How to create and optimize an intervention schedule?

The development of intervention schedules is a real challenge. In fact, it is often undermined by delays in the delivery of materials, weather hazards or coordination problems. Poor organization leads to reduced productivity and customer dissatisfaction. Here are tips for creating and optimizing construction site schedules.

How do I create an intervention schedule?

Creating an efficient intervention schedule makes it possible to optimize the use of time and resources.

There are several methods for creating an intervention schedule:

Per day, then per employee

This technique consists in first distributing the unassigned interventions over each day of the week, from Monday to Friday. Then, each daily task is divided among available employees, taking into account their weekly workload and travel times.

• Advantages: effective if the tasks are similar and the employees have equivalent skills. Enables a balanced distribution of workloads.
• Disadvantages: requires a good knowledge of the abilities of each employee. May be less flexible in case of last-minute changes.

Per employee, per day

Each employee first receives assignments for one week, scheduled not to exceed 35 hours. They are then organized by day, grouping missions by geographical area to optimize travel.

• Advantages: is well suited when employees have specific skills. Allows you to optimize trips.
• Disadvantages: may require frequent adjustments. Requires a good knowledge of the skills of each employee.

By geographic area

Allocating a specific geographic area to each employee reduces travel and improves efficiency. The employee becomes more familiar with the sector.

• Advantages: reduction in travel. Improving productivity through familiarity with the sector.
• Disadvantages: less flexible in the event of an unexpected absence. May limit employee versatility.

Depending on the availability of equipment

Planning is based on the availability of equipment. This option is required when the company has a limited number of tools.

• Advantages: optimizes the use of available resources. Allows you to optimize the efficiency of expensive equipment.
• Disadvantages: may restrict the flexibility of schedules. Requires precise management.

Based on priorities

Interventions are prioritized according to the urgency or importance of the customers. This ensures that critical missions are addressed first.

• Advantages: ensures that critical tasks are prioritized, which contributes to the satisfaction of the most important customers.
• Disadvantages: may delay less urgent interventions. Requires a constant assessment of priorities.

How to optimize an intervention schedule?

For an intervention schedule to be effective, it must be flexible, clear and well-structured. Here are some tips.

Maintain flexibility

Leave empty spaces in the weekly schedule to manage unexpected events or prolonged interventions. This margin of manoeuvre is especially important in the event of an unexpected absence. It allows work to be redistributed to the team without disrupting the entire schedule.

Make a visually clear schedule

Use color codes to differentiate the types of intervention. This simplifies the recognition of tasks and their urgency. This helps to anticipate equipment needs each morning and makes it possible to identify unfinished or urgent interventions.

Linking comments to interventions

Add comments or notes to planned interventions to specify contexts or to give specific instructions. This could be details about customer preferences, specific site conditions, or reminders for technicians. This arrangement improves efficiency and communication.

Manage views per day, per week etc...

Give it possibility to navigate between different views of the schedule — daily, weekly, monthly and annual. Each view serves a specific purpose:

• The daily view helps to monitor progress in real time,
• The weekly view is useful for balancing the distribution of work,
• The monthly view offers a wider perspective on current projects,
• The annual view helps with long-term planning and performance analysis.

The various tools to create intervention schedules

Creating an intervention schedule involves choosing the tool adapted to the needs of the organization and the complexity of the tasks to be managed.

By hand

Creating schedules by hand is like using the traditional method. They are often made using chalkboards or large wall calendars. This approach is appreciated for its simplicity and ease of modification.

However, this method has significant disadvantages, especially in terms information sharing and the risk of error or data loss. It may be viable for very small teams or simple operations, but is not recommended for managing complex interventions or multiple teams.

On Excel table

Excel is a practical tool for developing intervention schedules. Excel spreadsheets make it easy data manipulation, the use of formulas for automatic calculations and Adjusting the schedule according to specific needs. They also allow you to create visualizations, such as charts or calendars.

Excel has advantages, but also Boundaries, especially for real-time collaboration and change tracking. More advanced planning solutions seem necessary for businesses that require cooperation between several collaborators.

Create optimized intervention schedules with Alobees

Alobees is a site management application that integrates an easy to use digital planning. Available on mobiles, tablets and PCs, it allows employees, whether on the construction site or in the office, toaccess a schedule that is always up to date. Changes and new tasks are immediately notified by notifications. They allow the whole team to stay informed of changes in real time and to the works manager of react quickly in case of problems.

Benefits of using Alobees for schedules

• Visualization: Alobees allows you to see the schedules in several formats (weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual). It helps organize projects for the long term.
• Organization: employees have a clear view of their week and the tasks to be completed. This allows them to better manage their agenda and improve their productivity.
• Interactivity: It is possible to add notes to interventions. They are immediately visible to employees from their mobile phones.
• Communication: Real-time notes ensure that important information is instantly transmitted to teams in the field. This reinforces the collaboration between the design office and the construction sites.
• Coordination: Real-time updates improve the synchronization of activities on the construction site. They ensure effective coordination and allow all members of the team to work on common goals.

The advantages of an optimized intervention schedule

Optimizing an intervention schedule has many advantages for construction companies.

Reduce costs

Optimized planning reduces operational costs and increases profitability of construction sites. For example:

• Optimization of trips: planning interventions based on geographic proximity reduces travel times. This reduces fuel and vehicle maintenance expenses.
• Efficient use of time: Minimizing periods of inactivity allows more tasks to be completed with fewer resources.

Increase productivity

A well-designed schedule increases the profitability of the business.

Distribution of work: a carefully developed schedule ensures an equitable distribution of the workload and eliminates downtime. This allows technicians to perform more interventions in less time.

Preparation: Ensuring that technicians have all the information they need in advance improves efficiency on every job site.

Improving customer satisfaction

Optimized planning increases customer satisfaction.

Punctuality and reliability: Respecting schedules and commitments reinforces customer trust and the credibility of the company.

Quality of service: with more time and less pressure, technicians can better listen and respond to the needs of the project owner. In this way, they improve the customer experience.

Optimizing intervention schedules is not limited to better internal management. It also contributes to reduce costs, increase productivity, and improve customer satisfaction. It thus promotes the overall success of the company.