The Planning Board is the central workspace where planners manage and schedule work orders for technicians. Once a work order has been plan on the planning board, a range of actions become available to help manage that job efficiently. These actions can be accessed by simply performing a right-click on the work order on the timeline. When a right-click is performed, the work order block becomes highlighted and a dropdown menu appears with several options. Each option serves a specific purpose in the planning workflow, from communicating with customers to rescheduling or cancelling jobs.

This article provides a complete explanation of every option available in the right-click menu, what each one does, and when it is best used.

When a work order has been scheduled on the planning board, it is often necessary to inform the customer about the planned date and time of the job. The "Send Work Order Planning" option allows the planner to send an email notification to the customer, team members, or relevant contact person associated with the work order.

After selecting this option, a list of available email templates appears. These templates are pre-configured communication formats that contain planning details such as the scheduled date, time, and technician information. The planner selects the appropriate template, and the system opens an email preview where the content can be reviewed and edited before sending. Additional recipients can also be added by typing the "@" symbol in the “TO” field to search for other contacts or colleagues.

It is important to note that once an email has been sent using this option, the work order is automatically locked.

This is a safeguard to prevent accidental changes to the schedule after the customer has already been informed. If changes are needed after sending the email, the work order must first be unlocked manually.

An envelope icon will appear on the work order block after the email has been sent, providing a quick visual confirmation that communication has taken place.

The "Lock Work Order Planning" option secures a scheduled or planned work order so that it cannot be accidentally moved, rescheduled, or modified on the planning board. Once a work order is locked, it can no longer be repositioned through drag-and-drop, and its planned times cannot be updated.

This option is only visible when the work order is not already locked. Locking is particularly useful when a schedule has been finalised and confirmed, and the planner wants to ensure that no unintended changes are made. It is also worth noting that work orders are automatically locked when they move into the "In Progress" status or when a planning email has been sent.

When a work order is locked, a padlock icon appears on the work order block on the planning board, making it easy to identify which jobs have been secured.

The "Unlock Work Order Planning" option is the reverse of the lock function. It removes the lock from a previously secured work order, allowing the planner to once again move, reschedule, or modify the job on the planning board.

This option only appears when the work order is currently in a locked state. It is useful in situations where a schedule needs to be adjusted after it was initially confirmed, for example, if a customer requests a different time or if a technician becomes unavailable.

However, it is important to note that work orders that have progressed to the "In Progress" status or beyond cannot be unlocked. The lock at that stage is permanent because the job is already being carried out.

The "Split Work Order Planning" option divides a single work order planning block into two equal parts. The system takes the total planned duration and splits it in half, creating a second planning block that starts immediately after the first one ends.

This feature is especially helpful when a job needs to be spread across multiple days or time periods. For example, if a work order is estimated to take eight hours but a technician only has four hours available on a given day, the planner can split the work order and move the second half to the following day. Each of the resulting halves can be split again if further division is needed.

After splitting, the second block can be dragged and dropped to a different time slot or even assigned to a different technician if the job requires it.

When a work order is assigned to more than one technician, the "Assign Work Order Leader" option becomes available. This option designates the selected technician as the lead person responsible for that particular job.

The work order leader is the primary point of contact and the person who takes overall responsibility for the execution of the work. This option only appears for technicians who are not already designated as the leader. Once a leader is assigned, a full color user silhouette icon appears on the work order block to indicate that a leader has been set.

This feature is particularly useful for jobs that require a team of technicians working together on the same equipment or at the same location, as it clarifies who is in charge.

The "Reassign Work Order Leader" option allows the planner to change the designated leader of a work order to a different technician. This option is only visible when the selected technician is already the current work order leader.

Upon selecting this option, a modal window opens where a new leader can be chosen from the list of technicians assigned to the same work order. Once the new leader is selected and confirmed, the leadership designation transfers immediately, and the user silhouette icon updates accordingly on the planning board.

This is useful when staffing changes occur, or when a different technician is better suited to lead a particular job.

The "Work Order Planning Recurrence" option allows the planner to create a repeating schedule for a work order. This is ideal for jobs that need to happen on a regular basis, such as weekly maintenance visits or monthly inspections.

When this option is selected, a recurrence settings window opens where the frequency of the recurrence can be defined. The available options typically include daily, weekly, or monthly patterns, along with a date range that specifies when the recurrence should start and end.

Once saved, the system automatically creates additional planning slots for the same work order on all the specified dates, but only for the technician who is currently selected. If the same work order is also assigned to another technician, the recurrence settings will not automatically apply to that other technician's schedule.

This option is available for work orders in both the "Planned" and "In Progress" statuses.

The "Adapt Planning to Business Hours" option adjusts the visual representation of a work order on the planning board so that it only covers the technician's actual working hours. Any portions of the work order that fall outside of the defined business hours are trimmed away.

This is a visual adjustment tool that is particularly useful when a work order is extended across several days by dragging it over multiple time slots. For instance, if a job is dragged from Monday morning all the way through to Friday, the total planned time might show as a very large number of hours. By selecting "Adapt Planning to Business Hours," the system recalculates and displays only the hours that fall within the technician's working schedule, giving a much more accurate picture of the actual planned work time.

The system also takes into account any unavailability periods that the technician may have, ensuring that the adjusted schedule reflects realistic working conditions.

The "Clear Work Order Planning" option removes the selected work order from the planning board. The work order is not deleted or cancelled, it is simply unscheduled and returned to the work order to be planned list so that it can be planned again at a later time.

If the work order has been planned across multiple time slots or assigned to multiple technicians, selecting this option on one specific slot will only remove that particular planning entry. A confirmation window appears where the planner can choose which specific planning slots to remove. There is also an option to select all planning slots at once if the entire schedule for that work order needs to be cleared.

The planner must select at least one planning slot before the removal can proceed. A "Clear" option is available below the window for planner, when selected two options are displayed: “Clear selected planning slots from planning” which removes only the selected planning slot and “ Clear all planning slots from planning” , which removes every planning entry associated with that work order across all technicians and dates.

The "Confirm Tentative Planning" option is specifically designed for work orders that are in the "Suggested" status. When a work order has been tentatively scheduled, meaning it has a suggested technician, date, and time, it appears on the planning board with a dotted outline to indicate that it has not yet been officially confirmed.

By selecting this option, the work order status changes from "Suggested" to "Planned," which means the job is now officially scheduled. Once confirmed, the work order becomes visible to the assigned technician in their job list, and the dotted outline changes to a solid one on the planning board.

This option provides a simple way to review and approve suggested schedules without having to re-enter any work order planning details.

When a work order is in the "Suggested" status on the planning board, it means the job has been tentatively proposed with a recommended technician, date, and time, but has not yet been officially confirmed. These suggested work orders appear on the planning board with a dotted outline to visually distinguish them from confirmed jobs.

The "Reject" option allows the planner to decline the suggested schedule entirely. When this option is selected, the suggested work order is removed from the planning board. The job is not cancelled or deleted from the system, it simply loses its suggested schedule and returns to an “To be planned” status, and it is also put in the work order to be planned list.

This is useful in situations where the suggested schedule is not suitable, perhaps because the proposed technician is not the right fit for the job, the timing conflicts with other priorities, or the job needs to be rethought before being scheduled again. After rejecting the suggestion, the planner can later reschedule the work order manually by dragging it back onto the planning board with a more appropriate technician, date, or time.

It is important to note that this option only appears for work orders that are in the "Suggested" status. Once a work order has been confirmed and moved to "Planned" or any other status, the reject option is no longer available.

The "View Work Order on Map" option opens the map view and centres it on the geographical location of the selected work order. This allows the planner to see exactly where the job is located in relation to other planned jobs and technician routes.

This is a helpful tool for planners who want to verify that the scheduling makes geographical sense, for example, to ensure that a technician is not being sent to locations that are far apart on the same day.

The map view updates to show the selected day's planning, giving a complete visual overview of the day's route.

This option is available for work orders in all statuses.

The "View Work Order Details" option opens the full work order details in a new browser tab, allowing the planner to see all information associated with that job.

This option is available regardless of the current status of the work order. Whether the job is in a "Planned" status, currently "In Progress" and being worked on by a technician, or already "Completed" and finished, the "View Work Order Details" option functions in the same way.

The "Grab Work Order" option attaches the selected work order to the cursor, allowing it to be moved freely across the planning board. Unlike a standard drag-and-drop action, the grabbed work order remains attached to the cursor even when navigating to different dates, switching between day, week, and month views, or scrolling through the timeline.

This makes it very easy to reschedule a job to a completely different date or assign it to a different technician without losing track of the work order during the process. The work order will remain attached to the cursor until it is dropped into a new time slot or the "Ungrab" button ( bin icon) is clicked in the top-right corner of the planning board.

If the decision is made not to move the work order after all, clicking "Ungrab"(the bin icon) will return the job to its original position on the planning board.

This option is available for work orders in the "Planned" and "Suggested" statuses.

The "Cancel Work Order" option allows a job to be cancelled directly from the planning board. Cancelling a work order does not delete it from the system; instead, it changes the status to "Cancelled" and removes it from the planning board.

When this option is selected, the system asks for a reason for the cancellation. This ensures that there is always a record of why a job was cancelled, which can be useful for reporting and analysis purposes.

Cancelled work orders can still be found in the system and can be included in dashboards and reports to track how many jobs have been cancelled over a given period. This option is available as long as the work order has not already been completed or cancelled.

This option is only visible when the "Cancel Work Orders" rights has been enabled for the users

After certain actions are performed through the right-click menu, small icons appear on the work order block on the planning board. These icons serve as quick visual indicators that help planners see at a glance what actions have been taken on each work order.

In addition to the options available when right-clicking on a work order, the planning board also provides a set of actions when a right-click is performed on an empty area of the timeline. An empty slot refers to any part of a technician's timeline that does not currently have a work order or unavailability assigned to it.

When a planner selects one or more empty time slots on the timeline and performs a right-click, a dropdown menu appears with three options. These options allow the planner to make productive use of unoccupied time on the planing board.

The "Create Unavailability" option allows the planner to mark a specific period on a technician's timeline as unavailable. This is used when a technician will not be available for work during that time, for reasons such as holidays, illness, training, personal leave, or any other type of absence.

When this option is selected, an unavailability creation form opens with the start and end date and time already filled in based on the time slot that was selected on the planning board. The planner can then choose the type of unavailability from a list of predefined categories, specify the Unavailability duration, set a location, and optionally configure a recurrence pattern (depending on the Unavailability duration selected) if the unavailability repeats on a regular basis, for example, every Monday or the first Friday of every month.

Once saved, the unavailability appears as a coloured block on the technician's timeline, clearly indicating that no work orders should be scheduled during that period. The colour of the block corresponds to the type of unavailability that was selected. This helps planners quickly see at a glance which parts of a technician's day are blocked and why.

The "Create Planning Booking" option allows the planner to reserve a time slot on the planning board for a specific purpose, even before a work order has been assigned to it. A planning booking acts as a placeholder or time reservation on a technician's schedule. It is not a job and it is not an unavailability, it is simply a way to set aside time that can later be filled with an actual work order or other planning activity.

When this option is selected, a planning booking form opens with the Booking date and time pre-filled based on the selected time slot. The planner then assign a type to the booking from a list of predefined categories, give it a description, and choose which technician or technicians the booking applies to. There is also the option to set up a recurrence if the same time reservation needs to repeat on a regular schedule, such as daily, weekly, or monthly.

Planning bookings are displayed as coloured overlays on the timeline, with the colour determined by the booking type. They serve as a useful organisational tool for planners who want to block out time in advance for specific purposes, for example, reserving a morning slot for emergency jobs, setting aside time for administrative tasks, or marking a period as "on call" duty. Since a planning booking is still considered an open slot, work orders and unavailabilities can still be assigned on top of it when needed.

The "Assign to Work Order" option provides a quick way to plan an existing work order directly into the selected time slot. Instead of dragging a work order from the work order list onto the timeline, the planner can right-click on the desired empty slot and choose this option to search for and select a work order to plan at that exact date and time.

When this option is selected, a work order search window opens where the planner can look up available work orders.

After selecting the desired work order from the search results, the system automatically schedules it at the date and time of the selected planning slot for the corresponding technician. This method of planning is particularly convenient when the planner already knows which time slot is available and simply wants to fill it with a specific job, without needing to navigate back to the work order list.