Scheduling

[hylerseptic]

How do you guys schedule your pumping jobs? Notebook? Software? ANy ideas. Im looking for ideas on creating something new.

Kevin

[PNaida]

Sticky notes on steering wheel. j/k

Large format day timer seems to work for us. It would depend on your volume of jobs.

Cheers

[pottyqueen]

Might be a tad late on the reply BUT we use Insight Direct Service CEO. It's the third software we have used/tried in the last 10 years or so. None are perfect but this one has a pretty wicked scheduling system.

[PNaida]

Since the 5 months has past.:rolleyes: We have found a advanced scheduler module that will work with our accounting system quite nicely.

Cheers

[Mr Stinky]

How do you keep jobs from falling through the cracks? We have a Call Book where we track all our calls. From there we give the Techs a carbon of the call and post the calls for other days on a Weekly board. We post future jobs on the Future Job board. We post estimates on the Estimate board. All of the orginial calls are kept in the Call Book. We put a line through the call and write the Techs name next to the job when it is given to the Tech. The Tech calls when done, then we place another line to X it out showing it is complete. But some where along the line, there are calls that are not put on the job board and fall through the cracks. Is there some full proof way to keep on top the service calls. We are full service so there are Pump Calls, Repair Calls, Plumbing Calls and New Systems. Our plate is full, but there has to be some way to stay on top all the calls that come in.
Any advice on this matter?

[pottyqueen]

We used to have a system very similar to yours in the past and it worked pretty darn well. We have since gone computer software but still every once in a while a job slips through for whatever reason (now it's always the computers fault....:p).

My opinion is that jobs will slip through the cracks sometimes and that's just the way it is -- boils down to human error whether using a manual method or computer. HOWEVER, it shouldn't happen too often -- more than 1x every few months would be too often in my office.

If you are having a steady problem, which you must since you posted this question, seriously evaluate WHO is taking the calls and placing them on the board and WHY the problem may be happening. This person has to be very detail oriented and consistent.

Is this person trying to handle too many incoming calls at a time and just isn't getting the information written down? Is this person just not tearing off the tickets and putting them on the board?

Maybe add a person to the phones to help with the workload and the quality will go up as a result. Or maybe have the person check the job book at the end of the day to make sure all tickets have been torn out & posted?

I think if you sit down and think about it or watch what's going on during the day, you will be able to pinpoint the problem area. Hopefully the problem can be resolved without hiring a new person for the job........

Good Luck.

[Mr Stinky]

It there a scheduling computer program that will work with QuickBooks Pro 2008?
That would be most wonderful to be able to enter customer information just one time instead of several. What a time saver that would be, so is there a program available that would input the customer directly into our current system?
All our computers (3) are linked together, so would such a program be accessible from all the computers?
Thanks for all your input. It is great to have someone to turn to at times like this.

[Clancy@SmartService]

It there a scheduling computer program that will work with QuickBooks Pro 2008?
That would be most wonderful to be able to enter customer information just one time instead of several. What a time saver that would be, so is there a program available that would input the customer directly into our current system?
All our computers (3) are linked together, so would such a program be accessible from all the computers?
Thanks for all your input. It is great to have someone to turn to at times like this.

To Mr. S and others who may dig up this thread:

I'm Clancy and I work at Smart Service. A new customer of ours mentioned this forum and I thought I'd come check it out - we make a QuickBooks scheduling add-on (http://snurl.com/i9myy) for service businesses. I was poking around and found your question and thought I'd (after ok'ing it with an admin) put some info out there about our product!

Smart Service is live integrated with QB so it updates your database whenever something's changed. It has flexible, drag and drop scheduling (http://snurl.com/i9mxr), inventory tracking and management, smart routing for fleet vehicles, a marketing correspondence module and more. It's built to turn QB into a full service small business package. It can be set up to be accessed on any computer that has QB, and it works on a concurrent user count -- which means it can be on all 3 computers, but only on one on computer at a time (for one license).

So please get ahold of me through here if you want to know more, or hit the website, we would love to work with more of the folks from these forums!

Thanks,
Clancy@SmartService

[Mr Stinky]

OMG . . my quest for a scheduling program is resolved. I finally found a program that works with our QuickBooks :) and it is awesome. It is called Smart Service :D and can do everything I was looking for and more. User friendly for not so up to date computer folks like me. Look them up on line or give them a call at 1-888-518-0818 and I have been working with James Martini at ext. 103. He walks you through the program with ease. Now all those calls won't slip through the cracks, open jobs won't get lost in the shuffle, schedule charges a breeze, easy to do reminder cards, track your advertising to see if it is worth what we pay, no more searching for which technician did what job and was it finished. Yes Virginia there is a God of the scheduling industry.

[Clancy@SmartService]

Thanks Mr. Stinky -- for pointing us towards this site, and for the kind words! We appreciate it!

BTW, James forwarded me your website -- very nice!

Clancy

[sueb]

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