If you have jobs that need more than one staff member, or if you regularly send teams out to jobs, you can schedule a job to more than one staff member at once.
This article reviews the different ways to schedule multiple staff members to a job, and how to edit bookings with multiple staff members.
In the Online Dashboard:
- Scheduling multi-staff jobs from the Dispatch Board
- Editing multi-staff job bookings from the Dispatch Board
- Scheduling multi-staff jobs within the job card
In the ServiceM8 mobile app:
Scheduling multiple staff members to a job from the Dispatch Board
Note: The following example adds multiple staff members to a job from the Staff Schedules view in the Dispatch Board, but you can do so from the Calendar view as well.
- Go to Dispatch Board > Staff Schedules.
- Drag and drop a job from the appropriate jobs list (for example, Action Required) onto a staff member at the desired time and date.
- Double-click the booking on the schedule.
- Click Staff and select the staff members you are adding to the booking.
- Click Save Booking.
TIP: If you frequently book multiple staff members to jobs, ServiceM8 will learn which staff members you tend to schedule together. Over time, they will start appearing at the bottom of the staff list as "Suggested Teams" to help speed up your scheduling process.
Editing multi-staff bookings from the Dispatch Board
From the Online Dashboard, the following sections describe how to:
Change the duration of the booking for all staff members or for one staff member
Go to Dispatch Board > Staff Schedules and find the booking.
- To adjust the duration of the booking for all staff members, click and drag the booking ends as needed.
- If one staff member will be needed for more or less time than the other staff members on the same job, adjust the time for that staff member alone by holding SHIFT while clicking and dragging their booking ends.
Remove a staff member from a booking
- Double-click the booking to open the Edit Booking window.
- Click on the staff member's name to remove it from the Staff field.
- Click Save Booking.
TIP: To quickly replace a staff member scheduled to a multi-staff booking without opening the Edit Booking window, drag and drop the booking from the relevant staff member to a new staff member.
Reschedule a booking for all staff members or for one staff member
Go to Dispatch Board > Staff Schedules and find the booking.
- To reschedule the booking for all staff members, double-click the booking to open the Edit Booking window, then reschedule as needed.
TIP: From the Edit Booking window, you can open the full job card at any time by clicking the job status icon.
- To reschedule the booking for one staff member only, hold SHIFT and click and drag that staff member's booking to the desired time/date.
Scheduling multi-staff jobs from the job card in the Online Dashboard
- From an open job card, click Schedule.
- Click the Staff Member field to bring up staff member names. Click on a name to add to a booking, and repeat to add more names.
- As you add staff members, the booking suggestions will adjust to find the earliest joint times for the selected staff members. The calendar pane will reflect the staff members' existing schedules.
- If you want a specific duration, time, or date, use the fields to narrow the suggestions.
- Click a suggestion to accept it.
- Click Save Booking.
TIP: You can edit and reschedule bookings directly from the job card. Hover your cursor over the Job Scheduled entry in the job diary. Click the arrow that appears, then click Edit Booking.
Scheduling multi-staff jobs using the ServiceM8 mobile app
- From the Jobs view, tap the relevant job to open the job card. (If you have just created a job, tap Schedule Job and go step 3.)
- Tap Add Booking.
- Tap Staff Member.
- Tap to select the staff members you want to add to the booking. (Tap again to unselect them.)
- Tap Save.
- The Job Booking window will now show booking suggestions with the earliest joint times for the selected staff members.
- To narrow the suggestions, enter your desired duration, time, or date in the appropriate field.
- Tap a suggestion to select it. It will expand to show you how the booking fits with the staff members' existing schedules.
- When you are satisfied with a suggestion, tap Book.
TIP: To edit a multi-staff booking from the ServiceM8 mobile app, tap on the booking in the job card to re-open the Job Booking window. From there, you can add or remove team members, reschedule bookings, or cancel bookings. For more complex changes to multi-staff bookings, such as changing the time for one team member only, use the Online Dashboard.
Scheduling multi-staff jobs using the Schedule tab on the iPad
The iPad version of the ServiceM8 mobile app offers additional dedicated schedule management functionality in a separate Schedule tab.
To schedule an existing job to multiple staff members from the Schedule tab:
- Tap Schedule Job.
- When the Job Booking window opens, follow steps 3 - 7 per the section above to schedule the job. (You will also need to add the job number in the Job field.)
TIP: When you change the duration, time, or date of a multi-staff booking by tapping and dragging in the Schedule tab, it will change the booking for all staff members. See Reschedule or edit job bookings to learn more about editing bookings using the iPad.