Job Duration

T. L. Hawkins

11 months ago

What is Job Duration?

Ever wonder how long something will actually take to finish? That’s what Job Duration is all about! Think of it like the little timer on your microwave, telling you exactly when your popcorn will be ready. In the world of getting things done, from big projects to small tasks, knowing the duration is key.

In ServiceWorks, job duration is pretty straightforward – It’s the estimated amount of time it typically takes to complete a job or service.

Why is Job Duration Important?

Understanding job duration is like having a crystal ball for your time. Here’s why it’s a big deal:

Planning Your Day (or Project!):
Just like you check how long a movie is before you settle in, knowing a job’s duration helps you fit it into your schedule. No more cramming too much into one day!

Getting Stuff Done On Time:
Have a deadline? If you know how long each part of a project will take, you can set realistic goals and actually finish on time.

Spotting Speed Bumps:
If one task always takes way longer than you expect, it might be a “bottleneck”—something slowing everything else down. Knowing the duration helps you find and fix these issues.

Figuring Out What You Need:
If a job takes 8 hours, you know you’ll need someone (or a system) dedicated to it for that long. It helps you see what “resources” (like people or tools) you’ll need and for how long.

Estimating Costs:
Time often equals money! If a task takes 5 hours and your helper costs $50/hour, you can quickly guess the cost.

Keeping all of these factors in mind while using the job duration features available can greatly improve the efficiency in which you operate your business. Let’s take a look at how you can assign and edit job durations using ServiceWorks

Job Duration via Price List

You can set specific job durations to any of the services created and stored within your Price List using the production rate field. Simply login to your ServiceWorks account and click the cogwheel on the toolbar to open the Configuration Tab. Once opened, select Price List from the choices available

In the Price List, either create a new service or select to edit an existing one, then head to the Production Rate section of the edit menu.

With the production rate, you can set a pre-existing duration for the service. In our example, we have it set so that one instance of this service will automatically be scheduled for 90 minutes when selected.

And now, whenever this service is selected for a job, it will automatically assign itself for a 90 minute period

This job duration will also be present within the scheduling sidebar and and the edit job menu

Job Duration via Professional Role

Another way that you can set job durations is by assigning the duration to your individual users. With this method, the job duration will be designated by the time specified within the user’s profile.

To utilize this job duration method, start by logging into your ServiceWorks account and clicking the cogwheel within the toolbar to open the Configuration tab.

Once opened, navigate to Admin -> Company Users and then either create a new user or click the edit (pencil) icon to enter the user edit menu

Once in the user edit menu, click on the Assign Role tab. If the role of Professional hasn’t been selected and assigned for this user, you’ll need to do that now as this role is the only user role with the job duration assignment.

Much like the production rate in the pricelist, you can enter a minute amount within the Avg time to complete a job to set a job duration time, then click save. And now, whenever the user is assigned to scheduled jobs, the jobs will automatically update based on the duration set.

Editing Job Duration

Job duration can also be edited when already set. To do so, login to ServiceWorks to view your schedule.

See these 3 bars below any of the scheduled appointments? You can drag and drop these to quickly shorten or extend the job duration for this specific job. This feature is available on each schedule view, outside of the live map view.