The Scheduling Manager lets staff manage their schedules. This includes inspection schedules, meetings, events, and sick or vacation days. All of this can be done through one system. This helps make sure no events are missed. The system is a Customer Appointment Management (CAM) tool. It is made for mobile workers. It automatically routes and schedules on-site appointment activities.
There are 3 main operations managed by the scheduler:
Inspection Schedules
Personal Schedules
Department, Group, or Agency-Wide Events
Important Note
The Scheduling Tool system is not used to create or search for inspections. Inspections are created from within specific records. Examples include permits and projects. Learn more about Creating & Managing Inspections.
Access the Scheduling Tool
Sign in to your site
Select the Scheduling Tool in the navigation bar
The scheduler will open in a new tab
Display Map
The Display Map area shows all open inspections. The user may either view all inspections or just their assigned inspections.
Users can switch between Map and Satellite views. Find the Street View control (with the icon of a man) at the bottom right of the map. This control can be dragged and dropped onto any point on the map. This will show the street view of that location. This helps users see the tax parcel before visiting the actual location.
Clicking on any parcel on the map will pop up information about the inspection. Clicking on the inspection number will take you to the actual inspection.
Display Gantt Slide Chart
The Display Gantt Slide Chart area is the key area for scheduling inspections. This interface lets users drag and drop inspections. Inspections can be assigned to a chosen inspector. They can also be set for a specific date and time.
Jump to Date: Staff can go to a specific date. This lets them see inspections that are scheduled or completed for that day. The system does not delete completed inspections. This is because they are part of the record retention system.
Search Inspectors: Start typing an inspector's name. The system will list all matching inspectors. The list updates as more is typed.
Full Screen Mode: This opens the scheduler in a separate browser tab. To exit and return to the regular size, simply close the full-screen mode browser tab.
Color Coding: Green is used to show completed inspections. These are inspections that resulted and closed with a status of either pass or fail. Yellow displays current inspections that are not past the due date but that have not been completed. Their status is still open or pending. Red identifies inspections that are past the due date and time and have been marked as pass or fail status.
Open & Unassigned / Requested: These checkboxes control what displays in the request queue.
Requested Inspections: This area to the left of the Gantt chart lists inspections. These inspections have a record, but they are not yet assigned to an inspector. They also do not have a scheduled date and time. Records in this area can be dragged to the Gantt chart. When changes are saved to the scheduler, all inspection records update. They will show the chosen inspector and the date/time. An email is also sent to the inspector, applicant, or contractor. This email notifies them about the scheduled inspection. This area shows the same requests that appear in the inspection request queue list.
Gantt View: Choose to display the Gantt chart by Day, Week, Month, or Year.
Using the Gantt Chart
Users can drag and drop one or more inspections from the queue to the Gantt area. The system will alert the user if an inspector is not allowed to do that inspection. Inspector restrictions can be managed from the Assign District tab. These rules can be based on district, occupancy, or inspection type. Users can drag inspections into the Gantt chart and then commit their changes. Relevant users are notified only after the user clicks Commit Changes. These users include the inspector, owner, and requestor. To cancel an action, the user must refresh the page. The Refresh Calendar button reloads events from the server. However, it does not refresh the queue.
Display Regular Calendar View
This view shows a regular calendar view (month, week, day) of an inspector. It defaults to the calendar of the logged-in user. The user may also edit an inspection/event by clicking on an item.
For user: Allows a user to toggle between the calendars of inspectors. Selecting all inspectors in that view shows the calendar for all the inspectors.
Jump to date: Allows the user to directly jump to a specific date and see the calendar view for any inspector for that date.
Print: This button prints the list of inspections corresponding to the selected inspector.
Refresh Calendar: Reloads all events from the server.
Manage Events
The Manage Events tab lets the user create or update municipality-wide, user-level, or group events that are either one-time or recurring. This view opens in edit mode when the user has clicked on any event from one of the above views or the bottom event queue. The view opens in create mode by default if no event has been clicked on. This tab is used to schedule any type of event, but it is not for scheduling inspections.
Below the event details area, an event list is displayed. This list shows all scheduled events and meetings. However, it does not include inspections. All items on this list are for review.
Assign District
The Assign District view allows staff to assign roles to any user. Staff can also assign inspection restrictions. These rules can be based on the occupancy class or building and fire inspection types. Finally, staff can assign a Gantt group (district) to any user.
Users: The system lists each supervisor/inspector or inspector group in user management. The user column shows each user's rights level.
Occupancy Class: Select one or more occupancy classifications. This lets inspectors complete inspections. The inspections must match the occupancy classification for that record. This data is kept in the tax parcel system.
Building Inspection Types: Choose one or more building inspection types. These are the types the inspector is approved to do.
Fire Inspection Types: Choose one or more building inspection types. These are the types the inspector is approved to do.
Districts: Pick the district the user is assigned to. The system checks the tax parcel database for the inspection location. It finds the district assigned at that level. If a user is not assigned to that district, the system will not let the inspection be assigned to them. Not all customers have districts assigned for inspections. In these cases, only one default district will be set.
Note:
A user may try to assign an inspector. If that inspector is not allowed to do the occupancy class, inspection type, or fire inspection type, the system will warn the user. It will also stop the inspection from being assigned.
Inspection Processing
The main goal of the Scheduling Manager is to handle inspection schedules. It works for many inspectors across different departments. Examples include Building, Projects, Planning, Code Enforcement, and Fire/Life Safety. The scheduler has two inspection queues.
Inspection Request Queue
This queue lists inspection requests. These requests come from the public using the Citizen Portal or other public submissions. It lists inspections that have not yet been assigned to an inspector or given an inspection date. Any inspection from the Citizen Portal will get a temporary inspection number, such as CP-RI-xxxx. This number is randomly generated based on the date and time. The actual inspection number will be assigned later. This happens when the inspection is given to an inspector and a date is set.
Inspections Queued
This queue lists all the open inspections within the system across all modules. These inspections have been assigned to an inspector but have not passed or failed. They are still being worked on. If used as designed, managers/supervisors and inspectors can quickly and effectively manage all their inspections.
Search Inspections
By default, all "Requested" and "Open" inspections are listed. This list appears below the search inspections area, under the Queue sections. The search area has options you can use to find inspections. These search options are:
Parcel-specific fields: Such as Occupancy Class and Map Number
Inspection-specific fields: Such as Inspection Type, Districts, and From/To Dates
Specific Inspector
The search also filters the draggable inspections. These are found on the left side of the Gantt Chart. To start a new search, click the Clear Search button.
Notification System
Inspections, events, and meetings are scheduled. The system then sends out notices. These go to the inspector. They also go to other staff members. The system's email tool is used for this.