Parents and sub-jobs in route workstreams

Some route work comes as one piece with several parts. A blockage can have eight routes under it, each dug, reinstated and billed on its own. In a route workstream, the blockage is a parent and each route is a sub-job.

A sub-job is an ordinary job. It has its own status, fields, files, updates and evidence. It goes on a route like any other job, and it's measured and billed on its own. A parent holds what its sub-jobs share, such as the client, the site and its own documents, and never any work of its own: nobody is scheduled on a parent, and it's never measured, invoiced or paid.

Jobs in standard workstreams, and route jobs without a parent, work just as they did.

Making a parent

In a route workstream, choose Add job and switch on Parent (holds sub-jobs). A parent has no status of its own, so the form doesn't ask for one.

To turn a route job you already have into a parent, open it and choose Make parent from its ⋮ menu. Maliru won't do this once the job has work of its own, such as a scheduled visit, time or a measure. Put that work on a sub-job instead, or add a new parent. A parent with no sub-jobs goes back to being a job with Make it a job.

Adding sub-jobs

• In the Jobs table: open a parent with its arrow, choose + Add sub-job below its sub-jobs, type a title and press Enter. The field stays open for the next one; Esc closes it.
• From jobs you already have: select them and choose Move to parent…, then pick the parent. Make standalone takes sub-jobs out again. Nothing is lost either way: the job keeps its fields, history, visits and measures.
• By import: map your sheet's parent column to Parent. Each row becomes a sub-job under the parent it names, and any parent that doesn't exist yet is created. A column called Parent, Parent job or Parent ID is picked up by itself. See Creating and importing jobs.

A new sub-job starts with its parent's client, contract, site or address and Route value, so they aren't typed again. Changing the parent later doesn't change sub-jobs it already has.

A sub-job stays in its parent's workstream, and a parent can't sit under another parent.

Reading a parent

In the Jobs table a parent shows how many of its sub-jobs are done, such as 3/8, a bar of their statuses, and how far they've got with billing, such as 2 of 8 invoiced, 3 ready. Hover over a colour to see which sub-jobs it covers. A parent's status comes from its sub-jobs: it's in progress once any of them has started, and done once every one is done or cancelled.

Searching finds sub-jobs too, and shows each one under its parent.

Open a sub-job and its parent's name sits above the title: click it to open the parent. A parent's record has a Sub-jobs tab in place of Visits, listing each sub-job with its status, crew and billing.

Fields on parents and sub-jobs

Each field can show on parents, on sub-jobs or on both. Choose with Shows on when you add a field, or later with Edit column. A project area or a postcode might show on parents only, and a dig report or a value on sub-jobs only.

Scheduling

On the route board, sub-jobs are listed under their parent. Tick the parent to take every sub-job that isn't done and isn't already on a route, or open it and tick sub-jobs one by one. A sub-job that's already on a route says who has it and when, and you can still tick it by hand. When the office plans the stop order, a parent's sub-jobs at one place are one stop, driven to once.

One route can hold sub-jobs of several parents and standalone jobs together, and one parent's sub-jobs can go to different crews on different days. Select by route still picks jobs by their Route value. See Allocating routes to a worker or crew.

On the phone

A route lists its sub-jobs under their parent's name. Tap the parent to read its details and files; nothing can be changed on it from the phone. A sub-job's own record links to its parent too. Both are downloaded with the day ahead, so they open with no signal.

Billing

Measure each sub-job as it's done, and bill it without waiting for the rest of the parent. To bill part of a sub-job, measure part of it now and the rest later.

In Commercial › Measures, choose Select, then Select by parent to tick every measure that's ready to invoice across a parent's sub-jobs. Invoices and payment applications name each sub-job with its parent, such as B076516 › Dig Report.

Contractor pay works per sub-job, the way it works per route job.