Vocabulary and Concepts

Term

Definition

AFC

Automated File Copy. This service copies flat file data between the Back Office system and DRS. One system automatically drops files into a folder where the other picks it up and processes it. E.g. appointment confirmations, order creations etc. This is an alternative solution to Web Services.

Agency

The Agency is the definition DRS uses to identify the group of Objects associated with each other within your solution.  DRS can have single or multiple Agencies that have workers and customers associated to them. Customers, Workers, Orders and Jobs can only be associated with a single Agency. Sectors are also assigned to the agency within the system.

Appointment Reason

Set to First as default to state the Job has not yet been amended.  If the Job has been rescheduled the Appointment Reason is requested to state why the Job has been rescheduled i.e. Tenant Request, Planner Changed.  These can be customised within the Business Data.

Appointment Sequence

Set to First as default to state it is the first Job in the sequence.  On raising a Follow On, this is usually set to Follow On to show that the new Job is a Follow On from a previous job.  It is possible to add further definitions within the Business Data if you wish to customise the sequences used.

Appointment Set

This will be changed to Yes once there is an appointment time for the Job.

Assigned Sector

This is the Sector of the Job based on the Postcode of the Customer 

Assigned Worker

The Assigned Worker is the worker assigned to deliver a Job.

Assignment Period

The Assignment Period is the time DRS currently predicts the worker will attend the Job.

Assignment Start / End

As per the Assignment Period, this is the predicted start and end time that the Job will be attended.

Availability

Availability defines the windows in which possible appointments can be provided.  It is affected by all configuration against your Slot Templates.

Best Slot

This will be populated to Yes against the Job, if the Best Slot was selected when scheduling through "Show Scheduler"

Booking Hub

Booking Hub is a function which can be employed by your Works Management System or CRM portal to allocate appointments to Jobs without interactive access to DRS.

Bookmark

Bookmarks can be used in all objects in DRS V6 to mark and hold onto items which you wish to review or use later.

Business Data

Business Data is the global term for the definable datatypes attached to the Objects.

Calendar

Calendars are used throughout DRS to define the availability hours for Objects used in the Scheduling request.

Change Template

This allows you to amend the Job Template that has automatically been allocated to a Job if it is deemed that a different trade needs to attend or may need multiple workers to attend.

Closest

If the Map functionality is switched on, this allows you to identify the Closest Workers to a Job based on their last known location from their Job updates.

Configuration

Configuration defines both an area within the Product typically restricted to Administrator functions and the overall definition of your scheduling solution.

Customer

A Customer is the object used to hold the Location details for your scheduling.  It is important that the Postcode of the Customer Object is accurate and complete. The Customer Object can also hold contact details and other important information.  Each Customer may have many Orders and Jobs associated with it.

Cyclical

Cyclical refers to the solution which can perform scheduling of Bulk Jobs based on defined scheduling rules.  This is commonly used with work that is carried out on a regular basis such as annual services.

Daily Schedule Type

Daily Schedule Type is used to define the type of Working Day defined within a Rota.

Day Off Calendar

Day Off Calendars define unavailability periods for your Workers.  These can take the form of Global calendars which can be applied to all Workers and Personal Worker calendars which only effect the selected Worker.

Depot

Depots are locations that can be set as the start and/or end location for Working Hours Calendars.  E.g. if Workers always go to a store to collect materials in the morning, the store can be created as a Depot, and Start/End from Depot can be specified in the Working Hours Calendar.    

Diary

A Diary is the physical representation of the agreed appointments for Workers.

DLO

Direct Labour Organisation. A business unit of local authority or housing association where the workers are directly employed by the authority

Duration Adjustment

When set on a Worker, this allows a job's duration to automatically adjust based on the Efficiency of the Worker.  For example setting this to 80 would give them 80% of the duration if the Worker is specifically skilled in the task, setting this to 120 would give them an additional 20% on top of the duration if they were an apprentice and needed some more time.

Dynamic Scheduling

Dynamic Scheduling is used to define the way DRS performs it's scheduling routines.  More detail on how DRS performs it's scheduling can be found in the HelpDoc, How does DRS work for you?

Emergency

This field will be changed to Yes as long as the Priority has been defined as an Emergency Priority within the database configuration.

Export

The Export function allows users to extract data in Bulk from various Objects within DRS.

Floating Jobs

Jobs that do not require the tenant to be present on attendance, therefore can float around the diary as there doesn’t need to be a specific time. The ‘Schedule Now’ option is used to do this in DRS. Commonly used on Communal or External works

Follow On

Follow Ons are used in DRS to create additional Jobs within the linked Order where the Jobs can reference each other.  This allows Planners to schedule additional time on site for different workers, or a return of the same worker at a different time.

Forced

When a Job is Forced, this ignores any scheduling rules in place such as Sectors, Abilities, Unavailabilities etc.

History

History is the term the DRS UI uses to describe the Auditing function within DRS.

Import

The Import function allows users to provide DRS with Bulk Data updates to various Objects.

Job

A Job is the Object used to schedule the visit for your worker to attend a location to perform a task.  Each Job can only be associated with a single Order and Customer.

Journey / Route

Journey or Route is used to describe the predicted or calculated route of travel for your Worker within the days Diary.

Lock

Lock or 'Locking' can be applied to Jobs by either Time or Worker.  This can prevent the Dynamic Scheduling mechanism from moving or optimising the appointment.

Manual Assignment

This allows you to manually schedule a Job selecting a Time Slot or manually setting the Time Window and the Assignment Period and Assigned Worker

Maps

Maps are used to display the location of selected Objects from within the DRS View's.

Meeting

Meetings are specific types of Jobs within DRS which attract Travel Time and can be scheduled within the Diary.  These jobs are created within DRS directly.

Objects

Objects are the global term DRS uses to define the larger concepts within the system.  Examples of Objects are Customers, Business Data, Templates, Workers, Jobs and Orders.

Opening Hours

The hours during which Worker access to the Customer is possible.  This is useful where e.g., someone needs to meet the Worker on site to give access, and this person is only there at certain times during the week. If no Opening Hours are specified, it is assumed that the customer is “always open”.

Order

An Order is the Object which DRS uses to contain the details of the request.  This includes the SOR's, contact details, description and other key details.  Each Order can only be linked to a single Customer, but may have many Jobs.

Planning Window

Planning Window is the term to define the possible window of time a Schedule can be provided for.

Priority

The Priority of an Order comes from the point of creation to dictate the priority of the Job e.g. Emergency, Urgent, Routine, Planned.  The Priority of a Job can be ignored as all jobs within DRS will default to the Standard Priority.  This is used by DRS to define a standard Job to an automatically populated Lunch Break for example which has a Low Priority.

Quotas

Quotas allow limits to be placed on the amount of routine and urgent priority work that can be scheduled into each diary, therefore reserving capacity for emergency work arising on the current day.

Rota

A Rota is a type of recurring calendar which can be defined to run for any defined period of time.

Schedule

A Schedule is the output of asking DRS to provide the availability of workers to deliver a given Job.

Schedule Now

Schedule Now is the function DRS uses to automatically allocate a Job an Appointment Time within the existing Planning Window.

Sector

A Sector defines the group of Post Codes that a Worker can be allocated a Job within.

Show Scheduler

Show Scheduler is the function DRS uses to display all possible availability for a Job.  This possible availability will be affected by your chosen configuration.

SLA

Service Level Agreement - Defined by the Authority on what service will be provided to customers and how long it will take

SMV

The SMV for each SOR defines the duration required to complete the required task.  The cumulative duration of all SMV's for the SOR's assigned to the Order defines the default duration of the Job.

SOR

The SOR defines the requirements needed to complete the Order.

Status

Status is used to define the current progress state of Jobs and Orders.

Suspended

A Job can be suspended temporarily of which removes the Assigned Worker & Assignment Period of the Job.  If there is availability within the Time Window, by clicking "Schedule Now" you can schedule it to a Worker that is available and it will put it back into the same Time Window that was agreed but could have a different Assigned Worker & Assignment Period than before.

Target Date

The Target Date defines the last point where the Order should be successfully completed.

Task Completion Status

When a Job is completed in DRS, this does not necessarily mean it has been physically completed.  It simply records the fact that the Job has reached a conclusion.  Further info is then recorded in the Task Completion Status field, which is labelled as Completion Status on a Job.  Commonly used Task Completion Statuses are; 1. Completed – The Job has been physically completed and no further work is required. 2. Follow On – The Job requires further work, i.e. another Job will need to be created and scheduled for a future datetime. 3. No Access – The Worker was unable to gain access to complete work

Template

Templates are used to define scheduling parameters for Objects.  Templates can be applied to objects such as Customers, Orders, Jobs and Meetings.  Templates can hold abilities, access times, working times and other key details.

Tenant Code

A warning code against a property e.g. VIP (Visit in Pairs). This can be fed into DRS and using Tenant Code Rules, you can then choose to select a different job template when jobs are created e.g. a Paired Template.

Time Constraints

This is sent at the point of creation of an Order / Job.  This will normally be from the Date/Time of Creation up until the Target Date.  This defines the Time Window in which the Job can be scheduled.  This can be amended as long as you have permission, if the Job must be attended after the Target Date

Time Slot

Specifies which Time Slot a Job has been scheduled into using "Show Scheduler" or Manual Assignment

Time Window

A Time Window for a New Job will match the Time Constraints.  Once Scheduled using "Show Scheduler" or "Manual Assignment", the Time Window will change to the agreed Time Slot for the Job unless it is deemed a Floating Job and been scheduled by "Schedule Now" of which it will stay defined as Time Window.

Time Window Change Counter

Dictates how many times that a job has had its Time Window changed i.e. how many times it has been rescheduled into a different Time Slot

UI

User Interface, i.e., the front end of the DRS system

Unavailabilities

Unavailability's are used to limit the availability of Workers or a Customer.

UPRN

Unique Property Reference Number.  Every property in the UK has a UPRN

User Queue

A User Queue is a possible Business Data option commonly used to organise Jobs together.

View

Views in DRS are used to show detail.  Views can be configured with custom columns and filters.  Users can have both Globally configured views and personal views.

Void

When a property is unoccupied for a period of time

Web Services

Web Services are the preferred integration method for DRS using an API.

WIP

Work in progress / Outstanding Jobs

Worker Efficiency

As per Duration Adjustment, if Worker Efficiency is to be used, this would take into account the Duration Adjustment field on a Worker to calculate the Duration required during scheduling.

Workers

Workers are used to define the worker allocated to delivering your Jobs.

Working Hours Calendar

A Working Hours Calendar is a type of calendar which can be used to define the availability of a 7 day period.

Working Time

Working Time defines the possible window of time Workers will be available for Jobs to be Scheduled to them.