What This Blog Will Cover:
How to set up a series of recurring jobs
How to view parent and child jobs
How to make edits to recurring jobs
How to delete recurring jobs
A recurring job is a service that is set to automatically repeat for the same client based on a pattern you create. This feature works by creating an exact copy of the job and its information, then cloning it over several designated days.
Recurring Jobs can be used for scenarios such as:
- Regularly occurring services (ex. a weekly pool cleaning service)
- Honoring a client’s long-term contract (ex. cut grass every 2nd Tuesday)
- As reminders for future work to be done (ex. check HVAC units monthly)
With recurring jobs, you:
- Save time, by duplicating basic information from your original job (“parent”) to its recurrence clones (“children”)
- Improve customer service, by allowing you to easily provide clients with visibility into future visits
- Keep your business running, by ensuring you don’t forget to perform important services
The recurring jobs feature will auto-assign the same professional team you selected for the main job. Or if it was unassigned, it will auto-generate unassigned jobs, which you can then assign using our powerful optimization tool.
Enabling the Recurrences Menu & Options
So before you can use this feature, first you will need to enable the Recurrence menu within ServiceWorks. To do so, click on the cogwheel in the toolbar to open up the configuration tab. Once opened, navigate to Admin -> Permission to reach the permission screen.
From there, you’ll need to set the first dropdown box to the role you wish to enable the Recurrence menu for and the second dropdown box to Job. In this example, we’re going to set the role for Professional.
Once the drop-down boxes have been set, scroll down and enable all of the permissions beside the Recurrences option. These will auto save when enabled.
Creating a Recurrence via Jobs Page
To begin, hover over the Jobs section of the toolbar and select All Jobs.
To access the Edit Job menu, either click the Create New Job button to start a new job
or by hovering over the three dots at the end of a previously created job and then selecting the Details option
Once selected (or once the job is saved if a new one was created), you’ll have access to Recurring Details panel just beneath the total summary in the edit menu. Click Set Recurrence to get started with the process
In the recurrence menu, you’ll have the option to set the following parameters :
- Repeat Every – Set how often the recurrence occurs. This can be set in increments of One Time, Day, Week, Month, and Year
- Prompt Renewal – Checking this box will make it so that the recurrence is added to the renewal status for reminders to restart the recurrence towards its end
- Repeat On – Set the days on which the recurrence is repeated. You can make as many selections as necessary
- End On– Designate when the series of recurring jobs end. You can set it to end on a specific date, after a certain number of cycles, or to continue indefinitely.
- Must-Go Dates – Set dates on which the scheduled jobs must be completed. Use this in situations to enforce services on specific dates, regardless of the current schedule.
- Blackout Days – Set a date (or time period) on which scheduled jobs will not be completed, even if previously scheduled for that date. This can be used to ensure jobs don’t occur on observed holidays or other events when your services would be unavailable
Beneath these fields, you’ll also have several different toggles to enable or disable regarding items, charges, and other contents to be copied to future instances of this job.
In this example, we’ve selected a recurrence to happen each week on Mondays and Wednesdays that ends after its third cycle.
Once satisfied with your recurrence selections, click Done to continue.
Now that your recurrence has been set, the Recurring Details panel should update and display the details of your new recurrence. You should also receive a confirmation message on the creation of your recurrence.
Creating a Recurrence via Customer Page
To create a recurrence from the Customer view, take the following steps:
First, navigate to the Customer tab on the toolbar and select Customers
In the following customer view, select the names of the customers for whom you wish to create recurring jobs. Once finished with your selection, click the Action button and select Create Job With Recurrence to continue
A prompt should appear asking you to set the following information for your recurrence:
- Job Type – Apply a selected job type to the scheduled jobs in the recurrence
- Starting From – Choose the date on which to start the recurrence
- Professional – Select a professional to be assigned to the recurrences
- Description – Enter in the job description for the recurrences
Once entered, click Next to continue
Next, you’ll have the option to set the frequency of the recurrence, as well as selecting any information to be copied from the parent job to the child jobs
When finished, click Save to complete the creation of the recurrences. When the information for each job has been fully copied, you will receive an email notification with a listing of the newly created recurring jobs.
Viewing Parent and Child Jobs
Now that you’ve created a recurrence, you can view both the parent and child jobs in the series. Start by hovering over Jobs on the toolbar and selecting the dropdown that says Recurrences
Now that you’re in the menu, you should see a list of all the parent jobs for any recurrences you currently have scheduled. You have several options that you can carry out from here:
- Search recurrences by date, customer information, or the professional assigned to the job
- Filter search results by Job Status, Job Type, Classification, Zone, Source, or Recurrence frequency
To view a parent job, click the invoice number in the Parent Job column
To view a child job, hover over the three dots at the end of a parent job and select Go to Child Jobs from the dropdown
Where you can then search and select from the child jobs available
You can also view the parent and child jobs by opening up a job within a recurrence and navigating to the Recurring Details section.
Clicking the Go To Parent Job will take you to the first job in the series
Clicking the See All Child Jobs button will allow you to see all of the jobs in the recurrence. You’ll also have the ability to set a date range and search for a specific technician assigned to a job with the Professional Name field. Each of the ticket numbers is a direct link to the job in the series.
Note: If you’re checking this immediately after creating your new recurrence, you’ll see a different screen with an error message. You will need to wait for email confirmation & listings before being able to access the data for your recurring jobs.
Editing a Recurrence
To edit a recurrence, open up a parent job or a child job in the recurrence series.
In the job edit menu, in the Recurring Details panel, hover over the Edit Recurrence button to see the following options:
- Copy Job Changes Forward – This option copies any changes made to the job you are currently viewing to all future jobs in the recurrence. You can use this to ensure all changes made are reflected in all of the jobs in the recurrence
- Change Recurrences – Use this option to edit the details of the recurrence. This can be used to add or remove extra days to the recurrence, change service dates, or when the recurrence ends.
- End The Recurrence – Use this option to end the recurrence from the current job. This option will delete and remove all future jobs in the recurrence from your schedule.
Copying a Recurrence
To copy a recurrence, click the three dots at the far right side and then select Copy Recurrence
In the following popup, you can enter the new dates for your copied recurrence, as well as edit the pattern of recurrence if needed. Once satisfied with your changes, select Next to continue
Next, you’ll be presented with a list of items to be copied along with the recurrences. Once verified, click Copy to begin the process. Shortly after, you will receive a notification for when the copying process is complete
Deleting a Recurrence
To delete a recurrence, click the three dots at the far right side and then select Delete Recurrence
In the following popup, you’ll see a prompt confirming your choice of recurrence for deletion. Deleting the recurrence will not delete jobs that have been marked as completed.
Type ‘PERMANENTLY DELETE‘ in the field provided and then select Delete. You’ll receive a notification stating that your deletion is in process.
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