Siebel Field Service Guide > Setting Up and Using Scheduling > Creating Constraint Sets for Scheduling >

Defining Constraints

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up Scheduling.

Constraints are created using the Constraint Wizard, which walks you through this process step-by-step. You choose a constraint template and then either select or fill in the appropriate values.

CAUTION:  Do not define contradictory constraints. For example, the following two constraints conflict if both are hard constraints and the duration for the activities is less than two hours:

A field service engineer must work a minimum of four hours per day.

A field service engineer can have no more than two activities per day.

If both are hard constraints, the Optimizer cannot find a solution and fails to schedule these activities.

Be sure to test new constraints before releasing them into a production environment; leaving them as soft constraints may help to avoid problems. However, too many soft constraints hamper performance, so there must be a balance.

To create constraints

1. Navigate to the Administration - Scheduling screen > Constraints view.
2. Create a new record and follow the Constraint Wizard steps.

   See Predefined Constraints for more information about the constraints from which you can choose.

3. When the constraint is complete, click Save.

   The Save a Constraint dialog box appears.

4. Enter a name for the constraint and click Save.

   The Constraints list reappears. You can now define constraint sets that can be associated with a service region. See Defining Constraint Sets for more information.