Calendar User Guide

Overview

The Calendar presents an easy way to maintain and keep track of appointments, job scheduling, and employee activity. The Calendar is the master list of appointments, tickets, service reminders, support call follow-up reminders, and timecards set up throughout the software.

Calendar Management Features

View Options

• Monthly, Weekly, Daily Events by schedules or list
• Employee schedules showing appointments, activity, and timecards
• Interactive calendar with drag and drop capability for assigning events
• Color-coded unscheduled/incomplete events for managing missed service requests
• Identification of tickets that have been invoiced or partially invoiced
• Lapsed appointments view for scheduled dates not yet completed
• Timecard view capability to track employee time

Calendar Views

Schedule Views

• Day - View by day
• Week - View by week
• Month - View by month

List Views

• Day - Events assigned to a particular day
• Unscheduled - Events with no date assigned
• Lapsed - Events with old dates assigned but not completed

Selecting Technicians

When first opening the calendar, all technicians are selected by default. You can select/unselect the desired techs you want to view. Your selections will be saved for the next time you login.

Scheduling Events from List Views

The list views are now interactive, allowing you to physically schedule events rather than just viewing them.

Using the Grab Icon

1. Highlight an event on any list view
2. Click the Grab button
3. System takes you to the schedule view
4. Click on day/week/month
5. Click under the desired technician into the time slot you want
6. Click YES when prompted to assign

Tip: You can also use the grab button from the month view to alternate between days, weeks, or months. This is helpful for lapsed events that need to be assigned to a tech in a current or future week/month.

Adjusting Appointments

• Change duration: Grab the appointment on the calendar and drag to the desired time
• Reassign technician: Drag it to an alternate tech
• Time and technician will automatically update in the event

Scheduling Non-Customer Events

You can schedule blocks of time for events unrelated to a customer account, such as vacation time, lunch breaks, or doctor visits.

Steps

1. Go to schedule view
2. Right-click on your time/technician column
3. Select Insert > Appointment
4. Click Close when prompted to select a customer account number
5. Enter a description (e.g., vacation, doctor visit, unavailable)
6. Click OK

The appointment will appear on the calendar for the technician without a customer account, indicating they are not available during that time period.

Timecards

Timecards for technicians can be created with or without a ticket.

Adding Timecards

From Schedule View:

1. Right-click > Insert > Timecard for Ticket or Timecard No Ticket
2. If with ticket, select your customer
3. Add timecard details

From List View:

1. Right-click > Insert > Timecard for Ticket or Timecard No Ticket OR
2. Click the Insert button > Timecard for Ticket or Timecard No Ticket

Timescale

The default timescale is set to 1 hour, but you can block the timescale up to 6 hours. Once changed, the hours to the left of the calendar (in week view) will appear blocked for that time.

Unassigned Events

Note: Any events scheduled without a technician or time assigned will appear in red at 4 AM on the timescale. If an event is scheduled to a date but not a technician, it will appear as tech ~NA~ on the scheduled date at 4 AM.

These can be assigned by:

• Dragging and dropping in the calendar
• Returning to the daily list and completing the scheduling information

Skill Sets and Tech Keys

Viewing Skills/Techs

Keys for different skills/techs appear to the left of each calendar theme. You can select all skills/techs or individually select which ones you'd like to review.

Managing Skill Sets

If you have admin rights to the utilities feature, you can create and manage skill sets for technicians.

Path: Utilities > Manage Skills

Available Actions:

• Add a skill
• Change a skill
• Delete a skill

Assigning Technicians to Skills

1. Highlight the skill on the left
2. Highlight the tech on the right
3. Click Insert

Note: Technicians are not limited to one skill set - you can add them to multiple skills.

Removing Technicians from Skills

1. Highlight the tech
2. Click Delete

Scheduling Based on Skill Sets

Once a tech has been assigned to a skill, you can schedule from the calendar based on each skill set. When you select a skill from the calendar, all techs not assigned to that skill set will disappear from the calendar.

Note: You do not have to schedule using skill sets.

Additional Features

N/A Feature for Unassigned/Incomplete Events

When a ticket, appointment, or any other event is created but either the time or technician are not selected, it will appear in RED.

This indicates you need to either:

1. Assign a tech
2. Assign a time

Tip: You can hide the NA column by unchecking "Show ~NA~" but we recommend displaying this column to ensure you catch any events not scheduled completely. You can also review unscheduled events by clicking on the Unscheduled List View.

Drag & Drop Feature

You can drag and drop appointments to:

1. Move appointments in the NA column to a specific technician/time
2. Assign appointments without a time (4 AM) to an assigned time
3. Update time or tech on already assigned appointments

Switching Between Schedule Views

On any schedule view, you can switch from day/week/month by:

• Clicking on the tabs
• Right-clicking > Select another view

Multi-Close

On all list views, you can multi-close events:

1. Check the boxes under the 'T' column for events you wish to close
2. Click the 'Tagged Action' icon
3. Select Close Items

This will automatically add a completed date to your events.

Color Coding

Colors are assigned to each type of calendaring event:

• Tickets - Purple
• Reminders - Orange
• Appointments - Pink

These colors are defaults and can be changed (see "Defaults - Color Coding" section).

Hover Feature

Once an event has been assigned to a customer, you can hover over it to review additional details including:

• Time assigned
• Town
• Phone number
• Type of service assigned

Expand Whole-Screen

In scheduling view, you can expand your screen to show only the schedule and hide all other features/text at the top. Click the arrow icon to expand the schedule screen.

Completed Events

When a completed date has been entered on a ticket, you will see a green checkmark on the scheduling view. This allows you to review completed/open tickets at a glance.

Multi-Tech Appointment Scheduling

The system accounts for multiple technicians assigned to one ticket.

Assigning Multiple Techs

1. Assign the first tech
2. You will get a pop-up letting you know an appointment has been created
3. Click OK
4. Repeat for additional techs

Once you have saved appointments to the 2nd and 3rd techs, they will appear on the calendar as appointments. The original ticket will appear under the 1st assigned tech.

Editing and Re-Assigning Appointments

From the calendar, you can move/re-assign an appointment by:

1. Drag and drop: Select the appointment and drag it to another time slot or employee
2. Double-click: Double-click on an existing appointment and input a new time/technician

Important: Do not change an appointment/ticket when a ticket is open. The change will not be saved.

Appointment Fields

Additional Notes Tab - Write detailed notes about a particular appointment. Can be printed on the Appointment Calendar Printout.

User Defined Tab - Set up to 5 user-defined fields for tracking specific data.

Scheduled Date - Date of the appointment (double left-click for calendar)

Scheduled Time - Time of appointment (double left-click for time selection screens)

Arrive Until - Latest time appointment is scheduled for

Date Completed - Enter when appointment is completed to track open vs. closed status

Technician/Sales Rep - Select the technician assigned to this appointment

Service Code - Categorizes the type of appointment (can be used for mail merge reminders)

Description - Brief description of the appointment type

Customer Fields - Auto-filled if customer account selected (Account #, Name, Street, Town, Phone)

Create Ticket - Select YES to turn the appointment into a service ticket

Create Invoice - Create an invoice without having to create a service ticket

Edit Customer - Opens the Customer Screen for making edits

Unscheduled and Lapsed Views

Unscheduled List View

Displays all appointments that are not scheduled, including:

• Events without a scheduled date
• Appointments without an actual date associated

Examples: Service jobs awaiting inventory items that have been ordered

Lapsed List View

Displays all appointments that have lapsed. The list defaults to the earliest open appointment.

Purpose: This replaces auto-escalate appointments. Instead of reassigning a scheduled date to today, you can now see appointments or tickets that have not been closed.

Action: If the appointment has been completed, simply open it and insert a completed date. Once complete, the appointment will be removed from the list.

Batch Printing

Batch Printing Tickets

1. Click on the Tickets Print button from the calendar screen
2. Enter start/end dates
3. Select the status of tickets you want to print

Batch Printing Appointments

1. Click on the Schedule Print button from the calendar screen
2. Enter service scheduled dates
3. Identify appointment status (all/completed/open)
4. Add additional filters such as specific tech or town

For more information on batch printing, contact Cornerstone.

Defaults - Color Coding

If you're an authorized user, you may select your own colors for calendar events under the system defaults.

Additional Default Options

• How techs and appointments are displayed
• Default timescale
• Display tech 1, 2, or 3 assigned to an event on calendar view (e.g., "T=1/1, T=1/3")

Inventory Tracking and Short Tickets

If you track inventory and utilize Cornerstone to keep track of inventory that's "short," you can assign a specific color for short tickets.

When you create a ticket with service items/inventory that are short, the event will appear in the assigned color.

See the "Defaults - Color Coding" section for more information.

Need Help?

Still have questions? Contact Cornerstone Holding Co. 847-405-9517 or email us customer.success@alarmbills.com