Required Reading	Top

Please read Scheduler Principles before proceeding. You must know this information before attempting to use the interface.

Introduction	Top

The Scheduler Interface provides a graphical means for defining and viewing a Schedule Plan. The Schedule Plan is displayed in a hierarchy format (Node) which can include Folders, used to group Plan Items, or Plan Items defined directly within the Plan. Your organization will choose to allow manual definition of this hierarchy, or provide a pre-defined hierarchy to use when Plans are added. When adding a new Schedule Plan choose either:

Once the Hierarchy is defined, Plan Items can be added at each level, and are displayed within the Node Hierarchy. Using the Node Hierarchy you can manage Plan Items either individually or as a group when Folders are used. Easily Stop or Start a Plan, view scheduled Events for a Plan Item and view or edit tests.

Node Hierarchy	Top

Following are examples of the Node Hierarchy.

Scheduler, the Node Hierarchy will initially contain only the Plan itself to which you can manually add Folders and Plan Items.

Managed, choose the pre-defined (Policy Node) Schedule Plan when adding the Plan, the Hierarchy displays with all the pre-defined levels.

Once the hierarchy is in place add Plan Items at either the Plan level itself or within Folders.

Levels of the Node Hierarchy

The following illustration shows each level and how Plan Items are displayed within the Node Hierarchy.

The following sections describe how to create a Schedule Plan, manually create Folders, and add Plan Items. See Schedule Plan Policy for information about pre-defining Managed Schedule Plans.

Creating a Schedule Plan	Top

Schedule Plan Pages

To Create a Schedule Plan navigate to System Admin → Scheduling & Events → Schedule Plans. The Schedule Plan List page displays.

Here you can "Add" new plans or "Edit" existing Plans. You can also turn a Schedule Plan On or Off from the list page.

Click "Add", the Add Schedule Plan page displays.

Define general information about the Plan.

Upon clicking "Save", the Exclude Calendars detail displays. The "Site" field on the Schedule Plan maintenance page provides a link to the Site's Calendars. The Site department calendar will always be used as the base calendar for Schedule Excludes. In addition, extra shared calendars can be added to a Schedule Plan as exclusion calendars. Select the Calendar and click "Manage" to manage Calendar details.

Upon clicking "Save" the Scheduling detail displays. Here you can add Folders and Plan Items to create the Schedule Plan.

Initially, in the Node Hierarchy, you will see the top node which represents the entire Schedule Plan, in the next level, the Schedule Plan itself. Depending on the value in the "Status" field, the Schedule Plan icon is either Yellow (On) or Red (Off). Before you begin to define your Schedule Plan see Plan Items Sources Folders and Plans for a discussion about organizing your Schedule Plan.

Creating Folders (Un-Managed Plans)	Top

Folders help organize Plan Items within a Schedule Plan. If you would prefer to add Plan Items directly to the Plan level see Creating Plan Items.

Folders are always added to the node you have selected in the Schedule Plan. To add a Folder, right click the Plan to display the "Add Folder" option, hover over and click "Add Folder", then select from a list of options.

Create Any Folder

Choose to "Create Any Folder" meaning the Plan Item can be associated with any SDC. You are prompted to enter a name for the Folder.

Create a Folder Based on an SDC

Choose to associate the Folder with an SDC. Any Plan Items added within this Folder will be associated with the selected SDC. Clicking the SDC you want to associate with the Folder opens a Lookup where you can select the specific SDI as the Source. As you add Plan Items within this Folder the SDC and Source (SDI) default and can not be changed.

Example

In the following example the first Folder in S Plan D was created using "Create Any Folder". When you click "Add" to add a Plan Item within that Folder, no SDC or Source information default.

A second Folder is created using "Create Sample Point Folder". After clicking "Create Sample Point Folder" you are presented with a Lookup where you can choose an SDI as the Source for this Folder.

Select an SDI and click "Select & Return". The new Folder is created. When you click "Add" to add a Plan Item within the Folder, the SDC and Source default.

Creating Plan Items	Top

Whether directly added on the Plan or within a Folder the process is the same.

With the Plan (or Folder) highlighted, click "Add", the fields of the Plan Item display.

Note: When adding Plan Items to Managed Plans you simply click "Add" and define the Plan Item. The Plan Item is then placed within the hierarchy according to the pre-defined Plan.

Define the details of this Plan Item.

Fields	Description
Description	Description of the Plan Item.
Recurrence	Determines the frequency of Events for this Plan Item. If this value is changed, all Events that have not been executed will be removed and new ones created. This should be remembered if you have manually created new Events or moved existing ones (can be done in the Event Calendar). All rule times are defined in the Schedule Plan time zone time. Click the lookup to open the Schedule Rule dialog. Note that as you make selections, the Schedule is stated clearly at the bottom of the dialog. Choose any of the following: Frequency Description Example Minutely Every n minutes. Be careful. Specifying a short interval could generate more Scheduled Events than you intended. For example, with Schedule Ahead =1 day, a once-per-minute rule generates 24(60) = 1440 Scheduled Events. Every 10 minutes Hourly Every n hours. Every 12 hours Daily Every nth day except specified days @ specified times Every day @ 06:00,18:00 Every day except Sat,Sun @ 06:00 Every 3rd day @ 06:00,17:00 Weekly Every nth week on specified days @ specified times Every week on Mon,Wed,Fri @ 06:00,18:00 Every 3rd week on Tue,Fri @ 06:00,18:00 Monthly By date: Every specified months on specified dates @ specified times Every month on 15th @ 06:00 Every Jan,Apr,Jul,Oct on 1st,15th @ 06:00 Every month on lastday @ 06:00 By week: Every nth week of specified months on specified days @ specified times Every week of Jan on Mon,Wed,Fri @ 06:00 Every other week of Jan,Feb,Mar on Mon @ 06:00 Day Offset On specified day offsets from the start date @ specified times On day 1,3,5 @ 06:00 Count The Count option is intended to be used when implementing an Instrument Certification Schedule. See Instrument Certification for details (particularly Adding a Certification Schedule). See Instrument Certification → Adding a Certification Schedule.
Start Date	The Start Date for this Plan Item.
Stop Date	Optionally define a Stop date for this Plan Item.
SDC	Set the Source SDC of this Plan Item. "Sample Point" is configured as the Source OOB for process scheduling, and "Instrument" for Instrument Certification scheduling. In order for an SDC to be available in the drop down list the "May be Scheduled Flag" must be set to "Yes". This can be set in SDC definition. The SDC field is locked if the Plan Item is within a folder that has an SDC defined. Hover your mouse over a folder to see an SDC association.
Source	The Source for this Plan Item. A Source might be defined as a Well from which you would take a water Sample. See the discussion Plan Items Sources Folders and Plans for more information about Sources. When adding a Plan Item to a Folder in which a Source was defined, the Source is automatically added to the Plan Item from the Folder and cannot be changed. If the selected folder does not have a Source assigned, the Source can be manually selected using the lookup after selecting an SDC. The Source can be randomly selected when a Location, and associated Sample Points (Sources) are defined. The Sample Point Source is randomly selected as each Event is executed. See Randomized Scheduling for more information.
Recurring Task	The Task to perform when the Scheduled Plan Item executes. The list of Tasks is determined by the SDC chosen, you are presented with Tasks associated with that SDC. For example, you might choose a Sample Point as the SDC, associated with the Sample Point SDC are tasks such as "Create an SDI" or "Add Sample". See Scheduled Tasks for more information about Tasks.
Recurring Task Details	Depending on the Recurring Task specified, choose the details of the Task. Recurring Task Description Create SDI Using the Task Node define the SDI you want to create. Click the node icon to choose a Schedule Task and node: Click the override icon to change (override) properties for the current Schedule Task and node (see Scheduled Tasks for information concerning properties): Add Sample Using Template Choose a Sample Template for the Sample being created by the Task. Click the "Add" icon to open the Manage Recurring Task Details dialog. Choose to Create a new Sample Template or select an existing Sample Template. Click "OK". Enter the number of Samples to create.
	Hover over the calendar icon to display information about which time zone the Events are in, the Next Scheduling Due, Last Scheduled and Scheduled to dates.

Using the Sample Template "Add Sample Using Template (Merge)" you can schedule multiple tests and multiple timepoint frequencies. LabVantage works out how many distinct samples are required for each scheduled timepoint.
For example, if you schedule a sample to be taken hourly for 24 hours, and tests are assigned as follows:

All 24 scheduled samples will have test A, 4 of the samples also have test B, and the noon sample will also have test C.

Implementation is based on the templates. In this example there would be three different templates defined. The Task will take care of combining the Samples so that only one Sample will be created for each unique time point. See the Advanced Create SDI Task for information about configuring this option.

LabVantage supports the ability to configure Conditional Logic that can be used to switch to alternate Schedules.

For example:

See the Advanced Create SDI Task for information about configuring this option.

Managing a Schedule Plan	Top

Use the Toolbar to Manage the Schedule Plan.

With the Plan Item you want to manage selected, choose to do any of the following operations below.

Choose to add a new Plan Item, the Plan Item will be added for the currently selected Plan or Folder.

Delete a Plan Item.

Copies the selected Plan Item, the new copy is initially set to "OFF".
You will be asked if you want to share Recurring task details. Modifying shared details will change the details of both parent and copy.

Choose to "Share" new details, or keep the any changes "Exclusive" to the new Plan.

Schedule Plan Items can be moved to a different Folder provided the Folder to be moved from does not reference an SDI (created using "Create Any Folder").

Select the Plan Item you want to move and click "Move". The Move Plan Item dialog displays. Select the Folder to which you want to move the Plan Item.

You have several options for controlling the Schedules that are running at a given time. Choose to switch Schedules On or Off at the following levels.

Plans and Plan Items are marked with icons as either On or Off .

Turning the Plan Item "Off" removes all unexecuted Events including any that were manually moved.

Schedule Plan Level

Status field in the Add Schedule Plan or Edit Schedule Plan pages. You can change this value at any time.

Folder Level

In the Node hierarchy select the Folder you want to turn On or Off. Right click, the Folder menu displays.

Choose either On or Off. Folders that are "On" display as yellow, "Off" are red in the Node hierarchy.

Plan Item Level

Choose to turn off a Plan Item at any level by selecting the Plan Item (checkbox) and clicking the "Turn On" or "Turn Off" button on the Toolbar.

Shows the Events for the selected Plan or Plan Items in either a Calendar View or a List View.

You have three options for executing Events from the Calendar view. Using the "Execute" button choose to:

Adhoc executions are shown in the calendar with the Adhoc icon .

View and edit the tests associated with the selected item(s) (applies only for items using the new task).

Use the many to many page to add or remove Tests for Sample. Using the lookup add new tests.

Defining Schedules Outside of the Scheduler	Top

Add or edit Schedule Plans for the following: