Expanding Your View with a new Calendar View for Advanced Workflow …
MetaCommunications recently released Workgroups 2010 R2, and those of us in Professional Services are extremely excited about it because of the large number of new features it provides that we plan on using in our work.
The new features that I’m most excited about using in my work are server-side scripting, capturing mouse clicks, and changing form controls through MetaScript. Though many of these capabilities will be discussed in future blog articles, I wanted to use some of them right away, and created a solution to address a request from several customers: a Calendar View for Advanced Workflow and Scheduling (AWS), version 4 and version 5.
The calendar view adds to your AWS scheduling software by allowing users to view standard activities on a calendar. Parameters to filter activities displayed in the calendar include:
- Viewing a user’s activities or viewing activities for a role
- Viewing either the Start Date or Due Date of the activities
- Limiting the activities shown to be for the current Job
- Showing only the current activities or all activities
In addition to these, several parameters exist that the Administrator can change in the Global MetaScript. These parameters include:
- The ability to show a “View All Users, All Roles” checkbox that allows the user to view all users and all roles, instead of limiting the activities to the user or role selected can be enabled. There is also an array of groups to show this to.
- The first day shown can be changed. By default, this is set to Sunday, but can be changed if the first day shown on your regional calendar is different.
- Borders can be displayed around the day number.
- A parameter exists that allows an Administrator to change the calendar from the Jobs Type to another Type.
- Additionally, in the Global MetaScript, there are several color values, assigned as RGB values, that can be configured to change colors of the calendar dynamically.
So, if you’ve been wishing for a calendar view for your AWS activities, download the AWS Calendar View Solution, and you’ll instantly get a new look at your assignments. And remember, this is our first version of the solution. If you have questions or suggestions for it, let us know!
They probably could, but there are several things to consider:
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2) How many people will never show or leave after they get there when then see several people waiting?
3) How will you determine how much time is needed per customer? Stylists work at their speed, some customers prefer scissors only, etc.
4) How would you handle several people who click on an appointment at the same time?
5) Are you planning to leave slots open for "walk-ins"?
6) Challenges with complex situations: Color, Perms, bleaching, longer hair, etc.