Job Schedule entry form

Edit Schedule Form

To edit a job schedule, click on Schedule in the shortcut menu, then click Edit Schedule.

Smart Contractor automatically generates a schedule for a job as soon as you create an estimate. The schedule is based on the job start date and the schedule model that you enter in the Schedule Setup form.

The Edit Schedule form is a grid with job items listed in the left half of the screen, and the schedule in the right.

Both sides of the screen can be scrolled horizontally using the scroll bars at the bottom of the screen. Both sides of the screen can be scrolled vertically using the scroll bar at the right of the screen.

The bar that separates the job item list from the schedule grid can be dragged horizontally to re-size the two halves of the screen. Drag the separator bar to the right to view more item information on the left side of the screen.

Job Item List

The left half of the screen contains the list of job items in the schedule. This list includes the following columns of information regarding each item:

Phase

The phase of the job the item belongs to.

Start

Date item is scheduled to start.

Days

Number of days item is scheduled to take.

Resources

List of Resources assigned to the job item.

Range From

Earliest date item can be scheduled.

Range To

Latest date on which item must be completed.

Job Phase

The item's Job Phase (which is assigned in the prompt for Job Phase in the Job Edit Job Estimate form.

The Schedule Grid

The right half of the screen contains the schedule for the job items listed in the left half of the screen. Job items are sequenced by their scheduled date.

To Schedule An Item: Click The Cell

Each cell in the schedule grid represents a date for the job item listed on that row. When you click on a cell, this will fill the cell with a color: red for critical path items, or blue for non critical path items.

Cells with a light blue color show the date range during which non critical items may be scheduled.

If a job is set to not use CPM scheduling, then schedule job items will only appear as blue cells; there will be no red or light blue cells.

Text may appear in cells as follows:

X = Work for that date has been completed (as entered in the Job Progress entry form).
N = No resource has been assigned for the job item. Right click on the cell to schedule a resource. See the Resource Schedule Update form topic for more information.
C = Resource conflict: a resource scheduled for that item on that date has also been scheduled for a different job on the same date. Right click on the cell to see conflict information, and to correct it. See the How Do I... Correct Schedule Errors topic for more information.

To Schedule Many Items: Shift-Drag

To schedule (or un-schedule) many schedule cells at once, hold down the shift key and hold down the left mouse button, and drag the mouse across the cells. This will select (or unselect) each cell that the mouse passes over.

To Schedule Item Resources: Right Click The Row

Right click on a row to display the Item Resource form.

The item resource form displays information about resource scheduling conflicts, and allows you to change the resources assigned to a job item.

Also, if you are not using CPM scheduling for a job, the Item Resource form allows you to move the entire schedule starting on a specific date. See the Item Resource form for more information.

To Un-Schedule A Date: Click On The Cell Again.

This will clear the red or blue cell color. You may leave breaks (skipped days) in the schedule for an item. An item schedule may have any number of breaks.

Note that when the schedule for an item is moved (because the schedule for a critical item preceeding it was changed), the skipped days will remain the same.

Click OK To Refresh The Schedule

After you have clicked on schedule cells to add or remove item dates from the schedule, click OK. This will "refresh" the schedule.

If you are using CPM scheduling (by selecting a schedule model in the prompt for Schedule Model in the Edit Job form or the schedule setup form), and if you have changed the number of days scheduled for a critical path item, the schedule for all items following the critical path items will be reset.

To Move The Whole Schedule (Not Using CPM): Right Click On A Row

If you are not using CPM scheduling (by selecting the "Not CPM Scheduling" option in the prompt for Schedule Model in the Edit Job form or the schedule setup form), then the schedule for items following an item that you have changed will not be changed.

To change the schedule for multiple items simultaneously, see the "How Do I... Move The Whole Schedule" topic.

Non Working Days

The cells for Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays appear with a grey background. These are non working days and cannot be scheduled. Use the Job Setup entry form to indicate whether the program should allow work to be scheduled on Saturdays or Sundays. Use the Holiday Schedule entry form to specify the dates of holidays on which work will not be scheduled.

Some Job Items Don't Appear In The schedule. Why?

Only job items with the Schedule Item: box checked in the job estimate entry form appear in the job schedule.

The Schedule Item: check box is automatically set when job items are added to the estimate.

The automatic setting is based on the schedule model selected for the job (in the Schedule Item: prompt in the Edit Job form), and the Job Phase of the item (set in the Job Phase: prompt in the Edit Job Estimate form).

The Schedule Item: checkbox setting is taken from the setting in the Use column for the Job Phase in the Schedule Model entry form. When Use is checked, items of that type will appear on the schedule.

Show All Jobs

By default, the form shows the schedule for the current job (selected at the top of the screen). To show the schedule for all active jobs, check the Show All Jobs box. (To remove a job from the list of active jobs, use the Edit Job form to set the job status to "Completed", or "Deleted".)

When you show all jobs...

The item list on the left of the screen expands to show both the job and the item.
Job items are interspersed within the schedule grid.
Job items are sequenced by starting date, regardless of which job they belong to.

When you view the schedule grid with all jobs, the "critical path" relationship of schedule items may not seem to make sense. Remember that the critical path relationship of items only applies to items within one job.

Print The Schedule

Click the Print button to view (and print) the schedule. A popup menu will appear with these options:

Print Schedule Report. Click to print a formatted listing of the job schedule.
Print Schedule Grid. Click to print an image of the schedule grid on the screen. Note that this make take several pages. The grid is printed in page-size sections starting from the upper left.
Print Schedule Errors. Click to print the schedule error report.

Save Changes

Click the OK button to save changes, and re-display the grid.

Note: If changes have been made to the duration of any critical path items, this will change the schedule for all following items!