What is a Scheduled Update?
Updates to location information can be scheduled days, weeks, or months in advance.
An example scenario might be a business that knows their opening hours will change three months from now. A user can log in, update the hours and schedule the change to be published at a specified date and time in the future.
Then, at the scheduled date/time, the location's information will update and, for locations with auto-sync on, be immediately published to directories and other CoreX products.
These updates can be scheduled on an individual location or through the bulk editor.
What Information Can Be Scheduled?
- All fields on the location Basic, Rich, and Photos & Videos tabs
- All fields in the bulk editor
- Location information that cannot currently be scheduled in advance
- Closing a location
- Custom Fields
- Accepting Suggestions
How to Schedule an Update
Location Profile
Update information on the location profile as normal.
Once a field has been updated, a Schedule for Later button will appear in the bottom navigation beside the standard Save Changes button.
Selecting the Schedule for Later opens a modal where the desired date and time of publication can be entered.
The date and time of publication will be based on the location's timezone, not that of the person scheduling the update.
Once the date and time are saved, the user will have a chance to review the updates that will be scheduled. Upon confirmation, the window will close and the user will return to the location profile.
The change will not show on the location profile until the time of publication. Location profile information will always show the current information being published to directories and used by other products.
Bulk Editor
Follow the normal process of selecting locations and entering the information to be added to all locations.
On the review page, the Save Now button offers two options: Save and Schedule.
Save publishes changes immediately.
Selecting Schedule opens a modal where the desired date and time of publication can be entered.
The date and time of publication will happen at local time for each location, not that of the person scheduling the update.
Once the date and time are saved, the bulk edit will be scheduled for the selected locations.
When checking the individual locations, the current value will appear in the fields that were bulk updated. The changes applied for the Scheduled Update will appear on the location profile after the selected publication date and time.
Viewing Pending Scheduled Updates
Pending Scheduled Updates can be viewed in three places within the platform:
Location Profile - Field Level
Any field that has a pending update will show a calendar icon.
Hovering over the icon will show the next scheduled publication date for this field.
Location Profile - Scheduled Updates Tab
Clicking on the Scheduled Updates tab at the top of the location profile will take the user to the Scheduled Updates review page for that location.
The Review Page will have a list of all pending scheduled updates for the location. This page includes the ability to see specifics on each update, as well as providing the opportunity to delete or reschedule an existing update.
Location List Page - Scheduled Updates Page
On the location list page, there is an option to see the Scheduled Updates Review page for all locations that are managed by the user.
This page has the same information as the location level review page, with the added benefit that the user can review pending updates for all locations that they manage.
FAQ
Can Multiple Updates Be Scheduled For a Location?
Yes.
Multiple updates can be scheduled for the same location. This includes:
- Several different fields have updates scheduled for different publication dates.
- Several different fields have updates scheduled for the same publication date.
- The same field has multiple scheduled updates with different publication dates.
- This can be especially useful for seasonal businesses that change their hours of operation every few months.
How Many Updates Can Be Scheduled in Advance?
The number of updates that can be scheduled is unlimited.
Will Changes to the Location Profile Affect Its Scheduled Updates?
No.
Changes can still be made to a location profile and published, without affecting the scheduled update.
Pending updates will publish at the scheduled time, regardless of changes made to the profile.
The only way to affect a pending update is to reschedule or delete it, which can be done on either Scheduled Update Review page.
I manage locations across multiple timezones - can I use the Bulk Editor to schedule an update for all locations at once?
Yes.
Scheduled Updates publication is based on a location's timezone. So a change to hours of operation, for example, that is applied in bulk will publish at the scheduled time in each timezone.
This does mean that if all locations should have an update published at the exact same time, regardless of timezone, multiple updates will need to be scheduled – one for each timezone.
Same Day Scheduling
It is not possible to schedule an update in the past, but it is possible to schedule an update for publication later on the same day.
Due to the possibility that the scheduled time has already passed in another timezone, it is possible to “schedule in the past.”
In this case, the Scheduled Updates publisher will push out the change when it next runs. The publisher runs every 30 minutes.