Modify Appointments in the Gantt
Learning Objectives
After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:
- Navigate key elements of the Gantt such as popovers.
- Create a service absence for a resource.
- Explain how to fix rule violations by auto-rescheduling appointments.
How Appointments Land in the Gantt
Every field service job starts and ends with the same person—the customer. It begins with a request and ends with a job well done. But a lot happens in between, and that's exactly where the Scheduling Console comes in.
It all starts with a phone call. A customer reaches out asking for a service, and your rep takes it from there. They open a case, then create a work order for the job, log the customer's details, the type of work needed, and a start and end date. They also add the specifics of the job so the technician knows exactly what to expect on arrival. Once the rep finds a time that works for the customer, they use the Book Appointment action right on the work order to get it scheduled. From there, the appointment lands on the dispatcher's Gantt, right next to everything else scheduled for the day.
Get a Closer Look with Popovers
To review what the new appointment is all about, your dispatcher simply hovers over the appointment block. A popover provides the relevant details, giving them the option to edit the appointment or run an action right from there, without ever leaving the console.
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Service Appointment Number: Open the appointment record in a new tab when selected.
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Side Panel Icon: Review and edit the appointment record as an expanded side panel within the Scheduling Console.
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Quick Actions Bar: Perform actions on the record directly.
- Change the status to dispatched or in progress based on the mobile worker’s position.
- Edit the record details by opening it in expanded side panel view.
- Auto-reschedule or unschedule an appointment.
- Find suitable candidates with alternate appointment slots.
- Review the service appointment on the map.
- Change the status to dispatched or in progress based on the mobile worker’s position.
Popovers aren't limited to service appointments alone. Hover over a service resource on the Gantt and you get the same quick access in addition to details such as the resource type, description, and skills.
Just like with appointments, your dispatcher can get into action from here. They can check a technician's route on the map, optimize their schedule for the day, or—perhaps most importantly—log a resource absence, all without ever leaving the Gantt.
When Someone Calls in Sick
That absence piece matters more than it might seem at first. A technician calling in sick doesn't just affect one appointment, it can affect an entire day's worth of jobs. Here’s how to create one.
- In the Gantt, hover over any service resource name with scheduled appointments.
- In the popover, select the dropdown arrow and then select Create Absence.
- In the Type dropdown menu, select Medical.
- Enter the start and end time. Since we’re assuming the resource to be sick all day, leave it as is.
- For Gantt Label, enter
Sick Leave.
- Select Save.
This org doesn’t include pre-loaded appointments. If your Gantt is empty aside from the absence you created, that’s expected.
After you log an absence, it’s included right on the Gantt for that stretch of time and blocks out the resource's availability for the day. But logging the absence doesn't magically clear their calendar. Any appointments still assigned to their name during that window are now a problem waiting to be solved.
That's where the console gives your dispatcher a bit of a head start. Each of those affected appointments picks up a small yellow triangle right on the Gantt, a simple visual cue flagging a rule violation. Hover over the appointment, and the popover explains the rule being violated.
It's easy to spot even in a packed schedule, so your dispatcher doesn't have to go hunting for exactly which appointments the absence affected. Imagine a technician calls in sick with five installation jobs already lined up for the day. Instead of checking each one manually, the dispatcher can simply scan the Gantt and spot every flagged appointment at a glance.
Fixing the problem is just as simple. Your dispatcher selects the flagged appointment and chooses the Reschedule action, right from the same popover covered earlier. From there, Salesforce takes over, and automatically schedules the appointment to a suitable candidate and updates the dispatcher with the new details in the activity tracker.
But not every absence wraps up quite so neatly. Sometimes an entire day's worth of appointments gets caught up in the fallout, and your dispatcher might want to decide who picks up what. In that case, they can simply unschedule the appointment, sending it straight to the appointment list view for a closer look.
That's exactly where the next unit picks up. It goes through the appointment list in detail, how to filter out unscheduled appointments, find the right candidate for each one, and get the most out of the list view along the way.