Why was a visit booked after its due date?

What it is#

You get a notice that a customer's visit is booked after its due date, or that part of a month "looks full".

The short answer: in automatic mode the diary places each regular visit inside its usual window around the due date, first in normal hours and then using flex. When no day in that window has room, it books the nearest day with room in the 7 days after the window, and tells you. If nothing fits there either, the visit goes on Waiting to be scheduled instead, as Not fitted.

The usual window depends on how often the visit comes:

Weekly: up to 2 days either side of the due date.
Every 2 weeks or twice a month: 3 working days either side.
Every 3 weeks, monthly or less often: 5 working days either side.

When to use it#

Use it when a Placed late notice arrives, when a customer asks why their visit is later than usual, or when you see Coming up: visits booked after their due date on the Notifications page.

How to do it#

Press Notifications in the main menu. To see only these notices, filter Type by Placed late.
Open a notice about one customer. It names the customer, says how many working days late their visits are, and adds "No nearer day had room." Under that is one line per visit, for example "Due Thu 8 Oct, booked Mon 12 Oct (2 working days late)".
A notice such as "Early October looks full" is a shortage notice. It comes instead of the customer notices when two or more customers have visits due in the same half of a month booked late. Its About reads, for example, "Visits in early October", and it lists each customer's visit on its own line. It means that part of the month has less time than the work needs.
To make room for a shortage, add time where it is short: Add one-off hours or a day for a team member on the diary, more flex on a team member's hours in Team, or leave ended early. The diary plans again when hours or leave change, and pencilled visits may then move nearer their due date.
To fix one visit, tap it on the diary and press Move, or drag it to a nearer day. A visit you move by hand is pinned, so the diary does not move it again.
Scroll to the foot of the Notifications page for Coming up: visits booked after their due date. It lists late visits more than 14 days ahead, with the team member, for example "Due Thu 5 Nov, booked Tue 10 Nov (3 working days late), with Dan Whitfield". You have not been told about these yet.

What your customer sees#

Nothing from the notice. It is for you only. The visit is booked like any other: when it is confirmed, the customer is emailed the day and the morning or the afternoon, never a clock time. They are not told it is later than usual. If you move a confirmed visit, you choose whether to email them the new date.

What happens next#

You are told about each visit once. If the diary later books it on another day or with another team member, you are not told again.

A visit booked late more than 14 days ahead waits on the list at the foot of the Notifications page, and is told when it comes within 14 days. The list always shows the diary's latest plan, so a visit that finds room nearer its due date drops off it.

If the same half month is short again after its shortage notice, the next notice says it still looks full, for example "Early October still looks full. 2 more visits could not be placed near their due date."

Good to know#

The notice is A visit is placed after its due date, in Settings under Notifications, in the Diary group. It is on for a new account. Untick In app, Email or Push to stop it reaching you that way.
A due date on a day your business, or that team member, does not work counts from the next working day, so a visit booked on that day is never late.
Days late are counted in working days, the days your business works.
Only regular service visits are told. A one-off job is never in these notices.
In self mode ("I place visits myself") the diary places nothing, so these notices never come. A due visit you have not placed waits on Waiting to be scheduled.
A visit that cannot fit even in the 7 days after its window goes on Waiting to be scheduled as Not fitted, and you are told at once.