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

See Setting Up Automatic Resource Scheduling.

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:

  • 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 selected Default Appointment Hours on the Scheduling Profiles form for the user.

Other Appointment Default Values

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

Appointment Field Default Value
Reference "SRO"
Reference Num Number of the SRO
Appointment Status Default from Service Parameters
Hours See above
Method Default from Service Parameters
Min Hours Blank
Max Hours Blank
Description Description from SRO
Notes Contents of first SRO note