Overview
This article explores the Repeating/Chaining Options section of the Services settings (Control Panel > Services > Edit or Add).
This article will review:
Recommended Interval
This is the number of days between appointments of this service. This is commonly used for services that are periodic in nature, such as annual maintenance. It is used to set up service reminders and tracking for the client to remind them to schedule the periodic service.
Recommended Interval will place a Next Service Date on a contact's profile. For example, if the Recommended Interval is set to 7 days and the first appointment is scheduled for June 3rd, the contact will have a Next Service Date on their profile of June 10th. If the next service is not scheduled for June 10th, that contact will show up on the Expiring Services grid leading up to that date and will move to the Expired Services grid after that date. This is most useful for repeating services that you do not want to automatically schedule using the Recurring Services settings, but you want a reminder to get the appointment placed on the calendar.
For example, a service has a recommended interval of four months. If a contact has a service with a recurring interval set up, and nears that four month mark without completing that next appointment, they'll show up in Expiring. If they pass four months without an appointment completed for that service, they'll be in Expired.
You can check the Service Interval timeline by clicking on the blue "Timeline" link next to the Next Service Date.
This will show any time that a recommended interval or other automated setting triggered that date to be entered onto the contact's profile. If the date was manually entered on the contact profile, it will not display on this timeline.
Don't want to see a contact on the Expiring or Expired service grid?
Go to their contact profile, click edit, and delete the Next Service Date (or Next Project) field or check the Declined box.
Queue Date
Queue Date is most useful for seasonal services. For example, you may have a drip trigger that sets an appointment with this service type to be scheduled for a customer every October to perform winterizing services. If a Queue date is entered into this space, all winterizing service appointments will be queued on that date in order to be spaced out manually on the calendar for that season.
Repeat Service
Repeat Service allows specifying an alternate service for the recommended service interval. A common example would be when doing an install, you can specify the Annual Maintenance service as the repeat service after 365 days. This is a great option for any service that always comes after another. Common examples are "set-up/take-down", estimate/service, or demolition/installation service combinations.
Auto-Schedule Follow Up
You can choose to automatically schedule a follow up service which will open up a new set of options. You will select which service you want to automatically create on the calendar as well as how many days later it should be created.
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Create Follow Up On: This option affects when the follow up appointment is created, based on when an appointment is scheduled or finished with this service:
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Schedule: When this appointment is scheduled, go ahead and schedule the follow up appointment
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Finish: When this appointment is finished, then schedule the follow up appointment
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Queue on Schedule: Create the follow up appointment in the Queue when this appointment is scheduled
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Queue on Finish: Create the follow up appointment in the Queue when this appointment is finished
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- Relative To Appointment: This controls what date the scheduled follow up appointment is created relative to:
- Actual Start: The follow up appointment will be created relative to the actual start date of this appointment
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Actual Finish: The follow up appointment will be created relative to the actual finish date of this appointment
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Scheduled Start: The follow up appointment will be created relative to the scheduled start of this appointment
- Align Day of Week: This option forces the newly created follow up appointment to "snap" to a particular day of the week. The first dropdown contains either Yes or No. If Yes is selected, then the available options are:
- Scheduled: The day of week from the Scheduled Start is used
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Actual: The day of week from the Actual Start is used
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Target: The day of week from the Target Date is used
- Carry Forward Options: This option determines what happens to any add-on lines when auto-creating follow-ups.
- Keep pricing on first appointment: This option will leave the pricing on the first appointment. The lines will be copied to the follow up appointment, but will all have a zero price.
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Move pricing to next appointment: This option will duplicate the add ons to the follow up appointment including pricing, and then zero out the pricing on the first appointment.
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Move lines to next appointment: This option will move the add ons and associated pricing to the follow up appointment. The first appointment will not have any add ons.
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Copy pricing to next appointment: This option copies the add ons and the pricing to the follow up appointment. The pricing and add ons will stay on the first appointment also.
