Work orders to schedule

Where to find it

• The sidebar: Operations → To Schedule, right under Jobs. It is always there for anyone with the View work orders permission.
• The Jobs page banner "N work orders to schedule" (with "(N overdue)" in red when any are late) and its View work orders button.
• The Work Orders to Schedule chip in the attention banner on the Overview.
• The command palette: press cmd+K and search "To Schedule".

The To Schedule sidebar badge, the Jobs banner, and the Overview chip all show the same number: work orders not booked yet that are Overdue, Due now, or have No due date. Upcoming ones (due window more than 14 days out) are on the page but not counted. The Jobs badge in the sidebar counts only maintenance jobs that are not on a route, never work orders.

The banner and the chip only show when something needs booking. The sidebar item is always there: with nothing waiting, the page reads "Nothing waiting to be scheduled" and still has the Create work orders button.

Create work orders for many pools at once

1. 1On Work orders to schedule, click Create work orders.
2. 2Pick the Work order template, for example your pool opening. Each work order gets the template's line items, tasks, and deposit, the same as creating it from that template on Create Job. If you have no work order templates yet, the dialog offers Create a work order template.
3. 3Optionally set a Due window (optional): pick the first and last day the work should be booked in (one day makes a one-day window). It sorts the list and flags late ones. Clear removes it.
4. 4Under Pools on a maintenance plan, every pool with a maintenance job is listed with its current tech and day, and all of them start selected. Uncheck the pools you want to leave out, or use "Search customers or techs". Pools whose regular service is paused are listed too, with a Paused tag.
5. 5Click Create N work orders. A progress bar runs, and a message confirms how many were created and how many were skipped because the pool already had one.

• A pool that already has an open work order from the same template shows Already has one and can't be selected, so running the dialog twice never doubles up.
• Only pools you already service appear. For a one-off customer, create the work order from Create Job instead (see Create jobs).
• No technician, route, or date is chosen here. The new work orders wait on this page until you book them.

Deposits: send now or later

When the template requires a deposit, the dialog shows a Send deposit invoices now checkbox. It is off by default.

• Off: each work order still requires the deposit, but no deposit invoice goes out yet. Invoice it later from each work order: its Deposit card reads Deposit not invoiced yet, and the Send deposit invoice button under it creates the deposit invoice and emails it to the customer (it takes permission to create invoices).
• On: a deposit invoice is created for every work order in the batch as it is made. Forty pools means forty deposit invoices at once, so only turn it on when you want every customer billed now.

For how deposits come off the final invoice, see work order billing and deposits.

Due windows and statuses

Every work order on the page has a status based on its due window and today's date:

• Overdue: the due window has ended.
• Due now: the window has started, or it starts within the next 14 days.
• Upcoming: the window starts more than 14 days from now.
• No due date: no due window is set.

Overdue work orders sort to the top, then the earliest due. On the Jobs table, a work order that is Upcoming shows an Upcoming badge instead of Not Started. Upcoming work orders are not counted in the To Schedule sidebar badge, the Jobs banner, or the Overview chip, so work created months ahead doesn't nag you.

Change or remove a due window

Click the pencil (Edit due window) next to a row's status, pick new dates, and click Save, or click Remove due window. Changing the window never puts the work order on a route. This takes the Edit jobs permission. This pencil is the only place to set a due window on a single work order: the Create Job work order form and the work order's own page have no due window field.

Reading the list

• Work orders are grouped by the template they came from. Work orders not made from a template are under Other work orders. Each group header reads like "3 to schedule now · 154 upcoming · 2 scheduled · Due Sep 1, 2026 – Apr 30, 2027", and its checkbox selects the whole group. To schedule now is the Overdue, Due now, and No due date work orders in that group, the same ones the To Schedule sidebar badge counts. Parts that are zero are left out.
• Columns: Customer, Work order, Due, and Regular service, which shows who services the pool now ("Maria on Tuesdays"), a Paused tag when regular service is paused, or "No maintenance route".
• Scheduled work orders are hidden. Turn on Show scheduled to list them with a "Scheduled Apr 14" badge in place of the Schedule button.
• To book just one, click its Schedule button. It opens the normal Schedule Work Order page where you pick the technician and dates.

Schedule many at once

1. 1Check the work orders to book (or a group's checkbox). A bar appears at the bottom with the count and Schedule N.
2. 2Click Schedule N. The Schedule N work orders dialog opens. It reads "Each one goes on the day it adds the least driving, where the technician has room. Nothing is scheduled until you confirm."
3. 3Under Technicians, pick Best available, One technician, or Each customer's current tech (below). Set Start on. It starts at tomorrow. When every selected work order has a due window that opens later than that, like spring openings created in the fall, it starts at the earliest due window instead, with "Starts when the earliest due window opens" under it. You can pick another day, including today; earlier days can't be picked.
4. 4Under Start on, leave Allow up to 1 hour of overtime on (the default), or turn it off so no day runs past the technician's workday. On, it reads "A day can run up to 1 hour past the technician's workday." Off, it reads "Work orders that don't fit in a workday go to later days, past their due window if needed, or won't be scheduled." See How days are picked below.
5. 5Read the Preview (below). It rebuilds whenever you pick different settings. Refresh preview rebuilds it from the latest routes, for example after someone changed a route while the dialog was open.
6. 6Click Schedule N work orders. Each work order goes on its day at the spot the preview shows. If any couldn't be booked (for example, someone scheduled one elsewhere in the meantime), the dialog shows how many were scheduled out of how many, and lists the rest under These weren't scheduled with the reason.

Best available

Described in the dialog as "Whoever adds the least driving and has room that day." Every technician is considered, and each work order goes to the technician and date where it adds the least driving. To use only some of your techs, open Only these technicians (optional) and check them, up to 50. The button reads All technicians until you pick anyone, and Use everyone clears your picks. With more than 50 technicians, the preview warns "Not every technician could be checked." Pick the ones to use with Only these technicians.

One technician

Described as "Put them all on one technician." Pick the Technician (the preview waits until you do). Every work order goes on that tech, each on whichever of their working days adds the least driving.

Each customer's current tech

Described as The tech who services the pool now. Each work order only goes to the technician on that pool's maintenance route, on whichever of their working days adds the least driving. That is usually the pool's regular route day, right next to its maintenance stop, because the visit adds almost no driving there, and the preview shows it next to this customer's other stop. When that day has no room, the work order goes on another day the same tech works. A pool that isn't on anyone's route is listed under Won't be scheduled.

Reading the preview

• A summary line like 40 work orders on 9 days with 3 technicians, +18.4 mi of driving, plus 3 late work orders in amber when any land after their due window, and 2 days over the workday in red when any day runs past the workday. With Allow up to 1 hour of overtime turned off, it reads 0 days over the workday.
• Days are grouped by date (Thursday, Apr 16) with each technician's day under it: their name and 11 stops already (or no stops yet), and the driving the work orders add, like +2.3 mi · +6 min drive. Estimate only · no start location or mapped stops to measure from means the day has no start location and no stops with a map location, so the added driving can't be measured.
• A bar shows how full the day gets, like 7h 11m of 9h: grey is what's already on the day, green is the work orders being added, and red is time past the workday, with Overtime +25m beside it.
• Creates a new Saturday route (or whichever day it is) when the technician works that day but has no route on that weekday yet.
• Each work order shows the customer and address, where it goes in the day (Between Henderson and Blake, First stop, before Blake, Last stop, after Henderson, Only stop that day, or right before or after this customer's other stop), and its time at stop with where that number came from: from template (the work order template's Time at stop, including when it was copied onto the work order as it was created), from tasks (the total of its tasks' estimated times), default (60 minutes), or set on work order (a time given to this work order that is different from all of those).
• A Late tag means it lands after its due window ends. A Paused tag means it lands on the route day of a pool whose regular service is paused; it is still booked.

Won't be scheduled

Work orders the dialog can't place stay on the page and are counted under Won't be scheduled (N), one row per reason with how many have it, like 154 · Due window starts more than 12 weeks out. Click a row to see the customers in it. When 5 or fewer are skipped in total, the rows start open. The reasons:

• Address couldn't be located: the pool's address has no map location, so the driving can't be measured. Fix the service location's address, or book it with the row's Schedule button.
• No maintenance route: with Each customer's current tech, the pool isn't on anyone's route. Use Best available, One technician, or the row's Schedule button.
• Technician has no work schedule or routes: none of the technicians it could go to has a work schedule or any route, so there are no working days to try.
• No working days in range: the technicians don't work on any day the work order could go on (its due window, or the 8 weeks from Start on).
• No day with room in its due window, No day with room in the next 2 weeks (a work order that was already overdue, which is only tried in the first 2 weeks from Start on), or No day with room in the next 8 weeks (no due window): every day it could go on would run more than 1 hour past the technician's workday. Add technicians, pick a later Start on, or widen the due window.
• No day with room in its due window without overtime, No day with room in the next 2 weeks without overtime (already overdue), or No day with room in the next 8 weeks without overtime (no due window): the same reasons when Allow up to 1 hour of overtime is off. Every day it could go on, including the 14 days after its due window, would run past the technician's workday. Add technicians, pick a later Start on, widen the due window, or turn overtime back on.
• Due window starts more than 12 weeks out: its due window starts more than 12 weeks after Start on. Click the button next to Won't be scheduled, like Start on Apr 1, 2027 to include 154 more: it sets Start on to the earliest of those due windows, and the number is how many of them that date brings within 12 weeks. You can also pick a later Start on yourself.
• Already scheduled: it has a visit booked on a route today or later that hasn't happened yet. A work order that is in progress with all its visits behind it is not scheduled, so it waits on this page to be booked again. A booking on an archived route doesn't count.
• Already completed or archived: it isn't open any more.

How days are picked

• Least added driving. For each work order, every day each technician works is tried, with the work order slotted into the cheapest spot between that day's stops. The day that adds the least driving wins. It is the same math as the Suggested Routes on a job and Route Fit on a lead: straight-line distance at 25 mph.
• What's already on the day counts. Regular maintenance stops, work orders already booked, jobs added to that one day, stops transferred in from another tech, and the work orders placed earlier in the same batch. Stops skipped that day, stops transferred away, and pools whose regular service is paused don't count.
• Nearby pools land together. Once one opening is on a day, the pool next door adds almost no driving there, so a street's openings tend to share a day. When two days are about equal, the sooner one wins.
• The technician's workday. A day's length is the time at each stop plus the driving between stops, measured against the hours on the technician's work schedule for that weekday (8 hours when no hours are set). A technician with no work schedule is used on the weekdays they have routes, as 8-hour days. Days they don't work are never used.
• Room comes first. Minutes past the workday count against a day like extra driving, so a day with room beats a slightly closer day that would run long. With Allow up to 1 hour of overtime on (the default), a day can run up to 1 hour past the workday when nothing better fits (the preview marks it Overtime), and a work order is never placed where it would push a day more than 1 hour past the workday. With it off, no day runs past the workday at all.
• Time at stop. Each work order's minutes come from, in order: a time saved on the work order itself, the work order template's Time at stop (minutes) (see work order templates), the total of its tasks' estimated times, or 60 minutes.
• Most urgent first. Overdue and Due now work orders are placed ahead of the rest, then the earliest due.
• Due windows. A work order with a due window goes on a day inside it. Only when no day in the window has room does it go up to 14 days after the window ends, tagged Late. One that is already Overdue goes within the first 2 weeks from Start on, tagged Late. With overtime turned off, this is where the overflow goes: a work order that only fits its due window by running past the workday goes to a day up to 14 days after the window, tagged Late, and if none of those has room either it is listed under Won't be scheduled.
• How far ahead. A work order with no due window goes within 8 weeks of Start on. Due windows are used up to 12 weeks after Start on, which is why Start on moves to the earliest due window when every selected one opens later.
• Where in the day. Each work order is booked at its spot in the route (between the two stops the preview names), not added at the end. The stops already on the route keep their order. The booking remembers only which stop the work order follows, so a later reorder of the route still reaches that day (see If the route is reordered after booking below).

Schedule one work order

Click Schedule on a row here, or Schedule in the Route & Schedule card on the work order's page. The Schedule Work Order page opens with the technicians, Best fit, Best days for the selected technician, and a calendar.

Best fit

Reads "Least added driving across all technicians." When the page opens, it checks every technician's working days starting tomorrow, with the same rules as Best available above, and shows one line like Jake Martinez · Fri, Sep 18 · +0.3 mi · 7h 23m of 8h · Between Henderson and Blake: the technician, the day, the driving it adds, how long that day gets against the workday, and where the stop goes. 40m over workday or After due window appears when that applies. Click Use this to select that technician and date on the calendar; the button then reads Selected. When no day works, Best fit shows the reason instead, worded like Won't be scheduled above (for example No day with room in the next 8 weeks). It doesn't appear for a work order that is already scheduled or completed. There is no overtime switch on this page: Best fit and Best days always allow a day to run up to 1 hour past the workday.

Best days for a technician

With a technician selected, Best days for that technician ("Least added driving, with room in the workday") lists up to 5 of their working days, best first, numbered 1 to 5. It looks 4 weeks ahead from tomorrow, or from the start of the due window when that is later. Each day shows the driving it adds and how long the day gets, like +<0.1 mi · 7h of 9h (Distance unknown when the day has no start location and no stops with a map location), and where the stop goes: Between X and Y, After X, last stop, Before Y, first stop, No route that day yet, one will be created, or No other stops that day. Days inside the due window come first, and a day after it is tagged After due window. A day that would run more than 1 hour past the workday is left out, and so is a date another technician already has. The calendar marks the same days with an amber badge and their number. Click a day to select it, and click it again to clear it. With nothing to suggest, it reads "No suggested days for [technician]. Pick a date on the calendar."

The calendar

Each day on the calendar shows the driving this work order would add to the selected technician's day, measured the same way as Best fit and Best days, so a date shows the same number everywhere (for example +<0.1 mi). A selected day also shows how many minutes the day grows by, like +<0.1 mi +60m, which is the time at stop plus any extra driving between stops. A day that would run past the technician's workday is tinted amber with a warning icon. The Route Impact in the Schedule Summary adds up the selected days as miles added and time added. A day with no route is measured from where the technician starts that day, or their home address when no start location is set. A day with no start location and no stops with a map location shows no distance. A date's stop count and day length count everything booked that date, and match what a maintenance job's Job Schedule calendar shows for the same technician and date.

Where the stop goes

• A day picked with Use this, from Best days, or a numbered day on the calendar is booked at the spot shown, between the stops it names. The stops already on the route keep their order.
• Any other date you pick on the calendar is added after that day's stops.
• Nothing is booked until you click Schedule.

If the route is reordered after booking

A work order booked at a spot in a technician's day (from the Schedule dialog, or from Best fit, Best days, or a numbered calendar day) remembers only which stop it goes right after, or that it goes first. It does not save a copy of the whole day's order, so that date keeps up with the route:

• The route is reordered or optimized. If the recurring route is reordered or optimized later (for example with Optimize in the Route Builder), or customers are added to or removed from it, that date follows the new route order and the work order stays right after its stop.
• Its stop is off that day. If the stop it follows is skipped, transferred, or removed that day, the work order moves to the end of the day.
• The day was reordered by hand. If that specific date was already put in order by hand, the hand order is kept and the work order is slotted in after the chosen stop.
• The work order moves or finishes. Rescheduling, completing, or removing the work order clears its spot.

What this does not do

When you schedule many at once, or use Best fit, Best days, and the calendar on one work order:

• Driving is measured in straight lines at 25 mph, not road distance, turn-by-turn directions, or traffic, so a rural day can run longer than the preview shows.
• Ad-hoc stops (stops on a route that aren't a job) and project shifts aren't counted, so a day with those can look emptier than it is.
• There is no stops-per-day limit to set. Room is measured in time: the time at each stop plus the driving between stops, against the technician's workday.
• Stops already on a route are never moved or reordered. Work orders are slotted in between them.
• Overtime is on or off, not a number you set. With Allow up to 1 hour of overtime on, a day can run up to 1 hour past the workday; off, not at all. There is no setting for a different overtime limit, and the switch is only in the Schedule dialog: Best fit and Best days on the Schedule Work Order page always allow up to 1 hour.

Frequently asked questions

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