Updates to Help You Manage Your Schedule 🗓️

Annie Zillmer

We want to share some exciting feature updates made to help improve schedule management and visibility for providers in both the mobile app and on the web.

We have added new shortcuts to help you submit schedule change requests much earlier, and not during check-in, to help avoid last-minute requests that do not allow for proper planning. These updates help ensure you know when you are scheduled for your work orders, and to make it easier to see schedule conflicts ahead of time so you can request a schedule update or report you can no longer make it in a timely manner (before it becomes a last minute issue).

Improving proactive schedule management and visibility will help build trust for both buyers and providers, to ensure schedules are accurate, changes are quickly and properly documented, arrival expectations are clear, and Timeliness Scores remain trustworthy.

Here are the changes you will see on Field Nation…

Main Menu: "My Schedule": Shortcut 📲

A "My Schedule" shortcut was added to the main app menu:

Pro Tip: Use this shortcut to check your schedule every day to help stay on top of when you are scheduled and if there are any possible conflicts.

Available Work Order List: Schedule Banner 🗓️

A “Schedule” shortcut banner was added to the work order list page to help you review upcoming work and catch potential schedule conflicts early:

Pro Tip: If you see the yellow "My Work" alert banner instead that means there is something in one or more of your assigned work orders that is missing or requires your completion or review ASAP.

Similar to the “My Work” shortcut, the Schedule banner was added to help providers more easily view and manage their current and upcoming work.

“Request Schedule Update” in Schedule View 📲

"Request Schedule Update” button added to the calendar view of the “Schedule” page in the app:

“Request Schedule Update” in the 3-dot Menu Views 📋

“Request Schedule Update” was added to the 3-dot menu options from the “Assigned” work order list, as well as within the work order details in the app:

"Request Schedule Update" Shortcut in Web 💻

Better Visibility to Review Work Order Changes 🔍

If the buyer edits the work order Schedule or Service Description any time after you become assigned, a mobile app push notification is sent to you which takes you directly to a “Review Changes” page.

Here you can either “Acknowledge” or “Remove Assignment”. Acknowledgement keeps you assigned and re-commits you to the new scope or schedule, opting to remove will automatically un-assign you without a negative impact to your Backout Score. Please note: If you hit "Acknowledge" then initiate or cause a backout, your Backout Score will be negatively impacted.

Reduce Last Minute Requests 🕑

The “Request a Schedule Update” prompt has been removed from the check-in experience in situations where the check-in is identified as Late or Early based on the schedule type.

The original intention with this prompt was to ensure that providers had an easy way to request a fix for an outdated or incorrect schedule. What resulted was an influx of providers submitting requests when they were simply running behind or ahead of schedule, in the hopes of avoiding a negative impact to their Timeliness Score. Requesting schedule updates well before check-in helps build trust and ensures changes are properly documented with enough advanced notice.

Pro Tip: It is not a best practice for providers to submit a request to update the schedule when they are running behind or ahead of schedule, only as a means to hopefully avoid a negative impact to their Timeliness Score.

You will still have the option to report that a schedule needs updating through the “Report Problem” feature. Requesting a schedule update is intended for providers who need to reschedule in advance, or to correct an incorrect or outdated work order schedule. Remember, just because a buyer does not remove or financially penalize a provider for being late or early does not mean the provider's check-in is considered on time.

Our goal with these changes is to encourage data accuracy and proactive schedule management on both sides of the marketplace. Buyers and providers are encouraged to submit schedule requests or edit work order schedules well before it’s time for the provider to check-in.

As always, in the event that you feel a check in or backout was incorrectly captured and should not be impacting your PSS, you can open a dispute case for our review - here's a previous Community post on how.