The Influence Professional database has a BOOKINGS workbench, which allows easy viewing, editing and
management of bookings for Temporary Workers. This article provides an overview of the Bookings workbench as well as links to other useful articles.
The [Bookings] workbench can be found at the left hand side of the system, and once chosen there are several STYLES which can be used to view booking details.
Contents (Click an Item to Jump to that section)
PLANNER STYLE
Use the Style filter at the top right to choose the “Planner”, then use the < or > arrows to move fwd/back through clients <OR> enter the name of a Company you want to look at into the Company filter at the top of the screen then click the [Go] button.
- Also make sure that at the very bottom right of the screen, Booked, Avail & Other are ticked
- The candidates on the left show people who have worked at the selected Company/site.
- The palette can be used to make bookings, record availability, etc, (same as Master planner screen)
The contact drop-down above the candidates can be used to select a specific contact that will be used when making a booking if you choose [Bkd] from the palette.
Clicking the BOLD company name (e.g. Big Computers plc) will allow you to drill-in to the company screen
The system will show you details of WHO is working at that site, and the days they are doing there.
The actual details for each day will show up in green. If you hover your mouse over the details it will show you the full detail.
| Note: When looking at the details for each day, there is a little symbol in the corner, such as a swirl, a “?” or a “tick”. These let you know if you have CONFIRMED these dates or not. |
“swirl” - You’ve recorded the date(s) but not sent confirmation.
“?” - You’ve emailed the confirmation to the candidate, but not yet set it as confirmed (maybe you’re waiting to hear back?)
“tick” - You have set these dates to a status of confirmed.
| Tip: You may wish to setup a few Favourite Views for some of your biggest/busiest clients to allow quick access to see bookings at their site. |
| NB: On newer systems using the 'TEMP CENTRE' this view style has been removed. There is no longer a 'Style' drop-down and it is not possible to select 'Planner'. Instead you can specify part of the Company name and provided you have selected "Side by Side" you can then page through all the companies beginning with the specified letters in the same way as the older 'Planner' style. |
Optional
From this page, you can click on the candidate name to open their record.
You can click on the phone icon to log a phone call to them or click the email icon to send them an email.
At the bottom left are 3 little ¤ buttons.
You can use these to show the Candidate status (e.g. LIVE/RAW), the Distance that they are from site, or a summary of hours*
| NB: The ‘Hours’ information relates to specific calculations for DRIVERS about working hours over last 17 weeks, and will not be useful for most people unless you are specifically working with DRIVERS. |
DETAILED STYLE
This Style will show details of individual days, and each 'Shift' is shown on its own row.
When using the Detailed view, you must set a DATE range.
You may use other filters such as Company or Postcode if you wish.
The screen shows details of all the bookings Day-by-Day in the chosen date range.
Each individual booking or "Shift" is listed on its own row
The display can be sorted into order by clicking the appropriate column heading
A Summary of the Pay/Charge rates for the selected bookings is shown at the bottom left of the screen.
| NOTE: The 'Bk Owner' filter can (optionally) include the Creator of the booking as well as the owner (although often they are the same person). This can be activated with parameter TEMPS,Flag(23) |
HAS WORKED STYLE
Selecting the Has Worked style will display a list of candidates who have had a booking during the date range specified.
You will get one row per worker irrespective of how many different clients or sites they have worked at.
You can log Journals for telephone calls or emails by clicking on the relevant telephone or email address in the grid.
It is possible to use the Select column at the right had side of the screen to choose several candidates who can then be passed to the Macro Manager by clicking the Macro
SUMMARY STYLE
Use the Style filter to select Summary
In this version the system displays actual bookings in Blue and it is possible to display either the Hours, the Start Time or Margin.
After version 1.00.17.213, the screen also displays the 'Last Booking Date' for the candidate, which are colour-coded to indicate how 'urgent' it is.
Grey - Last booking is Last Week
Red/Pink - Last booking was This week
Pink - Last booking is Next Week.
Light Pink - Last booking is sometime in the future. (Further than next week)
<Blank> - The Last booking is more than 1 week ago.
| NB: If using a "multi Office" system, then the summary screen will only display bookings made by the office as which you are currently logged in as. |
| Tip: This is a useful view to save as a Favourite View to show a summary of bookings this week or perhaps for a specific company this week. |
Summary View (Bookings) can Display totals per day in Header
When using the [VIEWS] workbench in a "Summary" style each day shows the number of bookings occurring on that day. (e.g. Mon(0) Tue(5) Wed(0) Thur(5) etc.)
Pic1:
(2 Admin at Big Computers, 2 Warehouse at Big Computers, and 3 Chef at Aspen Events)
OR
- Thursday can show 3 Bookings
(2 sets of unfilled at Big Computers, 1 Set at Aspen)
When taking account of unfilled bookings the system can do this in two different ways, and it is controlled with parameter TEMPS, Flag(30)
Summary View Displays 'Last' Booking Date
When using the [VIEWS] workbench in a "Summary" style , the Row for each worker will also show the Last Date
This shows the last booking (future) that exists for that Worker/Site/Role
Pic2
e.g.
Andy Admin working as an Administrator at Big Computers, has 2 Bookings (Tue/Thur) "This Week". His last admin booking at Big computers will occur on 12/01/2021.
Bookings which are ending imminently will show as < Pink, those ending soon as Orange and those which are a long way off as pale yellow/plain.
| NOTE: The 'Bk Owner' filter can (optionally) include the Creator of the booking as well as the owner (although often they are the same person). This can be activated with parameter TEMPS,Flag(23) |
RATE CHECK STYLE
Use the style criteria to select Rate Check View.
If you wish you may use criteria to filter the results, such as the company name or the Postcode.
This shows details of days booked, including details about rates.
The TS column has a tick next to those records where a timesheet has been entered.
At the bottom right of the screen are some selection boxes for Paid, Billed, or All
These tick boxes can be used to restrict the view to display only booking records where the associated timesheet is at
the relevant stage.
e.g. To see only bookings where the Timesheets have been marked as "Billed" tick the relevant selection box.
The Week Nos [ ] tick box at the bottom right will change the display of the 'WC' column to show in a week-number style,
e.g. 2001534 (i.e. Week 34 of 2015)
Graeme Orchard
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