Configuring Schedule Optimization to Schedule Long-duration Work Orders
Scheduling Optimization recognizes and schedules long-duration work orders (multi-day work orders). Multiple work order events are created when the Schedule Optimization engine recognizes such work orders.
To enable the scheduling of long-duration work orders, set the SET059 (Maximum event scheduling duration in minutes) value. Whenever the work orders' service duration (in minutes) exceeds the setting value, those work orders are considered long-duration work orders. For example, if SET059 is set to 360 minutes (six hours), and if there is a work order with a service duration of 54000 seconds (15 hours), the work order is considered a long-duration work order.
Long-Duration Work Order Scheduling
For a long-duration work order, multiple work order events are generated, and the maximum duration for each event is restricted by the time specified in the SET059 setting.
Consider the following example:
The SET059 value is 6 hours. A work order with a service duration value of 15 hours is recognized. Schedule Optimization creates three work order events for the work order:
• Two events with six hours of service duration
• One event with three hours of service duration
The number of events created depends on the SET059 value, and other optimization factors such as skills, technician availability, resource preferences, and SLA.
Limitations
• Long-duration work order scheduling is supported in Batch Optimization only.
• All the work order events for a long-duration work order are assigned to a single technician only, not multiple technicians.
• Partial scheduling of long-duration work orders is not supported.
• Dependency scheduling is not supported for long-duration work orders.
• The dispatcher must not force fix the multi-day scheduling work orders when any of the events created for the work order has timings (start time and end time) in the past.
For example, a multi-day work order is created with five events. The start time of one event is in the past and the start times of four events are in the future. The dispatcher must not force fix this work order.
• Manual scheduling/unfixing of long-duration work orders is supported at the work order level. However, if any of the work order events in a long-duration work order are changed manually by the dispatcher, all the other events for the work order are also marked as Lock in Place.
• Aborting the job run is not recommended when there are events for a long-duration work order in the future, and within the current dispatch horizon. If you abort the job, the future multi-day events are deleted and the long-duration work order is not considered for scheduling again. In such a scenario, update the scheduling-related fields of the work order (such as Service team, Technician, and Dispatch Status) to blank, for the work order to be considered for scheduling again.
• The maximum number of work order events allowed for a long-duration work order is five when a long-duration WO is sent in batch job run once it is completed.
In certain exceptional cases, if the user extends the service duration of a long-duration work order, Schedule Optimization creates an additional event in the next run to accommodate the extra service duration. As a result, the total number of events related to the work order may exceed five in such cases.
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The limitation of maximum number of events is for each job run and not for all the job runs in which the work order is picked up for optimization.
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For example, the SET059 (Module: OptiMax, Submodule: Dispatch Calculations) is set to 300 minutes (5 hours). The work order is created with 25 hours of service duration. The first batch runs on January 14th. The work order is successfully assigned five events from January 15th to January 19th, each with five hours of service duration. At the end of the day on January 17th, the work order has three events in the past (January 15th, 16th, and 17th) and two events in the future (January 18th and 19th). On January 18th, the end-user increases the service duration by two hours and triggers a second batch run, after which an additional event is created to accommodate the increase in service duration. The work order now has six events associated with it.
• If the SET059 value exceeds the duration between the start of working hours and the start of the break event/non-work order event, the long-duration work order is not scheduled. For example, the SET059 value is 6 hours and the technician's working hours are 9 AM to 5 PM. A Break event is defined for the technician from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM. In this case, the long-duration work order is not scheduled, because the duration available to schedule this work order is not sufficient.
• A long-duration work order with some events in the past and some in the future may get unassigned in consecutive batch runs because of the capacity issue. For example, there are two work order events for a long-duration work order, one for yesterday and one for today. Yesterday's work order event was scheduled in yesterday's batch job run, but today's work order event is not scheduled in today's batch job run because of technician unavailability. In such instances, the Violation Status field of the work order is updated to "Multi-day Partially Unresourced". Such unassigned long-duration work orders are considered in future batch runs and will only be scheduled if capacity is available.
• All the future events for a long-duration work order are deleted and the long-duration work order is not considered for scheduling again if any exceptions are encountered during the batch job run. In such a scenario, update the scheduling-related fields of the work order (such as Service team, Technician, and Dispatch Status) to blank, for the work order to be considered for scheduling again.
• Long-duration work orders may be unassigned if there is lower capacity. Ensure that there is enough capacity for long-duration work orders to be scheduled.
Points to Remember
Consider the following pointers when you configure Schedule Optimization for long-duration work order scheduling:
• The event type for the long-duration work order events is Multi-day.
• If you are using Service Board with Scheduling Optimization, it is recommended to use the Reset Resource/Crew option in scenarios requiring deletion of all the events of the long-duration work order. This is to ensure that the work order is reconsidered for scheduling by Schedule Optimization in subsequent scheduling job runs. Using the Cancel Job option is not recommended.