Repeating Jobs enable dispatchers to automate the process of creating and scheduling jobs that are repeated on a regular cycle. This feature saves time, helps reduce the workload for dispatchers, and makes sure jobs that must be regularly scheduled aren’t forgotten.
There are two versions of Repeating Jobs in vWork:
- Repeating Jobs (v1) - the standard Repeating Jobs tool called Repeating Jobs in vWork. This is used to schedule the same job for one customer at one location.
- Repeating Jobs v2 - an optional more powerful Repeating Jobs tool that works with the optional Assets feature. This is called Repeating Jobs v2 in vWork. It is more flexible and powerful than standard Repeating Jobs.
Read on to learn more about both versions.
Repeating Jobs (v1)
All vWork accounts come with Repeating Jobs (v1). This is a standard vWork feature that you can use once you enable it in the General Settings.
The standard version of Repeating Jobs works best for scheduling straightforward recurring jobs where you have a single customer requiring one job to be repeated on a regular cycle at one location. This is the simplest version of Repeating Jobs.
The advantages of Repeating Jobs (v1) are:
- For straightforward jobs, it is simple to set up.
- It doesn’t require the optional Assets feature.
- Equipment is easily added at the time the repeating job cycle is set up.
- You can add different custom field variables for each repeating job based on the same template.
The disadvantages of Repeating Jobs (v1) are:
- You must set up multiple repeating job schedules to schedule the same job for the same customer at different locations.
- It doesn’t allow days to be skipped on the schedule.
- You can’t update jobs in Repeating Jobs (v1) by simply changing the template used for the repeating job. You must create a new Repeating Jobs schedule when you want to make changes to the job template.
You can find out how to set up Repeating Jobs (v1) in the article, Set up Repeating Jobs (v1)?
Note: Repeating Jobs (v1) is disabled if you have Repeating Jobs v2 added to the account as an optional feature.
Repeating Jobs v2 (with Assets)
Repeating Jobs v2 must be used with vWork's optional Assets feature and is an optional add-on to your vWork account.
Rather than applying a job template to a customer to create a job as happens in the standard version of Repeating Jobs, Repeating Jobs v2 applies a job template to an Asset to create and schedule a job. This makes Repeating Jobs v2 a vastly more powerful and flexible tool than the standard Repeating Jobs v1 option.
The advantages of Repeating Jobs v2 are that, in a single repeating jobs schedule, you can:
- Create multiple jobs of the same type for one or more customers at different locations.
- Create seasonal schedules that follow different rules (eg., summer, fall, winter, and spring schedules).
- Skip scheduling jobs on days or dates of your choosing (eg., Christmas Day, or Weekends).
- Schedule repeating jobs for multiple Assets and have these jobs scheduled for different days.
- Schedule the same job for the same Asset for different customers, (eg., when two customers share responsibility for one asset - such as a cricket pitch).
- Assign some workers to jobs for some Assets and other workers to other Assets.
- Create the same job for Assets in different Groups, (eg., create jobs for different regional centers).
- Create the same job with different job durations for different Assets, (eg., when the same job can be completed in 30 minutes for one Asset but it takes 60 minutes for a bigger Asset).
- Update future repeating jobs (jobs not yet created) by updating the job template that the jobs are based on.
- Import multiple assets when you are setting up the Repeating Jobs schedule to save time and reduce errors.
The disadvantages of Repeating Jobs v2 are:
- The setup for creating a repeating Job can be complex. Good planning helps to mitigate this.
- Equipment must be manually added to jobs, or saved with the job template, to include it in jobs created through Repeating Jobs v2.
As Repeating Jobs v2 is an optional feature this must be added to your account by our support team. You can find out more about this version in the article Set up Repeating Jobs v2 (with Assets). Alternatively, email support@vworkapp.com.