Jobs, tasks and Job Planning: FAQ

This article answers common questions about jobs, scheduled tasks and Job Planning. It covers finding jobs, variations, notifications, task order and setup, timesheeting to jobs and tasks, dependencies and exporting your schedule.

My job has disappeared. How do I get it back?

First check whether it was archived. Go to Jobs and select Archived, or click Filter and filter by Archived Jobs. To restore an archived job, open it and click More > Restore Job. See How to archive jobs, find archived jobs and restore - Desktop.

If you can't find the job with all filters cleared, contact support with the job number so we can investigate.

How should I record variations so my team can log time to them?

Create an additional quote for the variation on the same job as the original quote.

1. Open the job, click Quotes, then Add > Blank Quote. See Create a Quote Variation.
2. On the variation quote, click More > Create Tasks from Quote. This creates a task on the job.
3. When your team timesheets, they select the job and then the variation task.

This puts the cost against the variation, giving you accurate back costing. See Back Costing Feature.

Can admins be notified when Job Planning changes?

NextMinute has a Send Notifications setting that sends notifications when you make changes to jobs and tasks.

1. Click the cog wheel (Settings) on the left navigation panel.
2. Turn on Send Notifications.
3. When you save a job or task, a notification screen pops up. Edit the content of the notification and choose who it goes to.

Notifications use message templates in Admin > Messaging. You won't be notified of other users' changes unless they also have this setting turned on and choose to send the notification to you. See Push Notifications.

To see who changed what, open the audit/history log by clicking the hourglass icon on the left navigation panel.

Why doesn't my new task sort into the right place in the job's task list?

Tasks within a job are sorted by date, not by number, and you can't drag tasks into order.

To move a task into place, set its date so it falls between the tasks around it. Then refresh the page to re-sort the list.

How can I sort tasks by name in Job Planning?

Job Planning sorts jobs and tasks by end date by default. You can also sort by name. See Job Planning Q&A.

Name sorting is alphabetical, not numerical. For example, "11" sorts below "1" and above "2". Use a numbering pattern like this:

• 1.0 Site Inspection
• 1.1 Site inspection and set-out
• 2.0 Excavation and Earthworks
• 2.1 Trenching for services

Tasks within another task (sub-tasks) aren't available.

What carries over when I create a job from a quote?

NextMinute creates tasks with the same names as the quote sections. It doesn't pull the line items or section descriptions into the tasks, so you need to re-enter this information.

Why can't my team timesheet to a job created from a quote?

Creating a job from a quote automatically turns on Timesheet and Timer entries must be added to a Task. This is critical to how back costing works with quotes. If your users don't have access to tasks, they can't timesheet to the job.

Choose one fix:

• Turn the setting off on the job: open the job, click Edit, and untick the timesheet setting. See Forcing time to be added to tasks.
• Give users access to tasks: go to Admin > Users > Role Permissions, click Basic, and turn on the Scheduled Task area. When they select the job, they're asked which task to timesheet to.

With task access, users can see job and task details but not pricing, quotes, orders or invoices. See Basic role Permissions.

Task dates are a planning tool. Your team can timesheet to a task outside its date range. There isn't a default date range for tasks.

Why can my staff still log time to archived jobs?

By default, users don't see archived jobs when timesheeting, but each user can turn on a filter to show them.

1. Ask the user to open Timesheet and go to the Select Job screen.
2. Click Filters.
3. If the filter to show archived jobs is turned on, turn it off.

This is a per-user setting. There isn't a setting to hide archived jobs from all users.

Users can still adjust existing timesheet entries on old jobs unless the timesheet is locked. A timesheet is locked when the user ticks Lock Timesheet, or when the pay run is marked as synced or processed. See How to lock timesheets - Desktop.

Can I change how downloaded job sheets are named?

No. There isn't a setting to change the job sheet file name.

How do I delete a scheduled task?

1. Open the job and click Scheduled Tasks.
2. Click the task you want to delete.
3. Click More > Delete.

You can also delete a task in Job Planning: left-click the task bar, then use the menu to delete it. See Job Planning Q&A.

How do I change the job on a past timesheet entry?

Open the timesheet entry, change the job, then press Save. The job doesn't visually update when you first change it, but the change comes through once you save.

How can I give managers a daily task list?

Create an internal job for each manager, then add tasks to it.

1. Create an internal job. See Internal Jobs.
2. Add tasks to the job and assign them to the manager.
3. Set the tasks to repeat daily if needed. See How to schedule recurring Tasks.
4. The manager updates each task's status to complete when it's done.

How do I create a task over two days with different hours each day?

Create two separate tasks. A single task can't have different times on different days.

To save time, open the first task and click More > Duplicate task. Then change the dates and times.

Can I create a task without a date?

No. Tasks must have dates. Workaround: set the dates far in the past, such as 01/01/1900, so the task doesn't show in your current calendar. Change the dates when you're ready to schedule it.

How do I create dependencies in Job Planning?

1. Expand the job to show all of its tasks.
2. Hover over the small dot at the end of the task you want to link.
3. Click and drag it to the small dot on the task you want it to depend on.

Repeat to link more tasks. To delete a dependency, see Job Planning Q&A.

Can I back up my schedule?

You can export your scheduled tasks to Excel.

1. Go to Scheduled Tasks > All.
2. Click the > icon.
3. Click More > Export to Excel.

How do I hide old orders from archived jobs?

In the Orders list, click Filter and turn on the filter to not show orders from archived jobs.