Resources & tasks

One vehicle, two departures: the problem it solves

Running tours means juggling things that can only be in one place at a time: a minibus, a boat, a set of kayaks, a venue, a guide. A whiteboard or spreadsheet works until the day the same minibus is promised to the 08:00 city tour and the 07:30 airport transfer. Operations keeps every vehicle, boat, piece of equipment and venue as a resource and checks each assignment before it is made.

Resources have a type and, for vehicles and boats, a number of seats. You can mark days a resource is out of service for servicing or repairs. When you assign a resource to a departure, Tourtify checks it against every other departure it is on, its out-of-service days and the travel buffer it needs between trips.

Conflicts caught before the morning of the trip

Blocking conflicts stop an assignment with an explanation: the same guide, vehicle, boat or crew member on two departures whose times overlap, time off, out-of-service days, or less than the travel buffer between two trips. Multi-day trips count their whole length. Someone allowed to manage the schedule can override a blocking conflict with a reason, and the override is recorded.

Warnings are shown wherever people assign, without stopping them: more travellers than seats, more travellers than your guides can lead, a guide without a qualification the tour needs or one that lapses before the trip ends, booked languages that no assigned guide speaks, and supplier allotments that are overbooked or released. Every morning Tourtify scans ahead (60 days by default) and emails new conflicts to the people who manage the schedule, with a push notification.

For example, set a 30-minute travel buffer and a ratio of 12 travellers per guide. A 16-person walking tour with one guide shows a ratio warning, and a minibus due back at 12:00 cannot be assigned to a 12:15 departure until someone frees it or overrides with a reason.

Tasks that create themselves

Most departures need the same jobs done: confirm the hotel seven days before, send the crew list three days before, buy park permits the day before. Write these once per tour, or for every tour, as task templates with a time relative to the departure and, if you like, a person to do them. When a departure gets its first booking, its templates become tasks with due dates, and the assignee is told. Departures nobody has booked create no work.

One schedule, and calendars on everyone’s phone

The operations schedule shows every departure with its resources, guides (when the Tour guides plugin is on), open tasks and seat check, and lets you drag to reassign. Departures with bookings but no vehicle or boat are listed for the days ahead you choose, 14 by default.

Each team member and each vehicle can have a private calendar feed to subscribe to in Google Calendar, Apple Calendar or Outlook. The feed address is shown once and only a fingerprint of it is stored; issuing a new feed replaces the old one.

Setting up Resources & tasks

1. 1Add your resources. Create each vehicle, boat, piece of equipment and venue, with seats where it carries travellers.
2. 2Set the scheduling rules. Choose the travel buffer, travellers per guide and the qualifications every guide needs. Tours and vehicles can set their own.
3. 3Write task templates. For each tour, add the jobs that every departure needs and when they are due.
4. 4Assign resources to departures. Assign from the departure or drag on the schedule; conflicts and warnings show as you go.
5. 5Share calendar feeds. Issue a feed for each team member and vehicle and subscribe to it in their calendar app.