12.1+_FDD_AS_Segmentation_of_Cost_Parameters_and_Profiles_Final.2

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FUNCTIONAL DESIGN

Advanced Scheduler

Segmentation of Costs Parameters and Profiles

Applications Release: R12.1+

Author: Vasanth Terrance

Creation Date: 24-May-08

Last Updated: 2/21/2009 7:03:00 AM

File URL: http://files.oraclecorp.com/…

Draft / Version: FINAL.2

Status: FINAL

Template Version: 1.0

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Document Control

Change Record

Date Author Version Change Reference

24-Jul-08

Vasanth Terrance 1.0 First draft

03-Aug-08 Srinivas Ramakuri 1.2 Revised and Updated 05-Sep-08 Srinivas Ramakuri 1.3 Updated the Open/Closed Issues sections 10-Sep-08 Srinivas Ramakuri 1.4 Updated the Requirements section 11-Sep-08 Srinivas Ramakuri 1.5 Updated the Requirements and Open/Closed Issues sections 16-Oct-08 Vasanth Terrance 1.6 Updated the Solution Analysis sections 07-Nov-08 Vasanth Terrance 1.7 Updated the Solution Analysis sections 09-N0v-08 Vasanth Terrance 1.8 Updated the Solution Analysis, Dependencies, Solution Components

sections 19-Nov-08 Vasanth Terrance 1.9 Updated the Solution Analysis, Dependencies, Solution Components

sections 25-Nov-08 Vasanth Terrance 1.10 Updated the Solution Analysis, Solution Components sections,

Demo, Test Scenarios. 26-Nov-08 Vasanth Terrance 1.11 Updated the doc after review with Dev team 27-Nov-08 Vasanth Terrance 1.12 Updated the Solution Analysis section based on Dev feedback 28-Nov-08 John Olszewski 1.13 Final Edit before send to NCR on 11/30/08.

Edited Requirements and Solution Analysis for the new and enhanced cost factors.

30-Nov-2008 Vasanth Terrance 1.14 Edited Solution Analysis section after meeting with John Olszewski and Srinivas Ramakuri

30-Nov-2008 Vasanth Terrance 1.15 Updated the below sections after FDD review with NCR Business Requirements: 3.1.1 Solution Analysis: 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.15, 4.1.6 Business Processes: 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.3 Solution Components: 9.0 Seed Data: 10.2.1 Test Scenarios: Added few more test scenarios Closed Issues: Updated the issues from the Inspections Log AND Scheduler and DC FDD issues PowerPoint.

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Date Author Version Change Reference

05-Feb-2009 Vasanth Terrance FINAL.1 Updated the Introduction. Renamed the Section 3.1.1 and updated the requirements. Updated Section 3.1.6: Added the new profile 'CSR: Maximum Travel Distance in kms to skip Actual Route Calculations' to be supported till Territory Level Updated Section 4.1.1: The whole section has been re written based on the discussions with NCR. Added new section 4.1.1.4 Updated Section 4.1.6: Added the new profile 'CSR: Maximum Travel Distance in kms to skip Actual Route Calculations' to be supported at Territory Level Updated Section 4.3.1: The whole section has been re written based on the discussions with NCR. Updated Section 4.3.3: Case 1: Result typo has been updated Case 2: Phrase, which caused confusion, has been rewritten. Updated Section 5: Updated the Impacts Sections by adding 'Dispatch Center' as one of the impacted areas. Section 5.1.3 has been updated Section 5.1.5 has been updated Added the last paragraph. Section 7 has been updated Updated Section 9: Included a new section on the Modified Schedule Task user interface and user interface description has been added. Updated section 10.2.1: New profile values have been added Introduced a new section 10.3 for Lookups Updated Section 10.4: New error message has been added. Updated Section 13.2: The Closed Issues (4, 8, 10, 24, 25, 26) Section has been updated.

17-Feb-09 Vasanth Terrance FINAL.2 Updated Section 3.1.2, to reflect the usage of profile ‘CSR: Enforce plan window for Scheduler plan options’ Updated the Business scenarios in section 4.3.2. Included an example to illustrate how Optimizer reduces the SLA Violation. Updated section 4.3.4. Corrected the numerical typo. Updated the sections 9.0, 4.1.1.1 and 4.1.1.3 to reflect that the check boxes can be manually over ridden. Updated the section 4.3.1. Replaced word ‘Service Coordinator’ with ‘Designated User’ wherever appropriate. Renamed the profile ‘CSR: Consider Parts Requirement as Mandatory for Plan options’ to ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ wherever referenced in the document. Updated Closed Issues Section 13.2: Added new issues (27,28,29,30) to this Section.

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Contributors

Name Organization Title

Srinivas Ramakuri Field Service Product Management Director, Adv Scheduler Development

Reviewers

Name Role Title Date Reviewed

Steve Tonas Oracle EBS CRM Development Vice President, EBS CRM John Olszewski Oracle Field Service Product Management Senior Director, Service Product

Management

Jaideep Bhatia Oracle Field Service Development Senior Director, Field Service Development

Srinivas Ramakuri Oracle Field Service Product Management Director, Adv Scheduler Product Management

Venkatesh Jayaraman Oracle Field Service Development Manager, Field Service Development Vishal Kulkarni Oracle Field Service Development Manager, Field Service Development John Moore Spares Management Development Principal Product Manager Hans Haugerud Oracle Field Service Development Director, Field Service and Spares

Development

Sunil Eerothadathil Oracle EBS QA Manager, CRM Quality Assurance Jan Lineberry Oracle EBS Documentation Principal Technical Writer

Approvers

Name Role Title Date Approved

Steve Tonas Oracle EBS CRM Development Vice President, EBS CRM John Olszewski Oracle Field Service Product

Management Senior Director, Service Product Management

Document References

Document Title Type of Reference Document Location

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction..........................................................................................................................................8

1.1 Purpose of this document...........................................................................................................8

1.2 Intended audience ......................................................................................................................9

2. Definitions...........................................................................................................................................10

2.1 Segmentation (of Cost Factors and Profiles) ...........................................................................10

3. Business Requirements Overview ....................................................................................................11

3.1 Requirements Addressed .........................................................................................................11

3.1.1 Advanced Scheduler- Spares Management Integration Requirements (Must Have in 12.1.2) ........ 11 3.1.2 SLA Violation Cost by Task Priority (Must Have in 12.1.2) 12 3.1.3 Technician visiting same site Cost Factor (Must Have in 12.1.2).. 13 3.1.4 Skill Level Cost Factor (Must Have in 12.1.2)13 3.1.5 Setup Cost Parameters by Territory (Must Have in 12.1.3) ................. 14 3.1.6 Setup Profile options by Territory and Technician (Must Have in 12.1.3) ...................... 14

4. Solution Analysis................................................................................................................................17

4.1 Solution Overview ...................................................................................................................17

4.1.1 Advanced Scheduler- Spares Management Integration ......................................................................... 17 4.1.2 SLA Violation Cost by Task Priority..................................................................................................... 21 4.1.3 Technician visiting same site Cost Factor.............................................................................................. 26 4.1.4 Skill Level Cost Factor .......................................................................................................................... 27 4.1.5 Setup Cost Parameters by Territory ....................................................................................................... 28 4.1.6 Setup Profile options by Territory and Technician ................................................................................ 29

4.2 Business Model: Objects..........................................................................................................31

4.3 Business Model: Process..........................................................................................................32

4.3.1 Enhanced Scheduler-Spares Integration ................................................................................................ 32 4.3.2 Influence of SLA Violation Cost by Task Priority in scheduling Tasks ................................................ 38 4.3.3 Influence of Cost for making a second trip to the same site in scheduling Tasks.................................. 45 4.3.4 Influence of Skill level Cost factor in Advanced Scheduler .................................................................. 47 4.3.5 Setup Cost parameters by Territory ....................................................................................................... 50 4.3.6 Setup profile options by Territory and Technician ................................................................................ 52

4.4 Assumptions.............................................................................................................................52

5. Impacts, Dependencies & Uptake.....................................................................................................53

5.1 Impacts.....................................................................................................................................53

5.1.1 Impact on and Advanced Scheduler....................................................................................................... 53 5.1.2 Impact on Dispatch Center..................................................................................................................... 53 5.1.3 Impact on Spares Management .............................................................................................................. 54 5.1.4 Impact on Mobile Field Service Solutions............................................................................................. 54 5.1.5 Impact on Existing Users ....................................................................................................................... 54

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5.2 Dependencies ...........................................................................................................................54

5.2.1 Dependencies on Other Products/Initiatives .......................................................................................... 54 5.2.2 Other Products/Initiatives Dependent on this Product Solution............................................................. 54

5.3 Documentation.........................................................................................................................54

6. Solution Components.........................................................................................................................55

6.1 Solution Component List .........................................................................................................55

7. Advanced Scheduler Program Units................................................................................................56

8. Data Tables .........................................................................................................................................57

9. Advanced Scheduler New/Modified User Interfaces ......................................................................58

10. Seed Data ............................................................................................................................................63

10.1 Cost Parameters .......................................................................................................................63

10.1.1 New Cost Parameters............................................................................................................................. 63

10.2 Profile Options .........................................................................................................................63

10.2.1 New Profile Option Names.................................................................................................................... 63

10.3 Lookups....................................................................................................................................64

10.4 Messages ..................................................................................................................................65

11. Demo Recommendations ...................................................................................................................66

11.1 Target Audience.......................................................................................................................66

11.2 Key Concepts ...........................................................................................................................66

11.2.1 Setup of cost parameters by Territory.................................................................................................... 66 11.2.2 Setup of profile options by Territory ..................................................................................................... 66 11.2.3 Setup of profile options by Technician .................................................................................................. 66 11.2.4 Schedule Task with Parts Requirement to Technicians with All the Required Parts............................. 66 11.2.5 Schedule Task with Parts Requirement to Technicians with Few/None/All the Required Parts ........... 66 11.2.6 Schedule Task with Parts Requirement to Technicians sourcing Parts from the possible Stocking Locations.............................................................................................................................................................. 66

12. Test Scenario Recommendations......................................................................................................67

12.1 Check if all cost parameters are able to be setup at each Territory level.................................67

12.2 Check if Territory level cost parameters are applied while calculating plan options..............67

12.3 Check if site level cost parameters are applied when Territory level cost parameters do not exist 67

12.4 Check if the Territory level supported profile values alone are allowed to be setup at Territory level ......................................................................................................................................67

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12.5 Check if the Technician level supported profile values alone are allowed to be setup at Technician level ...................................................................................................................................67

12.6 Check if Territory level profile values are applied while calculating plan options .................67

12.7 Check if user level profile values are applied when Territory level profile values do not exist67

12.8 Check if Technician level profile values are applied while calculating plan options..............67

12.9 Check if Territory level profile values are applied when Technician level profile values do not exist................................................................................................................................................67

12.10 Check SLA violation cost by Task priority .............................................................................67

12.11 Check if we are able to schedule Task with parts to Technicians with few/none/all Parts .....67

12.12 Check if we are able to source Parts from different Stocking Locations to schedule Tasks ...67

12.13 Check the cost factor to be applied while scheduling same site Tasks to different Technicians67

12.14 Check the skill level cost factor to be applied while computing plan options for different skill level Technicians .................................................................................................................................67

12.15 Check if the old and new cost parameter values are applied in Optimization Across Trips Program also ........................................................................................................................................67

12.16 Check if the Territory level profile values are used while Optimizing different Technicians’ trips. 67

12.17 Check if the Technician level profile values are used while Optimizing different Technicians’ trips. 67

13. Open and Closed Issues .....................................................................................................................68

13.1 Open Issues ..............................................................................................................................68

13.2 Closed Issues............................................................................................................................69

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1. Introduction

Oracle Advanced Scheduler is highly configurable to cater to the needs of different business scenarios. Scheduler uses the configured profiles and cost parameters to compute the scheduling options for Field Service Tasks.

Below is the supported hierarchy of FND profiles.

(Lowest Level) User � Responsibility � Application � Site (Highest Level)

Advanced Scheduler calculates the cost of each plan option from the defined cost parameter values. The Scheduler Engine is built with a powerful and complex logic to handle a high volume of Task inputs duly considering the profile settings and cost parameters set. Advanced Scheduler handles typical field service Tasks to the most complex Tasks, such as Tasks longer than standard shift duration and Tasks with Access Hours restrictions. By introducing few more cost parameters to better differentiate the plan options among eligible Technicians and by allowing Service providers to setup profile options at a more granular level (Territory, Technician), the credibility and power of Advanced Scheduler’s scheduling logic can be increased to a greater extent.

The scope of the project is to

• Enhance the integration between Advanced Scheduler and Spares Management modules:

1. Option to consider Spare Parts non-availability as an additional cost (with a cost parameter) instead of a hard constraint

2. Add a new cost parameter to cost plan options of Technicians with missing parts

3. Ability to define the source for searching for available parts

• Add additional cost parameters for more sophisticated costing of plan options.

1. Enhance the SLA Violation Cost (Cost for Arriving Late) so that the higher priority Tasks will have a higher cost for violation

2. Additional cost when another Technician is already scheduled to work at the same customer site

3. Additional cost for scheduling resources based on skill levels

• Provide ability to setup all Cost Parameters by Territories.

• Provide capability for the users to setup a few key profiles, specific to scheduling functions at Territory and Technician level.

1.1 Purpose of this document

The purpose of the document is to explain how the Profiles and Cost Parameters that are relevant to scheduling function will be setup by Territory and Technicians. This

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document also explains the proposed new cost parameters to be considered for scheduling Field Service Tasks.

1.2 Intended audience

The intended audiences are Field Service Advanced Scheduler Product Management, Development and QA.

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2. Definitions

2.1 Segmentation (of Cost Factors and Profiles)

This term/phrase is used to refer to a feature, which allows for a more granular way to set up cost parameters and profile values that drive Scheduler to cost and calculate plan options.

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3. Business Requirements Overview

This section describes in more detail the functional requirements that need to be fulfilled by this project, which will further enhance the applicability of Scheduler to even more complex scheduling functions.

3.1 Requirements Addressed

3.1.1 Advanced Scheduler- Spares Management Integration Requirements (Must Have in 12.1.2)

Background

Advanced Scheduler can optionally interface to Oracle Spares Management so it can consider Parts availability when scheduling a Task. This integration is controlled by profile CSF: Default Spares Availability. This profile has seeded values All Parts, No Parts. It also supports user-defined values. The following table explains the behavior of the existing profile option and values.

CSF: Default Spares Availability

Seeded Profile Values

Behavior

All Parts Only Technicians who have all the required Parts available (in the Trunk or can be shipped on time to meet the SLA) will be considered for scheduling

No Parts Parts requirement will not be considered (i.e. all Technicians will be considered for scheduling)

Spares Management considers the planned dates of the Tasks to identify whether the eligible Technicians have the required Parts or whether they can be sourced from some other inventory locations. If the availability of any of the Task’s required Parts falls outside the Task’s planned dates, then that Technician’s plan option is not considered by Advanced Scheduler.

Requirements:

1. Parts Constraint to be optional

• In order to meet contractual obligations and strict SLA commitments, some Service Providers dispatch Technicians when they know the Technician doesn’t have the Parts required to complete the job. Instead of making Parts availability a hard constraint while scheduling a Task, Service Providers want to balance it against the other option costs like travel and SLA violation.

2. Cost Parameter to cost scheduler options for missing parts

• While relaxing the Parts availability constraint for a Task, Service Providers want to cost all options with missing parts and balance it against the other option costs like travel and SLA violation. The requirement is to make it expensive to send a Technician with missing parts and at the same time send a Technician (even if some parts are missing) to meet the SLAs.

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3. Tasks rejected due to parts unavailability

• In situations where the required Parts are mandatory to service/satisfy the customer, Service Providers need to schedule the Task to a Technician possessing all the required Parts. Autonomous Scheduler rejects a Task, if it is not able to find any Technician with the required Parts. Service Providers require the ability to uniquely identify Tasks rejected by Autonomous Scheduler, due to insufficient / no Parts availability within the Planned window of the Task.

4. Option to specify the source for Parts search

• Service Providers prefer to restrict the search for Spare Parts required to perform the Task, within the Technician’s Trunk Stock. If Parts are not available in the Technicians’ Trunk Stock they require the Parts to be sourced from other Stocking locations.

3.1.2 SLA Violation Cost by Task Priority (Must Have in 12.1.2)

Background:

Advanced Scheduler considers the planned dates of the Tasks to identify the eligible Technicians. Existing cost factors ‘Cost per minute visiting too late’ and ‘Cost per day the Task is scheduled to start after the day it was received’ are applied on the Tasks, whenever applicable, to make sure that the Tasks are scheduled so as not to miss SLA commitments. Currently Task priority is not accounted for when scheduling Tasks.

While scheduling Tasks, the Planned timings of the Task are honored based on the value set in one of the existing profiles ‘CSR: Enforce plan window for Scheduler plan options’. The behavior of the profile is explained in the below table.

Profile Name Values Behavior

1 CSR: Enforce plan window for Scheduler plan options

Yes / No Yes: Advanced Scheduler and Optimization Across Trips Program will identify plan options such that the Scheduled Start and Scheduled End is within the Task's Planned Start and End time. The Task will be Auto Rejected if no such plan options are identified. No: Advanced Scheduler and Optimization Across Trips Program will identify plan options such that the Scheduled Start is within the Task's Planned Start and End time. The Task will be Auto Rejected if no such plan options are identified.

Requirement:

Service Providers would rather have low priority Tasks miss their SLA commitments than high priority Tasks. As such, they need SLA Violation Costs to be higher for high priority Tasks than it is for low priority Tasks.

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3.1.3 Technician visiting same site Cost Factor (Must Have in 12.1.2)

Background:

In practical business scenarios, Tasks from same customer site location are reported at different timings in the day. Currently Advanced Scheduler schedules Tasks to the earliest available and eligible Technician. If more than one Task is created for a same customer site location, Advanced Scheduler gives preference to a Technician scheduled to work in that same customer site location, by associating minimal travel time/distance costs to that Particular Technician. Scheduling same site Tasks to the same Technician is possible only when the total cost of the plan option for the Technician, considering other cost parameters, is lower than the plan option costs of other eligible Technicians. Same site Tasks are grouped and re-scheduled to a single Technician by ‘Optimization Across trips’ batch program. Optimization across trips can be executed only after the Tasks are scheduled to the Technicians.

Requirement:

Service Providers prefer Advanced Scheduler assign a single Technician to perform all the Tasks at a customer site. If a Technician is performing a Task at a Particular customer site, it is a good practice to schedule all other Tasks at that site to him to reduce travel and provide good customer service.

Service Providers require adding an additional cost when scheduling a second Technician to visit the same site within the Task’s Planned Window. An additional cost should also be added when scheduling the same Technician to visit the site, but on a separate site visit (on same day or different day).

3.1.4 Skill Level Cost Factor (Must Have in 12.1.2)

Background:

Task skill(s) is one of the criteria taken into account while scheduling Tasks to Technicians. Field Technicians possess various skills and their level of expertise varies. So while skills are attached to Tasks, the skill level requirement is also specified against the Tasks. Advanced Scheduler schedules Tasks with skill requirements to any Technician with matching skills as defined in the profile ‘CSF: Skill Level Match’. The profile has three values ‘Equal To’, ‘Greater than or Equal To’ and ‘Lesser than or Equal To’.

Equal To: Technicians matching the skill level requirement of the Task skills alone will be considered for Task assignment

Greater than or Equal To: Technicians possessing the skill level either same or greater than the required skill level of the Task skills will be considered for Task assignment

Lesser than or Equal To: Technicians possessing the skill level either same or lesser than the required skill level of the Task skills will be considered for Task assignment

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Requirement:

When Technicians with different skill levels meet the minimum required skill level to perform a Task, some Service Providers require the ability to give preference to the more highly skilled Technicians. However, other Service Providers require just the opposite and want preference given to the lesser skilled Technicians (that still meet the minimum requirement).

3.1.5 Setup Cost Parameters by Territory (Must Have in 12.1.3)

Background:

Currently Service Providers can setup cost parameters only at Site level. Hence the configurability of Scheduler Cost Parameters is restrictive. When Advanced Scheduler computes plan options for Tasks these cost parameters, whichever applicable, are considered for all scheduling scenarios.

Requirement:

o Service Providers need the ability to setup the cost parameters at the individual Territory level. For example, it is more appropriate to setup the cost parameter: ‘Cost per minute traveling time’ at Territory level, as travel costs are more expensive in urban areas.

o Service Providers need the ability to copy the Cost Parameters set up at Parent Territory Level to the underneath Child Territories.

3.1.6 Setup Profile options by Territory and Technician (Must Have in 12.1.3)

Background:

In addition to the cost parameters values, Advanced Scheduler uses few profile values to calculate plan options for the Tasks. Users can setup the profiles at the four levels (Site, System, Responsibility and User). Below is the hierarchy in which the profile values are fetched to compute the plan options for the Tasks.

(Lowest) User � Responsibility � Application � Site (Highest)

Requirement:

Service Providers require the flexibility to define certain profile options relevant to important scheduling functions at Territory and even at individual Technician level. For example, the profile options for the default travel times or travel distances sometimes depends on the constituting geographical makeup of Territory and hence is appropriate to setup these values at that Territory level.

Service providers require Advanced Scheduler to query the profile values as per the below hierarchy.

(Lowest) Technician � Territory � User � Responsibility � Application � Site (Highest)

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The following profiles need to be set up at Territory level.

Profile Name How used

1 CSR: Maximum overtime

The maximum number of minutes a resource can be scheduled working overtime.

2 CSR: Minimal travel time (Number (Minutes))

Used to add to the calculated travel time to cover the time to travel from the parking lot/ site location to the location of the equipment. Used when TDS enabled.

3 CSF: Default travel distance for Time Distance Server

Used to default distance (in Kilometers), when the address is missing or not resolvable or when default TDS is turned on. Gets stored at Task level.

4 CSF: Default travel duration for Time Distance Server

Used to default travel time duration (in minutes) when the address is missing or not resolvable or when default TDS is turned on. Gets stored at Task level.

5 CSR: TDS Mode OFF: Scheduler uses the default travel time for all Task scheduling. Estimate: Point to point communication (as the crow flies) Only Estimate: Scheduler uses point-to-point distance to calculate travel time all the time, even for scheduling Route: Point to point (as the crow flies) for plan options Only Route: Scheduler uses street level routing to calculate travel time, all the time.


This profile enables Scheduler to schedule Tasks within the planned window of the Tasks.

7 CSR: Include commute cost to home for Empty Trip

This profile decides if travel back home cost for scheduling a Task in an empty trip should be considered or not.

8 CSR: Include Commutes In Shift

This profile enables Scheduler to include the commute time from first Task to home and from last Task to home totally outside the trip (NO) or totally inside the trip (YES) or Partially inside the trip (PARTIAL)

9 CSR: Maximum Travel Distance in kms to skip Actual Route Calculations

Maximum Estimated Travel Distance beyond which Scheduler will skip Actual Travel Time Computation and return Estimates.

10 CSR: Excluded travel time in minutes (NEW)

This time value will be deducted form the required travel time to commute from Departure location to the first Task and from the last Task to Arrival location within a trip, only if the profile CSR: Include Commutes = Partial.

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The following profiles need to be set up at Technician level.





This time value will be deducted form the required travel time to commute from Departure location to the first Task and from the last Task to Arrival location within a trip, only if the profile CSR: Include Commutes = Partial.

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4. Solution Analysis

This section describes the functional solution that will be built to fulfill the requirements listed in the previous section.

4.1 Solution Overview

The following enhancements will be made to the Field Service Dispatch center and Advanced Scheduler applications.

4.1.1 Advanced Scheduler- Spares Management Integration

The solution description to address this requirement is split into three sections as explained below.

4.1.1.1 Ability to control Parts constraint in Scheduler

Service Providers will be allowed to schedule Tasks with Parts requirement even when the Technicians do not have all the parts available (in the Trunk Stock or Warehouses or both. Refer to section 4.1.1.3 for details on the definition of availability). Service Providers will be allowed to relax the parts constraint on the Tasks to meet the SLAs.

In order to make the constraint configurable, a new profile ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ will be introduced.

For backward compatibility the default value will be ‘No’.


CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options

Yes / No

Yes:

Advanced Scheduler will ONLY consider the plan options of the Technicians who have all the parts available (refer to section 4.1.1.3 for details on the definition of availability) to perform the Task.

No:

(default value- for ensuing backward

compatibility):

Advanced Scheduler will consider the plan options of the Technicians even if they have do not have all the required Parts available (refer to section 4.1.1.3 for details on the definition of availability) to perform the Task.

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Uptake by Schedule Task User Interface:

The Schedule Task user interface will also be enhanced to allow Dispatchers/Service Coordinators to select the preferred Parts sourcing location to search for Parts. Check boxes will be provided in the user interface. The check boxes will be checked/unchecked depending on the values set in the profiles ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ and ‘CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search’. Users will be allowed to override the current state of the check boxes in the Schedule Task User interface.

Please refer to Section 9.0 for details on enhancements to the Schedule Tasks user interface.

Uptake by Autonomous Scheduler:

Autonomous Scheduler will honor the new profiles while scheduling Tasks to the Technicians. If ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ = Yes, Autonomous Scheduler will identify Technicians only with all the required Task Parts. If no Technician with all the required Parts is available, the Task will be auto rejected. Tasks that are rejected only due to Parts unavailability will be updated to a status as dictated by the new profile ‘CSR: Rejected Task Status due to Parts Unavailability’. (Refer to section 4.1.1.4 for more details about this profile).

Uptake by Optimization across Trips program:

Optimization across Trips concurrent program will also be enhanced to optimize Tasks (by moving the Task before or after the current scheduled date/time) to same Technician(s) even if there are parts requirement and parts reservations associated with the Task, as long as there is no violation of SLAs. This program will also be enhanced to optimize Tasks (by moving out the Task to a date/time after the current scheduled date/time) to same Technician(s) even if there are parts requirement and parts internal order associated with the Task, as long as there is no violation of SLAs. The program will honor the new profile values while optimizing the Tasks across Technicians’ trips.

For more details on the profile refer to section 10.2.1.

4.1.1.2 Cost, based on Parts Unavailability:

In addition to the relaxation in the Parts constraint while scheduling a Task, Service Providers still need the capability to prefer Technicians with parts, as described in the above section 4.1.1.1, Service Providers also need to schedule the Technician with maximum number of available Spare Parts to the Task. This would increase the likelihood of the Task being fixed during the Technician’s first visit to the Customer Site.

In order to differentiate the Technicians with varying Parts availability, a new cost factor ‘Parts Not Available Cost’ will be introduced. Advanced Scheduler will consider this cost factor only when the new profile ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ is set to ‘No’. (Please refer to section 4.1.1.1 for more details about this profile).

The cost value introduced through this cost parameter is exclusive from the spares delivery cost, which is setup in the Spares Management module.

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The following table displays the details about the cost factor.

Cost factor

(UI Label)

Default

Value

Formula

Parts Not Available Cost 50 For all Plan options for Technicians who do not have all the parts available (in the Trunk Stock or Warehouses or both. Refer to section 4.1.1.3 for details on the definition of availability, an additional cost will be added for each missing Part Parts Not Available Cost * Number of

missing Parts

This cost factor will be applied while scheduling Technicians interactively using Schedule Tasks UI, by the Autonomous Scheduler batch program for background scheduling and also by the Optimization across Trips concurrent program to optimize Trips of Technicians.

4.1.1.3 Preferred Source for Spare Parts Search:

Service Providers will be given an option to source the required Parts (and search for availability of parts) either from the Technicians’ own Trunk Stock (any usable sub inventory assigned to Technician) and/or from the warehouse locations (with shipping networks defined to the Technician’s destination address or Territory).

To allow the Service Providers to configure the preferred sourcing location, a new profile ‘CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search’ will be introduced. This profile value will dictate Advanced Scheduler the preferred source to search within. The default value will be ‘Technician Trunk Stock’.


CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search

Technician Trunk Stock

Warehouses

Technician Trunk Stock:

Advanced Scheduler will request (via Scheduler-Spares integration) Spares Management Module to search for the required Parts only within the trunk stock of the Technician.

Warehouses:

Advanced Scheduler will request (via Scheduler-Spares integration) Spares Management Module to search for the required Parts only within the Warehouses in the Supply Chain (locations with shipping networks defined to the Technician’s destination address or Territory). This option excludes other Technicians’ Trunk Stock.

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Trunk and Warehouses

Trunk and Warehouses:

Advanced Scheduler will request (via Scheduler-Spares integration) Spares Management Module to search for the required Parts in the Technicians’ Trunk Stock and among Warehouses in the Supply Chain (locations with shipping networks defined to the Technician’s destination address or Territory).

Uptake by Schedule Task User Interface:

The Schedule Task user interface will also be enhanced to allow Dispatchers/Service Coordinators to select the preferred Parts sourcing location to search for Parts. Check boxes will be provided in the user interface. The check boxes will be checked/unchecked depending on the values set in the profiles ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ and ‘CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search’. Parts search will be restricted to the sourcing options selected on the UI. Users will be allowed to override the current state of the check boxes in the Schedule Task User interface.

Please refer to Section 9.0 for details on the user interface.

Uptake by Autonomous Scheduler Interface:

Autonomous Scheduler will honor the new profiles ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ and ‘CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search’, while scheduling Tasks to the Technicians. If ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ = Yes, Autonomous Scheduler will identify Technicians only with all the required Task Parts. Parts search will be restricted to the sourcing options set in the profile ‘CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search’.

Uptake by Optimization across Trips program:

Optimization across Trips program will honor the new profiles ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ and ‘CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search’, while optimizing the Tasks across Technicians’ trips.

4.1.1.4 Option to flag Tasks rejected due to non-availability of Parts:

Autonomous Scheduler rejects Tasks for various reasons, including for not finding any Technicians with specific Skills or Parts or not meeting any other scheduling criteria. Autonomous Scheduler rejects the Task and changes the Task status to a value set for the profile ‘CSR: Rejected by Autonomous Scheduling Status’. Service Providers need the ability to identify all Tasks rejected by the Autonomous Scheduler, if no Technician with the required Parts is identified to schedule the Task. To address this need, a new profile‘CSR: Rejected Task Status due to Parts Unavailability’ will be introduced.

21

Profile Name

Values Behavior

CSR: : Rejected Task Status due to Parts Unavailability

All valid Task Statuses.

Default value will be ‘Auto Rejected’

When ever a Task is rejected by the Autonomous Scheduler or Optimization across Trips programs due to unavailability of Parts, the status of the Task will be changed to the value set in this profile

.

Both Autonomous Scheduler and Optimization across Trips programs will honor the profile settings.

4.1.2 SLA Violation Cost by Task Priority

There are two possible solutions to address the requirement. We shall discuss both the solutions

Solution #1 and Solution #2 below.

Solution 1: The requirement is to impose a SLA violation cost on Tasks that miss the SLAs (Planned dates) based on the Task priority. Existing cost factor ‘Cost per minute visiting too late’ formula will be modified to address the requirement. The existing cost formula is (Scheduled Start date time – Planned End date time) * Cost per minute visiting too late. To vary this cost by Task Priority and make Tasks with a higher priority have a higher cost, the formula will be modified to divide by the Task Priority Importance Level as follows:

Formula = ((Scheduled Start date time – Planned End date time) * Cost per minute visiting too

late) ÷÷÷÷ Task Priority

Solution 2: The requirement is to impose a SLA violation cost on Tasks that miss the SLAs (Planned dates) based on the Task priority. To address this requirement there is a need to introduce a new cost factor. The following table displays the details about the new cost factor.

Cost factor

(UI Label)

Default

Value

Formula

Cost of SLA violation by Task Priority

50 If Scheduled Start is later than Planned End then this cost is added to the cost of the option Cost of SLA violation by Task Priority / Task

Priority Importance Level

This cost is in addition to the cost specified for the parameter: “Cost per minute visiting too late”

22

The SLA violation cost will be added to the total cost option only when the scheduled start time is later than the planned end time. This cost will vary based on the Task priority importance level. This cost factor will not consider the number of minutes the Task has violated the SLA.

This cost factor will be seeded and available in the ‘Parameter Settings’ user interface. Administrators will be allowed to update the default value of this cost factor.

The below section illustrates the comparison between the above two Proposed Solutions.

Solution#2 – SLA Violation Cost added as a separate cost

In this approach, to account for the SLA violation, a separate cost factor is introduced. This cost will vary based on the Task priority importance level. This approach doesn’t consider how much is the SLA violation with respect to the Task Importance Level.

For the purpose of explanation, let us consider a trip wherein we have a high priority Task already scheduled in the Trip. The various attributes of the Task are as displayed below.

Task Effort

Task

Priority

Importance

Level

(P)

Planned Start Planned End Scheduled Start Late

(L)

T1 60 mins 1 01-Dec-08 09:00 01-Dec-08 10:15 01-Dec-08 09:00 0

From the above figure, we can observe that there is no delay for Task T1 and thus no SLA Violation.

Now let us consider the effect of scheduling a low priority Task T2 in the above trip and the induced SLA Violations. Attributes of Task T2 is as given below.

Task Effort

Task

Priority

Importance

Level

(P)


(L)

T2 60 mins 4 01-Dec-08 08:00 01-Dec-08 10:00

There can be 2 plan options for Task T2, one where T2 is inserted as the first Task and the next one where T2 is the last Task in the trip.

23

Let us assume that the cost factor ‘Cost of SLA violation by Task Priority’ = 40 and Cost per minute visiting too late = 10

Analysis of Plan Option#1 (Task T2 inserted before Task T1)

Cost Analysis of Plan Option#1

Task

Task

Priority

Importance

Level

(P)

Planned

Start

Planned

End

Scheduled

Start

Late

(L)

Too Late

Cost

SLA

Cost

Total

Cost

T2 4 08:00 10:00 09:00 0 0 0 0

T1 1 09:00 10:15 10:30 15 15 * 10 =

150 40 / 1 =

40 = 150+40 = 190

Analysis of Plan Option#2(Task T2 inserted after Task T1)


Task

Task

Priority

Importance

Level

(P)

Planned

Start

Planned

End

Scheduled

Start

Late

(L)

Too Late

Cost

SLA

Cost

Total

Cost

T1 1 09:00 10:15 09:00 0 0 0 0

T2 4 08:00 10:00 10:30 30 30 * 10 =

300 40 / 4 =10

= 300+10 = 310

24

From the analysis it is obvious that Plan Option #1 will be chosen since it incurs lower cost. In that case the high priority Task T1 will be moved beyond its Planned End causing SLA Violation. The primary reason here being the Lateness Factor is not considering the Importance Level of the Task.

Solution#1 – Task Priority Importance Level clubbed with Too Late Cost

In this approach, no new cost factor is introduced. The Task priority importance level will be clubbed with Too Late Cost so that every minute delay will increase the cost of the Plan Option proportionate to the Task Importance Level. For the purpose of explanation, let us consider a trip wherein we have a high priority Task already scheduled in a Technician’s Trip. The various attributes of the Task are as displayed below.

Task Effort

Task

Priority

Importance

Level

(P)


(L)

T1 60 mins 1 01-Dec-08 09:00 01-Dec-08 10:15 01-Dec-08 09:00 0

From the above figure, we can observe that there is no delay for Task T1 and thus no SLA Violation.

Now let us consider the effect of scheduling a low priority Task T2 in the above trip and the induced SLA Violations. Attributes of Task T2 is as given below.

Task Effort

Task

Priority

Importance

Level

(P)


(L)

T2 60 mins 4 01-Dec-08 08:00 01-Dec-08 10:00

There can be 2 plan options for Task T2, one where T2 is inserted as the first Task and the next one where T2 is the last Task in the trip.

Let us assume that the cost factor Cost per minute visiting too late = 10

25

Analysis of Plan Option#1(Task T2 inserted before Task T1)


Task

Task

Priority

Importan

ce Level

(P)

Planned

Start

Planned

End

Scheduled

Start

Late

(L)

Too Late Cost

along with

Importance

Formula

T2 4 08:00 10:00 09:00 0 0

T1 1 09:00 10:15 10:30 15 (15 * 10) / 1 = 150

Too Late Cost / Importance

Level

Analysis of Plan Option#2(Task T2 inserted after Task T1)


Task Priority

(P)

Planned

Start

Planned

End

Scheduled

Start

Late

(L)

Too Late Cost along

with Importance

Total

Cost

T1 1 09:00 10:15 09:00 0 0 0

T2 4 08:00 10:00 10:30 30 (30 * 10) / 4 75

From the analysis it is obvious that Plan Option #2 will be chosen since it incurs lower cost. In this case the low priority Task T2 will be moved beyond its Planned End causing SLA Violation. Since we club the lateness factor with the Task Priority importance level, a small SLA Violation of a High Priority Task incurs more penalty than a bigger SLA Violation of a Low Priority Task.

26

Note: If we had Task T2 violating by more than 60 minutes, Task T2 would have been scheduled as the first Task. Solution #1 approach gives a finer control over how much of delay is tolerated.

Conclusion: When compared between the two solutions, Solution 1 is more powerful as it does a better job insuring high priority Tasks do not miss SLAs as it makes the cost proportional to the length of the SLA violation. Also with Solution #1, there is also no need to introduce a new cost factor. This increases the performance of Advanced Scheduler. Considering these positives Solution #1 will be implemented.

4.1.3 Technician visiting same site Cost Factor

The requirement is to schedule Tasks at same customer site locations to a single Technician, if cost effective. To give preference to the Technician already planned to visit the customer site from the other eligible Technicians, there is a need to introduce a new cost factor for options that send different Technicians.

Same Customer Site location of Field Service Tasks will be determined either by the Customer Site Location number or the Geometry (Latitude and Longitude) information of the Task.

The following table displays the details about the cost factor.

Cost factor

(UI Label)

Default

Value

Formula

Cost for making a second trip to the same site

50 Do not add Cost for the To-be-scheduled Task plan option cost, if same Technician is assigned contiguously.

Add: ‘1 * Cost for making a second trip to the same site’ for the To-be-scheduled Task plan option cost, if same Technician is assigned non-contiguously.

Add: ‘2 * Cost for making a second trip to the same site’ for the To-be-scheduled Task plan option cost, if a different Technician is assigned.

The following logic will be implemented to add in a cost to to-be-scheduled Task Plan options.

o Scheduler will identify all same Customer Site Location Tasks in the eligible Technicians’ trips within the Plan Window of the to-be-scheduled Task.

o The identified Tasks can either be already performed or scheduled to be performed AND not having On Hold or Rejected flag

o Scheduler will identify Technicians only if they meet the skill requirements OR if they are preferred resource of the to-be-scheduled Task. If the identified Technicians are already scheduled to perform a Task at the same Customer Site Location as the to-be-scheduled Task, then the cost will be applied based on the plan options.

o If the option being costed is for a Technician who is already scheduled to work at the same Customer Site Location, this new cost factor value will be added (e.g. 50) only if it cannot be scheduled immediately before or after a Task he/she already has for that customer site.

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o To prefer same Technicians to work on Tasks at same Customer Site Locations, if the option being costed sends a different Technician to the same customer site, then the new cost factor value (e.g. 50) will be doubled (e.g. 100) and added to the cost of the option.

Impact of this new cost factor in scheduling scenario is explained in Section 4.3.3.

Note: Advanced Scheduler will list the plan options for the Tasks, based on the lowest cost plan

options only.

4.1.4 Skill Level Cost Factor

The requirement is to give preference to Technicians with higher skill levels over those with lower skill levels. However, some Service Providers require the opposite and want lower skilled Technicians (that meet the minimum skill level required) to be preferred over more highly skilled resources they want to hold back for emergencies. To address this requirement there is a need to introduce a new cost factor ‘Skill Level Cost. The following table displays the details about the cost factor.

Cost factor

(UI Label)

Default

Value

Formula

Skill Level Cost 50 Based on Technicians’ skill level, this cost will be added to the cost of the option.

Skill Level Cost / Technician Skill Level

The new skill level cost factor will be considered only when the profile ‘CSF: Skill Level match’ is either ‘Greater Than or Equal To’ or ‘Lesser than or Equal To’. If Service Providers want to Advanced Scheduler to give preference to the more highly skilled Technicians, they will set this cost as a positive number. Service Providers that want lower skilled resource to be preferred will set this cost as a negative amount.

If a Task requires multiple skills, this cost factor will be applied to each of the matching skill level on the Task to the Technician.

Impact of this new cost factor in scheduling scenario is explained in Section 4.3.4.

Note: Advanced Scheduler will list the plan options for the Tasks, based on the lowest cost plan options

only. Through this cost factor it is not guaranteed that the Technician with the highest skill level will

possess the lowest cost option.

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4.1.5 Setup Cost Parameters by Territory

A new user interface will be provided for users to configure the cost parameters at Territory level. The new user interface will be accessible from the existing user interface ‘Parameter Settings’ and from the main Navigator menu under Field Service Setup. In the below section we will discuss in detail the proposed functionality.

o In the new user interface users will be allowed to setup cost parameters for individual Territories apart from the global level (site level)

o The cost parameters defined at Territory level will be applicable to all Technicians assigned to that Territory. Administrators will not be allowed to setup cost parameters for individual Technicians.

o While calculating the cost of plan options, Advanced Scheduler will query the cost parameters defined at the matching Territory only. It will not traverse up the Territory hierarchy to find if cost parameters are defined at parent level Territory nodes.

Uptake by Advanced Scheduler:

o With this enhancement, the traversal of logic to get the Cost Parameters setting will be: (Lowest Level) Territory � Site (Highest Level)

o While searching plan options using Territory qualifiers, as one of the search criteria, Assignment Manager will return the Territory information for each of the eligible Technicians to Advanced Scheduler. Advanced Scheduler will use the Territory information to query the cost parameters and calculate the cost of plan option for the Technicians. If the Territory returned by Assignment Manager does not have cost parameters defined, Advanced Scheduler will query the cost parameters from the site level and compute the cost of the plan options.

o While searching plan options using preferred resources of contracts or install base or skills or resource suggestion criteria, Assignment Manager will not be able to return the Territory information of the Technicians. In this case, Advanced Scheduler will query the cost parameters from the site level and compute the cost of the plan options for the Technicians.

o A tool will be designed to copy the cost parameters setup at Parent Territory Level to all the child Territories underneath it. This copy functionality will override the already setup cost parameters at the child Territory levels. More insight on this functionality will be discussed during the TDD Phase.

o While optimizing across Technicians’ trips, through Optimization Across Trips concurrent program, always all cost parameters setup at Territory level will be fetched for each of the Technician. If a Technician is Part of multiple Territories the winning Territory, by rank, will be considered. If no cost parameters could be identified at Territory level, site level cost parameters will be used by optimization across trips concurrent program.

29

The following table displays the cost parameters that will be exposed to users to be configured at Territory level.

S No Cost Parameter Name Default Value

1 Cost per day the Task is scheduled to start after the day it was received

25

2 Cost per unit traveling distance 10

3 Cost per minute traveling time 5

4 Cost per minute a resource is working overtime 100

5 Cost per minute visiting too early 10

6 Cost per minute visiting too late 10

7 Cost for not assigning preferred resource 50

8 Cost per day the parent Task takes longer to execute than absolutely possible

25

9 Cost per each additional Task created more than absolutely required for Task longer than a shift

10

10 Skill Level Cost 50

11 Cost for making a second trip to the same site 50

12 Parts Not Available Cost 50

While defining the cost parameters at parent Territory level in the new user interface the default values will be copied from the site level values. Administrators will be allowed to override the required cost parameters.

Refer to Section 4.3.5 for a Business Case.

Refer to Section 9.0 for the mockup user interface.

4.1.6 Setup Profile options by Territory and Technician

The requirement is to support certain key profile profiles at Territory and Technician levels. A new user interface will be provided for users to setup certain key profile values at Territory and Technician levels. The new user interface will be accessible from the existing user interface ‘Parameter Settings’ and from the main Navigator menu under Field Service Setup. In the below section we will discuss in detail the proposed functionality.

o In the new user interface users will be allowed to setup the supported profiles for individual Territories and Technicians.

o Advanced Scheduler will query the Technician level supported profiles and Territory level supported profiles for the eligible Technicians, if they are setup. It will not traverse up the Territory hierarchy to find if profiles are defined at parent level Territory nodes. The profile option values set at the lowest level will override the values set at previous levels. With this enhancement the traversal of logic to get the profile setting will be:

(Lowest) Technician �Territory � User � Responsibility � Application � Site (Highest)

o While defining the profile values at parent Territory level in the new user interface the default values will be copied from the previous hierarchy level values (User/Responsibility/Application/Site. Administrators will be allowed to override the profile values.

30

o While defining the profile values at Technician level in the new user interface the default values will be copied from the previous hierarchy level values (Territory/User/Responsibility/Application/Site). Administrators will be allowed to override the values.

The following profiles will be allowed to set up at Territory level:




2 CSR: Minimal travel time (Number (Minutes))

Used to add to the calculated travel time to cover the time to travel from the parking lot/ site location to the location of the equipment. Used when TDS enabled.

3 CSF: Default travel distance for Time Distance Server

Used to default distance (in Kilometers), when the address is missing or not resolvable or when default TDS is turned on. Gets stored at Task level.

4 CSF: Default travel duration for Time Distance Server

Used to default travel time duration (in minutes) when the address is missing or not resolvable or when default TDS is turned on. Gets stored at Task level.

5 CSR: TDS Mode OFF: Scheduler uses the default travel time for all Task scheduling. Estimate: Point to point communication (as the crow flies) Only Estimate: Scheduler uses point-to-point distance to calculate travel time all the time, even for scheduling Route: Point to point (as the crow flies) for plan options Only Route: Scheduler uses street level routing to calculate travel time, all the time.


This profile enables Scheduler to schedule Tasks within the planned window of the Tasks.

7 CSR: Include commute cost to home for Empty Trip

This profile decides if travel back home cost for scheduling a Task in an empty trip should be considered or not.

8 CSR: Include Commutes In Shift

This profile enables Scheduler to include the commute time from first Task to home and from last Task to home totally outside the trip (NO) or totally inside the trip (YES) or Partially inside the trip (PARTIAL)

9 CSR: Maximum Travel Distance in kms to skip Actual Route Calculations

Maximum Estimated Travel Distance beyond which Scheduler will skip Actual Travel Time Computation and return Estimates.


This time value will be deducted form the required travel time to commute from Departure location to the first Task and from the last Task to Arrival location within a trip.

The following profiles will be allowed to set up at Technician level:





This time value will be deducted form the required travel time to commute from DeParture location to the first Task and from the last Task to Arrival location within a trip, only if the profile CSR: Include Commutes = Partial.

31

Uptake by Advanced Scheduler:

o To compute plan options Advanced Scheduler will query various profile option values. When any of the supported profile options at Technician level is setup, Advanced Scheduler will honor this value and will ignore the values present at the previous hierarchical levels (Territory > User > Responsibility > Application > Site). If no values are present at the Technician level Advanced Scheduler will search for this profile option value at Territory level.

o When any of the supported profile options at Territory level is setup, Advanced Scheduler will honor this value and will ignore the values present at the previous hierarchical levels (User > Responsibility > Application > Site).

o While searching plan options using Territory qualifiers, as one of the search criteria, Assignment Manager will return the Territory information for each of the Technicians to Advanced Scheduler. Advanced Scheduler will use the Territory information to query the profile option values set up at that Territory level.

o If Territory qualifiers are not used while searching plan options, Assignment Manager will not be able to return the Territory information for each of the Technicians. In this case, Advanced Scheduler will query the profile option values from the previous hierarchy (User> Responsibility > Application > Site)

o While optimizing across Technicians’ trips, through Optimization Across Trips concurrent program, the Technician and Territory level supported profile values will be fetched. Technician level supported profile values will be used if they are setup. Else, Territory level supported profile values will be used for each of the Technician. If a Technician is Part of multiple Territories the winning Territory, by rank, will be considered. If no profile values are identified at Territory level, User OR Responsibility OR Application OR Site (in hierarchy) level values will be used by optimization across trips concurrent program.

Refer to Section 4.3.6 for a Business Case.

Refer to Section 9.0 for the mockup user interface.

4.2 Business Model: Objects

• Not Applicable

32

4.3 Business Model: Process

4.3.1 Enhanced Scheduler-Spares Integration

In this section let us discuss few business processes based on the enhanced integration of Advanced Scheduler with Oracle Spares Management.

I: Manually Schedule a Task with Parts Requirement only to Technicians having all the Parts in

their Trunk Stock:

Profile Settings:

CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options = Yes

CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search = Technician Trunk Stock

Sl No Actor Action Comments

1 Service Coordinator Creates Task

2 Designated User Creates Parts Requirement for the Task

3 Dispatcher Queries the Task in the Dispatch Center

4 Dispatcher Invokes Schedule Task user interface

The check boxes will be checked based on the profile values ‘CSR: Parts

Requirement

Mandatory for Plan

Options’ and ‘CSR: Stocking Locations for

Parts search’.

5 System Plan options for the eligible Technicians with all required spare Parts in their trunk stock alone, are displayed in the Advise Tab view.

6 Dispatcher Selects a Plan option

7 Dispatcher Clicks on Schedule

8 System Schedules the Task to the selected Technician.

Once scheduled, Reservations are created for the required Parts. Reservation Details can be viewed in the Parts Requirement user interface.

33

II: Manually Schedule Task with Parts Requirement to Technicians who can have all the Parts

before the schedule start of the Task either from their Trunk Stock or can source from other

Warehouses in the supply chain:

Profile Settings:


CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search = Trunk and Warehouses







Requirement

Mandatory for Plan


Parts search’.

5 System Plan options for the eligible Technicians who can source all the required spare Parts either from their trunk stock or from the Warehouses are displayed in the Advise Tab view.




Once scheduled, Reservations / Internal orders are created for the required Parts. Details can be viewed in the Parts Requirement user interface.

34

III: Manually Schedule Task with Parts Requirement to Technicians having all/few/none of the

required Parts in their Trunk Stock:

Profile Settings:

CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options = No








Requirement

Mandatory for Plan


Parts search’.

5 System Plan options for the Technicians with all/few/none of the required spare Parts in their trunk stock, are displayed in the Advise Tab view.

The cost factor Parts Not Available Cost

will be applied to each of the plan option, which does not source all the required Spare Parts.

The plan options will be ordered by the lowest cost.





35

IV: Schedule Task with Parts Requirement considering Technicians having all/few/none of the

required Parts in their Trunk Stock through Autonomous Scheduler:

Profile Settings:






3 Dispatcher Queries the Tasks in the Dispatch Center

4 Dispatcher Invokes the Autonomous Scheduler Concurrent Program

5 Dispatcher Input the Task List Query Name

6 System The cost factor Parts Not Available Cost

will be applied to each of the plan option, which does not source all the required Spare Parts.


7 System Schedules Tasks to the Technician with the lowest cost plan option.


36

V: Schedule Task with Parts Requirement considering only Technicians with all the required Parts

in their Trunk Stock through Autonomous Scheduler:

Profile Settings:






3 Dispatcher Queries the Tasks in the Dispatch Center

4 Dispatcher Invokes the Autonomous Scheduler Concurrent Program

5 Dispatcher Input the Task List Query Name

6 System The cost factor Parts Not Available Cost

will not be applied to the plan options. Advanced Scheduler will not consider plan options that cannot source all the required Task Parts from the Trunk Stock.


7 System Schedules Tasks to the Technician with the lowest cost plan option.


37

In the below section let us discuss a business scenarios wherein the ‘Parts Not Available Cost’ cost factor is used by Scheduler. This cost factor will be applicable only when the Task has Parts requirement and CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options = No.

Assumption: All other cost factors are assumed to be zero

Profile Settings:



Cost Parameter Settings:

Parts Not Available Cost = 50

The following table displays the spare Parts requirement for a Task

Required Parts Required Quantity

AS54888 3

AS8947 2

The following table displays the Parts availability details for the eligible Technicians.

Technician Quantity in trunk stock

AS54888 AS8947

Grant Ronald 2 -

Martin Chris 2 2

Tull Patrick 4 -

Bramer Fred 5 4

In this case the Technicians identified by Advanced Scheduler posses few/all the required Part quantities to perform the Task. Plan options will be retrieved for all these Technicians accounting the new cost factor. This cost factor value will be added to the other cost parameter values computed to arrive at the total cost of each plan option.

The following table displays the details of cost calculation with respect to the new spares cost factor.

Technicians Required

Quantity

Available

Quantity

Deficit Cost for assigning Technician

without a required Part (A)

Grant Ronald 3 + 2 = 5 2 + 0 = 2 3 3 * 50 = 150

Martin Chris 3 + 2 = 5 2 + 2 = 4 1 1 * 50 = 50

Tull Patrick 3 + 2 = 5 3 + 0 = 3 2 2 * 50 = 100

Bramer Fred 3 + 2 = 5 3 + 2 = 5 0 0 * 50 = 0

38

Advanced Scheduler then will sort the plan options by the lowest cost as shown below.

Technicians Cost

Bramer Fred 0

Martin Chris 50

Tull Patrick 100

Grant Ronald 150

4.3.2 Influence of SLA Violation Cost by Task Priority in scheduling Tasks

Business Scenarios:

Case 1: Enforce Planned Dates to schedule Tasks

Assumptions:

• Cost per minute visiting too late = 10

• Profile CSR: Enforce plan window for Scheduler plan options = Yes

• Profile CSR: Plan Scope = 1

• All Tasks (T1 – T6) are in Assigned status.

• No travel time between Tasks is considered for the below case.

The pictorial representation of the Technicians’ trip is displayed below.

01-Dec-2008

Technician Name

Avery Felicia

Bramer Fred

Grant Ronald

08:00

T1 T2

12:00 10:00 14:00

T3

T4 T5 T6

17:00

39

The following table displays the details of the Technicians’ availability and schedules.

Technician Name Shift Hours Busy Hours Availability

Avery Felicia 08:00 – 17:00 Till 12:00 12:00 – 17:00

Bramer Fred 08:00 – 17:00 Till 10:00 10:00 – 17:00

Grant Ronald 08:00 – 17:00 Till 14:00 14:00 – 17:00

The following table displays the details of the to-be-scheduled Task (T7)

Task

Number

Task

Priority

Importance

Level

Effort Planned Start Planned End

T7 High 1 2 Hour 01-Dec-2008 08:30 01-Dec-2008 10:30

The simulated pictorial representation of the Technicians’ trip with the possibility of scheduling Task T7 is displayed below:

01-Dec-2008

Technician Name

Avery Felicia

Bramer Fred

Grant Ronald

Since none of the identified schedule option timings for Task T7 has the Schedule Start and Schedule End within the Planned Start and Planned End timings (as thus violating the SLA), Task T7 would be Auto Rejected if scheduled using Autonomous Scheduler. In the Schedule Task user interface during interactive scheduling, no plan options would be fetched for Task T7.

08:00

T1 T2

12:00 10:00 14:00

T3

T4 T5 T6

17:00

T7

T7

T7

16:00

40

Case 2: Scheduling a Medium Priority (2) Task which may Violate SLA

Assumptions:


• Profile CSR: Enforce plan window for Scheduler plan options = No


• All Tasks (T1 – T6) are in Assigned status.

• Current Time is 09:00 hrs. No travel time between Tasks is considered for the below case.

The pictorial representation of the Technicians’ trip is displayed below.

01-Dec-2008

Technician Name

Avery Felicia

Bramer Fred

Grant Ronald

The following table displays the details of the Technicians’ availability and schedules.

Technician Name Shift Hours Busy Hours Availability

Avery Felicia 08:00 – 17:00 Till 12:00 12:00 – 17:00

Bramer Fred 08:00 – 17:00 Till 10:00 10:00 – 17:00

Grant Ronald 08:00 – 17:00 Till 14:00 14:00 – 17:00

The following table displays the details of the to-be-scheduled Task (T7)

Task

Number

Task

Priority

Importance

Level

Effort Planned Start Planned End

T7 Medium 2 2 Hour 01-Dec-2008 06:30 01-Dec-2008 08:30

08:00

T1 T2

12:00 10:00 14:00

T3

T4 T5 T6

17:00

09:00

41

Since the current time is greater than the Planned End time of the Task, the new Planned Start time would be the current time and the Planned End Date would be Current Date/Time + value in profile ‘CSR: Plan Scope’. The Planned Dates are internally adjusted by Scheduler to identify Plan Options.

The simulated pictorial representation of the Technicians’ trip with Task T7 with the possibility of scheduling Task T7 is displayed below.

01-Dec-2008

Technician Name

Avery Felicia

Bramer Fred

Grant Ronald

The following table displays the schedule timing of Task T7 in the trips of Technicians.

Technician Name Scheduled Start Scheduled End SLA Violation Duration

Avery Felicia 01-Dec-2008 12:00 01-Dec-2008 14:00

01-Dec-2008 12:00

minus

01-Dec-2008 08:30

= 210 Minutes

Bramer Fred 01-Dec-2008 10:00 01-Dec-2008 12:00

01-Dec-2008 10:00

minus

01-Dec-2008 08:30

= 90 Minutes

Grant Ronald 01-Dec-2008 14:00 01-Dec-2008 16:00

01-Dec-2008 14:00

minus

01-Dec-2008 08:30

= 330 Minutes

08:00

T1 T2

12:00 10:00 14:00

T3

T4 T5 T6

17:00

T7

T7

T7

16:00

09:00

42

The following table displays the SLA Violation Cost calculation for the Technicians

Technician Name SLA Violation

Duration

Cost

Avery Felicia 210 Minutes = (10*210) / 2= 1050

Bramer Fred 90 Minutes = (10*90) / 2= 450

Grant Ronald 330 Minutes = (10*330) / 2 = 1650

Based on the SLA Violation Cost, the following table displays the order in which Scheduler will prefer the Technicians.

Technician Name Cost

Bramer Fred 450

Avery Felicia 1050

Grant Ronald 1650

Case 3: Reduction of SLA Violation Time by Optimization Across Trips Program

Assumptions:


• All other Cost Factors = 0

• Profile CSR: Enforce plan window for Scheduler plan options = No


• Travel Time required between Tasks in the Trip = 30 minutes Technicians A and Technician B work from 09:00 till 17:00 hrs. Current Time is 09:15 hours. Technician A has a Task T1 from 09:00 – 10:00 hrs. The Task is in Assigned status (released to technician). Technician B has a Personal Task (Doctor Appointment) from 09:00 till 11:00 hrs. Below is the current state of the trips of two Technicians A and B.

01-Mar-2009

Technician Name

A

B

09:00

T1

13:00 11:00 15:00

Doctor Appt

17:00

09:15

43

Technician Name Availability

From To

A 10:00 17:00

B 11:00 17:00

Details of a Medium Priority Task that needs to be scheduled are given in the table below. Task T2 has not been scheduled within its Planned timings.

Task Effort

(mins)

Task Priority

Importance

Level

(P)

Planned Start Planned End

T2 60 2 01-Mar-09 06:00 01-Mar-09 09:00

Scheduler identifies Technician A and B as eligible Technicians. The cost of the plan options based on the Technicians availability is displayed in the following table.

Task

Task Priority

Importance

Level

(P)

Technician Scheduled

Start

Late in

Minutes

(L)

Too Late Cost

along with

Importance

Plan

option Cost

A 10:30 90 (90 * 10) / 2 =

450 450

T2 2

B 11:30 150 (150 * 10) / 2 =

750 750

Scheduler assigns the Task to Technician A, as the cost of the scheduling to Technician A is lower than Technician B. The current state of the Technicians’ Trip after scheduling Task T2 is displayed below.

01-Mar-2009

Technician Name

A

B

Assume after scheduling these two Tasks, Technician B for some reason cancels his Personal Task. Co-incidentally at that moment the Optimization Across Trips Concurrent Program is executed in the background.

09:00

T1

13:00 11:00 15:00

Doctor Appt

17:00

T2

44

The current state of the Technicians’ Trip before Optimization is displayed below.

01-Mar-2009

Technician Name

A

B

Assume Optimizer picks the above trips of Technician A and B. Assume that the current time when the Optimization Program is executed is 09:30 hrs.

Optimization Across Trips program will not pick up Task T1 as the Task is in Assigned Status (Already released to Technician). Only Task T2 will be picked by Optimization Across Trips program to find more optimized schedule options. The following table displays the various plan options and cost calculations for the Medium Priority Task T2, when it is attempted to be re-scheduled to some other optimal time between Technicians A and B.

Options Technician

Trip

Sequence Scheduled

Start of

Task T2

Late in

Minutes

(L)

Too Late

Cost along

with

Importance

Plan

option

Cost

1 A T1 -> T2 10:30 90 (90 * 10) / 2=

450 450

2 B T2 09:30 30 (30 * 10) / 2=

150 150

So, as the result of Optimization Across Trips program, Task T2 would be rescheduled from Technician A’s Trip to Technician B’s trip, reducing the SLA violation. The current state of the Technicians’ Trip after Optimization is displayed below.

01-Mar-2009

Technician Name

A

B

09:00

T1

13:00 11:00 15:00 17:00

T2

09:00

T1

13:00 11:00 15:00 17:00

T2

09:30

09:30

45

4.3.3 Influence of Cost for making a second trip to the same site in scheduling Tasks

Business Scenarios:

Let us analyze a business case based on the proposed solution.

Case 1: To-be-scheduled Task planned timings overlap with a Task at same customer site

Assume Cost for making a second trip to the same site = 50

The following table displays the Task details. Tasks 1,3 are for the same customer site location and Task 2 for a different customer site. Assume all the 3 Tasks are in schedulable status.

Task Site

Location

Planned

Start

Planned

End

Effort Scheduled

Start

Scheduled

End

Technician

1 L1 01-Dec-2008 08:00:00

02-Dec-2008 11:00:00

1 Hour 01-Dec-2008 09:00:00

01-Dec-2008 10:00:00

A

2 L2 01-Dec-2008 08:00:00

02-Dec-2008 11:00:00

1 Hour 01-Dec-2008 10:30:00

01-Dec-2008 11:30:00

A

3 L1 01-Dec-2008 08:00:00

02-Dec-2008 11:00:00

1 Hour - - -

From the above table it is clear that Task 1 and Task 2 have been scheduled to Technician A on 01st Dec. Task 3 is yet to scheduled.

The following table displays the plan options for Task 3.

Technician Plan option (Figurative) Plan option times Tag

A 01-Dec-2008 10:30:00 to 01-Dec-2008 11:30:00

1

A 01-Dec-2008 12:00:00 to 01-Dec-2008 13:00:00

2

B 01-Dec-2008 09:00:00 to 01-Dec-2008 10:00:00

3

Technicians A, B are the eligible Technicians. Task 3 can be scheduled either before Task 2 or after Task 2. Hence we see two plan options for Technician A.

1 2 3

1 2 3

3

46

The following table displays the details of the cost calculations

Tag Cost for making a second trip

to the same site (A)

Cost of Plan

options considering

other cost

parameters (B)

Total cost of

plan option

(A + B)

1 0 * 50 = 0 300 300

2 1 * 50 = 50 300 350

3 2 * 50 = 100 300 400

Advanced Scheduler will select Tag1 as it has the least plan option cost. Hence the two Tasks Task 1 and Task 3 will be scheduled sequentially to Technician A.

Case 2: None of the Technicians at the same customer site location is skilled to perform the to-be-scheduled Task

Assume Cost for making a second trip to the same site = 50

The following table displays the Task details. Task 1 and Task 2 are for the same customer site location.

Task Site

Location

Planned

Start

Planned

End

Effort Scheduled

Start

Scheduled

End

Technician

1 L1 01-Dec-2008 08:00:00

02-Dec-2008 11:00:00

1 Hour 01-Dec-2008 09:00:00

01-Dec-2008 10:00:00

A

2 L1 01-Dec-2008 08:00:00

02-Dec-2008 11:00:00

1 Hour - - -

From the above table it is clear that Task 1 has been scheduled to Technician A on 01st Dec. Task 2 is yet to scheduled.

Advanced Scheduler identifies the skilled Technicians as shown below, eligible to perform Task 2.

Technicians

B

C

D

When plan options are computed for these Technicians ‘Cost for making a second trip to the same site’ will not be applied as Technician A is not skilled, hence not eligible, to perform the Task T2.

47

4.3.4 Influence of Skill level Cost factor in Advanced Scheduler

Business Scenario:

Let us analyze few business cases based on the proposed solution.

Case 1: When highly skilled Technician needs to be given preference

Profile CSF: Skill Level match = Greater Than or Equal To and Skill Level Cost = 50

The following table displays the Task skill requirements

Skill Type Skill Name Level

Line 1 Product skills AS5888 Trainee (1) Line 2 Language skills Spanish Trainee (1)

The following table displays the skill levels of the Technicians.

Eligible Technicians Skill Level Line 1 Skill Level Line 2

A Standard (2) Expert (3) B Standard (2) Trainee (1) C Standard (2) Standard (2) D Trainee (1) Standard (2) E Trainee (1) Trainee (1) F Trainee (1) Expert (3)

The following table displays the skill cost calculations and final plan option costs.

Eligible

Technicians

Skill

Level

Line 1

Skill

Level

Line 2

Skill

Line1

Cost

Skill

Line2

Cost

Total

Skill

Cost (S)

Plan

Option

Cost (B)

Plan Option

Cost with skill

cost (S + B)

A 2 3 50 / 2 = 25

50 / 3 = 16.66 = 17

25 + 17 = 42

400 442

B 2 1 50 / 2 = 25

50 / 1 = 50

25 + 50 = 75

400 475

C 2 2 50 / 2 = 25

50 / 2 = 25

25 + 25 = 50

400 450

D 1 2 50 / 1 = 50

50 / 2 = 25

50 + 25 = 75

410 485

E 1 1 50 / 1 = 50

50 / 1 = 50

50 + 50 = 100

410 510

F 1 3 50 / 1 = 50

50 / 3 = 16.66 = 17

50 + 17 = 67

470 537

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The following table lists the sequence in which Advanced Scheduler sorts the plan options

Eligible

Technicians

Plan Option Cost Reason

A 442 Among three Technicians A, B, C with similar plan option cost, considering other cost factors, Technician A has the highest skill level

C 450 Among three Technicians A, B, C with similar plan option cost, considering other cost factors, Technician C has the second highest skill level

B 475 Among three Technicians A, B, C with similar plan option cost, considering other cost factors, Technician B has the third highest skill level

D 485 Though Technician D and B have the same skill level cost, Technician D is pushed down in preference as the other cost incurred due to other cost factors is more than Technician B

E 510 Technician E has the lowest skill level and high amount of cost contributed from other cost factors. Hence is pushed down the preference.

F 537 Technician F is second best skilled after A. Since the cost contributed from other cost factors is high, he is pushed down to the last.

Case 2: When lower skilled Technician needs to be given preference

When the service providers need to send the lower skilled Technicians among the available Technicians, they need to update the skill cost parameter to a negative value.

Profile CSF: Skill Level match = Greater Than or Equal To and Skill Level Cost = - 50

The following table displays the Task skill requirements

Skill Type Skill Name Level

Line 1 Product skills AS5888 Trainee (1) Line 2 Language skills Spanish Trainee (1)

The following table displays the skill levels of the Technicians.

Eligible Technicians Skill Level Line 1 Skill Level Line 2

A Standard (2) Expert (3)

B Standard (2) Trainee (1) C Standard (2) Standard (2) D Trainee (1) Standard (2) E Trainee (1) Trainee (1) F Trainee (1) Expert (3)

49

The following table displays the skill cost calculations and final plan option costs.

Eligible

Technicians

Skill

Level

Line 1

Skill Level

Line 2

Skill

Line1

Cost

Skill

Line2

Cost

Total

Skill

Cost (S)

Plan

Option

Cost (B)

Plan Option Cost

with skill cost (S

+ B)

A 2 3 -50 / 2 = -25

-50 / 3 = - 16.66 = - 17

-(25 + 17) = - 42

400 358

B 2 1 -50 / 2 = - 25

-50 / 1 = -50

-(25 + 50) = -75

400 325

C 2 2 -50 / 2 = - 25

- 50 / 2 = - 25

-(25 + 25) = - 50

400 350

D 1 2 -50 / 1 = - 50

-50 / 2 = - 25

-(50 + 25) = - 75

410 335

E 1 1 -50 / 1 = - 50

-50 / 1 = - 50

-(50 + 50) = - 100

410 310

F 1 3 -50 / 1 = - 50

-50 / 3 = - 16.66 = - 17

-(50 + 17) = - 67

470 403

The following table lists the sequence in which Advanced Scheduler sorts the plan options

Eligible

Technicians

Rounded Plan Option

Cost with skill cost

Reason

E 310 Technician E has the lowest skill level and his other cost factors also make him to be the lowest cost plan option

B 325 Technician B and D have the same skill level, but the other cost factors contribute B to be preferred up the order.

D 335 Technician B and D have the same skill level, but the other cost factors contribute B to be preferred up the order than D.

C 350 Technician C is the next lowest level skilled Technician after E, B, D.

A 358 Between A and F, A is more skilled than F. But still the other cost factors have pushed Technician F down the order.

F 403 Technician F has the highest cost plan option and hence pushed down the order.

50

4.3.5 Setup Cost parameters by Territory

Let us analyze the proposed solution through a simple business scenario. For simplicity let us take few of the cost parameters to understand the proposed solution.

Business scenario:

The following table displays the Technician names and the Territory information available with Advanced Scheduler to compute plan options.

S No Technician Territory Name

1 Avery Felicia Bay Area North – Primary

2 Bramer Fred Bay Area North – Primary

3 Desmond Paul Bay Area North – Secondary

4 Grant Ronald -

The following table displays few of the cost parameter settings at Territory and site level.

Cost Parameter Values

Global (Site

Level) Bay Area North – Primary

Bay Area North – Secondary

Cost per unit traveling distance

10 15 20

Cost per minute traveling time

5 10 15

Cost per minute a resource is working overtime

100 150 200

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The following table displays the cost of the plan option for the Technicians identified by Territory qualifiers and resource suggestion criteria.

Technician Territory

Name

Travel

distance

Travel

time

No of

minutes

working

overtime

Cost Calculation

Avery Felicia Bay Area North - Primary

10 15 15 10*15+15*10+15*150 =

2550

(Travel distance * Cost

per unit travel distance +

Travel time * Cost per

minute travel time +

Overtime * Cost per

minute a resource is

working overtime)

Bramer Fred Bay Area North – Primary

15 20 20 15*15+20*10+20*150 =

3425

Desmond Paul Bay Area North – Secondary

15 18 15 15*20+18*15+15*200 =

3570

Grant Ronald (Suggested resource)

8 10 10 8*10+10*5+10*100 =

1130

In the above table we can visualize that except for Technician Grant Ronald all other Technicians cost calculations are done from the cost values set at respective Territory level. Since Grant Ronald is not attached to any Territory, the cost calculation parameters will be queried from the site level settings.

52

4.3.6 Setup profile options by Territory and Technician

Through the proposed solution in section 4.1.6 few profile options will be supported at Territory and Technician levels. Let us analyze the proposed solution to support profile options at Territory and Technician levels, through a simple business scenario.

Business Scenario:

The following table displays the Technician names, Territory information and setup of profile options.

S No Technician Territory Name Profile

options set

at Territory

Level

Profile

options set at

Technician

Level

1 Avery Felicia Bay Area North - Primary Y N

2 Bramer Fred Bay Area North – Primary Y N

3 Desmond Paul Bay Area North – Secondary N N

4 Grant Ronald N Y

5 Hunt Mark N N

o For Avery Felicia, the supported profile values at Territory level will be queried to compute the plan options. Other required profile values will be queried from the User/Responsibility/Application/Site levels.

o For Bramer Fred, the supported profile values at Territory level will be queried to compute the plan options. Other required profile values will be queried from the User/Responsibility/Application/Site levels.

o For Desmond Paul, the supported profile values at Territory/Technician level will not be queried, as there are no profile values set at those levels. To calculate plan options for Desmond Paul, the profile values at User level will be used. Other required profile values will be queried from the Responsibility/Application/Site levels.

o For Grant Ronald, the supported profile values at Technician level will be queried to compute the plan options. Since the Territory information is not available, all other required profile values will be queried from the User/Responsibility/Application/Site levels.

o For Hunt Mark, the supported profile values at Technician/Territory level will be not queried to compute the plan options. All other required profile values will be queried from the User/Responsibility/Application/Site levels.

4.4 Assumptions

None

53

5. Impacts, Dependencies & Uptake

5.1 Impacts

• Advanced Scheduler

• Dispatch Center

• Spares Management

• Field Service Wireless, Technician Portal, Admin Portal

5.1.1 Impact on and Advanced Scheduler

• Advanced Scheduler need to add the new cost factors and consider them while calculating cost options for the Task

• Advanced Scheduler need to support setup of cost parameters by individual Territories and query those parameter values while scheduling Tasks to the Technicians of those Territories.

• Advanced Scheduler need to support few profile options at Territory and Technician levels and consider them while calculating plan options for the Task

• New profiles need to be introduced to implement the proposed solution in the document.

5.1.1.1 Design Impacts

o New user interface has to be built in to implement the proposed features in this document.

o Existing ‘Parameters Settings’ user interface needs to be updated to implement the proposed solutions.

o Schedule Task Java Program Units:

o In order to implement the new changes proposed to support personal travel times while scheduling Tasks the Scheduler program will be impacted.

o Scheduler APIs need to pass the new profile values with respect to spare Parts sourcing to the Spares Management APIs and retrieve back the returned table of records.

5.1.2 Impact on Dispatch Center

5.1.2.1 Design Impacts

o Schedule Task user interface needs to be modified to include the new features proposed in this document.

54

5.1.3 Impact on Spares Management

• Current Scheduler-Spares Integration API has to determine the number of parts not available. API needs to be modified to return how many Parts cannot be sourced, reserved or ordered. This information needs to be passed back to the Scheduler.

• Depending on the profile ‘CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search’, Spares API need to search spare parts either from the Trunk Stock or the Warehouses or from both of the Locations. Based on from where the spare parts are sourced either the Parts need to be Reserved or Ordered.

• Depending on the profile ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ is set to ‘Yes’, Spares API need to filter the Technicians with the Spare Parts availability details to Advanced Scheduler.

5.1.4 Impact on Mobile Field Service Solutions

• Field Service Wireless, Technician Portal and Admin Portal call Scheduler APIs to schedule Tasks from within their applications. The User Interfaces will not be modified, but the API calls will be modified similar to Scheduler-Spares integration APIs. These applications need to make sure that the new changes within Advanced Scheduler do not impact the integration.

5.1.5 Impact on Existing Users

The new features proposed through this FDD will benefit existing users.

Advanced Scheduler will not use Profile ‘CSF: Default Spares Availability’ any more. The profile will be obsolete. It will be replaced by a similar profile ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ introduced as Part of this document. All code dependencies on this profile name need to be validated.

5.2 Dependencies

5.2.1 Dependencies on Other Products/Initiatives

• Spares Management

5.2.2 Other Products/Initiatives Dependent on this Product Solution

• None

5.3 Documentation

Documentation needs to be created or changed in

o Field Service Implementation Guide

o Field Service Users Guide

o Advanced Scheduler User Guide

55

6. Solution Components

6.1 Solution Component List

The components that make up the solution for the enhancement requests are as below.

o Advanced Scheduler Program Units

o Data Tables

o Advanced Scheduler New/modified user interfaces.

56

7. Advanced Scheduler Program Units

The existing program units to calculate the cost of plan options needs to be modified to accommodate the new cost factors. The program has to be modified to query cost parameters from Territory levels if available. The program has to be modified to query profile option values from Territory and Technician levels too.

Scheduler Program Units need to be modified to honor the new profiles ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ and ‘CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search’. Depending on the profile value set, the values need to be passed to the Spares Management module to retrieve the filtered set of records with the spares detail information. The behavior of the profiles is explained in Section 4.1.1.

57

8. Data Tables

New rows and columns need be added in the cost parameters table to support the proposed solutions in the document.

New table needs to be created to store and retrieve the profile and cost parameters set at Territory/Technician levels.

58

9. Advanced Scheduler New/Modified User Interfaces

Modified Schedule Task User Interface:

Schedule Task User Interface Description:

Existing Spares Availability region will be modified to reflect the proposed functionality. 3 new checkboxes will be added.

• Parts Mandatory • Technician Trunk Stock • Warehouses

59

The table below describes only the behavior of the Spares section in the Schedule Task user interface.

S.NO Field Label Default Behavior

1 Parts Mandatory

Read from the profile value CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory

for Plan Options

The check box will be enabled only if the to-be-scheduled Task has Parts requirement defined AND The Assistance Level option is either ‘Intelligent’ or ‘Window To Promise’ Mode. The check box will be checked if profile value CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options = Yes The check box will be unchecked if profile value CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options = No Users will be allowed to override the current state of the check boxes in the Schedule Task User interface.

2 Technician Trunk Stock

Read from the profile value CSR: Stocking

Locations for Parts

search

The check box will be enabled only if the to-be-scheduled Task has Parts requirement defined AND The Assistance Level option is either ‘Intelligent’ or ‘Window To Promise’ Mode. The check box will be checked if profile value CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search = Technician Trunk Stock OR Trunk and Warehouses Users will be allowed to override the current state of the check boxes in the Schedule Task User interface.

3 Warehouses Read from the profile value CSR: Stocking

Locations for Parts

search

The check box will be enabled only if the to-be-scheduled Task has Parts requirement defined AND The Assistance Level option is either ‘Intelligent’ or ‘Window To Promise’ Mode. The check box will be checked if profile value CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search = Warehouses OR Trunk and Warehouses Users will be allowed to override the current state of the check boxes in the Schedule Task User interface.

When the profile ‘CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options’ = Yes and both the check boxes (Technician Trunk Stock, Warehouses) are unchecked in the Schedule Task user interface, an Error Message ‘Please select atleast one of the Preferred Stocking Locations’ will be displayed when the Search button is pressed. When all three checkboxes are unchecked, spares availability is not checked at all.

60

Modified Existing User Interface ‘Parameter Settings’:

On clicking on the button ‘Advanced Settings’ the new user interface

window will be invoked

61

Mockup User Interface to update Profile Values and Cost Parameters at Territory Level:

Mockup User Interface to update Cost Parameters at Territory Level:

62

Caveat:

During the TDD phase, feasibility to design a new interface to view and update profiles defined at all levels (Site, Application, Responsibility, User, Territory, Technician) will be done. This will avoid users navigating to FND profiles to set up profile options till user levels and setup Territory / Technician level supported profiles in a separate user interface. This involves in depth analysis on the performance of Scheduler and the feasibility of achieving this proposed solution. Though the design approach might differ, the proposed functionality in sections 4.1.5 and 4.1.6 will remain the same.

63

10. Seed Data

10.1 Cost Parameters

10.1.1 New Cost Parameters

This section lists the new cost parameters to be added in the CSR_COSTS_ALL_B table.

Cost Parameter Description Value

Skill Level Cost 50

Cost for making a second trip to the same site 50

Parts Not Available Cost 50

10.2 Profile Options

10.2.1 New Profile Option Names

This section lists new profile options to be created

Profile Option Level Requirements

Site App Resp User Territory Technician Values Default

Value

CSR: Rejected Task

Status due to Parts

Unavailability

√ √ √ √ All Valid

Task

Statuses

AutoReject

CSR: Parts

Requirement Mandatory

for Plan Options

√ √ √ √ Yes / No No

CSR: Stocking

Locations for Parts

search

√ √ √ √ Technician

Trunk

Stock

Warehouse

s

Trunk and

Warehouse

s

Technician

Trunk

Stock

64

CSR: Rejected Task Status due to Parts Unavailability

When Autonomous Scheduler rejects a Task due to Parts unavailability the Task status will be updated to the status value present in this profile value. CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options:

Autonomous Scheduler will consider the plan options of ONLY Technicians with availability of all the required Parts to perform the Task, if the profile is set to ‘Yes’. Advanced Scheduler will consider the plan options for the Technicians, even if they do not have all the required Parts to perform the Task, if the profile is set to ‘No’. Schedule Tasks User Interface defaults from the profile option setting, but the Dispatchers will be able to change the options. CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts search:

Based on the profile value the spare Parts for the Task are searched in the Technicians’ trunk stock or the manned stock locations available in the supply chain or in both the locations.

The following table displays additional details on the profiles to be created.

Profile Name Application User Profile Name Description

CSR_PARTS_AUTO_REJECT_STATUS_ID Scheduler

CSR: Rejected Task Status due to Parts Unavailability

CSR_PARTS_MANDATORY Scheduler

CSR: Parts

Requirement

Mandatory for Plan

Options

CSR_PARTS_PREF_LOCATIONS Scheduler

CSR: Stocking

Locations for Parts

search

10.3 Lookups

The following table displays the new lookups that need to be created to support the proposed profile values and values in the user interfaces.

Type Meaning Application Access

Level

Description

CSR_PARTS_MANDATORY Specify if All Task Parts are mandatory for scheduling a Task

Scheduler System

CSR_STOCKING_LOCATIONS Stocking Locations to Search for Task Parts

Scheduler System

65

The following table describes the values to be added in the lookups

Type Code Meaning Description Tag From To Enabled

YES Yes Yes 31-Nov-2008 Y CSR_PARTS_MANDATORY

NO No No 31-Nov-2008 Y

TRUNK Technician Trunk Stock

Technician Trunk Stock

31-Nov-2008 Y

MANNED Warehouses

Warehouses

31-Nov-2008 Y CSR_STOCKING_LOCATIO

NS

TRUNK_MANNED



31-Nov-2008 Y

10.4 Messages

The following message needs to be created.

Message Name Message Text Application Type

CSF_PARTS_PREF_LOCATION Please select atleast one of the Preferred Stocking Locations Field Service Error

66

11. Demo Recommendations

11.1 Target Audience

Customers / Partners / anyone who is interested in the Service products

11.2 Key Concepts

The key concepts are as follows:

11.2.1 Setup of cost parameters by Territory

11.2.2 Setup of profile options by Territory

11.2.3 Setup of profile options by Technician

11.2.4 Schedule Task with Parts Requirement to Technicians with All the Required Parts

11.2.5 Schedule Task with Parts Requirement to Technicians with Few/None/All the Required Parts

11.2.6 Schedule Task with Parts Requirement to Technicians sourcing Parts from the possible Stocking

Locations

67

12. Test Scenario Recommendations

12.1 Check if all cost parameters are able to be setup at each Territory level

12.2 Check if Territory level cost parameters are applied while calculating plan options

12.3 Check if site level cost parameters are applied when Territory level cost parameters do not exist

12.4 Check if the Territory level supported profile values alone are allowed to be setup at

Territory level

12.5 Check if the Technician level supported profile values alone are allowed to be setup at

Technician level

12.6 Check if Territory level profile values are applied while calculating plan options

12.7 Check if user level profile values are applied when Territory level profile values do not exist

12.8 Check if Technician level profile values are applied while calculating plan options

12.9 Check if Territory level profile values are applied when Technician level profile values do not exist

12.10 Check SLA violation cost by Task priority

12.11 Check if we are able to schedule Task with parts to Technicians with few/none/all Parts

12.12 Check if we are able to source Parts from different Stocking Locations to schedule Tasks

12.13 Check the cost factor to be applied while scheduling same site Tasks to different

Technicians

12.14 Check the skill level cost factor to be applied while computing plan options for different skill level

Technicians

12.15 Check if the old and new cost parameter values are applied in Optimization Across Trips Program

also

12.16 Check if the Territory level profile values are used while Optimizing different Technicians’ trips.

12.17 Check if the Technician level profile values are used while Optimizing different Technicians’ trips.

68

13. Open and Closed Issues

13.1 Open Issues

No. Description Date

Raised

Priority Owner Action Target

Date

Priority: H= High; M=Medium, L=Low

69

13.2 Closed Issues


Raised

Priority Owner Resolution Date

Closed

1 Setup Profile options by

Territory

Understand how Profiles could be handled via User level profiles but Territory level is mentioned as well. How will this be accomplished given the structure for profiles?

08/26/2008 H NCR Oracle Dev: Impacted profiles are explicitly listed in the requirements section of FDD. Some profiles will be supplemented by setups at Territory level. Will be covered in the solution design phase of the FDD and will be sent out in few weeks.

09/02/08

2 Setup Cost Parameters

by Territory How will this be maintained if set at Territory or Individual Tech level for multiples as the Scheduler Costs are system wide?

08/26/2008 H NCR Oracle Dev: Yes. Currently the Cost Parameters are set at System Level. Only the Cost Parameter listed in the requirements section 3.1.2 will be expanded to the Territory Level.

09/02/08

3 Technician visiting same

site Cost Factor How is this being accomplished and will it be based on all Task statuses (Those with "schedulable" flag enabled) or just committed Tasks?

08/26/2008 H NCR Oracle Dev: All Tasks ‘Scheduled’ and not in a status having On Hold, Rejected flags will be considered. We consider only the Plan Window ((the time between the Planned Start Date Time and Planned End Date Time) for identifying the other Tasks scheduled to the specific customer site. Refer to section 4.1.3 for more details.

09/02/08

4 Inspections Log # 6: Agreement with Oracle to add the 2 new parameters Min Travel and Max Travel

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Max Travel (Excluded Travel within shift) is Part of Profile settings proposed at Territory level (section 4.1.6). All Cost Parameters will be available to set up at Territory Level. Start Before/Fisnih Late cost factors (Cost for Visiting too early and Cost for Visiting too late) are Part of solution (section 4.1.5) NCR agreed. See the closed issue#24 below as well.

12/17/08

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5 Inspections Log # 13: It appears we have the formula included this section (4.1.2) and the other sections have the formula's in section 4.3.x. All references to section 4.3.x are incorrect after 4.1.2

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Agreed. FDD will be updated with correct references. Updated sections 4.1.1, 4.1.2, 4.1.3, 4.1.4, 4.1.5 and 4.1.6.

12/17/08

6 Inspections Log # 14: If Solution 1 is the proposed solution that is going to be used, why is Solution 2 in the document?

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle documented all solutions considered. Solution 1 is selected in conclusion. Not an issue. NCR agreed.

12/17/08

7 Inspections Log # 15: Is the Task Priority Importance Level used in any other calculations or for anything else?

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Not aware of any other place the Task priority is referenced.

12/17/08

8 Inspections Log # 16: NCR needs to discuss the use cases more to understand the SLA costing. We don't think the formula's used now will help facilitate the scheduling any Task that have missed its SLA.

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Agreed. FDD will be updated to include examples showing cost calculations for same Tasks, but with several options. Updated Business process section 4.3.2 with cases for SLA violation See Also Closed issue# 25 below

12/17/08

9 Inspections Log # 17: What is the definition of same customer site locations. Is this by address line 1 and Postal Code?

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle has clarified the definition of Same site as the Party Site TCA record or the Geometry information (Latitude and Longitude) information of the Task. NCR agreed.

12/17/08

10 Inspections Log # 18: What happens if we have multiple guys on site already, how will the costing work. Will both get the lower value cost ( 50 )

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Cost will be applicable only for options presented for new Task (currently being scheduled). Cost will not be applied to the Technicians already on site. This cost will also be

12/17/08

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considered by the Optimization process. NCR agreed. See also the closed issue#26 below

11 Inspections Log # 19: We need to make sure that the additional cost is only applied if the CE at site doesn't have the skill to run the current Task being schedule

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Yes. Skills requirement will be considered. Cost will be applicable only for options presented for new Task (currently being scheduled). Cost will not be applied to the Technicians already on site. This cost will also be considered by the Optimization process. Oracle will clarify in FDD. NCR agreed. The solution is as below. ‘Scheduler will identify Technicians only if they meet the skill requirements OR if they are preferred resource of the to-be-scheduled Task. If the identified Technicians are already scheduled to perform a Task at the same Customer Site Location as the to-be-scheduled Task, then the cost will be applied based on the plan options.' Updated section 4.1.3 third bulled point, 4.1.5 and 4.3.3.

12/17/08

12 Inspections Log # 20: Why is the value being double? From 50 to 100

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle explained the reasoning behind the proposed behavior. Oracle stated that this will not be configurable. NCR accepted.

12/17/08

13 Inspections Log # 21: If the total cost value is a negative number will the total cost value equal "0" OR will Scheduler handle the negative value?

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle clarified that the Advanced Scheduler handles negative costs. Not an issue. NCR agreed.

12/17/08

14 Inspections Log # 22: NCR needs this cost to transverse up the hierarchy just as it does

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle clarified the intended behavior and the potential performance issue with

12/17/08

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today on the Territory setups.

hierarchical traversal. NCR Accepted

15 Inspections Log # 23: 2nd sentence doesn't make sense. Remove "few"?

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Yes. Agreed. FDD will be updated. Updated section 4.1.6

12/17/08

16 Inspections Log # 24: On page 24 the 3rd bullet is stated we expect the functionality to work. The 4 previous bullets on pages 23 and 24 contradict the functionality we would expect.

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle will introduce a new batch (concurrent) program to propagate cost factors down the Territory structure from any level to the lower levels. Every time the program is run, the values at the lower levels will be overridden with the values at the Territory selected for propagation. NCR agreed. In section 4.1.6, updated the bullet points under 'Uptake By Scheduler' heading.

12/17/08

17 Inspections Log # 25: Since Part of the FDD phase should be reviewing screen mock-ups for "usability", waiting until the TDD phase to determine the new UI prohibits acceptance of the FDD

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle will add existing UI mockups (have at this point) but may be different UI in order to add FND profiles and maintainability. NCR agreed. Updated Section 9 with the mockup UIs.

12/17/08

18 Inspections Log # 26: Will NCR be aPart of the TDD phase?

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle will keep the FDDs updated based on the new UI mockups, as and when they are made available. It will share the FDD updates w.r.t. UIs with NCR. NCR agreed.

12/17/08

19 Inspections Log #27: What is meant by the "Quantity Can Be Sourced (Ordered)"? The formula on pg 26 should only have the "Quantity in Trunk". NCR requires that we only want to look at the

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Advanced Scheduler will continue to consider Cost for sourcing Parts. Oracle will forward the Spares-Scheduler integration White paper to NCR. This feature is optional, if NCR wishes not to set up

12/17/08

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resources that have the Parts in their trunk.

these costs. NCR agreed.

20 Inspections Log # 28: Since Part of the FDD phase should be reviewing screen mock-ups for "usability", waiting until the TDD phase to determine the new UI prohibits acceptance of the FDD

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle will add existing UI mockups (have at this point) but may be different UI in order to add FND profiles and maintainability. NCR agreed. Updated Section 9 with the mockup UIs.

12/17/08

21 Inspections Log # 29: Need to add the Test Scenarios to the document

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Oracle QA team will come up with detailed test scripts, but all the possible combinations would not be applicable. FDD will be updated to provide some more details. NCR agreed. Updated Section 12

12/17/08

22 DC and Scheduler FDD Issues ppt: Maintenance of Territory definition details and copying Cost Parameters to child Territories

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: Through the current Web ADI feature import and export of Territory information is possible. A tool will be designed to copy the cost parameters from the Parent Territory to the underneath Child Territories. Updated Section 3.1.5 and 4.1.5

12/17/08

23 DC and Scheduler FDD Issues ppt: New status for Task rejected due to Parts unavailability

12/17/08 H NCR Oracle Dev: A new profile will be introduced to enable Service Providers identify Tasks rejected by Autonomous Scheduler only due to Parts Unavailability. Updated Sections 3.1.1, 4.1.1 and 10.2.1

12/17/08

24 Max Travel still not in list of Parameters

01/21/09 H NCR Discussion around what is meant by "Max Travel". NCR had meant Max Travel Time but Oracle had meant Max Travel Distance (which is already a profile).

01/23/09

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NCR agreed to accept use of Max Travel distance as parameter at Territory level. Srinivas Ramakuri to update FDD to include Max Travel Distance as Cost Parameter at Territory level Updated the FDD.

25 Need clarification on how multiple Task(s) created with similar SLA (HH:MM) with different cost calculations (different priority) are handled with Autonomous Scheduler?

01/21/09 H NCR Oracle Response 16-Jan-09:

Examples in FDD cover this. Needs further discussion/clarification Conference Call Resolution

22-Jan-09:

Discussion around use of query and Advance Scheduler and Optimizer. Both Parties agreed that both need to work the same. Discussion also was raised about movement of Task with Parts Req associated. Oracle agreed to include ability to move Task with Parts Req as long as it was post delivery of Parts order and did not violate any other criteria and provide a warning if it did (risk of missing SLA for instance). This will be done whether from drag-n-drop, Scheduler, Recalculate Trip or Optimizer Updated the FDD with the proposed behavior of the Optimizer. Drag and Drop of Tasks with Parts is currently supported. New reservations / orders are created if the Task is rescheduled to a different Technician and the old reservations are canceled. If Parts are not available with the new Technician Warning message will be displayed.

02/05/09

26 Case 1 should be Task 1 and Task 3 sequential to Tech A; Case 2 - What makes Technician A not eligible to take the Task? Need to spell out in FDD

01/21/09 H NCR Srinivas Ramakuri confirmed that our assumptions were correct on both cases and that the FDD will be updated. Updated the FDD

02/05/09

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27 New 31 - Section 4.3.1: In each scenario in this section, Step 2 (Creates Part Requirement for the Task) could be done by the Service Coordinator, a Call Center agent, a Remote Support Specialist, a Technician or through a system interface. The Actor should therefore be more generic than "Service Coordinator".

02/16/09 H NCR Oracle Dev: Replaced the word ‘Service Coordinator’ with ‘Designated User’ wherever appropriate. Issue closed.

02/17/09

28 New 32 - Section 9.0: The document states that the new profiles (CSR: Parts Requirement Mandatory for Plan Options and CSR: Stocking Locations for Parts Search) will default the checks in the boxes of the Scheduler UI. Can you confirm that these will be overridable by the Service Coordinator during Scheduling?

02/16/09 H NCR Oracle Dev: Updated the sections 9.0, 4.1.1.1 and 4.1.1.3 Issue closed.

02/17/09

29 New 33 - Section 4.3.4: Total Skill Cost (S) is incorrect for Eligible Technicians A & B (amounts correct but values incorrect i.e., 25+17 = 42, not 17 + 13 = 42)

02/16/09 H NCR Oracle Dev: Updated section 4.3.4 Issue closed.

02/17/09

30 Item 16 - Section 4.1.2: Previously, NCR opened Item 16 in reference to Task Priority and SLA violations. After the call on 1/22 (see Closed Issue 25 in Final.1 document) Oracle agreed that Optimizer and Scheduler would work the same. However on page 25, there is no reference to how this will work with optimization. In the example on page 25 we need to confirm what happens with the original scheduled task that is moved outside of the planned window when the second task with a higher priority is scheduled. We would expect the original task to try to find another location without changing

02/16/09 H NCR Oracle Dev: Section 4.3.2 has been updated. Included Case 3 in section 4.3.2 explaining how Optimizer would reschedule tasks reducing the violation of SLAs. Issue closed.

02/17/09

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the Planned Window and missing the SLA but it's not reflected in the document. Please clarify.

12.1+_FDD_AS_Segmentation_of_Cost_Parameters_and_Profiles_Final.2

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