Inviting an assistant installer#

The primary installer invites assistants onto a task when an extra pair of hands is needed at the site. This is an organic social flow: foreman doesn’t need to micro-manage, installers arrange amongst themselves and work agile.

Invitation from the PWA (installer side)#

  1. Primary installer opens the task in the PWA.
  2. Top of the task: “Request help” button.
  3. Pick another installer from the list.
  4. The task sends a push notification to the selected installer.

Accepting the invitation (assistant side)#

The assistant sees:

  • Push notification on their phone (“Help requested: Kalle / FO023”).
  • In their “Invitations” list in the PWA.

Tapping shows the task details + location + estimated duration. They can:

  • Accept → task moves to their task list, their hours automatically log against the primary’s task.
  • Reject → primary gets notified, can invite someone else.

What the foreman sees#

In Planning Calendar the assistant appears on their own row on the same task (orange thin line below the primary’s strong bar). Visual distinction is a 197.5 improvement.

In the foreman view, the Help Requests panel (overlay) shows all open invitations → you can intervene if no one’s responding.

Drag-drop rules#

When the foreman drags a task in the planning calendar, assistant participation updates automatically:

  • Changing the primary → old primary remains as assistant (if you want to preserve).
  • Moving the task to another day → all rows (primary + assistants) move together.
  • A day change that an assistant can’t accommodate → flagged in red.

(Earlier the rules were more complex and confusing. The 197.5 fix simplified: drag-drop no longer touches assistants automatically, only those you explicitly move.)

Hours logging#

  • Primary’s hours and assistant’s hours are recorded separately but linked to the same task.
  • Monthly / weekly totals show separately in each one’s hours view.
  • Invoicing uses the combined total.

Troubleshooting#

Assistant invitation list is empty
- **Does the candidate have installer rights?** (`fieldservice.group_fsm_team`) - **Do they have an `fsm.person` row?** Field Service → Workers. - **Do they have an `elt_user_id` link to a user?** This is ELT-specific, needed for PWA identification. (200.7+)
Assistant says they don’t see the invitation
- **Push notifications on?** Check their PWA Settings. - **The "Invitations" list in the PWA** shows all open invitations, even if push didn't arrive. - If their list is empty but you sent it → check on the Odoo side whether the task has an invitation row. Ask the office.
Assistant’s hours not logging
The assistant has to **accept the invitation first**. If they're working but didn't accept, their hours go to their own list without a task link. Ask the office to fix as needed.