Setting up support hours

In the Customization > General > Support Hours section you define and maintain the Service Desk support schedule. Support hours define working days and hours, as well as holidays and exceptions such as overtime or other non-standard working periods. Alloy Navigator Express supports one weekly schedule for support hours.

Alloy Navigator Express uses specified support hours in the Calendar view, which is available in the Service Desk module of the Desktop App. In Workflow Management, you can use support hours in Ticket Prioritization business policies to re-schedule the Ticket in accordance to its priority.

A typical schedule is Monday through Friday, 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM, but you can customize support hours to match your organization’s actual working calendar.

Each technician may also have personal calendar events (such as vacations or absences) that affect their work availability. These events are created in the Desktop App, and their categories can be configured in the Settings App.

Customizing your working week

The Customization > General > Support Hours > Working Week section defines the working hours for each day of the week and specifies the days off. You can modify these settings as needed.

To specify working hours:

• Under Working Week, review the default hours for each day of the week. If you want to change the hours for a day, double-click that day to bring up the Working Hours window. Modify the working hours as follows:

• To define a working hours configuration, click Working Day and specify the working hours in the From and To fields.

• To define a day off, click Day Off.

Repeat this step to change hours for the other days as needed.

Defining holidays and exceptions

The Customization > General > Support Hours > Holidays section allows you to define the list of holidays and exceptions, such as early dismissals, emergency shifts, and other non-standard working and non-working hours. Alloy Navigator Express applies this list to the defined support hours.

To add a holiday or exception:

• In the Holidays section, add one of the following exceptions:

• To add a holiday:

  1. Click Add > Holiday. The Holiday window opens.

  2. Type in the holiday name.

  3. Depending on the holiday type, click one of three available options and specify the date as follows:

  • Annual - A holiday that occurs on the same date every year. For example, Independence Day in the USA, which is annually celebrated on July 4.
    
    In the Day field, enter the day of month and select the month from the drop-down list.
    
    For example: Day 4 of July.

  • Floating date - A floating-date holiday that occurs on a fixed day of the week and repeats every year. For example, Labor Day in the USA and Canada, which occurs every year on the first Monday of September.
    
    Select the week of the month, the week day, and the month from the drop-down lists.
    
    For example: The First Monday of September.

  • Fixed Date - A holiday that occurs on a fixed day of the year and does not necessary repeats every year. For example, a one-time event such as a company anniversary or the Employees Day that occurs every year on a different date.
    
    Click the down arrow in the Date field to bring up the calendar and select a date.

  5. Click OK.

• To add a working weekend on a non-standard day off:

  1. Click Add > Working Day. The Working Day window opens.

  2. Enter a name for the non-standard working day or day off.

  3. In the Date field, click the down arrow to bring up the calendar and select the date.

  4. From the Hours drop-down list, select one of seven configurations specified in the Working Week section just above the Holidays section.

• To add a custom time interval such as overtime or partial working day:

  1. Click Add > Custom Hours. The Custom Hours window opens.

  2. Enter a name for the custom hours.

  3. Select their start date and time and the end date and time. Your custom time interval may be one-day event such as a partial day or overtime or may last for several days such as a company vacation.

  4. By default, custom hours define non-working time. If your custom hours define non-standard working time such as overtime, select the Is Work Time check box.

  5. Click OK.

To modify a holiday or exception definition:

1. Double-click a holiday or exception to modify.

2. Change the details as needed.

3. Click OK.

To delete a holiday or exception:

• Select the holiday or exception and click Delete.