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Booking Appointments Using Siebel Field Service Integration to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

Customer service representatives can use the procedure in this topic to book appointments. For more information, see About Appointment Booking for Siebel Field Service Integration to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1.

The procedure in this topic assumes that a customer service representative books the appointment from the Service screen. The representative creates the service request, and then must schedule an activity. The representative books the appointment as part of resolving the customer issue.

You can work with activities in many ways. Your process for working with activities depends on your company's deployment and business requirements and on the nature of the customer communication. For more information about working with activities, see Service Activities.

The functionality relating to the fields in the Schedule view of the procedure in this topic works as expected only if the appropriate data for these fields was previously defined in the appropriate environment and synchronized as necessary between the Siebel application and Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1.

To book an appointment using Siebel Field Service Integration to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

1. Navigate to the Service screen, then the Service Request List view.
2. Create a new service request record for the customer issue, and then drill down on the value in the SR # (number) field.
3. In the Activities view tab, create a new activity record for the service request, and then drill down on the value in the Type field.
4. Click the Schedule view tab.
5. Complete the form fields as appropriate.

   Some fields are described in the following table.

   Field	Comments
   Service Region	Select the service region for the activity. The default service region is based on the zip code or equivalent postal code of the account address.
   Work Time	Type the time needed to complete the activity. Work time data is transmitted to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1 when you click the Insert Activity button or Update Activity button in this view, or when you click the Confirm button in the dialog box that appears when you click Book Appointment.
   Duration	Select the time needed to complete the activity. For activities scheduled using Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1, Duration equals Planned End minus Planned Start, and includes only Work Time. Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1 does not support activity breaks. The Allow Breaks field does not apply to any activities scheduled using Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1.
   Earliest Start	Select the earliest time and date the activity can begin. This field usually indicates contractual commitments or deadlines. If you do not populate this field, then the current date and time are used for the appointment request.
   Latest Start	Select the latest time and date the activity can begin. This field usually indicates contractual commitments or deadlines. If you do not populate this field, then the current date and time, plus seven days, are used for the appointment request.
   Slot Group	Type the slot group for the customer.
   Lock Assignment	Select this check box as appropriate. This field affects how appointments are returned. In general, the functionality for this field is the same as the functionality for this field in Siebel Scheduler. For more information, see Locking Assignments and Schedules for Activities (End User).
   Lock Schedule	Select this check box as appropriate. This field affects how appointments are returned. In general, the functionality for this field is the same as the functionality for this field in Siebel Scheduler. Locking Assignments and Schedules for Activities (End User). For Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1, selecting this field locks the activity within a 20-minute window of the planned start. For example, if Planned Start is at 10:00 A.M., then the activity can start any time between 9:50 A.M. and 10:10 A.M., and is not fixed at 10:00 A.M.
   Account	Select the appropriate account for the customer.
   Account Address	Select the appropriate account address for the customer. If you try to book an appointment when the address does not have latitude and longitude data, then the following error message appears: The Account Address is not Geocoded. Make sure it is geocoded before proceeding. You can obtain the latitude and longitude data by clicking the Get GeoCode button in this view. For more information, see Administering Addresses.
   Min Offset	Select for child activities the minimum time between start of predecessor (parent) activity and start of this activity if you book related activities. This field applies only to Bound Jobs.
   Max Offset	Select for child activities the maximum time between start of predecessor (parent) activity and start of this activity if you book related activities. This field applies only to Bound Jobs.
   Parent Activity Id	Select the Id of the parent activity for child activities if you book related activities. This field applies only to Bound Jobs.

6. Click Book Appointment to request available appointment slots from Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1.

   This button is available in the Schedule view in the Activity List view of the Activities screen or in the Activities view in the Service Request List view of the Service screen.

   The scheduling engine associated with the service region processes the request. If this integration is implemented and a service region was migrated, then the scheduling engine is set to ORS, and the request is sent to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1. For more information, see Administering Service Regions.

   Unlike Siebel Scheduler, Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1 does not lock these slots. Consequently, multiple customer service representatives can see the same slot. The first representative to confirm a slot successfully completes the confirmation, and a list of available appointment slots appears. The slot confirmation fails for other representatives. Slots are confirmed on a first come, first serve basis because the Oracle Real-Time Scheduler does not block the slots that are displayed in Siebel CRM. Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1 might reject the selected slots if another agent booked them.

7. If none of the appointments are acceptable to the customer, then complete the following steps:
   1. Click Cancel.
   2. Adjust the appointment range as needed.
   3. Click Book Appointment again.
8. Select an appointment the customer agrees to, and click Confirm.

   Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1 verifies that the cost of the appointment did not change and exceed the maximum cost, and then confirms the appointment. For information about how the maximum cost is defined, see Siebel Field Service Integration to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler Implementation Guide.

   The activity status is updated to Scheduled, and the planned start and end dates are populated.