associate an asset to the schedule. In task-based schedules, assets are associated to the tasks, not the schedule as a whole.

4. Click OK.

   The Schedule Details page opens. You can specify the overall schedule information in the Schedule Information pane.

5. Set the schedule Time Frame by specifying the following values.

   1. Schedule Start/Finish – Select start and finish for the schedule. This indicates the date range for which the initial work orders will be created. If you select the Auto-Schedule option, the schedule will be extended periodically.

   2. Asset – Do not select an Asset. In task-based schedules, assets are associated to the tasks, not the schedule.

   3. Time Scheduled – Enter time values to indicate when the work should be started. For task-based schedules, the end time is unimportant since the time allocated for the work order will be calculated based on the time allocated for the individual tasks.

   4. Auto-Schedule – If you want additional work orders to be automatically created when the schedule is nearing the finish date, select Yes and indicate the number of months to auto-schedule for. Auto-scheduled work orders are generated overnight in a batch process, so they may not appear immediately upon creation.

   5. Estimated Labor Hours – Skip the field since the time allocated for the work order will be calculated based on the time allocated for the individual tasks.

6. In the Recurrence Pattern field, select either Weekly, Monthly, or Seasonal. Task-based schedules can only be created on these recurrence patterns.

   For Weekly Schedules

   Creating a weekly task-based schedule allows you to create a schedule where different tasks are performed on different days.

   • In the Every field, specify the number of weeks to wait before repeating this schedule (every week, every 2 weeks, and so on).

   • In the Day check boxes, select every day on which tasks might occur. For example, if some tasks are Mon/Wed/Fri only and others are Tu/Th only, you should select all five days. You can assign individual tasks to individual days when you create the tasks.

   For Monthly Schedules

   Creating a monthly task-based schedule allows you to create a schedule where different tasks are performed on different months.

   • Select the first option to specify that the schedule should occur on a particular weekday, repeating when a specified number of months have elapsed. For example, you could specify "the first Monday of every 6 months" to have the schedule occur twice a year on the first Monday, or "the last Friday of every 1 months" to have the schedule occur on the last Friday of every month.

   • Select the second option to specify that the schedule should occur on a particular calendar date, repeating when a specified number of months have elapsed. For example, you could specify "day 15 of every 3 months" to have the schedule occur quarterly on the 15th of the month.

   • In the Exclude Weekends field, select Yes to skip weekends when scheduling the work orders. This should only be used with the second option to push work orders that would fall on a Saturday or Sunday to the following Monday.

   For Seasonal Schedules

   Creating a seasonal task-based schedule allows you to create a schedule where different tasks are performed on different weeks within the defined season.

   • Select a Week/Day combination to define the first week in the season and click ADD.

   • Click ADD.

   The week/day combination is added to the list. Be sure to add every week that tasks need to be performed on, even if every task is not performed every week. You can specify individual weeks for each task when you define them.

Adding tasks to a schedule allows you to create the individual tasks that will appear on work orders generated by the schedule. To add tasks:

1. Click the Tasks pane.

   This pane allows you to create the tasks and displays each task as it is created.

2. In the No field, enter the order in which the task will be performed.

   As you add tasks, they will be numbered sequentially, but you can renumber them later, if needed.

3. In the Procedure field, click the Select link to associate a procedure with the task.

   A procedure is required to create a task. You cannot click into the field and create a short procedure value.

   Unlike standard work orders, when a user prints a work order generated by a task-based schedule, all of the procedures associated with the task are not printed.

4. In the Comments field, enter any comments you want to associate with the task.

5. In the Est. Labor Hours field, enter the estimated number of hours needed to complete the task.

   You can enter partial hours as decimal values. For example, enter .25 for a quarter of an hour.

6. In the Asset field, click the Select link to associate an asset with the task.

   It is not necessary to associate an asset. However, some installations associate assets to tasks and bar-code scan the assets as the tasks are performed.

7. Specify the Frequency.

   • For Weekly schedules, select the check boxes that indicate which days of the week on which this task will be performed.

   • For Monthly Schedules, enter a value in the Frequency field to indicate the months on which this task will be performed. Enter values, separated by commas, where January = 1, February = 2, and so on through December = 12. If you do not enter a value, the task will be included for no months, not all months.

     The overall frequency of the schedule overrides these frequency values when there are conflicts. For example, if your overall schedule is every 3 months and you include 1 through 12 in your frequency, tasks are not scheduled for months when the overall schedule is not generated.

   • For Seasonal schedules, enter a value indicating the weeks on which the this task will be performed.

8. Click ADD.

   The task is added to the list and the task number is incremented to facilitate adding the next task.

9. If you want to edit a task, you can change any value and click UPDATE.

10. If you want to delete a task, click the DELETE button to the right of the task.

    If you delete a task, the remaining tasks are not automatically renumbered.

Once you have finished creating the schedule, you can generate it to create the work orders. To generate the schedule:

1. At the bottom of the Schedule information page, click FINISH.

2. Click GENERATE.

   A dialog box opens asking you to confirm your choice.

3. Click OK.

   A message indicating that the schedule has been generated appears.

4. To view the generated schedule, click the View Schedule link.

   An HTML page opens listing all of the work orders generated. You can examine it to see if the frequency of the work orders is as you intended.

   You can click the ID number to view an individual work order.

To take advantage of this feature, the following configuration options must be set:

• On the Installation Options page, near the bottom of the page, the Task Based Scheduling flag must be set to Yes.

• On the User Security page, under the Schedule Security Rights section, the Access Schedules, Create Schedules, and Workloading check boxes must be selected for each user that will use the task-based scheduling feature.