Why did a visit not go on the customer's usual day?

Why the diary places a visit off a customer's usual day or team member, and how preferred days work.

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What it is#

A customer who always has their visit on a Tuesday with the same team member has one this week on a Wednesday, or with someone else.

The short answer: the diary keeps a settled customer on their usual day and team member where it can. When that day is full, closed, the team member has no hours or is on leave, the visit goes on another day and is marked Off pattern. Preferred days you set on a service are used when there is room; when they are full, the visit goes on the nearest available day.

When to use it#

Use these checks when a visit is not on the day or with the team member the customer usually has.

How to do it#

  1. Look at the visit on the diary. An amber block with a dotted border is Off pattern: the visit belongs on another day and could not go there.
  2. Check the usual team member on the usual day:
    • Were they On leave? Check their absences in Team.
    • Did they have working hours that day? Check their pattern in Team.
    • Was the day cancelled? A cancelled day shows Closed in the diary and is listed under Cancelled days in Team.
    • Was the day full? The foot of their column shows how much is planned against what is possible.
    • Are they leaving the team before then?
  3. Open the customer's service. If Days or Team member is set, visits go on those days and with that team member when there is room. When they are full, visits go on the nearest available day or with another team member, and you are told.
  4. For a customer who has visits more than once in a period, a day that kept the usual gap between visits may have had no room, so the visit went closer to the other one.
  5. To put it back, drag the visit to the usual day, or reopen a cancelled day with Reopen under Cancelled days.

What your customer sees#

When the visit is confirmed, the customer is emailed the day it is on and the morning or the afternoon, never a clock time. If you move it back after it was confirmed, you can tick Email the customer the new date.

What happens next#

An off pattern visit is a one-off. The customer's settled day stays as it was, and their next visits go back to it when there is room. If the usual day is full most weeks, the diary may move their routine instead, and you are told.

Good to know#

  • Two notices are off by default in Settings, Notifications: the one for a visit placed off its settled pattern (it names your Weeks planned ahead) and A visit could not go on its preferred day. Tick them to be told each time.
  • A visit you placed or dragged yourself is pinned and never moves off its day by itself.
  • In self mode ("I place visits myself"), the regular slot keeps the day. A visit that stops fitting its slot comes back to Waiting to be scheduled for you to place, and Days only puts those days first in the suggested slots.

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