Enter the date on which the job is to begin. Type the date, or click the down-arrow and select the date from the drop-down calendar.

This option allows you to configure the Scheduling function in Smart Contractor to be oriented more towards either a General Contractor construction business, or a Subcontractor construction business.

A job for a GC construction business will typically consist of many work items that must be scheduled separately, in a particular sequence. GC construction contracting businesses typically do fewer jobs in a given period of time, and each job lasts a fairly long time. In this case, you should select the option to Schedule This Job... Based On Individual Job Items.

On the other hand, subcontractor businesses are more like a "service" business, which will do many more jobs in a period of time, and each job will be relatively short. Some subcontractors are not concerned with scheduling multiple work items separately within each job, and only want to schedule a job as one schedule item. Subcontractors may not be concerned with the sequence of work items within jobs, and only concerned with the sequence of one job to the next. In that case, you should select the option to Schedule This Job... As A Single Work Item.

If you select the option to Schedule This Job... As A Single Work Item, you will be prompted to enter a Job Phase, Job Duration Days, and Schedule Resources that will be used in scheduling the job as a single schedule item.

Enter the number of work days for which to schedule this job.

Select the schedule resources to be assigned to all items in this job when this job is scheduled as a single schedule item.

Select the Job Phase to be assigned to all work items in the job so that the job will be scheduled as a single schedule item.

The schedule model defines the duration and sequence of job activities.

Smart Contractor comes with a couple of schedule models pre-defined, but you can modify these, or create new ones using the Schedule Model entry form.

Each job can use a different schedule model. If you don't want to use CPM Scheduling for a particular job, select the "Not CPM Scheduling" option.

See CPM Scheduling for more information.

This prompt allows you to set the number of days (in the future) to display on the schedule grid in the Edit Schedule form.

This prompt allows you to select the method that the program uses to calculate the number of days to schedule items in a job phase. There are two options:

• Manually. The program will schedule items based on the duration(s) you have specified in the Edit Estimate form, or in the Edit Schedule form.
• Automatically. The program will schedule items based on the total number of hours you have estimated for all work items in a job phase. The program will assume that the work for each of the items in the job phase will be done sequentially (one after the other), not at the same time.

For example, if the job has 5 work items in the "Demolition" job phase, and each item is estimated to take 2 hours, but each item is scheduled for 1 day duration, if you select the option to Schedule Item Duration Manually, then the program will schedule all of the Demolition work items on the same day, as though they will be performed at the same time.

But, if you select the option to Schedule Item Duration Automatically, the program will add up all of the estimated labor hours for the 5 items (10 hours) and divide that by the number of work hours per day (entered in the Job Options form) to determine the number of days to schedule for all of the items in the Demolition job phase. If you have set the number of work hours per day to 7, then the program would schedule 2 work days for the 5 items in the Demolition job phase: 7 hours on the first day, and 3 hours on the second day.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When you set this option to Manually, then you can set the scheduled duration for each item (either in the Edit Estimate form, or in the Edit Schedule form). But when you set this option to Automatically, then you cannot set the scheduled duration because the program sets it automatically based on the number of estimated labor hours. To change the scheduled duration for a job item, you must change the number of estimated labor hours.

Enter the number of hours of work employees are able to complete each day on this job for scheduling purposes.

When you estimate labor hours for a job item, Smart Contractor calculates the number of days to schedule for that item based on the estimated hours, the number of employees assigned to it, and the "Schedule Work Hours Per Day" that you enter here.

For example, if an employee's clocked hours are from 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM, with a half hour for lunch, that equals 8 hours of work time. But if the employee spends an hour of that time doing things other than completing scheduled work (such as driving to the job site, breaks, unproductive time, etc.), then you should enter less than 8 hours.

This number is used to calculate how many days to schedule for the item in the job schedule.

The time of day at which to start scheduling work for the hourly labor schedule. The hourly labor schedule is made by arranging estimated labor items by their estimated time, in job phase sequence. You can view or print the hourly labor schedule by checking the "Hourly Labor Schedule" box in the Print Schedule Calendar menu option.

Click Reschedule Job to reschedule the job using the start date and schedule model selected. See CPM Scheduling for information on how the job schedule is created based on the start date and schedule model.

Click the Cancel to abort changes and leave the schedule as it is.