Group Jobs

In the BigChange Job Management System, jobs can be grouped together, enabling you to treat many jobs as a single entity. The benefits of this are that the finances can be grouped together onto a single invoice, or the customer can receive a ‘standard’ single job card upon completion, rather than one job card per job.

Creating Group Jobs

Group jobs are a way of informing BigChange that the individual jobs created within it should be regarded as a group. Since the jobs are individually raised and priced, it is easy to add, alter or delete them as required, without affecting the integrity of the overall grouping.

To create a group job, select the “New Group Job” icon, on the left side menu of the Scheduling tab. The following pop-up will open.

As soon as you begin to type in the contact information, the form will begin to self-populate with the additional information, drawn from your CRM. Select the Group job radio button to create a group job.

Group Job Owner

To further help you manage Group Jobs, you can assign a “Group Job Owner” to your Group Jobs. This powerful feature will allow you to assign responsibility of your Group Jobs to named Web Users.

In the detail tab, within your Group Job, you will see a field titled “Group Job Owner”

Please note, if no Group Job Owner is specified when creating a Group Job (i.e., you leave this field blank), BigChange will by default assign the web user who created the Group Job as the owner. This is field is not mandatory and can be cleared to remove any owner from the Group Job.

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Group Job Title

By populating the field called “Title”, you can give your group jobs a title/brief description. By using this field, you will be able to identify specific group jobs quicker and easier, ideal for high value or special projects.

Please note, there is a 50-character limit for the group job title field, including spaces.

When you have populated the title field, and saved your group job, the title will update in BigChange, appearing in the top-left corner of the individual group job screen, and within a new title column, within the group jobs list view.

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Duplicate order number warning

Incorrect or duplicate order numbers can cause various problems, such as incorrect billing, difficulty in tracking costs, delays in payment and audit issues.

Within the detail tab of a group job, you have the option to populate an “Order Number” field.

Should you enter an order number which already exists for that specific contact, BigChange will alert you by displaying an onscreen text warning (see below).

This information serves to provide a warning, highlighting a possible error or unintended duplication. Should you wish to continue, despite the warning, you can still update and save the group job.

When you get to the field, “Jobs in group are linked”, new options will appear if you select the tick box.

Add a date, time and resource. The resource that you select will be the same for all jobs within the group, as that is a feature of Linked Jobs.

default, no recurrence is set, but by selecting “Edit” a new popup will open, “Recurrence of job group”. You can choose the number and date of recurrences and usefully tie it in with agreed contract timings. You can also set decisions around Linked job group settings. An example is shown below.

A completed example would look like this:

For a more detailed explanation of how this works, please read the dedicated Linked Jobs article.

Next, moving onto the Jobs tab, begin to add jobs, either manually by selecting “+Add a job” or import them by selecting “+Import job”.

By selecting “+Add” you will be prompted to create a single job (visit) where you are able to populate the information for that specific job.

By default, the “Contact” isn’t automatically populated with the same as the Group job contact, this allows you to create jobs for different site contacts. This can be amended in the administration section by:

• Navigating to:[Top menu]Profile (icon) → Admin Settings → General account settings[quick links] → Schedule [section]

You will be presented with several options:

Please note, this is a global setting and whatever you choose will dictate the default behaviour on all future group jobs created for all users.

Once you have populated all the information fields for your job, you can save.

You can now repeat the above steps to create as many jobs within this group job as you require. For example, below is a group job for a bathroom re-fit and each job is a different stage or trade of the overall bathroom project.

Each single job can be allocated to different resources and different times; the customer can receive a single invoice for the whole project (Group Job) whilst you are able to keep a track of individual jobs.

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Group Jobs List View

You can access a specific area to view and manage your Group Jobs in the Scheduling tab. Toggle the view between individual jobs and Group jobs from the Schedule tab. To do this, select Display [side menu] → Jobs or Group Jobs [radio button]

The group job view looks like the current list view however, each row represents each Group Job.

Please note, the information columns displayed in the Group Job view can be customised. To do this, from with the group jobs view, select Columns [link] → check / uncheck the relevant information columns [checkboxes] → OK

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Filtering the Group Job View

Using the filters from within the side menu, you can filter and locate relevant Group Jobs based on your search parameters.

Search – this field allows you to search for a specific group job by entering the Group Job reference.

Contact – this field allows you to search for Group Jobs for a specific contact, including parent contact.

Category – this field allows you to search for Group Jobs with a specific group job category.

Status – this field allows you to search for Group Jobs with a specific group job status (including unscheduled, part scheduled, scheduled, in progress, complete and financially complete)

Owner – this field allows you to search for Group Jobs with a specific Group Job Owner

Flag – this field allow you to search for Group Jobs with a specific group job flag. [

Please note, the category, status and flag fields allow you to make multiple selections.

From and To – these fields allow you to search for Group Jobs within a specific time period; currently you have the option to select whether the date you have selected refers to Group Job Start Date, End Date or Creation Date.

Please note, when using the date fields, the search results do not include unscheduled jobs. Should you need to view these, you can either reset all filters or select clear dates from the date field options.

By using a combination of all these filters, you can identify and view Group Jobs which satisfy your specific search requirements, providing you with a powerful search and data retrieval tool.

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Group Job Flags

Group Jobs Flags can be added to a Group Job to indicate extra information about its status, for example, you might want a flag to highlight a Group Job is urgent, for an important client/customer or, indicate it is progress, such as “Parts Ordered.”

To create a Group Job flag:

• Navigate to: [Top menu] Profile (icon) → Admin Settings → Manage job types [quick links menu]→Schedule [side menu]→Group job flags→Add.

To add a flag to a Group Job, from within the Group Job List view, select the relevant Group Job → Activity [tab]→Group job flags [tab]→Add.

Group Job List View Flags

In the Jobs list view on the scheule, you are able to view and filter you group jobs by group job flag.

• Navigate to: [Top menu] Schedule → [Side menu] Display → List (tab)

If you don't see the Flag column, select the Columns link and check the Flag checkbox.

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Group Job Overview

The Group Job Overview tab provides you with an “at a glance” view of individual group job performance. Tracking group jobs can be challenging, particularly if they are long-running, or complex. Using the overview information, you can quickly view operational and financial indicators of the progress of your individual group jobs, including scheduling, planned versus actual time spent, costs incurred, and revenue invoiced to date, enabling you to make informed decisions quickly.

To access the Group Job Overview, navigate to the Schedule tab→List [view] →Group Jobs [radio button] →select the relevant group job→Overview [tab].

Job Progress. Using the Group job start and end date, BigChange will calculate the progress of the job, providing the current Group job status and highlighting the status of the individual jobs within the Group, such as the number of jobs that still need to be scheduled, or confirmation that all jobs within the group have been completed.

Actual versus planned time – Jobs and driving. To provide further insight into the effectiveness of your job planning and completion, both data and visualisations will be presented, showing your actual performance against planned time. Both the actual time spent on jobs and driving will be displayed, including a comparison to the original planned times. Using this information, you will be able to see how well a Group job is progressing against planned time, helping you to quickly identify potential issues with individual group jobs in progress; this information may also provide some useful insights into the effectiveness of your job planning.

Planned revenue. This is a manual entry field, meaning you could enter any value you wish; you may consider using the original quote value for the work to be carried out. This field allows you to give your Group job a value from which you can track progress towards. The value entered into this field will be used by BigChange to track and visualise the financial progress of the group job within the “Invoiced to date” section. Furthermore, by populating this field and planned costs, BigChange will calculate the projected profit of your group job.

Planned costs. This is a manual entry field, meaning you could enter any value you wish; you may consider using the costs calculated for the planned work at the point of quote creation. This field allows you to track costs incurred by your individual group jobs.

Projected profits - using the planned revenue and costs, BigChange will calculate the profit for the individual group jobs, displayed as a monetary amount, and profit margin percentage.

Cost to date. Using the planned costs value, the progress bar will provide a visual indicator of the costs incurred to date by the individual group job, against the total planned cost total, including the monetary amount. When you mark supplier purchase orders as sent, BigChange will re-calculate this value. Line items are now available, it takes into account any costs on line items on completed individual jobs and any costs lines on the group job irrelevant of the group job status, we then deduct the purchase order sent cost value to reduce the chance of double counting costs.

Invoiced to date. Using the planned revenue value, the progress bar will provide a visual indicator of the amount invoiced to date for the group job, towards the planned total value, including the monetary amount. Outstanding invoices that are ready to be sent, including any line items not invoiced, will also be highlighted on the progress bar, including their monetary value. An overview of the financial documents associated with the group job will also be provided.

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Group Job Status

The Group Job Status gives you a high-level view of the Group Job, including job scheduling, progress and completion. As you add jobs into your Group Job and start scheduling them, the status will start to automatically update. Let’s begin with Scheduling. Unscheduled Status

This means all the jobs within the group job are unscheduled. Part-scheduled Status

This means that at least one job has been scheduled but there are still some jobs within the Group Job that are unscheduled. Scheduled Status

This means that all jobs have been scheduled. In Progress Status

This means that at least one job has been started.

Group Job Complete Status

Unlike the previous updates to the scheduling and progress statuses, the “Group Job Complete” status needs to be updated manually.

To mark your Group job as complete, open your Group Job→Detail [tab] →Mark Group Job as Complete [link]

Please note, if you have any incomplete jobs or recurrences associated with your Group Job, BigChange will display a warning, asking you whether you wish to continue to “Mark Group Job as Complete”.

This means the Group Job has been marked as completed.

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Marking a Group Job as “Financially Complete”

When marking a Group Job as “Financially Complete”, not only will the Group Job status update, the status of each individual job within the Group Job will also update to “Financially Complete.”

Marking individual jobs as finally complete means that no additional costs or profits will be added to the job after this point. Any financial changes after a job has been marked as financially complete will not be included in the Job Profitability report.

Please note, no further individual jobs can be added after the Group Job has been marked as Financially Complete.

To mark a single Group Job as Financially Complete, open your Group Job→Detail [tab] →Mark as Financially Complete [link]

Please note, should any jobs within the Group have an incomplete status, or have a recurrence associated with them, you will receive a pop-up warning message, prompting you to ether cancel, or proceed and “Mark as Financially Complete.”

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Marking multiple Group Jobs as “Financially Complete”

In some cases, the Group Job Status needs to be manually updated, for example, marking the job as Complete and/or Financially Complete. You can bulk update the status of many Group Jobs, potentially saving you a significant amount of time.

To update the status of several Group Jobs, select the relevant Group Jobs [checkboxes] →Selected Group Jobs [link] →select the relevant status [menu]

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Unmarking Jobs as “Financially Complete”

In exceptional circumstances, you may need to edit the status of individual and Group Jobs and unmark them as “Financially Complete.”

Only web-users granted the ability to “Revert Financially Complete” will be able to unmark individual and Group Jobs as “Financially Complete”.

To do this:

• Navigate to:[Top menu]Profile (icon) →Admin Settings→Web Users [side menu] →Roles→Revert Financially Complete [tick box]

Please note, should you unmark a Group Job as “Financially Complete” returning it to a “Complete” status, the status of each individual Job will remain unchanged. Should you need the status of an individual jobs to change, you will need to do this at an individual job level.

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 Group Job Activity

To provide visibility and traceability of Group Job activity, you will see a tab titled “Group Job Activity”. Within this tab, you see when status updates occurred, and who they were completed by.

Should you need to update the date and time when a job was marked as complete or financially complete, select the most recent status, and update the date and time details in the pop-up. This may be particularly useful where Group jobs were updated retrospectively, or in bulk, at a date and time that isn’t accurate of the actual activity.

Please note, only users granted the permissions by their system administrator{s} to “Create and edit jobs” and “Edit Financially complete” will be able to update status activity dates for complete and financially complete.

To do this:

• Navigate to: [Top menu]Profile (icon) →Admin Settings→Web Users[side menu]→Roles→Create and edit jobs[tick box]→Edit Financially complete [tick box]

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Prevent Creation of Financial Documents on “Financially Complete” Jobs

When a job is marked a job as financially complete, BigChange will prevent any future financial documents being created against that job.

Once a group job has been ticked as Financially Complete on the job result tab, the ability to create any further financial documents will be removed, meaning no financial documents can be created after this point, and the integrity and accuracy of the job profitability reporting is maintained.

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Group Jobs – Export List View

Within the list view of the Schedule tab, you can export your Group Job data, enabling you to analyse this data and produce your own work in progress (WIP) reports outside BigChange.

By using the filters from within the side menu, you can filter and locate relevant Group Jobs based on your search parameters.

To export the Group job list view data, navigate to the Schedule tab→List view [side menu] →Group Jobs [radio button] →Export [Icon].

You will be presented with a popup, prompting you to choose the file format of your export, either CSV or XLSX (Excel).

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Group Job Status Keyword

A group job status keyword is available for templates created using either the MS Word add-in or online template editor.

Please note, this keyword can be added to the subject line or body of the template.