Property managers spend too much time playing phone tag scheduling maintenance. Harmony fixes that with flexible scheduling options built around how you, your vendors, and your occupants actually work.

It starts with the work request.

When an occupant requests work, they tell you how they want to handle access. They choose one of three options. That preference travels with the work order from the start.

• The vendor has permission to enter according to your policies.
• The vendor cannot enter without coordinating first.
• They want to coordinate access directly, with you and/or the vendor.

(Of course, there’s clear messaging that the agreement terms and regulations can override their selection. You already know the rules that apply based on your local laws and your agreements, and these are baked into your maintenance access/emergency access policies and procedures.)

The occupant’s selection is not the end, it is the starting point. But the end is right around the corner, closer than you think!

In this article, we won’t dive into all of your policies, terms, and regulations. We won’t even go as far as dealing with key logs and vendor key checkout, job logs, access codes, alarm codes, and all that stuff. That’s all built in to Harmony, and simple.

Here we’ll specifically cover your options for scheduling.

Four key dates drive every work order.

• The date reported, this is when the work request was received.
• The earliest date the work can be performed. If this is not set, it’s now.
• The latest date the work can be performed, when it must be complete. Sometimes this is determined by policy and regulation.
• The appointment date when the work will be performed.

Let’s talk more about this key date, the appointment, or start at date.

If you have an in-house team or a trusted vendor and you have authorization to enter, you set the date, issue the key or access code, and you’re done. But most situations call for a little more coordination. Here is what you can do:

• You can notify the occupant and let them pick any date and time within your window.
• You can notify the vendor and let them pick the date and time.
• You can have the vendor suggest up to three available times for the occupant to choose from.
• You can have the vendor click to send their scheduling link directly to the occupant, so they book through the vendor’s own app like Calendly, Acuity, or Cal.com.

You can mix and match any of these based on what the situation calls for. All of this is done without ever picking up the phone, or composing or replying to an email or text message.

To step back, you can still always schedule it and let the vendor accept or decline the work based on their availability – and reassign the work to another vendor if they decline. But often, it makes sense to be a little more flexible. For vendors who are trusted, it frequently makes sense for them to schedule themselves, within your parameters. For in-house maintenance, it often makes sense to let the occupant schedule.

All of it runs through Harmony’s built-in notifications, portals, and loginless options so every party stays informed with only as much involvement as you want. They function just like all your other CRM options in Harmony, using templates, emails, and text messages – all automated and totally configurable by you.

Every scheduled date shows up on your calendar, your maintenance reports, and the work order itself. Action boxes and alerts catch anything that stalls or slips, so every request moves forward and nothing sits unresolved.