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Creating Field Service Assignment Rules Using Availability

The service request object—which is often associated with a job, a finite time period, and a specific owner—is an example of an object that can be assigned using Assignment Manager's Availability-based assignment feature. The following Field Service example creates an assignment rule that evaluates a service request object and assigns the object to the highest scoring employee based on the employee's skill level and availability. To use the availability feature, certain setup procedures must be performed in the Field Service application before creating the assignment rule. See Availability-Based Assignment for further information on this feature and its requirements. Several configurations must also be made to the Assignment object before using the availability feature. See Configuring Assignment Objects for Availability-Based Assignment. The following example assumes that a service region (California Service Region), employees (West Coast Service Representative and West Coast Service Manager), and a product (Pentium III Desktop) are defined. The server component FieldSvc must also be enabled before running the example.

To set up the Field Service application for availability assignment

  1. Verify a schedule exists with valid hours.

    2. Navigate to the Application Administration screen Schedules view. For this example, select the 12x5 Support schedule in the All Schedules List and click the Schedule Hours tab. Make sure the hours listed are valid. The following figure shows this view.

    Click for full size image

  2. Set up a Service Region.

    3. Navigate to the Scheduling Administration screen Service Regions view. For this example, select the California Service Region. In the Schedule field, select 12x5 Support.

  3. Set up the parameter set for the Service Region.

    4. With California Service Region selected, navigate to the Parameters Sets view (in the Scheduling Administration screen). For this example, select the West Coast Parameters used by the California Service Region and click the Parameters tab. Update the following parameter records:

  4. Set up Server Key Mappings

    5. Navigate to the Server Key Mappings view in the Scheduling Administration screen. For this example, create a new record and save it with the following field values:

  5. Associate Employees to the Service Region.

    6. Navigate to the User Administration screen, Employees view. For this example, select the West Coast Service Representative and the West Coast Service Manager and click the Field Service Details tab. Edit the Schedule and Service Region fields with 12x5 Support and California Service Region, respectively.

After the Field Service Application is configured, create the assignment rule that uses the assignment availability feature.

To create the Field Service Assignment Rule

  1. Create the Assignment Rule.

    2. Navigate to the Assignment Administration screen, Assignment Rules view and create the assignment rule. For this example, name the rule West Coast Service. Define the Assignment Object as Service Request and the Assignees From Rule as One, Best Fit. The Check Calendar box is the field that activates the assignment availability feature. Check this box once to make this feature operational.

  2. Determine Assignment Criteria.

    3. Navigate to the Assignment Criteria tab and create Product criteria for the assignment rule. For this example, service representatives are evaluated with the Compare Object to Person based on an employee's product knowledge.

  3. Determine Assignment Criteria Values.

    4. Navigate to the Assignment Criteria Values view and create a new record with Pentium III desktop.

  4. Define Employees for the Assignment Rule.

    5. Navigate to the Assignment Employee view and add the West Coast Service Representative and the West Coast Service Manager to the assignment rule.

  5. Release the Assignment Rule.

Now, when a service request is created with attributes that match both West Coast service representatives, Siebel Assignment Manager, through the Field Service Appointment Book component, assigns the employee who has available time in his or her calendar and work schedule. Optionally, the Appointment Book component can create an activity in the assigned employee's calendar. See Configuring Assignment Objects for Availability-Based Assignment for further information. Figure 10 shows the assignment rule described in the preceding procedure.

Figure 10.  A Field Service Assignment Rule with the Check Calendar Field Activated

Click for full size image


 Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide 
 Published: 18 June 2003