Configure the Automatic Job Dates

Owned by Oksana Vishchuk
Last updated: Jul 03, 2024
4 min read

Introduction

This automation calculates jobs' planned start dates and deadlines in Smart projects and quotes. The calculations are based on the Volume provided in the Order/Quote card and the selected vendor’s productivity (see the Vendor profile – Competencies & Rates tab – Price Profile section article).

  • If no vendors are assigned to jobs, the dates will be calculated based on the default productivity set for each job type (see the Add a job type, step 10).

  • If productivity isn’t defined for the selected vendor and job type, the minimum job duration will be applied.

  • For the first job in the project, the planned start date and time will be the same as the project creation date. If the project is created outside working hours, the planned start date of the first job would be set to the next working day.

  • This automation schedules jobs within the time frame defined by default vendor availability hours and vendor's availability during weekends (see the Clients and Vendors – Vendor Settings – Availability tab article). If you do not wish the automation to schedule deadlines for weekends, make sure to have Treat Weekends (Sat-Sun) as Work Days for Vendors option unchecked.

Enable the global automatic job dates

To activate the automation, go to the Configuration menu → Projects and Quotes → Automations (Smart) → Automatic Job Dates and toggle the On/Off switch in the top right-hand corner of the automation card.

PMs can always change job and project dates manually. Manual changes in dates cancel the automation, and no further changes in the project’s Volume will affect the job scheduling.

Configure the automatic job dates per project

If you want to turn the automation on or off or provide a different minimum job duration only for a specific project, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the project in question.

  2. Go to the Jobs card.

  3. Click the button.

  4. In the Automation Configuration pop-up:

    1. Switch the Automatic Job Dates On or Off using the top right-hand corner switch.

    2. (Optional) Adjust the Minimum Job Duration value.

    3. Click the Apply changes button.

The changes in the job dates in the current project will be displayed immediately.

Set the minimum duration for jobs

We recommend setting a minimum job duration if you use Automatic Job Dates. Otherwise, this automation may cause an error in projects with a small volume: it will try to set the job’s deadline date the same as the start date.

The minimum job duration set in the Automatic Job Dates card or the Automation Configuration pop-up will be the lowest possible, even when the project's volume is set to 0. If you change the project’s volume so the job duration will exceed the minimum, the job's deadline will be adjusted accordingly.

You can set a minimum job duration on three levels:

  • For all job types in all new Smart projects → directly in the Automatic Job Dates card in the Configuration menu → Projects and Quotes → Automations (Smart).

  • For all jobs in a specific project → in the Automation Configuration pop-up in the Jobs card of the desired project.

  • For a specific job in a specific project → in the process template. This setting will override the minimum job duration from the Automatic Job Dates card.
    To configure this setting, perform the following steps:

    1. Open the Smart project in question.

    2. Go to the Process card.

    3. Click the Edit Process button to open the Process Designer.

    4. Click on the step in question.

    5. In the job configuration side panel on the right, scroll down to the Scheduling section.

    6. Select the Define specific Minimum Job Duration option and provide the desired duration.

    7. Click the Apply Changes button in the top right-hand corner.