As of the Pro 24.02 release, LMN lets you take advantage of two powerful new options when setting up a Task within any Job belonging to a 'NonProduction' Job Type:
- Allocated a Task Category of either 'Default' or 'Drive Time.' Choosing the Drive Time category unlocks the powerful functionality of Drive Time Shortcuts, which can be used to quickly find these tasks when looking at other jobs' cards within the LMN Crew mobile app.
- Regardless of category, any job may also now be set up with 'Quick Start/End' toggled on -- allowing your LMN Crew users to punch out of it without being prompted for details such as photos and notes.
Making effective use of both can make it much faster for your crews to start driving to the next job site, and to move on more quickly from unbillable tasks (such as staff training or material pickup) that do not necessarily require documentation from the field.
Since drive time tasks often fall into this category, let's set up a Drivetime task to make use of both Drive Time Shortcuts and Quick Start/End:
1. Set up the Task via 'Timesheet Tracking'
Start by navigating to your Job List and click into any job that belongs to a 'NonProduction' Job Type. (You may need to set one of these up if you haven't already -- check out our Job Types guide for details). Next, head to the Timesheet Tracking panel.
Here you'll see a list of the tasks currently associated with this Job. Click on an existing Drive Time tasks to edit it, or click the '+ Task' button at top right, to bring up the Edit Punch-In Task view.
Since you want your LMN Crew users to be able to punch into this task via a Drive Time Shortcut, and to punch out of it without being prompted for photos and notes, make sure that:
- The Task Category is set to 'Drive Time'
- The 'Enable Quick Start/End for this Task' toggle is checked on
When you're finished, it should look similar to this:
2. Enable Drive Time Shortcuts for the Job Types of Your Choice
Next, you need to figure out which Jobs you want the Drive Time Shortcut to display for within LMN Crew. This is determined at the Job Type level. To enable Drive Time Shortcuts for a Job Type, head over to the Job Types settings screen, open up a Job Type, and use the 'Drive Time Shortcut' dropdown to select 'Yes':
From the Job Type list, you can check the 'Drive Time Shortcut' column, which will show a checkmark beside those Job Types that have this dropdown set to 'Yes':
If a Job Type has Drive Time Shortcut enabled, each job belonging to that Type will appear in the Crew app with a play icon that can be used to punch into a Drive Time-categorized task, belonging to a different (unbillable) job.
3) Run a Test using the Crew App
Open up the Crew app and bring up a Job that belongs to one of the Job Types that we enabled 'Drive Time Shortcut' for in step 2. At the top of the Job's card, you should see a play icon beside a 'Drive Time' task, showing the short name of the NonProduction Job that that task belongs to. Tapping that play icon will bring up a punch-in view that will allow you to, optionally, open up directions to this Job's associated jobsite in your phone's default Map application:
If everything was set up correctly, you will also be able to punch out of this task without being prompted for notes, photos or other details.
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