Installation planning is treacherous for beginners because it looks like service planning, just with longer jobs. In reality it is planned the other way round: you are not looking for a free person for a given day, but for the nearest day when the whole crew is free and the material is on site at the same time. Whoever overlooks this difference puts together a plan that falls apart in the first week.
- An installation is planned from the crew and the material, not from one technician's free day.
- A multi-day order must be one whole in the plan, otherwise it falls apart when moved.
- Assign the whole crew to the order, not just the crew leader.
- Correct the length estimate from your own completed installations, not from the quote.
- Start with one plan, not with timesheets. Timesheets add work before they take any away.
What is different about an installation compared to service
Three things, and each changes the way an appointment is found.
Length. A service job fits into a day and can be moved by a day. A three-day installation moves as a whole and bumps into what comes after it. One move therefore sets more orders in motion than with service.
The crew. Several people go out on an installation at once. The date is therefore not determined by the first free technician, but by the last member of the crew to become free. This is the most common source of a wrong promise to the customer.
Dependence on the delivery. Service needs a part; an installation needs the whole delivery and often the site to be ready too. The crew's nearest free date is therefore only one of two conditions, not the answer.
The difference can be summed up like this: with service you look for free time, with an installation you look for the overlap.
Six steps to start with
If the company has so far planned installations in its head or in a diary, this sequence works best:
- List the installations in progress, including how many days you think they will still take. Without this step you are planning into a void.
- Write them into one plan that both the office and the technicians can see. Two plans side by side are worse than one inaccurate one.
- Assign whole crews, not crew leaders. Every person must be visible as occupied on those days.
- Mark installations with a tag separately from service, so one can be filtered from the other.
- Note the delivery date on every installation and plan after it, not on it.
- After completion, record the actual number of days. This is the only way the estimates will improve over time.
Step six is skipped most often, and yet it is the one that makes steps one to five worth doing. Without recording the result, the estimates after a year of planning are no different from the estimates in the first week.
How to estimate the length of an installation
The estimate from the quote is a sales figure. It tends to be optimistic, because it does not count waiting on site, travel, or the day when you cannot get into the building.
A usable estimate comes from your own completed orders. The procedure is boring and it works: for every installation, write down how many days you planned and how many it actually took. After ten orders your typical difference becomes visible and the next estimates can be adjusted by it.
A second advantage is tied to the same records. When you can see on an order what was done on it and how long it took, the next similar order can be estimated from it rather than from impression. Orders and history keeps attachments, notes and the change log on the specific order, so you can come back to it even a year later.
The crew and the most common mistake in the plan
The most common beginner's mistake is to keep the installation only on the crew leader. It looks economical, and the plan shows clearly who is responsible for the order.
The consequence shows within a week. The rest of the crew looks free in the plan, so someone uses them for service visits. On Monday morning two people then go out to the installation instead of four, and the completion date moves without anyone having planned it.
In the planning board technicians are in rows and days in columns, so the assignment is entered for every member of the crew and all of them are visible as occupied on those days. The app warns about a clash on saving, which is exactly the situation where someone wants to take a person off an installation already under way.
What to avoid
| Mistake | What it causes | What to do instead |
|---|---|---|
| Installation entered as separate days | An orphaned day is left in the plan when it is moved | Keep it as one continuous whole |
| Only the crew leader assigned | The rest of the crew gets planned elsewhere | Assign every member |
| Date promised before the delivery is confirmed | The crew arrives at a site that is not ready | Plan after the delivery date |
| Service and installations in two plans | Capacity is counted twice | One plan over the same capacity |
| Length estimate taken from the quote | The plan moves every week | Estimate from your own completed orders |
| Zero buffer | A single delay sets the whole month in motion | Leave a free day between installations |
The last row is the hardest one to justify to yourself. A free day between installations looks like waste at the moment the plan is put together, and like a lifesaver at the moment the site is not ready.
Proposed and confirmed appointments
With installations this distinction is underestimated more than with service, because there are few appointments and they seem easy to keep track of. But an installation appointment blocks several people for several days, so one unconfirmed promise takes up more capacity than five service ones.
The appointment calendar distinguishes proposed and confirmed appointments, and a multi-day installation stays one continuous bar in it. In practice this means you can see which days are fully occupied and which of that is so far only an offer.
Without that distinction, one of two mistakes happens. Either the offered appointment is treated as certain and the crew has two installations in one week, or it is not recorded at all and in the meantime someone else takes those days.
From how many people it makes sense
From three. Two people who go out to installations together are essentially one capacity, and their plan fits in a diary.
From three, crews in varying line-ups appear, and with them the question of whom to take off an installation under way for an emergency without the rest of the week falling apart. It is precisely this decision that is made by guesswork without a plan that can be seen as a whole.
One could object that the installation manager has it in their head. They do, as long as they are reachable by phone. On the days when they are on site and not taking calls, the office has no way of finding out who is free on Thursday. Companies in service and installation are affected sooner than others, because with them one-day jobs and multi-day installations compete for the same people.
What this will not change
The installation will not get shorter. If the work takes four people three days, it will take three days even with a plan that is accurate to the day.
Nor will the delays the company does not cause disappear: a site that is not ready, a late delivery, a customer who will not let you into the building. The plan makes them visible sooner and shows what a move will break, but it does not remove them.
What goes away is counting capacity twice and finding out in the morning who is actually going where today.
Frequently asked questions
How does planning installations differ from planning service?
In length and in the number of people. A service job is short and usually one technician goes out on it; an installation takes days and a crew goes out on it. Service is planned by free time, an installation by the earliest day when the whole crew and the material are both free.
How do you estimate how many days an installation will take?
From your own completed orders, not from the quote. Record the planned and the actual number of days for every installation. After ten orders you will see your usual difference and can adjust the next estimates by it.
How do you plan a crew so that nobody is left free by mistake?
Assign all members of the crew to the order on the same days, not just the crew leader. When an installation is kept on one person only, the others look free in the plan and someone plans them elsewhere. It is only discovered in the morning on site.
Where should you start with installation planning if the company so far plans in its head?
Write the installations in progress, with their expected length, into one plan that both the office and the technicians can see. Only then add qualifications and material. Adding timesheets first is the most common reason a rollout stalls.
From how many people is it worth keeping installation planning somewhere other than a diary?
From three. Two people who go out together are essentially one capacity. From three, crews and rotation appear, so it stops being obvious who is free when and who can be taken off an installation without the rest of the week falling apart.
One-day jobs and multi-day installations on a single team capacity.
Technician planTechnicians in rows, days in columns across a continuous 35-day strip. Create a new appointment by dragging; the app warns you about conflicts.
Appointment calendarProposed and confirmed appointments are clearly distinguished. A multi-day installation is one continuous bar.
Orders and historyAttachments, internal notes and a record of every change in one place on the order.
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