SCHEDULING

CALENDAR ROLLOVER & MANIPULATION

• At the end of the calendar year, IT will rollover branch calendars into a new "Temp" calendar. Events will be moved to the same day next year (i.e. 2nd Tuesday in September). 

• You will likely need to wait for districts to publish their calendar before you start manipulating your events. When start dates move forward or back, photo dates will need to be adjusted accordingly. For example, if a HS has picture day on the 1st day of school but decides to start 2 weeks earlier next year, their picture day will need to move 2 weeks earlier. 

• Some events may now fall on holidays or school closure days and will need to be moved.

• Add events for any new accounts. If there was no date scheduled on the new account form, assign a tentative date. 

• Make sure the number of units out each day is even and appropriate for the number of units available at your branch. 

  • The ultimate goal is to have the same number of cameras out each day of the week, with Monday being the lightest. 

  • Keep 1-2 cameras available each day for flexibility

• For weeks with max units out per day, try flattening the curve by moving a few schools up or back a week. Elementary schools can have original days as late as Halloween & still get remakes back in time for winter break. Small schools (private, special education, homeschool centers, etc) can be moved into the first few weeks of November. 

• If you've moved an original day, make sure that their retake day is still approximately 6 weeks later.

• Each day should have a calendar event reflecting how many units are out that day. Adjust the number of units to reflect any changes you've made.

SCHEDULING DATES

Once tentative dates are relatively set, it's time to confirm dates with the schools. 

• • Have a conversation with the branch manager....

    • to determine who is responsible for which dates. Some managers may want to schedule summer registration dates, leaving school-day picture days to the office manager. Others may prefer to handle high schools, etc. 

    • have them look each week over closely to see if there are any adjustments needed

  • Once your scheduling parameters have been set, you can begin emailing dates out using this template: 

Hello,

It’s that time of year again! We are now scheduling picture days for next school year. We have tentatively reserved the following dates for <SCHOOL>

Original picture day: 

Make-up picture day:

Retake picture day: 

These dates will be reserved for you until <DATE>.  Please call or reply via email to confirm before this date.   If I don't hear from you by then, the dates will no  

longer be guaranteed.  

• • Start with only a portion of the events per day, sending out a few weeks at a time. You want to keep room to move events if needed. 

  • Once you've emailed out a date you'll need a visual indication that it's been done; an asterisk in front of the event, or a different color

  • If a school replies that the date works....

    • open the event & move it to your confirmed calendar

    • change the job status in Salesforce to "Confirmed"

    • add the date to the job in Salesforce

  • If a school replies that the date does not work...

    • give them open dates that meet their requests (i.e. no Wednesdays, or must be a Thursday)

    • make sure they understand that you are actively scheduling and that dates are first come, first serve

    • if you can't find an open date immediately, you can create an event on their desired day "Lincoln ES wants this day". If someone moves, you can slide them in. 

  • Make sure to adjust your camera counts as you go, having an accurate at-a-glance will help with the inevitable date-change requests

LINKS