Scheduling

The schedule is designed as a tool to book and hold resources and users over blocks of time. The schedule is best used when planning your resource allocation for projects and managing the availability of users. This view is globally available to all users based on view/edit permissions.

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To access the Schedule, navigate to Studio > Schedule from the Main Menu.

Schedule Sections

The studio schedule is divided into 3 sections:

  • Schedule - Resources - Displays a list of resources and their availability

  • Schedule - Users - Displays a list of users and their availability

Resource and User scheduling are similar in functionality, but have different filtering options.

Resources

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The Resources tab displays all items defined as a resource in the Admin > Resources view. These items are typically equipment, rooms, licenses, or other items that can be booked for a period of time. An entire department could also be defined as a resource, scheduling jobs for the department as a high level whiteboard.

The resource list can be filtered by resource keywords or the resource name. The resource events can be filtered by job or location.

Linked User Events

A resource event can have users attached to the event. When a user is attached to a resource event, a matching user event is created. This allows users to be scheduled for a resource without having to create a user event manually. Updating the resource event will update all linked user events. Additionally, the user event can be modified independently of the resource event.

Users

The Users tab displays all users defined in NIM in the Admin > Users view. The full user list contains both enabled and disabled users. This allows any user, regardless of their enabled state to be scheduled. These users can be current employees, freelancers, or individuals the company may work within the future. The user list can be filtered by user keywords, user groups, or the user name. The user events can be filtered by job, location, enabled users, as well as by the crew of the selected job.

Linked Resource Events

User events can be automatically created by adding users to a resource event. When a user is added to a resource event, a matching user event is created. This allows users to be scheduled for a resource without having to create a user event manually. Updating the resource event will update all linked user events. Additionally, the user event can be modified independently of the resource event.

Schedule Navigation

Navigation in the schedule view is done through the tools at the top left of the schedule.

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Click the Today button to immediately jump to today’s date.

The left and right arrows move forward and back in time for the given view.

Mini Calendar

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Clicking the Date at the right of the toolbar opens a mini calendar to quickly navigate to any day.

Inside the mini calendar, click the title bar to adjust the zoom level of the date range to select.
  • Clicking on March 2023 will zoom out the mini calendar to show a list of months.

  • Clicking on 2023 when viewing months will zoom out to show a list of years.

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Event Drag and Drop

Events on the schedule can be moved or expanded by clicking on an area of the event to modify and dragging to the new position.

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Click and hold on the center of an event to drag the entire event horizontally to a new date or vertically to a different resource or user.

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Click and hold on the left or right edge of the event to extend the start or end of the event.

Filtering

The schedule filters are available in the schedule toolbar located at the top of the view. Filter settings are remembered between sessions, so the next time the schedule is accessed, your previous settings will be retained.

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There are multiple filtering options for Resource and User scheduling which filter different items depending on the view and the filter type.

Filter Name

Filters Events

Filters Resources

Filters Users

Job

X

Location

X

Users

X

Keywords

X

X

User Groups

X

Search

X

X

Filter by Job

Filtering by the job dropdown will filter the events in the current view to only display events that are linked to the selected job.

For example:

In the image below the job “18137 FlameDemo” is selected from the Job filter. Only events that are linked to the selected job are displayed in the schedule.

_images/nim5_schedule_job_filter_example.png

Filter by Location

Filtering by the location dropdown will filter the events in the current view to only display events that are linked to the selected location.

Filter by Users

The Users filter contains 4 options:

  • All Users - Displays the full list of users

  • Job Crew Members - If a job is selected from the job filter dropdown, the user list will be limited to users that are assigned to the selected job’s crew. If no job is selected, then all users will be displayed.

  • Enabled Users - Restricts the list of users to only users whose account are enabled

  • Disabled Users - Restricts the list of users to only users whose account are disabled

Note

The User Groups filter is only available when viewing the Schedule - Users tab.

Filter by Keywords

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To filter by a keyword, click in the Keyword search field.

A dropdown list appears where you can select multiple keywords.

The list of resources or users will be limited to those items who have been tagged with the corresponding keywords.

When selecting multiple keywords, the item must be tagged with both keywords to appear in the list.

Filter by User Groups

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To filter by a User Group, click in the User Groups search field.

A dropdown list appears where you can select multiple user groups.

The list of users will be limited to those users who are a member of the corresponding groups.

When selecting multiple groups, the user must be a member of both groups to appear in the list.

Note

The User Groups filter is only available when viewing the Schedule - Users tab.

Zoom

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The schedule has multiple zoom levels to focus in on the detail you are interested in or to widen out to get the bigger picture.

Move the zoom slider to the left to widen out the view, or move it to the right to zoom in.

Schedule Views

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The calendar can be viewed by Day, Week, or a Range of months depending on the selected view type.

The number of months are selectable in 3 month increments from 1 Month up to 1 Year. To change the month range, click the dropdown arrow to the right of the view selector and choose the corresponding range.

To change the calendar view click on the corresponding view type at the top right of the calendar.

Month View

The month view displays events one month at a time with events spanning daily cells based on the start and end time of the event. All day events will span the full day, while events with discrete start and end times will only cover the portion of the day relative to the hours.

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Double clicking on an event will open a dialog to edit the event details. For more information on adding, editing, and deleting events please refer to the Schedule Events section of the documentation.

Week View

The week view displays events one week at a time with events spanning daily cells based on the start and end time of the event. All day events will span the full day, while events with discrete start and end times will only cover the portion of the day relative to the hours.

_images/nim5_schedule_users_week.png

Double clicking on an event will open a dialog to edit the event details. For more information on adding, editing, and deleting events please refer to the Schedule Events section of the documentation.

Day View

The day view displays events one day at a time with events spanning hourly cells based on the start and end time of the event. All day events will span the full day, while events with discrete start and end times will only cover the portion of the day relative to the hours.

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Double clicking on an event will open a dialog to edit the event details. For more information on adding, editing, and deleting events please refer to the Schedule Events section of the documentation.

Hours Displayed

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The day view has the option to display the range of hours for the day as the “Full Day” or “Business Hours”. The “Business Hours” range is determined by the “Work Day Start” and “Work Day End” in Admin > Schedule - Options. To expand the daily hours to the full day, click the Show Full Day button at the lower left of the schedule. To return to the business day hours, click the Show Business Hours at the lower left of the schedule.

Hourly Interval

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The division of time for the week and day view is determined by the “Day View Interval” value in Admin > Schedule - Options. This value affects the number of subdivisions available in the view and the time selector, but does not limit the value at which the start or end time for an event can be manually set.

Schedule Events

Schedule events contain unique title, description, and status information, as well as links to locations and jobs. Events can be set to start and end over a specific time period or flagged as “All Day” events spanning between start and end dates. The option to enable repeat events lets users create an event that is recurring over a defined period of time.

Add Event

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To add a schedule event, double click on a cell in the Day, Week, or Month view. Alternatively, you can click on the nim_add_button_blue button at the top right of the schedule toolbar to create a new event.

A dialog box will appear to enter event information.

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Note

The dialog box options will differ depending on if the current tab is Resources or Users.

Fields include:

Title

optional

  • The title of the event

  • Displayed on the event in conjunction with the job name and event status

Start

  • The start date of the event

  • If “All Day Event” is NOT checked, time selection is enabled

End

  • The end date of the event

  • If “All Day Event” is NOT checked, time selection is enabled

All Day Event

  • Denotes if the event is an “All Day” event

  • Selected by default

  • When deselected start and end times are enabled

  • When deselected Timezone options are enabled

Repeat

  • Options to repeat Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Yearly

  • Selecting one of these options will open additional settings to define the event repeat rules

Description

optional

  • A brief description of the event

Status

  • The status of the event

  • Displayed as part of the title

Resource

optional

  • The resource assigned to the event

  • Available on the Resources tab

  • Type the job name or number to filter the list

Location

optional

  • The location assigned to the event

Job

optional

  • The job assigned to the event

  • Displayed as part of the title

  • Type the job name or number to filter the list

Assignment

optional

  • The user assigned to the event

  • Available on the Users tab

  • User events can only be assigned to a single user

  • Type the job name or number to filter the list

Users

optional

  • Users to create linked User Schedule events

  • Available on the Resources tab

  • Type the users name to filter the list

Edit Events

Double clicking on an event in the Month, Week, or Day view will open a dialog box to edit the event details. After making the necessary changes, click the Save button to commit your changes. Click the Cancel button to return to the view without saving.

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Linked Events

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Resource events can optionally link to multiple user events. Users attached to a resource event will create linked User events matching the details of the resource event. If the resource event is modified, the linked user events will be modified as well. Modifying a User event that is linked to a resource event will only change the User event being edited.

Repeating Events

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If the event is part of a repeating series of events, there will be an repeat icon at the left of the event indicating that this is a repeating event.

Prior to editing a repeating event, a popup will appear asking if you wish to edit the current occurrence or the entire series of events.

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Selecting the current occurrence will edit only the selected event and make it unique from other recurring instances. Choosing to edit the series will edit all events in the series of repeating events.

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If the event was previously part of a repeating series, but modified independently, a canceled repeat icon at the left of the event indicates that this is a unique event in a repeating series.

Repeat Rules

When a Repeat option is selected, additional fields are available to define the repeat rules. Depending on the selection, increasingly complex rules can be defined as the Repeat value gets larger. All options include a Repeat Every and an End value to determine the frequency and end of the recurrence, while Weekly, Monthly, and Yearly options additionally include a Repeat On value to further refine how the event is propagated to future recurrences.

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The example at the right displays the options available for a Daily repeat cycle.

_images/nim_calendar_repeat_weekly.png

The example at the right displays the options available for a Weekly repeat cycle.

_images/nim_calendar_repeat_monthly.png

The example at the right displays the options available for a Monthly repeat cycle.

_images/nim_calendar_repeat_yearly.png

The example at the right displays the options available for a Yearly repeat cycle.

Timezone Options

When the All Day Event checkbox is unselected the Timezone button is enabled.

Clicking the Timezone button opens the Timezones options dialog.

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By default, Use separate start and end timezones is enabled. De-selecting this option will remove the End Timezone dropdown and only the Start Timezone dropdown selection will be used.

Below the Start and End timezone dropdowns is an additional field to select a city within the selected timezone.

Delete Events

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To delete an event from any of the main views, right click on the event and choose Delete from the context menu.

Events may also be deleted from within the edit dialog box by clicking Delete button at the lower left.

Event Colors

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The event color dropdown will determine how events are color coded in the schedule.

Options Include:

  • Status Colors

  • Resource Colors

  • Location Colors

  • Job Colors

Quick View

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Clicking on an event will bring up the quick view tooltip. This provides quick access to information about each event without the need to open the event editor. Only event fields that have been set will appear in the quick view.

Context Menu

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Right clicking on an event in the schedule will bring up a context menu with the following options:

  • Edit - Opens the event editor

  • Copy - Copies the existing event

  • Delete - Deletes the event

  • Load Job - Opens the job overview page for the job associated with the event. If not job is associated this option will not appear.