Some things in Sloc take a while: analysing hundreds of local markets with routed catchments, solving a divestment plan, geocoding a large file, building a results workbook. None of them need you to sit and watch.

While it runs

A running job shows what it's doing and how far it has got - the share complete, and the pieces it has finished, such as clusters solved or options assessed. Cancel stops it there and nothing is saved.

Walk away from it

After a job has been going a little while, Sloc offers to carry on without you: You can leave this page while it runs in the background, with a Notify when ready button underneath.

Click it and a short window asks you to name the work so you can find it again.

Confirm, and the job keeps running on the server - you can close the page, switch project, or go to a meeting.

Notifications

The bell in the header is where that lands, with a count on it when something has finished. It holds the jobs you've asked to be notified about - In progress, with the option to cancel one - and Recent, covering the last seven days.

A finished job appears as ready, with the name you gave it, the project it belongs to and how long it took. Open takes you straight back to the results.

Email notifications at the top of the panel controls whether finished work also reaches your inbox. Leave it on if you tend to close the tab; turn it off if you'd rather only see it in the app.

Pro tips

• Name the job properly when you send it to the background. "Full estate, 10 minute drive time" is findable later; "Scenario" is not.

• Routed catchments are the slow ones. Settle the parties and the sizes on a straight-line run first, then spend the time once.

• Cancelling is free - a cancelled job leaves nothing behind. If you spot the wrong parties thirty seconds in, stop it rather than waiting it out.

• Starting a long job just before you leave for the day is a perfectly good plan. Ask for the notification and read it in the morning.