In this month’s update:
- Planner Board V3 is live. It’s already in your system: to experience it, simply activate it.
- Smarter control for managers. Group, filter, and plan by skills, zones, or departments; new views and real-time updates across Android/iOS.
- Streamlined admin tasks. Bulk-edit service orders, customize tiles, print reports directly, and enjoy automatic real-time syncing with NetSuite.
- Simpler service order handling. Set recurring or provisional service orders, create internal jobs directly, and avoid double-bookings.
- Easier setup & faster performance. Auto-configuration, improved speed, and familiar tools like maps and heatmaps retained. Your service department’s days are probably brimming with service orders, assigning technicians, and keeping maintenance schedules on track—a lot of it through Shepherd’s Planner Board.
There have been a few things changing in the system recently, thanks to Shepherd’s new release, full of updates and improvements. What you may not know is that release includes Version 3 of the Planner Board, and all that’s needed is for your administrator to activate it, giving your service team a host of new benefits to make their job easier, faster, and more productive. And that means more profit.
Read on, or check out these introductory slides:
More control for service managers
You now get smarter ways to plan, edit, and oversee work. Group your CSOs or Technicians based on whatever matters to you—service zones, skills, departments—you name it, you can set it.
And Shepherd’s full compatibility with both Android and iOS tablets means your technicians can head out with whichever device suits your needs best and view their schedules, updated in real-time based on your inputs.
Use the new Service Order Planner to see what needs doing before deciding who to assign. Or try the All Technician Month view and stop toggling between weeks.
At the technician level, Shepherd’s Resource Plan function will show you crucial details (skills, zones, tools, vehicles, etc.) without opening individual technician records. You’ll know what you can work with faster and more easily.
Admin tasks just got slicker
Print service order reports directly from the Planner Board. Click any record name in a tile to open it—no more copying and pasting. You can also configure planner board tiles to add custom fields, change fonts and colours, or switch languages.
You can edit multiple service order fields in one go, without opening NetSuite—and not just the date, time, or technician—you choose what fields to see. Faster, tidier, no one missed.
With tighter push, the Planner Board is automatically up to date with service order status changes from both the Shepherd App and NetSuite, making real-time coordination easier by ditching info, once it’s outdated.
Simpler service order handling
Set recurring service orders and events without clicking through the calendar a dozen times. You can now also create internal service orders in the Planner Board, too, and not just the calendar: no more back-and-forth between the two.
Some service orders, on the other hand, aren’t yet set in stone, but losing a slot would be a pain. The answer is Shepherd’s provisional service order function, allowing you to pencil jobs in, pending final confirmation: delayed services and double-bookings—a thing of the past.
Meanwhile, all the functions that make the Planner Board a manager’s best friend remain untouched. As always, Shepherd functionality upgrades are user-led. We develop and share what customers have said they want.
Easier setup for your system administrator
Planner Board now auto-configures itself during installation if it’s not already set up. Less fiddling, more doing if you just want to get it up and running, or if your administrator has a full schedule.
Get far faster performance and only aspects improved, meaning popular tools like the map and heatmap functions will be right where you left them.
Perhaps your next call should be to your system administrator to activate the new V3 of the Planner Board and all its benefits.
