FieldKo allows organisations to plan and manage recurring visits so that important customer sites are visited on a regular schedule. Instead of scheduling each visit one by one, you can set up a recurring pattern (e.g. a visit every 4 weeks) and FieldKo will handle the scheduling logic. This ensures your field team maintains a consistent call cycle and no location is missed. Both the desktop planning interface and the mobile app support recurring visits, giving managers and reps clear visibility into upcoming repeat visits.
Configuring Recurring Visit Patterns
To set up a recurring visit, you’ll use FieldKo’s Visit Calendar on the desktop (Lightning app). The Visit Calendar supports flexible recurrence options when creating a new visit. Follow these steps to configure a recurring pattern for a visit:
Open the Visit Calendar (Desktop): Navigate to the Visits or Calendar tab in FieldKo (on Salesforce desktop). Click on the date you want the first visit to occur, then click New Visit (or a similar button to create a visit).
Enter Visit Details: In the new visit form, fill in the details such as the Account (site or customer to visit), the planned Date and Time of the first visit, and assign the User (field representative) who will conduct the visits.
Enable Recurrence: Look for a Recurring Visit or Repeat option on the form. Tick the checkbox or select an option to make this visit recurring. This will reveal scheduling settings for the recurrence.
Set the Recurrence Pattern: Choose the frequency and pattern for repetition. For example, select Weekly and enter “Every 4 weeks” to schedule the visit every four weeks. You can typically choose patterns like daily, weekly, monthly, or a custom interval (e.g. every X weeks). Specify additional details if required, such as which day of the week the visit should repeat (for weekly patterns) or a specific week of month for monthly patterns.
Define Start and End (or Number of Occurrences): Set when the recurrence starts (default is the date of the first visit you chose) and an end condition. You may enter an End Date (after which no further visits are generated) or a number of occurrences (e.g. repeat 10 times). If no end date is set, be sure to have a process to review open-ended recurrences so they remain up to date.
Save the Recurring Visit Series: Save the visit. FieldKo will create the series of visits according to the pattern. For instance, if you set a visit for 1st March and repeat every 4 weeks on Monday with an end date in December, it will generate visits on the calendar every four weeks from March through December.
After saving, you should see multiple visit records – one for each occurrence in the series – on the calendar and in the visit list. Each generated visit will carry the same details (Account, assigned User, tasks/templates if applied) as the original, only differing by date/time. FieldKo’s recurring visit options can be configured directly during visit creation, making it easy to plan out a call cycle in one go.
Example: If a store needs a routine check-in every 4 weeks, create the first visit for the upcoming week and set it to recur every 4 weeks on the chosen weekday. FieldKo will automatically create subsequent visits 4 weeks apart. This saves planners from manually creating each future visit and helps ensure the store is visited regularly.
Assigning Recurring Visits to Users
When configuring a recurring visit, you assign it to a user just as you would a normal visit. The Assigned To (Owner) field on the visit will typically determine who is responsible for each occurrence. All visits in the series will initially be assigned to the selected user by default.
If you are a manager planning visits for your team, be sure to select the appropriate field rep for the recurring series. For example, if John Doe is the sales rep for a region, you might schedule a recurring visit to each key account in his region and assign those to John. John will then see all these visits on his schedule.
It’s also possible to create multiple recurring schedules for different users or different purposes. FieldKo supports multiple call cycles, meaning each user can have their own set of recurring visits based on their territory or role. Make sure to stagger or coordinate these cycles so that no user is double-booked. If a user changes (for example, a territory is reassigned to a new rep), an administrator can update the owner on the upcoming visit records or adjust the recurrence settings as needed.
Tip: Communicate with your field team about any new recurring visits assigned to them. When you save a recurring series, the assigned user may receive notifications for each visit (depending on org settings). It’s good practice to let the rep know that a sequence of visits has been scheduled for them. They can then plan ahead and prepare for those visits.
Viewing Recurring Visits on Desktop and Mobile
On Desktop (Planner View): Recurring visits appear in the FieldKo Visit Calendar just like individual visits, but often with an icon or indicator showing they are part of a series. In calendar view, you might see the visit title repeated on each relevant date. Clicking on a recurring visit may show details including the recurrence pattern. Planners and admins can edit or cancel individual occurrences if needed (for example, if one specific date no longer works, you can adjust that single visit without canceling the whole series). You can also edit the series as a whole from desktop by adjusting the master visit’s recurrence settings.
On Mobile (Field User View): For the field rep using the FieldKo mobile app, each recurring visit simply shows up as a separate scheduled visit in their list or calendar on the app. The mobile user will see the visit on the specified date with its tasks and details, but may not explicitly see that it was created via a recurrence (it looks like any other visit). This is intentional, so the rep focuses on executing the visit. However, because the visits are pre-planned, the user will notice that future visits are already in their schedule. They can tap on any upcoming visit to view details (account name, due date/time, tasks to complete, etc.).
Mobile users cannot typically create or modify recurring patterns from the app – that scheduling logic is handled on desktop by planners. But they can interact with each occurrence: complete the visit’s checklist, enter survey responses, and mark it done as usual. If a visit is rescheduled on desktop, the update will sync to mobile. FieldKo’s offline capabilities ensure that even if several recurring visits are pre-scheduled, the data (tasks, forms) for those future visits can be synced to the device in advance. This way, a rep working offline for a week will still see their upcoming recurring visits and be able to complete them.
Tracking Execution of Recurring Visits
Once recurring visits are scheduled, it’s important to track their execution to ensure your team adheres to the plan. FieldKo provides tools on Salesforce to monitor planned vs. actual visits over a call cycle:
Visit Status and Completion: Just like any visit, each recurring visit will have a status (e.g. Scheduled, Completed, Missed, Cancelled). Field reps should mark visits as completed in the mobile app (or the system does so automatically when all tasks/surveys are done). Managers can run a report or view a dashboard to see which visits have been completed and which are still open or overdue. This helps identify if any scheduled recurring visit was missed. For example, if a monthly visit was scheduled and the rep didn’t complete it, it might show as Open past its date, indicating a missed visit that needs follow-up.
Call Cycle Dashboard: Many FieldKo customers use a “Call Cycle” dashboard or report which compares Planned Visits vs. Actual Visits in a given period. This often highlights recurring visit compliance. You might see metrics such as the percentage of recurring visits completed on time within the cycle, or a list of accounts without planned visits (to catch any gaps in scheduling). Reviewing these metrics every week or month will ensure your recurring schedules are on track.
Reports on Recurrence: Because recurring visits are just visit records, you can leverage standard Salesforce reporting. For example, create a report filtered to show only visits that were part of a recurring series (you might tag them via a field or simply filter by date patterns or naming conventions if used). Include fields like Account, Planned Date, Completed Date, Status, and Assigned To. This can be grouped by Account or Owner to see how each team member is doing with their recurring visits.
Exceptions and Reschedules: Tracking execution also means handling changes. If a particular occurrence can’t happen (store was closed, rep on leave), ensure it’s either rescheduled or skipped with proper documentation. FieldKo will not automatically adjust an entire series if one visit is missed, so the onus is on the team to manage exceptions. You can edit individual visits to new dates if needed (the rest of the series remains intact). Regularly auditing the list of upcoming recurring visits can catch any that need rescheduling.
By actively monitoring these elements, managers can maintain a high adherence to the planned recurring visits. The goal is to ensure that every account that is supposed to be visited on a recurring basis is visited as scheduled. If the data shows a drop in completion rates, you can investigate and take corrective action (e.g. retraining reps on the importance of those visits, or adjusting the frequency if it’s not feasible).
Advanced Use Cases for Recurring Visits
Recurring visits in FieldKo can be extended and customised through Salesforce’s powerful automation and reporting capabilities. Here are some advanced use cases and tips:
Automating Recurrence with Salesforce Flow: FieldKo is built natively on Salesforce, which means you can use Salesforce Flow to automate complex scheduling scenarios. For instance, if you have a custom field on Account like “Visit Frequency” (e.g. weekly, monthly, quarterly), you could build a Flow that automatically creates Visit records on a schedule based on that frequency. One approach is a Scheduled Flow that runs nightly or weekly: it would find accounts due for a visit (e.g. “Last Visit Date” is more than X days ago) and then create a new visit record for those accounts. You can even have the flow assign the visit to the appropriate owner and apply a template of tasks (using the template features discussed later). This way, recurring visits happen “rolling” based on last completion – useful if you prefer to schedule the next visit only after the previous one is done. Salesforce Flow can also update related records (like writing the next planned date back to the Account) to help with reporting. This no-code/low-code approach leverages FieldKo data and Salesforce automation together for a tailored recurring visit engine.
Custom Apex or Batch Jobs: If your requirements are very complex (for example, generating a year’s worth of visits in advance for thousands of sites, or integrating with an external calendar), a developer can implement an Apex batch or scheduled job. FieldKo’s data model can be accessed via Apex, so a batch job could read a “Recurring Schedule” custom object or simply a set of rules and then create Visit records in bulk. This might be used when you import a list of planned visits from another system or when you want to regenerate schedules periodically. Custom logic can also handle scenarios like skipping holidays, varying frequency by season, or sending email reminders for upcoming visits. These approaches require Salesforce development skills, but they extend FieldKo beyond its out-of-the-box scheduling if needed.
Recurring Visit Adherence Reporting: Advanced reporting can be built to measure adherence to recurring visit plans. For example, you might create a Custom Report Type that ties Accounts with their visits, allowing you to show each Account alongside the date of its last visit and the number of visits in the past 90 days. Then add a formula field on Account for “Expected Visit Frequency” (like every 30 days) and use a formula to flag if the account has been visited within that window. This kind of report quickly highlights which accounts are falling outside their recurring schedule. Additionally, you can build Salesforce Dashboards that show KPIs like “% of Monthly Visits Completed” or “Number of Overdue Recurring Visits”. FieldKo leverages standard Salesforce reports/dashboards. The key is to use the data from the scheduled visits to ensure your team is meeting their call cycle targets.
Integration with Field Service (Optional): Some organisations might also use Salesforce Field Service alongside FieldKo. If so, note that Salesforce Field Service offers a Recurring Appointments API which can handle complex patterns for service appointments. While FieldKo’s recurring visits are typically managed within FieldKo’s own objects and UI, very advanced users could integrate or draw inspiration from Field Service for features like optimizing routes for recurring visits or using the global Apex method for scheduling. This is an edge case, but it highlights that FieldKo being on Salesforce makes it flexible to integrate with other scheduling tools if required.
By applying these advanced techniques, you ensure that FieldKo’s recurring visits feature not only automates your call cycle but also scales with your business needs. Whether you choose a point-and-click approach with Flow or a programmed approach with Apex, FieldKo supports maintaining a robust recurring visitation program. Always thoroughly test any custom automation in a sandbox to verify that visits are being created as expected (and not duplicated or missed) before deploying to production.