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Service Requests Views

The Service Requests views create and track service requests. Table 6 describes items in service request records.

How Service Requests and Other Business Component Object Types Are Numbered

Each new Business Component record (for example, service request, order, or activity) is automatically assigned a unique record ID (for example, SR #, Order #, Activity #, and so on).

By default, all Siebel applications use the ROW_ID for these values. The row ID is an alphanumeric value composed of a segment number followed by a sequential value. For example, the row ID 12-63Q0XT is composed of the segment number 12 and the sequential value 63Q0XT. To see the row ID for a selected record, choose View > Record. The dialog box that appears contains a value for Row #.

To display alternative values for the record ID, use one of the following methods:

• Use the Query function Expr: RowIdToRowIdNum ([ID]) to convert the alphanumeric value to a numeric value.
• Use a Sequence Object to automatically generate the value from an RDBMS database.
• Write a script on Buscomp_PreWriteRecord. (Do not use Buscomp_PreGetFieldValue.)

Verify Button

The Verify button finds the entitlements for a specified account, contact, product, and asset. Once the user selects an entitlement from the Pick Entitlement dialog box, the application computes the Commit Time for the service request from the Service Calendar associated with this entitlement and from the Response Time specified in the entitlement metrics. Verify searches the database for entitlements that match the following data supplied for the service request:

• Account
• Contact
• Product
• Asset (from the Service Details view)

Only entitlements that match this data appear in the Pick Entitlement dialog box. If no entitlements appear, the selected service request, service agreement, account, contact, product, or asset is not entitled to receive service.

For information about configuring the Verify button, see Setting System Preferences for Verifying Entitlements.

NOTE:  The FS Holiday API Service provides APIs to calculate the Commit Time for a service request according to a specific schedule. For example, if an SR is logged for a customer call at 4:30 pm EST on Friday and the business rules mandate a 4-hour response time, the GetResponseTime method can be called from the FS Holiday API Service to set the Commit Time to 12:30 pm EST on Monday. See FS Holiday API Service for more information.

Recommendation Field

The Recommendation field performs one of three actions on the service request. Choices are Dispatch, Escalate, and Return:

• Choosing Dispatch creates service activities by associating an activity plan template with the SR. The activity plan name is configurable on the SR Recommendation workflow.
• Choosing Escalate creates a new Repair order that inherits values from the following SR fields: Product, Asset, Return to Account, Price List, and Rate List.
• Choosing Return creates a new order line item and a new Repair order with the type, RMA Return, that inherits the values from the following SR fields: Account, Contact, Price List, Entitlement, and Order ID.

NOTE:  You must activate the SR Recommendation workflow to use the Recommendation field.

Agent Committed Time for a Service Request

Agent Committed represents the contractual response period for service. Clicking the Verify button determines the value of Agent Committed and stores this value for a service request. The Agent Committed date and time are calculated based on the Date Opened, the Response Time metric, and the Service Calendar (schedule hours and exception hours). The result appears in the Agent Committed field. The Agent Committed time from the service request populates the Due field for activities.

The Agent Committed time allows the agent either to schedule events that are within acceptable time frames, defined by the service calendar, or to tell the customer that a requested event is outside of his or her service calendar and is therefore, billable.

Activities associated both directly (in the Activities View) and indirectly (in the Activity Plans View) with a service request inherit the Agent Committed date and time. The Agent Committed field value in the service request appears in the Activity Due fields in the activities.

NOTE:  If the response time metric used to calculate the Agent Committed Time is not correctly defined in the Entitlements screen > Metrics view, the Agent Committed Time cannot be calculated. For more information, see To manually add performance measurements (metrics) for an entitlement.

Entitlement Rules for the Verify Button

System Preferences has three settings, listed in Table 7, which determine the action of the Verify button. For more information about the Verify button, see Verify Button.

Assign Command

The Assign menu command activates the Assignment Manager in interactive mode to provide a ranked list of field service engineers who are qualified and available to carry out a service request. The Assignment Manager can also run in dynamic and batch modes for any Assignment objects, including Accounts, Opportunities, and Campaigns.

NOTE:  For using the Assignment Manager in Mobile mode, for mobile users, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.

The Assignment Manager scores employees for assignment based on the factors specified in the following rules:

• Check calendar. If this option is enabled, an employee must have calendar availability to perform the task. This is based on the assignment rule, Earliest Start, Latest Start, and the Duration (of an activity). If the individual is not available, this employee is removed from the list of candidates.
• Assignment availability. The Assignment Manager passes a list of potential employees to the Appointment Booking System (ABS), which checks the employees' service schedules (including their geographic service region assignments) and the activities already on their calendars. The ABS then returns the list of available employees to the Assignment Manager. In an optional step, the Assignment Manager may request that the ABS create and schedule a new activity for the chosen employee. For more information about the ABS, see Setting Up and Using Scheduling.
• Workload. For each workload rule specified, the number of activities assigned to that employee that meet all of the workload criteria is calculated. This number is then reduced by the maximum workload. This result is used to generate a score that is inversely proportional to the workload rule weight [Workload score = Score * (1 - (current workload/maximum workload)]. For example, if the workload rule is for Unassigned and Critical Service Requests, and if the maximum load for this rule is 10 and the weight for this workload is 20, then an employee load of 10 or greater receives a score of zero, and an employee with a load of 2 receives a score of 16.
• Attribute match. For each condition specified, the criteria are evaluated. If a condition is true, the score equals the weight specified; otherwise the score is zero. If the condition is not met and the condition is required, the total score for that employee or position is zero.
• Expertise weighting. For each condition that uses advanced weighting, the score for that condition is adjusted, based on the advanced weighting criteria. For the employee column that is matched, the expertise for that attribute type must also be analyzed. For example, if a condition is specified for a product (product expertise) match, with a weighting of 15, and expertise weightings of Expert, Intermediate, and Novice are 3, 2, and 1, respectively, the resulting scores for this factor would be 15, 10, and 5, respectively.

The total score for an employee is a sum of the scores for each individual factor, modified by the factors that override the total score and set the score to zero (check calendar, required attribute matches, and so on). The highest score represents the most likely individual for assignment.

The Assignment Engine is configured for the Service Request object to either assign automatically the highest scoring employee (using SmartScript) or to run in interactive mode. In interactive mode, the user selects the Assign command and the Assignment Manager returns a ranked list of employees in the Assign Employees dialog box. The user can then select an assignee. For information about setting up interactive assignment for Siebel objects, see Assignment Manager Configuration in the Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.

NOTE:  All assignment rules can be accessed by navigating to the Administration - Assignment screen. For more information, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.