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Job Scheduling FAQs |
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Q. Do I have to use the job scheduling feature in Clients & Profits? No. Job scheduling is a separate part of the
production and traffic system. It's optional, and can be
started any time. It may be more practical to use it to
remember upcoming deadlines and less for resource
planning. Traditionally, it's been very difficult to
tightly schedule creatives in the ad business. Unlike
building airplanes, creatives don't fit well into rigid
work schedules. If you start slowly by scheduling only
key deadlines, you'll soon have a good idea about how
involved (and automated) you want job scheduling to be.
Q. Do I have to schedule all jobs and task, or can I only start with those for one client? Since all jobs are scheduled independently, you have
complete flexibility over which jobs can be scheduled
with Clients & Profits. In fact, since job scheduling
is so time-consuming it's a good idea to use it for only
large, complex jobs with long time lines. You can always
start small, scheduling just a few important jobs, to see
if it pays off for your shop. Q. How do I start using Clients & Profits job scheduling? First, start scheduling just the new jobs. Let the
jobs already in progress move through the shop as they
always have, even if it's less than organized. Scheduling
helps you track each task's start and due dates
(including the exact time of day), who is responsible to
its completion, and the production specifications that
describe the work. Be sure to print the Work to Do
reports, as well as the Weekly Task Planners for your
production and creative staff -- they might like what
they see. Q. Should I schedule all tasks? No. Only those job tasks that have important,
can't-miss deadlines should be scheduled first. Then the
job's interim deadlines should be scheduled to automate
the daily and weekly work-to-due reports for each staff
member. Tasks that either don't have deadlines, or have
deadlines that aren't critical to clients or to the
staff, don't need to be scheduled. Q. Why are our job schedules cluttered with non-production tasks like Project Coordination, Copies, and Stock Photography? Someone has marked those estimate/billing tasks as
"scheduling" tasks. A task can be used for
estimating/billing, scheduling, or used for both. It's a
setting in the Task Table that's customizable for each
task. Any task that is marked as "scheduling" will appear
on the job schedule. To keep tasks like Project
Coordination off the schedule, uncheck the "Scheduling"
option in the Task Table's Edit Task window. This setting
can also be changed on a specific task on the job ticket
by double-clicking on the task in the Job Tickets window
then unchecking the "scheduling" option. Q. How do I schedule a job's tasks? From the Job Ticket window, click the Schedule button.
The Job Schedule window opens, listing the job's
production tasks. The job is scheduled by entering start
and due dates for its tasks. The Clients & Profits
user guide explains in detail how to scheduling jobs.
Also, a "how to" job scheduling tutorial is available
online.
Q. Our staff usually doesn't work on weekends. Does that affect how I schedule tasks? Yes. When a job is scheduled, weekends are skipped by
default. So if someone tries to schedule a start or due
date on a weekend, Clients & Profits won't let them.
If weekends can be scheduled, you can uncheck the Skip
Saturdays or Skip Sundays checkboxes to allows those days
to be entered. Q. When scheduling a job, how do I relay information to staffers about their work? Task specifications, which are used to describe the
work to be done, can be entered for each job task. They
print on production reports like the Job Schedule, Job
Log, Work to Do, and Weekly Task Planner reports. They
relay up-to-the-minute details to staffers about their
work. Task specs are entered into the Job Schedule window
by selecting a task then by clicking the Task Specs
button in the toolbar. Task specs can also be entered
from the Work to Do and Weekly Task Planners windows by
double-clicking on a job task. Q. What's the purpose of the "step" number (i.e., schedule sort) on a job schedule? The "step" number determines the order in which a task
is completed. It helps establish the job's work flow.
Steps are especially important if you routinely create
ballpark schedules, since they tell Clients & Profits
which tasks are finished first. They're optional. It is
called the "schedule sort" on the Task Table, and is
copied to jobs when tasks are added. They can also be
assigned to each job task in the Job Schedule window.
Q. What's the difference between automatic scheduling and rescheduling tasks? Both are accessed through the job schedule window's
tool bar buttons. Automatic scheduling is used to create
a ballpark schedule when the job is initially opened.
Automatic scheduling doesn't create a finished schedule
-- it's just a quick way of getting approximate due dates
for tasks. Rescheduling tasks rearranges an existing job
schedule when the job needs to be either postponed or
rushed or when you open a new job by cloning an existing
one. Then, you don't have to adjust each task
individually. Q. How do I use automatic scheduling? Automatic scheduling is used when a job is brand new,
before it's been scheduled. It creates a "ball park"
schedule using the task's standard lead times (i.e., the
typical time each task needs to be completed.) These lead
times are set up in the Task Table, then copied to new
jobs automatically, but can be edited in the job's
schedule window. The Automatic option starts with either
the job's start date or due date, then looks at each
task. The task's due date and start date are calculated
based on which tasks are finished first (i.e., the task's
"step" field) and the lead time. Once the ballpark
schedule is created, its dates and other information
should be fine-tuned. Q. How do I use rescheduling tasks? Use the Reschedule Tasks option to update a job's
schedule when the job is either delayed or accelerated or
when you open a new job by cloning an existing one. Then,
you don't have to adjust each task individually. Unlike
the Automatic option, the Reschedule option keeps the
existing intervals between each task's start date and due
date. It preserves the schedule you initially created,
but moves the task dates up or back depending on the
job's new start date or due date. Q. Can I see the other jobs that a staffer has been assigned while scheduling a job? Yes. The pop-up Unfinished Tasks window lists a next
week's deadlines while you're entering a job's schedule.
This window help you determine the staffer's upcoming
work load, then decide whether or not they can handle the
additional work that you're about to give them. To see
the staffer's scheduled tasks, select a task in the Job
Schedule window then click the Lookup Tasks
button: Q. How do I assign two (or more) staff members to the same task? Different people can be scheduled for the same job
task by adding sub-tasks. Sub-tasks are used exclusively
for scheduling multiple start dates, due dates, or staff
members to a job task. A job task can have many
sub-tasks, which appear only on job schedules and work to
do reports. Sub-tasks have the same task code as the main
task, and they aren't used for billing. All of the hours
worked on a sub-task roll up into its main job task. For
more information on sub-tasks, see the Job Scheduling
section of the Clients & Profits user guide.
Q. Is there a quick way to update schedules and print schedule reports for many jobs? Yes. To update job schedules for many job tasks at one
time, choose View > Work to do. Make your selections,
click Find, and the Work to do window will appear listing
the tasks. Besides viewing scheduled tasks and printing
reports with various sorting options, the Work to do area
has other special features. By clicking on a task's
Finished checkbox, today's date is automatically entered
for the task's finished date. It won't appear on any
scheduling reports from now on. Or, double-click on a
task to edit its other scheduling details. Q. What happens when a task that was scheduled is completed? Nothing happens automatically. Instead, someone in the
production department (or a creative) needs to mark the
task as finished. This can be done in the Job Schedule
window, the Work to Do window, or from the Update
Schedule window in time cards and time sheets. Finished
tasks no longer appear on production reports. When a task
is marked as finished, Clients & Profits
automatically notes its finished date (it is the date
someone clicked the "finished" checkbox, although the
date can be changed in the Job Schedule window). It uses
these dates to analyze on-time performance (see Snapshots
> Production > Analysis). Q. Can Clients & Profits print a time line that graphically illustrates the job's schedule? Yes. The Job Timeline report is a Gaant-like chart
that graphically displays the start and due dates for the
job's tasks. The timeline report clearly illustrates the
job's work flow by showing the time between each task's
start and due dates as a solid bar. The timeline report
is printed by clicking the Print Timeline button in the
Job Schedule window. Q. What do all of the toolbar buttons in the Job Schedule window do? They are shortcuts that automatically create job
schedules, revise existing schedules, or check other job
schedules for conflicts. You'll find a complete
description of these functions in the Job Scheduling
section of your Clients & Profits user guide.
Q. When would I use the scheduling calendar? The Schedule Calendar provides two valuable functions:
It gives you an on-line calendar of the current year (and
even next year) to refer to as you work. And it has a
drag-and-drop capability that makes scheduling dates fast
and easy. When you see a date you need as a task's due
date, simply mouse-click on that date in the calendar,
and hold until your cursor turns into a hand. Then you
can drag the date to the task's due date field and drop
it in. If you select a day that already has scheduled
tasks due, you'll see that information on the calendar
window, too. Q. How can I tell if a staffer is too busy to take on new work? The Unfinished Tasks window lists a next week's
deadlines for a selected staff member. It helps you
balance a staffer's work load by preventing too many
deadlines from occurring at once. To see the staffer's
scheduled tasks, select a task in the Job Schedule window
then click the Lookup Unfinished Tasks button: Q. What happens to unfinished tasks if the job is closed? First of all, the job probably won't be closed if it
has unfinished tasks. If the job shows unfinished tasks,
they probably are finished but haven't been updated with
finished dates (that's a common occurrence). If a job is
closed with unfinished tasks, they are automatically
marked as "finished" by Clients & Profits as a
time-saver. You can also prevent a job from being closed
with unfinished tasks with a customizable setting in job
Preferences. Q. What are the best schedule reports to print for staff members who don't have access to Clients & Profits? The Work to Do reports (which are printed from
Snapshots > Production) are the only report most
creatives need to track their unfinished tasks and
deadlines. A separate page is printed automatically for
each staff member, making the reports easy to distribute.
The Weekly Task Planner is also an ideal report for
creatives that have fewer tasks due during the week,
since the report is more compact. Of course, it's still
better to give creatives access to Clients & Profits.
It's the only way they can look up their own deadlines,
production specs, and more (not to mention entering the
time online) while they work. Q. Is there a difference between task status and job status? Yes, task status is independent of the job's
production or billing status, but uses the same codes
from the Status Table. You can use them any way that
makes sense and seems useful. They don't have the same
intelligence as job status codes (for example, they don't
trigger e-mail notifications or prevent people from
working on tasks). You can use task status for tasks that
require special attention or a quick turnaround. For
example, if a scheduling report is limited to a certain
task status, like RUSH, then it identifies only those
tasks with the RUSH status. Other tasks may fall within
the due date range you enter, but because they aren't
marked as RUSH, they don't print on the report. (Choose
Snapshots > Production > Schedule, then limit the
report by a task status and range of due dates.)
Q. How can I evaluate whether or not our deadlines are being met? The On-Time Performance report, which is printed from
Snapshots > Production, compares how many tasks are
finished early, on time, late, and very late. The Missed
Deadlines report focuses on only tasks that are finished
late -- how many days late for each task and an average
number of days for all tasks by resource, AE/Team, or
client. These reports can be printed every month to
evaluate the shop's progress (or lack of progress) in
meeting deadlines throughout the
year.
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