Computech FAQs

  Key Features of Scheduler© Pro 5

Graphically schedule events and resources with drag and drop.

Create as many schedules for your resources as you like. There are an unlimited number of resources that can be created to suit your requirements. Once a schedule has been created, it can be rescheduled by selecting the schedule and dragging it to another resource or time of day.

Scheduling of unlimited resources
Create as many resources as you require. Each type of resource (e.g. Engineers/Vehicles/Staff) can have their own category and have as many resources in that category as you so like. Different resource categories can be viewed in Scheduler© at the click of a button.

Custom mouse over tooltips
When a user hovers over a schedule with the mouse while holding the shift key, a tooltip pops up with developer defined text from the schedule record can be customised to your choice.

Scheduling of unlimited resources
The text displayed in the grid for each schedule can be customised to display any information from the schedule record. When the mouse hovers over the schedule, the text for the schedule is displayed in a popup (useful for a lot of text).

Custom Event Types
Create and manage custom event types for each resource category within Scheduler©.

Below is an example of two categories of resources (Vehicles and Engineers) with different event types:

• The resource category "Vehicles" could have the following event types: Maintenance, Leased, Booked, Out of Order, etc. (Unlimited)

• The resource category "Engineers" could have the following event types: Call out, Meeting, Onsite, Holiday, etc. (Unlimited)

The number of resource categories available is unlimited. Here are a few examples; Vehicles, Engineers, Stock Items, Inventory, Staff, and each with their own set of event types.

Manage Resources within Scheduler©
The resource categories can be administered within Scheduler©. Create as many resources as required and categorise them to manage them all efficiently. You can then switch between each resource category at the click of a button to view the difference schedules. Each resource category can have its own customised set of events - See "Custom Event Types".

Group resources together
You can group your resources together in as many groups as you like and give the group a name (for example a department or team). Also a resource can belong to more than one group.

Email Individual Schedules
Scheduler© will send an email to any resource and show the current schedule in view. This can be sent has an HTML email or as an attachment with an HTML web page.

Print schedules as HTML. Send as HTML email/attachment

or publish HTML page to the web Scheduler© has the ability to generate an HTML page of the current schedule in view. This can be of a month schedule/ day by day or up to 3 months in advance. This could be uploaded to a web server for all visitors to view or used with the FileMaker® 8.5 web viewer. The HTML can also be emailed and zipped.

Inherit FileMaker® privileges
As each Scheduler© user logs in with their FileMaker username and password, the privilege set is inherited while using Scheduler©. For example, by limiting the 'edit/create' privileges in the 'Schedule' table the user will only have view privileges of the scheduled data.

Scheduler© Toolbar - Switch to FileMaker, Scheduler©, or Mail Client at the click of a button
The Toolbar gives users quick options from the top of the screen. The Toolbar has two views, a larger, colourful view or a simple, smaller compact view. The tool bar is optional and does not need to be displayed at all.

The following commands can be run from the Toolbar:

* FileMaker Scripts (If applicable)
* Switch to FileMaker, Scheduler©, or your mail client at the click of a button
* Schedule a resource
* Lock the PC (Workstation)
* Lock the Toolbar in place (displays on top of other windows).


Customise start/finish time of day
You may not run a 9-5 business, therefore the start/finish time of the day can be customised to your needs, in 15 minute time slots.

Access Multiple Scheduling Solutions
Use an unlimited number of different FileMaker database solutions which have the FileMaker Scheduler© (FMScheduler.fp7) table structure in place.

Simply change the name of the database to access at login. Click "Options" on the login screen, then change the name of the database solution in the "FileMaker DB Name:" box. Note: Ensure the I.P. address matches the host of the FileMaker Solution.

Complete conflict management within Scheduler©
No need to be concerned about double booking a resource, Scheduler© has its own built in collision detection. As a result, no one resource can be booked in more than one place at any one time!

Multi-day scheduling. Schedule resources easily across multiple days
Select a start date and time and a finish date and time for a schedule to be booked (e.g. a two week holiday/business trip/maintenance) and the schedule will unavailable for the duration of the booking, allowing you to easily manage the resources time.

Switch Resource Category
The ability to switch between an unlimited number of resource categories. For example, switch to Engineers, and then to Meeting Rooms, and then to Projectors (Inventory Items) at the click of the mouse.

Scheduler© has the ability to switch the current resource category without restarting FileMaker or Scheduler©. The number of resource categories is unlimited as well as the number of resources!

Help Tips
Launch help tips whenever you like to give you further information about a task you would like to do.

Find schedules by Reference ID, name of booking, date, time, resource name or event type
Cannot find a schedule that has just been booked? No problem, Scheduler© has its own built-in search facility that will search the database from a set criteria. If you enter the schedule ID, Scheduler© will jump to the day the schedule is booked and flash to alert you of its location.

Monthly/Weekly view of schedules for all/selected resources
As well as a day-to-day view, Scheduler© has a monthly and weekly view. A monthly view can be display a selected resources schedules for the selected month, or all schedules for all resources for the selected month. The weekly view can display the schedules for a selected resource from one day to 90 days.

Multi-Day (Custom) view of schedules for all/selected resources
By selecting Multi-Day view (from the 'View' file menu in Scheduler), a custom number of days (up to 90 days) can be selected to view all schedules for the current resource category. So for example, you will be able to display all schedules for all engineers for the next 90 days.

Each day is colour coded to graphically represent the number of schedules a particular resource has on that day. Within each day, all schedules can be listed or simply the number of schedules the respective resource has for the day, giving immediate indication of the resources availability. There is the added option to exclude weekends, if so desired.

Resources
When viewing many resources, it may be necessary to hide certain resources in Scheduler , especially during busy periods. It will make the current view more meaningful and simplistic on the eye. Even more so if comparing schedules. The resources that are hidden can also be inverted at the click of a button.

Run FileMaker scripts from within Scheduler©
Create your scripts in FileMaker® and select which scripts to display in a drop-down menu in Scheduler© (each script can have its own custom name). Select from the drop-down menu in Scheduler© which script you would like to run and FileMaker® will execute it. NOTE: FileMaker® must be open on the client machine for the scripts to run.

Monitor user logons
The Audit Trail monitors when a user logs in and out of Scheduler©. This can be toggled on/off.

Lockout Scheduler© users from FileMaker®
Lock users from using Scheduler© Pro 5. For example: If essential updates are needed to your application.
If set to Yes, users will not be able to log into Scheduler©. NOTE: This will not affect users that are currently logged in. (If you required this ability, please contact us).

Scheduler for Windows does not need to have the FileMaker client loaded to run. All it needs is IP connectivity to the server. Thus, it is possible to run Scheduler over a WAN or a VPN with ease. A Scheduler license is provided with each BusinessMan license, although they do not need to be installed on the same PCs. There is a graphical scheduler and diary system included within BusinessMan that reflects any changes made either way, from Scheduler for Windows or from within BusinessMan.

Features

• Drag and Drop Jobs
• Drag and Resize Jobs
• Recurring Schedules
• Drop resources onto a Job
• Unscheduled Jobs
• Multi-day View
• Help desk environment
• Send SMS Messages
• Send pre-filled emails to resource
• View and create Tasks

When a user hovers over a schedule with the mouse while holding the shift key, a tooltip pops up with developer defined text from the schedule record can be customised to your choice.

Scheduling of unlimited resources
The text displayed in the grid for each schedule can be customised to display any information from the schedule record. When the mouse hovers over the schedule, the text for the schedule is displayed in a popup (useful for a lot of text).

Custom Event Types
Create and manage custom event types for each resource category within Scheduler©.

Below is an example of two categories of resources (Vehicles and Engineers) with different event types:

* The resource category "Vehicles" could have the following event types: Maintenance, Leased, Booked, Out of Order, etc. (Unlimited)
* The resource category "Engineers" could have the following event types: Call out, Meeting, Onsite, Holiday, etc. (Unlimited)

The number of resource categories available is unlimited. Here are a few examples; Vehicles, Engineers, Stock Items, Inventory, Staff, and each with their own set of event types.

Manage Resources within Scheduler©
The resource categories can be administered within Scheduler©. Create as many resources as required and categorise them to manage them all efficiently. You can then switch between each resource category at the click of a button to view the difference schedules. Each resource category can have its own customised set of events - See "Custom Event Types".

Group resources together
You can group your resources together in as many groups as you like and give the group a name (for example a department or team). Also a resource can belong to more than one group.

Email Individual Schedules
Scheduler© will send an email to any resource and show the current schedule in view. This can be sent has an HTML email or as an attachment with an HTML web page.