How the control schema drives scheduled visits

This article explains how a Control Schema activity’s frequency becomes due work on the planning calendar, and how several due activities can be bundled into one scheduled visit.

Note

Required role: Manager

How frequencies appear on the planning calendar

The planner does not use a queue. For the date range on screen, it recalculates which activities are due from each activity’s frequency and shows the result under To plan.

1. Open Scheduler.
2. Turn on To plan in the header. This option is available in week, day and agenda views, but not month view.
3. Review the recommendation cards on the proposed dates.

A recurring activity appears again automatically on its next due date. The count is refreshed after changes to the Control Schema, visit templates or visits.

When an activity is already covered

A visit counts as done for an activity when its jobs are completed, in progress or still booked, and the visit falls in the same frequency period as the date suggested by the planner. This can apply even when the visit is after the end of the range currently shown.

For example, in week view, a visit booked later in the same monthly period hides a monthly activity. A visit in a later period does not count for the current period.

• Cancelling a visit leaves its activities due, so they return under To plan after the planner refreshes.
• Skipping a visit does not offer the same work again. The skipped date, or the whole week block for activities planned in week blocks, remains held for that visit template or activity set. The work must be planned by hand.

Schedule the planner’s bundled recommendation

Use a recommendation card when the planner has grouped due activities for the same location and date.

1. In Scheduler, turn on To plan.
2. Select a recommendation card.
3. In New Visit, review or adjust the pre-filled location, date, suggested times, activity types and assignee.
4. Set the Assignees if needed.
5. Select Schedule.

Scheduling the card removes it from To plan. Recommendation cards for the same location, day and activity set are combined into one card.

Schedule a bundled visit from a visit template

A visit template groups the activity types that should be performed together. Its activity list is fixed for that occurrence, while the Control Schema determines how many jobs each activity receives for the visit date.

1. Open Scheduler and select Plan visit.
2. Drag a template from the Planning sidebar onto the required day.
3. In New Visit, set the location, date, start time and end time.
4. Choose the Assignees.
5. Review and adjust the job totals under Jobs by Activity.
6. Select Schedule.

• An activity type cannot be removed from that template occurrence, but its job count can be reduced to zero.
• An activity backed by a rotation plan cannot be reduced below the points selected by that plan.
• Setting an activity to zero applies only to that visit. The activity remains due if its frequency requires later work.
• A template stores its activity list, not its job counts. The next visit starts with the count calculated by the Control Schema for that visit date.

Create recurring template visits

You can create several future visits at once from a template-based visit. The visit recurrence and each activity’s own frequency work independently.

1. In a template-based New Visit form, switch on Create recurring visits.
2. Set Frequency to Daily, Weekly, Monthly or Yearly.
3. Set Repeat every from 1 to 12.
4. Set Number of occurrences from 2 to 100.
5. Review the projected dates and job totals.
6. Select Schedule.

The recurrence settings decide how often the visit repeats. The frequency of each Control Schema activity still decides how many jobs are generated for each date in the series.

• Turning on recurrence disables the per-activity amounts and hides Add job. Each date derives its own amounts and the series carries no custom jobs.
• Past dates are dropped, so fewer visits may be created than the number of occurrences requested.
• Create recurring visits is not available when the visit was opened from a recommendation card.

Understand rotation-based frequencies

For activities that sample points in rotation, the next visit is based on the activity’s rotation pattern as well as its frequency.

• Per room and Representative patterns aim at points sampled longest ago, or points that have never been sampled.
• Random skips points sampled in the last cycle or cycles until the available pool runs out.

Open the location’s Rotation plan tab to see the current coverage, next proposal and history for rotation-enabled activities. The pattern and sample size are configured on the compliance rule, not on this tab.

Check why work is or is not bundled

Use these checks when the calendar does not show the expected activity or job count.

• Confirm that the activity is enabled in the location’s Control Schema. A disabled activity remains listed but generates no jobs.
• Check whether an existing booked, in-progress or completed visit already covers the activity’s frequency period.
• Check whether the activity was set to zero for a particular template visit. That change affects only that visit.
• Check whether the visit was skipped. Skipped work is held against the same date or week block and must be re-planned by hand.
• Refresh the planner after changing the Control Schema, a visit template or a visit so the To plan count is recalculated.