Nobody builds recurring service jobs by hand. Each row on a customer's Rate
Card names a site, the units there, and a service frequency. PortaPro
reads those rows and creates the service jobs for you, a few days before each
visit is due. This article explains when that happens, which frequencies
create jobs, and how to stop or skip a visit.
When jobs are created
There are two triggers, and they run the same code:
any visits for that site that are due inside your lead window. A toast
tells you how many, for example "2 service jobs scheduled", with a
View board button.
and creates whatever has come due since.
You can also run it on demand. On a customer's Rate Card, Sync service
schedule runs generation for your whole company right away and reports
either "N service jobs scheduled" or "Service schedule is up to date". It is
handy after an import or after changing the lead days. Running it
twice is safe: each rate-card row can only ever have one job per due date,
so nothing is doubled.
Where the jobs land
Every generated job is a service job, status Unassigned, on the
dispatch board with an Auto-scheduled label. Its notes read
"Auto-scheduled from rate card", followed by the units and the due date.
Assign a driver from the board, or plan the day in Route Plan (see
Planning and optimizing routes).
The job carries one line for the rate-card row, at the row's service rate.
If the row isn't linked to a product in your catalog, the line says so and
asks you to match it.
Which frequencies create jobs
| Frequency on the row | What PortaPro creates |
|---|---|
| Daily, Weekly, Bi-Weekly (EOW), Twice Monthly, Monthly | One job at a time, due one interval after the last visit |
| 2x Week (Tue & Fri), 3x Week (M,W,F), or Specific days… | One job for each chosen weekday inside the lead window, every week |
| On Call | Nothing, on purpose. Book these visits yourself with Create Job. |
| Blank, or text PortaPro can't read | Nothing |
Interval frequencies count from the last time the site was serviced.
When a driver completes an auto-scheduled job, that completion becomes the
new starting point, so the cadence follows the work actually done. A row
that has never been serviced gets its first visit one full interval from
today. A new Monthly row therefore shows no job right away; it appears once
the visit is inside your lead window.
Day patterns (M,W,F and the like) ignore the last visit. Each chosen
weekday inside the lead window gets its own job, scheduled on that day.
Settings → Routing → Scheduled service generation
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Generate ___ days before service is due | How far ahead the job appears on the board, 0 to 14. "0" means the morning of. | 3 |
| Wasted-trip (dry run) fee ($) | "Auto-staged when a driver reports a stop as not completable." Leave it empty to log only. | Empty (Log only) |
Under the card, Preview run counts what would be created for the whole
company without writing anything, and Run now creates it. Both show a
Last run line: examined, already on board, not yet due, no frequency,
inactive site, and errors. That line is the quickest way to see why a row
didn't produce a job.
Skipping one visit
On an auto-scheduled job, Skip this cycle is in the job's ⋯ menu and on
the Reschedule stop screen. Skipping marks the job Skipped, keeps it
as a record, and moves the row's schedule forward so the next regular visit
is the next one created. There is no make-up visit. Skipped jobs are hidden
from the board until you show cancelled jobs (see
Troubleshooting Jobs & Dispatch).
Only auto-scheduled jobs can be skipped, and a completed job can't be.
Cancel a hand-made job instead.
Sites that are paused or closed
Jobs are only created for sites whose status is Active. A site set to
Pending Delivery, Pending Removal, On Call, Paused, Seasonal or Inactive, or
a closed site, creates nothing until it is Active again. A rate-card row set
to 0 units (which Close Site does) also creates nothing.
When a rate-card row ends
A row's Bills until date stops billing on that date. It does not stop
service jobs and it does not book a pickup. PortaPro reminds the office a
few days before (7 by default) and again on the last billed day, unless a
pickup is already booked. To stop visits, book the pickup and close the site, or set the
site to a non-active status.