Schedule functionality allows you to create structured sets of schedules, populate date into them and then use the schedule to drive Case and Action due dates and Case launch dates when configuring Cases in Builder. This is often used for supporting scenarios e.g. Payroll .
The order of events to use Enate's schedule functionality is as follows:
Create a Schedule Structure in Builder consisting of a number of key dates, e.g. 'Submission Deadline Date', 'Initial report Date', 'Credit Date' etc.
Create multiple individual Schedules of dates against one of these structures.
Link one or more Case processes to that schedule and then make reference to it when configuring your Case process.
One you have created a schedule structure, you then need to create a schedule of dates to use alongside your schedule structure.
To find out how to create a schedule, you can watch the following video or read the steps below.
To create a schedule, go to the ‘Schedules’ page in Builder. Here you can see any previously created schedules and create new ones.
To create a new schedule, click on the ‘Add Schedule’ link. This will bring up a popup where you select the schedule structure you want your new schedule to use.
After selecting your desired schedule structure, you can then define the name and description of your new schedule.
You can then add as many sets of dates for as many periods as you desire to it by adding a row and defining the dates for the periods as desired.
Points to note:
You can define as many dates as you wish at this point and must define a year and a period for each.
You will always have to enter a time component for each date.
Dates and Times are displayed to the user IN THAT USER’S TIMEZONE. Data is stored in the database in UTC and converted to that user’s time zone when displaying to them here.
Once you have added you dates, save to complete creation of this schedule.
This schedule can be linked to as many different Case processes as you desire
If you wish to hide data from previous periods simply select the relevant flag on screen to do so.
You can always edit the schedule and add more dates to it later on.
Once you have entered dates as desired, you should specify the Status of schedule (you can have it Paused, so it won’t take effect on anything yet, or Resumed, which means the schedule will be in effect and will start a Case for any Case processes it is linked to.
When editing a schedule, you are able to see the activity history of the schedule by clicking on the Show Activity button. You can see when the schedule was created and by who and you can see if any subsequent edits have been made, when they were made and by who.
You can now link one or more Case processes to that schedule.
In addition to adding new rows manually, you can also upload data for multiple periods using an excel sheet.
To do this, select the 'Import from file' option to bring up the ‘Schedule period bulk upload’ popup.
Add an .xls or xlsx file with your data, click upload and the data will be added.
Once you've uploaded your file, new rows will be added to your screen containing the dates from your excel. If you’re happy with the uploaded dates, hit save to finish the upload process.
With regards to file formatting, the excel file needs to contain the all of the columns present in the schedule structure - i.e. a header row which matches the grid headings in the Schedule screen. This needs to include: period, year, start date plus all the custom-made schedule date titles you defined in your schedule structure.
You can export schedule data in an excel file via the export button.
Once a schedule has been created, you can subsequently go in and modify the data, including setting the status to paused / resumed.
If you resume a schedule after a long period of pause, the system will play catch-up, i.e. it will launch a Case Work Item even for previous date periods - if no Case Work Item has yet been launched (the system tags Case Work Items in the background so it is aware of whether or not a Case has been launched for it).
You can easily view which schedules have already expired or are expiring soon and need you to upload more data on to keep their related processes running.
When you first go to the schedules screen, you'll see the number of schedules that have already expired at the top.
You can also use the filter function to see schedules that have already expired or are about to expire in certain time frames.
The options are:
Already expired
Expired/Expiring within next 7 days
Expired/Expiring within next 30 days
Expired/Expiring within next 90 days
Select Date - here you can choose a custom date.
Once you have created a schedule, you can start to make use of the schedule information when configuring a Case process. To do this, you can:
Check out this explainer video for how to link schedules to Case processes in Builder or read the information below.
To link a schedule to a Case process, open the Case screen in Edit mode and select the desired schedule from the ‘Schedule’ dropdown in the Case Info Screen.
If you want the Cases to be automatically startable based on this schedule, set the 'Auto Start By Schedule' option to on.
The next activity available is to link the steps of the Case to the schedule so they reference one of the dates in the schedule. To do this, click the schedule icon in the steps running along the top of the Case flow diagram and select the date you want to like the step to.
There are two options when it comes to creating due date rules that reference a schedule date:
To set a due date that directly references a schedule date, when defining a new due date option select a Due Date Method of ‘From Explicit Schedule Date’, and then select which of the schedule dates you wish to reference.
As with any other due date rule, you can define a +/- offset of days (and hours) from the date referenced in order to reach the precise due date/time desired for the Action.
You can set a due date that references the due date of a Case step by creating a due date rule for the step due date e.g. ‘2 days before Step Due Date’. This gives you the flexibility of subsequently modifying the schedule date you have linked to the step without having to reconfigure your due dates.
Validation point to note: If you use a due date rule in an Action which references the step due date, but you have not linked that step to any schedule date, you will receive a validation message on saving the Case process and will not be able to set the Case live until you have resolved the issue.
The 'Show Case Process Linked to Schedule' icon in the Schedules page lets you see the list of all the Case processes which are linked to a schedule.
It shows you the Customer, Contract and Service of the Case, as well as what state the Case is in, such as Live, Testing and Draft. If the schedule is linked with more than one version of a Case, then all versions will be shown in the list. You are also able to filter the list of Cases by Customer, Contract, Service and State.
Clicking on the Case process will take you to the Case screen for that particular Case.
Note: You will be taken to the latest version of the Case screen, regardless of which version of the Case process is linked to the Schedule. However you can choose which version of the Case process you see once you are in the Case screen.
The Linked Processes list will also show retired process versions if the 'Show Deleted Objects' option is switched on.
The first step to using schedule functionality is to create a schedule structure. A schedule structure is a framework of key date types which will ultimately be populated with dates for each time period when creating a schedule that references this structure.
To find out how to create a schedule structure, you can watch the following video or read the steps below.
To create a schedule structure, go to the ‘Schedule Structure’ page in the Schedules section of Builder:
Here you can view and edit all previously created schedule structures and add new ones.
To add a schedule structure, click on the '+' link. You can then define the schedule structure's name, give it a description, and define the dates which will be used (i.e. the structure of key dates throughout that period). Dates can be edited, reordered and deleted as desired.
Note: ‘Start Date’ is always defined by default as this is needed in order for the system to know when to start any Cases using this schedule structure.
Hit 'Save' to confirm creation of the schedule structure, then you can move on to creating one or more schedules which use this structure.
When editing a schedule structure, you are able to see the activity history of the schedule structure by clicking on the Show Activity button. You can see when the schedule structure was created and by who and you can see if any subsequent edits have been made, when they were made and by who.
You now need to create a schedule which uses this schedule structure.
