Adding Service Appointments to Calls

You can add service appointments to a call using the Appointments button on the Service Call window. When you select the Appointments button, the following fields are disabled in the Service Call window: Technician ID, Date, Estimated Hours, and Starting Time. They're disabled since the information pertains only to Appointment 0001.

When you open the Appointments window, the Appointment field defaults with the number 0002 and increments by one for each new appointment entered for the service call. Each service call will have at least one appointment.

Select Cards > Service Management > Service Manager.
Select a customer and select the New Call button.
Enter the service call information and select the Appointments button to open the Appointments window.
Complete the following fields, as necessary.
- Appointment
  Displays the appointment number.
- Attachment
  Select the paperclip icon to add an attachment to the service call. See Setting Up and Using Document Management or Advanced Document Management.
- Appointment Description
  Enter a description that conveys the purpose or other details of the appointment. When the description exceeds 50 characters, an appointment note is created. The note can be marked as Is Internal so that the note does not appear on any customer reports. The note subject is titled Description. The note can be viewed by selecting the attachment icon to the right of the Description field.
- Skill Level
  Enter a skill level, if required.
- Technician ID
  Select the technician assigned to this appointment. You can use the technician schedules button to view technicians' availability or use the best technician button next to the Technician ID field if you want the system to select the next available, qualified technician for an appointment. This feature is optional.
- Date
  The date that the appointment is scheduled to be performed. This date defaults from the Service Call window.
- Estimated Hours
  Enter an estimate for completing the appointment. The number of hours cannot exceed 24. If appointments are created by the system by means of tasks, the total default hours of the tasks will default into the Estimated Hours field. See Assigning tasks to a service call for more information on how tasks update this field. The hours entered update the Total Appointment Hours field in the Service Call window and the available and allocated hours in the Technician Schedules window. If you want the system to figure out the technician's next available time slot for the appointment, select the next available button, next to the Date field. This feature is optional.
- Starting Time
  Enter the time the appointment is scheduled to be performed. The time entered determines where the appointment displays in the Technician Board – Daily View window. If you do not enter a starting time, the appointment will not display in the Technician Board – Daily View window.
- Appointment Status
  When an appointment is created from a service call, Default is the default status of appointment number 0001. Otherwise, Unassigned is the default status of new appointments. Closed is not an available appointment status.
- Completion Date
  If you change the appointment status to Complete, enter a completion date.
Select Save to add the appointment to the scrolling window.

If the primary skill level of the Technician ID entered does not match the skill level in the Skill Level field, you receive a message when saving the appointment. If you password-protected this function, you must enter a password to allow the technician ID to still be entered.

Double-clicking an appointment in the scrolling window fills its information in the header area of the window for editing. An appointment can be removed from the service call by selecting it in the scrolling window and choosing Delete.

The total hours of all tasks entered display in the Total Task Hours field at the bottom of the window. The estimated hours of all appointments entered displays in the Total Appointment Hours field.