A Scheduling Framework

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As is the case with many of my bases, this originated as the answer to a question on Airtable Community and was first published in the 'Show and Tell' section of that forum. However, the base is more than just a demonstration of scheduling routines: It also functions as a standalone app for template-driven scheduling of recurring and one-off tasks.

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A detailed Users Guide is provided as a PDF attachment in the base's [Documentation] table, offering step-by-step instructions on building and instancing process templates, defining tasks, modifying them through drag-and-drop in a calendar view, and automating parts of the process through Zapier. There is also an animated GIF in [Documentation] that illustrates some features and actions.

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From the introduction to the Users Guide:

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> Process templates add additional power to Airtable’s already impressive calendaring support by allowing recurring activities to be defined as a series of interrelated tasks. Instances of these predefined processes can then be scheduled, with each component task assigned the appropriate date.

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> For instance, imagine you are responsible for publishing a monthly newsletter. For each issue, there are a number of tasks that have to be performed: Write the newsletter, proof the copy, find photos to illustrate the articles, get managerial sign-off on content, and the like. The steps are the same for each month, and each month the tasks fall on the same days in relation to the publication date: Sign-off 3 days before publication, layout completed 5 days before publication, and so on.

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> Using this framework, you would first create a ‘Publish Newsletter’ process template in the [Templates] table, with ‘Publish’ defined as the MasterTask and each process step – ‘Write’, ‘Proofread’, ‘Sign-off’, etc. – as Subtasks. Then, each month you would create new task in the scheduling table (‘June newsletter’, for instance) and assign it a [Task] type of ‘Publish’. This in turn causes the framework to generate and schedule each of the component Subtasks.

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> The framework uses Airtable Calendar views for adjusting and displaying finalized schedules. Calendars can contain a mixture of template-driven (‘Publish newsletter’) and ad hoc (‘Dentist appointment’) tasks and events. The framework allows for dates and date ranges to be configured as workday-only, automatically adjusting dates that fall on a weekend or holiday to the nearest preceding or following workday, as desired.

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> Both 1-Day and Multi-Day events and tasks are supported, with Multi-Day events configured by specifying either start and end dates or start date and duration in days or workdays. The framework allows both types of Multi-Day event to be adjusted using drag-and-drop in a Calendar view, even those configured using a duration – and, thus, having a calculated end date – which Airtable otherwise will not allow.

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> Finally, the framework leverages the power of Airtable’s Organization Chart Block to provide graphical representations of template and scheduling task hierarchies.

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Updated June 1, 2019 at 11:05 PM
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W. Vann Hall

Short version: Consultant, developer, and author with extensive data and telecommunications experience. | Long version: http://paladesigns.com/resume | Fun version: http://paladesigns.com/bio
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