# Trade-First Scheduling

Trade‑Based Scheduling arrives in VisiLean, letting planners assign tasks directly to trades such as Electrical, Plumbing, or Joinery. 

The feature is live on both web and mobile for all customers.

### **Why This Matters**

Large projects juggle hundreds of activities and rotating crews, and a single unowned task can halt progress. Default trade contacts lock in accountability, even when personnel change mid‑project.

### What's new?

Select a trade in the task editor and VisiLean automatically tags its designated contact while showing the trade name on the programme. Administrators can update trade‑user mappings in seconds, and dashboards now aggregate progress, risk, and safety data by trade.

### **How It Works**

To configure trades with auto-assigned users:

1. Go to the Settings.
2. Assign users next to each trade.

Once configured, the system will automatically assign the user when you appoint the trade next time.

**How It Helps**

* Planners spend less time scrolling through user lists.
* Site teams always know whom to call.
* Executives spot trade bottlenecks early through focused reports.

### **Example Use Cases**

1. A 2,000‑task tower build is scheduled in minutes by assigning trades rather than individuals.
2. When the electrical foreman departs, the admin changes the default user once and all outstanding tasks follow.
3. During the weekly progress meeting, a trade‑level dashboard reveals Mechanical lagging, giving the PM time to intervene before delays spread.

{% hint style="info" %}

### **Key Considerations & Caution Points**

* Updating the default user for a trade affects only **new** task allocations; existing tasks keep their previous assignee until they are manually refreshed.
* When a single user belongs to both a global and a local trade, and is *starred* in the global trade, turning off the global trade’s visibility will **not** automatically star that user in the local trade. Review starred users after any visibility changes.
* If an *Activity Approver* from a different trade completes a task, the task will retain its originally assigned trade; the approver’s own trade is **not** transferred to that task.
* Administrators should confirm that every trade has a current default user before enabling trade-based assignment, otherwise tasks may appear unowned.
  {% endhint %}

{% hint style="warning" %}
This feature is optional. To skip auto-allocation, simply do not assign the user to trade next.
{% endhint %}


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