PetGroomBossPro Blog — Scheduling & Routes

The Scheduled List: Reading the Grooming Day by Date and by Van

Every mobile grooming business has one place where the truth about tomorrow lives. For some it is a paper planner on the passenger seat. For others it is a calendar app, a notebook and a text thread that all disagree a little. In PetGroomBossPro it is the Scheduled list, and once a business trusts it, the other copies can go.

What the Scheduled List Is

Every appointment on the list has a set time, as covered in Setting an Appointment Time on Every Grooming Card. The Scheduled list is where those booked appointments come together by day.

Pick a date and the list shows every appointment booked for it. Repeat visits land here once you confirm them on Pending Jobs, and new clients land here once you book them. It is the confirmed day: the stops the groomers will actually drive to.

That is a different job from Pending Jobs. Pending Jobs is the planning board, where repeat visits wait with their planned day, time and van and new requests wait for a slot. The Scheduled list is the finished plan.

Filtering by Van

With one van, the day's list is the van's list. With two or more, the full day gets long, and the question you usually want answered is “what does Van 2 look like tomorrow?” The van filter narrows the list to one van's appointments, in that van's order, with their times.

This is the view most owners use when they build the route. Filter to a van, look at its stops, auto-route it from the shop or set the order by hand, then move on to the next van. It is also the view to check when a groomer calls in sick: filter to their van and you can see exactly which appointments need to move or be shared out.

What to Read on Each Card

A card on the Scheduled list carries more than an address. Before you route a day, it is worth reading each card for the things that change how long the stop takes:

• The time. Is this a fixed early or late appointment, or can it move?
• The pets. One cat, or three dogs? Up to four pets can be on a visit, each with breed, size and coat.
• The service and add-ons. A full groom with De-Matting and a Blueberry Facial is a longer stop than a bath and brush.
• The cut and behavior notes. “Nervous with the dryer” or “muzzle for nails” can mean a slower visit.
• The van notes. Parking, gate code, outlet and water hookup. A tricky parking spot adds time too.

None of that requires opening a separate client file. It is on the job because the next visit at a home fills in from the last one, so the pets and the cut carry forward without anyone retyping them.

From List to Route

Once the day's stops are on the list, the order is the next decision. The Scheduled list is where you auto-route a van's day Closest First or Furthest First from the shop, or set the order by hand. The groomer's phone shows the stops in that same order with the same times.

The two ways of ordering a day are covered in Closest First or Furthest First: Auto-Routing a Mobile Grooming Day From the Shop and Setting Grooming Route Order by Hand When the Map Is Not the Whole Story.

Using the List During the Day

The Scheduled list is not just for the night before. During the day it is where the office goes to answer questions:

• A customer calls to ask when the groomer will arrive. Filter to the van, find their stop, see what is ahead of it.
• A groomer skips a visit because nobody was home. The skip shows with the groomer's note, and the office can move that visit.
• A same-day nail trim request comes in. Look at which van has a light afternoon and which one is nearby on the office map.

Because the groomer app and the office work from the same jobs, the office sees which stops have been started, completed or skipped without anyone calling the van.

Looking Ahead

Flip forward a few days and the list shows what is already booked, which helps when a customer asks for a day next week. If Thursday is already full for Van 1, you can offer Van 2 or a different day before you promise anything. If a whole week looks thin, that is a cue to look at the No Day tab and place the new requests waiting there.

A schedule that shows every van and every day in one place is the core of the mobile grooming scheduling software in PetGroomBossPro. Start there for the full picture of routing, Pending Jobs, reminders and van GPS.