Automatic Resource Scheduling

With Automatic Resource Scheduling, appointments are automatically created for a service order during a cross-reference from an incident or during automatic service order generation.

You might want to automatically create appointments for resources in these cases:

• When a service request originates as a direct result of a call center incident
• When service work for scheduled maintenance is needed

Automatic resource scheduling creates appointments at the SRO header level. If your company schedules appointments at the line or operation level, this feature might not be beneficial.

Setting Up the System

To use this feature, you must turn on automatic scheduling of resources and then set some default values:

1. In the Service Parameters form, select Auto Schedule Resource. Then specify default values for these fields:

   Scheduling Method

   Specify the Scheduling Method to assign to the new appointment.

   Appointment Status

   Specify the status to assign to the new appointment

   Hours

   Specify the default hours to set on the new appointment if the amount cannot be acquired from other sources (see below).

2. In the Service Order Types form, associate a Lead Time value with the type, so that the Start Date and Time assigned to the new appointment can be offset by a predetermined duration.
3. In the Service Order Quick Create form, use the Start Date field to change the defaulted SRO Start Date/Time, and thus the Start Date/Time of the appointment.

   In this form, you can also clear the Auto Dispatch SRO on Copy/Create option to override the default value set on the Service Parameters form, for the SRO being created here. This option is only available if the feature is enabled on the Service Parameters form.

   The automatically created appointment is displayed in the grid section of the Schedules tab on the Service Orders form.

Assigning a Resource

For SROs that are created from an incident or from Auto Generation, you can choose to automatically schedule appointments for the partner who is assigned to the task. To automatically assign a resource to the SRO, the system uses this hierarchy:

• If the SRO was created from an incident, use the incident owner.
• Otherwise, use the service partner listed in the SRO template (if not blank)
• If the service partner is blank in the template, then use the service partner for the unit (if not blank)
• If the service partner for the unit is empty, then use the service partner for the service customer.
• If no service partner is found in any of these areas, an error message is displays and auto scheduling is not performed.

Assigning Appointment Hours and Duration

To determine the appointment hours and duration that are automatically assigned, the system uses this hierarchy:

• Use the Duration value from the Units form is used (if not blank). This value is typically blank for SROs that are created from an incident.
• Otherwise, calculate the sum of the SRO Operation duration fields, if not zero. The duration value on the SRO is set from the SRO template.
• If neither of the above are available, use the sum of the planned labor hours worked, if not zero.
• Otherwise, use the Default Appointment Hours on the Service Parameters form.

Other Appointment Default Values

The default values used for the automatic appointment  are listed here:

Related Topics

About Scheduling