When creating an appointment or editing the appointment details, the following input mask opens:
The following input options are available:
- Enter a meaningful Subject. For appointments with a customer reference, the default subject corresponds to the customer name. If you change the subject here, the customer name is also displayed in brackets.
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In the Schedule drop-down menu, specify whether you want to give portatour® leeway for further flexibility and optimization potential. You have the choice between On time, With leeway, Flexible on the day, Flexible in the week and All-/Multiday. If the appointment is assigned to a customer and this customer has limited business hours on the day of the appointment, then these business hours will be considered for scheduling when selecting the options Flexible on the day and Flexible in the week. If the appointment lasts all day or extends over several days, select the option All-/Multiday and set the date and time of the appointment's beginning and end. In such a case, leeway is not possible. In case of all-day appointments, portatour® will not schedule any further calls on the day.
Hint: On days without working hours, appointments "Flexible on the day", "Flexible in the week" or "With leeway" will not be scheduled, because portatour® does not know a time period in which the appointment is allowed to take place. A warning message appears during the update of the schedule. - If the appointment is supposed to be scheduled With leeway, select the time span until the latest possible start in the Leeway drop-down menu. Example: You have agreed to visit your customer in the morning. Set the start time to 08:00 and a 240 minute leeway. If you want to set a leeway for all new appointments by default, change the scheduling parameters section in the portatour® options – see Scheduling parameters of customers. The more leeway there is, the higher the potential for optimization through portatour®.
- The Date of the appointment is set in the selection box. Clicking on the calendar icon also opens the calendar view to select a date:
Use the links << and >> to change the month in the calendar. To select a date, click on the desired day - it will then be highlighted in orange. Then Close the calendar view afterwards. - In the Start time field you set the beginning of the appointment.
- In the End Time input box, enter the end of the appointment and thus the duration. If you do not find the desired end time in the selection box, click on the keyboard icon to the right of the input field. Now you can manually enter the end time in hours and minutes:
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Under Recurring, determine whether this is a recurring appointment that repeats regularly (see Recurring appointments).
Note: Setting a recurring appointment is only possible at the time of appointment creation. If you want to convert an existing simple appointment into a recurring one, delete the appointment and create a new series. - By clicking Edit address, the appointment address is displayed in the edit mode. Change the relevant address boxes and click Geocode. For details on address geocoding and processing, see Geocoding.
- If the appointment is not location bound – e.g. a telephone conference via mobile phone – click Remove location. This will enable portatour® to schedule the appointment at any location – usually on the way between two customer calls. The appointment thus serves as 'time blocker' where no further calls can be made.
- If you would like to convert an appointment without a location reference into an appointment with an address, click on Add location. Enter the appointment address and click on Geocode.
- Optional data fields of the appointment are displayed in the Information section. These can be adjusted under Options > Custom Fields (see Custom fields Overview).
Press Save to apply the changes to your appointment.