FAQs: The Group Planner

Modified on Thu, 15 Aug at 2:12 PM

IMPORTANT:  New versions of the Staff and Group Planners are out now, both with additional functionality 

To start using and configure the new Staff and Group Planners, please read Understanding The Group Planner and Understanding the Staff Planner. For existing users of the Staff Planner, Transitioning over from the existing Staff Planner to the Group Planner. 

The Staff and Group Planners can be set up to display the following:
Color Coding to easily identify when Staff/Sitters have reached,  or are over capacity.
Check-in and Check-out directly from the Planner
Direct access to Client accounts from the Planner
Vaccination flags

The Group Planner can also display the following:
Company Level Capacity for Service Item Groups
Staff Level Capacity for Service Item Groups

TABLE OF CONTENTS

What is the Planner?
How do I move from the existing Planner to the new improved version?
Can the Planner be used as an alternative to My Dashboard?
How does the Planner assist Businesses that offer Daycare, Boarding or Overnight Services?
Can I use the Planner for Walking or Visit Services?
Can I create a Planner View for my Staff?
What are the benefits to my staff using the Planner?
Is it difficult to set up the Planner?
How do I view a different date range on the Planner?
How do I display Service Group capacity for the company and my staff?
How do I add Services to be displayed and counted in the Planner?
What if I don't want all Services appearing on a Staff Planner?
What does the Color Coding on the Planner mean?
What does "Add to Total" mean?
Do I have to use the Check in/out, Vaccination flag or Color coding features?
If I have Time Off, does this show in the Planner?
Can I send a Service Report directly from the Planner?
How do I access a client account from the Planner?

What is the Planner?

The Planner displays company and staff level capacity for current scheduled services. The Planner is particularly beneficial to businesses that offer boarding, overnight and daycare services within the remits of local authority legislation, as well as being helpful for walking services and visits.

The Planner is also helpful to identify which staff/sitters provide services and to identify who is available to accept a service, who has no work assigned to them or who has capacity availability indicated on their planner to perform a service.

How do I move from the existing Planner to the new improved version?

The new Planner replaces the Old Planner currently available on your system, although the Old Planner will be available for a limited period only and will eventually be discontinued. This will give you ample time to transition over to the new Planner format.

Daycare and boarding businesses will be familiar with the original planner, but in the improved planner you can now track any type of service, including dog walking and pet visits, as well as the following additional features:

Company Level Capacity for Service Item Groups
Staff Level Capacity for Service Item Groups
Max Capacity Color Coding to easily identify when a Service or Sitter has reached or is over capacity.
Check-in and Check-out directly from the planner
Vaccination Status Flags
Access a client account
Access a client's Service Order and/or Invoice
Send a Service Report

Can the Planner be used as an alternative to My Dashboard?

Yes, this alternative method means staff can view their daily services, use the check in and out feature, produce service reports, as well as access client accounts, including invoices and edit service orders.

Read more....

How does the Planner help if you offer Daycare, Boarding or Overnight Services?

The Planner allows businesses that provide boarding and daycare services the ability to plan, maintain and track their daily capacity levels and workloads at a company level, staff level and even service group level.

As well as color coded max capacity alerts at both company and staff level, admins and their staff have the ability to check-in and out directly from the planner, as well as drill into a client record, service orders and view vaccination flags.

Businesses such as Boarding and Daycare who operate within the remits of local authority legislation can use the Planner to quickly view their capacity for boarding and daycare to ensure they are operating within the limits of their licensing capacity.

Read more....

Can I use the Planner for Walking or Visit Services?

Yes, the planner can be configured for Walking or Visits and is useful to view which staff/sitters provide different services and to quickly identify who has availability to accept a service. The Max Color Coding shows who is fully booked in Orange or is over-booked in Red.

Read more....

Can I create a Planner View for my Staff?

Yes, the planner provides a quick method of assessing the availability of staff/sitters to accept a service, who has no work assigned to them or who is below capacity. Access to a staff planner can be enabled through Staff Interface Permissions.

Admins can configure a staff/sitter planner by service item group and set service capacity. Admins can also decide whether they allow sitters to edit services from their planners by setting "Can Change My Planner" in Staff Permissions.

What are the benefits to my Staff using the Planner?

Depending on the configuration, the planner is a helpful tool for your staff to quickly view their capacity and therefore availability for accepting services. With additional features being enabled, your staff/sitters can Check-in/out, Edit Services, Access Client accounts/Invoices/Service Orders and even send Service Reports directly from the Planner.

Read more....

Is it difficult to set up the Planner?

There are several steps to set up the Planner at Company and Staff level. However, all steps are straightforward and only need to be set once. Transitioning to the New Planner provides a step by step approach to setting up the new Planner.

Read more....

How do I view a different date range on the Planner?

The default date setting for the Planner is the current week. Alternatively, you can:

Display the current month by clicking on the quick report button "This Month".
To view the previous month, click the "<" button.
To view the next month click the ">" button.
To return to the current week, click the quick report button "This Week."

How do I display Service Group capacity for the company and my staff?

To set your Planner Service Group capacity at Company Level, navigate to: Admin > Settings > Planner Settings > Company Settings:

Toggle ON "Track" for each Service Item Group you want to be able to view in the planner.
Click "Update."

To set your Service Group capacity at Staff Level, navigate to: Admin > Settings > Planner Settings > Company Settings:

For each service item group click "Configure Staff" to access the Staff Configuration page.
Toggle ON "Track" for each staff/sitter you want to be able view in the planner.
Set the staff Max Capacity for the service group.
Toggle ON "Check-in" if the staff/sitter needs to Check in and Out of services.
Toggle ON "Add to Staff Total" to include the service count in the staff/sitter's total.

How do I add Services to be displayed and counted in the Planner?

To have a service counted in the planner, the Service Item must have a "Resource Cost" set.

Navigate to Admin > Services > Service Items > Select the Service Item > Advanced.

Set the Resource Cost based on the following guidelines:
- Set resource cost to 1 when the service is for 1 dog.
- Set resource cost to 2 when the service is for 2 dogs.
- Set resource cost to 1 for an overnight service. Even if the client has more than 1 pet, the resource cost covers the number of homes you are staying at, which can only be 1.
- Keep Resource Cost set to 0 to not have the service counted on the Planner.
Click "Update."

What if I don't want all Services appearing on a Staff Planner?

When configuring the Staff Planner, you can exclude specific service groups from being visible.

To ensure a service group is NOT enabled on the staff level planner, set which service groups you wish to appear on your company level planner by navigating to: Admin > Settings > Planner Settings > Company Settings:

Toggle ON "Track" for each service item group you want to be able to view in the planner.
Click "Update."

To NOT have a service group count enabled at staff level, navigate to: Admin > Settings > Planner Settings > Company Settings:

For each service item group, click "Configure Staff" to access the staff configuration page.
Toggle OFF "Track" for each staff/sitter you do NOT want to be able View in the planner.
Click "Update."

What does the Color Coding on the Planner mean?

Max Capacity Color Coding is a feature you can switch ON or OFF. Color coding is a useful tool to quickly view if the Company or staff/sitter's specific service group is fully booked or over capacity.

The two colors available for the Max Capacity Color coding are:

To switch Max Capacity Color Coding ON or OFF, navigate to: Admin > Settings >Planner Settings > General Planner Settings.

Toggle ON or OFF "Max Capacity Color Coding"
Click "Update."

What does "Add to Staff Total" mean?

In the planner configuration settings at both company and staff level, decide if you want to add a service item group count to the company or staff level total count of scheduled services.

Add to Company Total

Navigate to: Admin > Settings > Planner Settings > General Settings:

Toggle ON "Add to Staff Total" to add the service item group count to the totals for the company level planner for that day.
Click "Update."

Add to Staff Total

Navigate to: Admin > Settings > Planner Settings > Company Settings > Service Item Group > Configure Staff:

Toggle ON "Add to Staff Total" to add the service item group count for the staff to the staff/sitter's total count of all services for that day.
Click "Update."

Do I have to use the Check in/out, Vaccination flag or Color coding features?

No, they are optional in the planner settings. You can switch all or some of them ON.

In Admin > Settings > Planner Settings > General Planner Settings, toggle ON or OFF:

Use Check In / Check Out Feature
Show Vaccination Status
Use Max Capacity Color Coding
Use Add to Staff Total.
Click "Update."

If I have Time Off, does this show in the Planner?

In addition to viewing Staff Time Off in the Time Off Report, Staff holiday is also shown in the planner. Dates when staff are unavailable, are represented by a red dot, or if services are already scheduled to that person in error, the number count will be displayed in red.

Read more....

Can I send a Service Report directly from the Planner?

Service reports are a useful feature for you and your staff to feed back information to your clients after a visit with a pet, or to record an incident.

To allow a staff/sitter to send Service Reports from their Planner:

In Admin > Services > Select Service Item > Advanced Settings, toggle ON "Service Report Required", then click "Update."
In Admin > Staff > Staff Record > Permissions > Staff Permissions, decide which of your staff can publish and/or send service reports directly to your clients by enabling or disabling "Can Send Service Reports" in their Staff Permissions.
- Toggle OFF "Can Send Service Reports" - Staff can only Update and Complete, (create and save) the service report allowing an Admin to review, publish and send the report later on.
- Toggle ON "Can Send Service Reports" - Staff can Update, Publish and Send (create, publish to the Client Portal and send via email) the service report without the need for an Admin to review and send the report at another time.

How do I access a Client Account from the Planner?

A Client's account can be accessed by clicking on any daily count of services in the planner, enabling you to view clients with scheduled services for that day.

To access a Client's account from either the Company or Staff Planners:

Click on a service count of scheduled services for a particular day.
On the details page, click on the Client or Pet's Name to access the Client Account.