Why is a day marked overloaded?

What makes the diary mark a team member's day as overloaded, where it comes from, and how to clear it.

Last updated

What it is#

A team member's day shows red hatching and a band such as "Overloaded by 1h 20m", and you may have had a notice that their day is overloaded.

The short answer: the day holds more work than the team member's hours plus the flex you allow. The work counted is the visits, the loading time for each stop and the travel between them. The diary never overloads a day by itself. It comes from something you chose, or from a change after the visits were placed.

When to use it#

Use these checks when you see Overloaded in the diary key, or get the notice A team member's day is overloaded.

How to do it#

  1. Look at the foot of the team member's column. It shows how much is planned against what is possible, for example "3h planned of 7h possible". The difference beyond their hours and flex is the overload.
  2. Think back to recent acts on that day. Pressing Move it anyway or Place it anyway when there was not enough time books the visit and overloads the day.
  3. Check the team member's leave. Leave recorded over part of a day that already had visits shortens the day under them. Check Team for On leave on that date.
  4. Check their hours. A shorter working pattern saved after visits were placed, or a crew member's absence, can leave more work than time.
  5. Check the travel and loading. Include travel time when planning and Loading and unloading time (minutes per visit), in Settings under Scheduling, both count in the day.
  6. To clear it, move a visit to another day or team member, or add hours for that day with Add one-off hours or a day for a team member. You can also leave it as it is.

What your customer sees#

Nothing. The marking is for you only.

What happens next#

The diary keeps the marking until the day fits again. If you move a visit or add hours, the red hatching goes. The team member sees their visits on their page and in their emails as normal.

Good to know#

  • When the extra time comes from your own pinned work running past the day, the day is marked Extended by you in amber instead of red.
  • Flex is used before a day counts as overloaded. Flex is set per team member and per day in Team.
  • A team member's day is overloaded is on by default in Settings, Notifications. You are told once, when the day becomes overloaded.
  • When a team member's leave falls over confirmed visits, you get the leave notice instead of this one.
  • In both modes the diary never overloads a day on its own. In automatic mode ("Let the diary plan itself") a visit that fits nowhere waits on Waiting to be scheduled instead.

Not what you needed? Contact us and say what you were trying to do.