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Visit length and arrival times

Set how long this customer's visits take, and hold a visit to a time you promised them.

Set how long a visit takes

Two numbers on the customer file set defaults for this customer's visits: Est. Duration (min) is time on site, and Travel Time (min) is the drive to get there.

  • Visits a recurring schedule produces take both numbers from the customer.
  • Visits booked on the web do not. The booking form's Duration (min) and Travel (min) boxes start at 30 and 15 whatever the customer's defaults are; change them on the form when this customer needs longer.
  • Visits booked on the phone take the customer's travel time, and their duration when the duration box is left blank.

A visit with no length of its own is laid out at 30 minutes on site. Where Lupa can work out the drive between two visits from the map, that estimate lays out the day; otherwise the visit's own travel minutes are used, then the customer's Travel Time (min).

To set a customer's visit length:

  1. Open Clients and select the customer.
  2. Fill in Est. Duration (min) and Travel Time (min).
  3. Choose Save Changes.

Visits a schedule produces from then on use those lengths. Visits already on the board keep theirs.

Promise a customer an arrival time

A promised time is set on the work itself:

  • On a single visit — fill in Client-requested time when you book it. See Booking visits.
  • On a recurring schedule — fill in Client-requested time (optional). Every visit the schedule produces carries that time. See Recurring schedules.

A visit with a requested time is treated as fixed on the dispatch board. When you change its time in the visit editor, Lupa asks you to confirm before saving: it names the time that was promised to the client and the time that overrides it.

Get told when a promised time moves

To have Lupa flag a moved promise for this customer:

  1. Open the customer and find Client comms preferences.
  2. Tick Notify client when committed times shift.
  3. Choose Save Changes.

With this on, when an admin drags one of this customer's visits that has a requested time to a different time on the dispatch board, the visit is marked Client notification needed, showing the Client-committed time and the time it is Now scheduled for. The technician assigned to the visit also gets a notification asking them to tell the customer the new time. Lupa does not message the customer itself. Handling the flag is covered in The dispatch board.

Client expects a committed arrival time is recorded on the customer file as a note of their preference. It does not change how visits are scheduled; the requested time on the visit or schedule is what holds a visit to a time.

Both switches are off for a new customer.