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Creating Parameter Sets for Schedules

Parameter sets contain key information that determines how the ABS and Optimizer operate. Parameter sets are associated with service regions in the Service Region List view of the Administration - Scheduling screen. Each service region uses a parameter set. For more information, see Defining Service Regions.

If the scheduling server starts without Optimizer or ABS parameters, then the service region is not loaded for the Optimizer or the ABS. The log files (Optimizer_xxx.log and ApptBook_xxx.log) in the log directory on the Siebel Server specify the missing parameters.

NOTE:  If a service region fails to load, then you must restart the ABS or Optimizer. You do not have to reboot the computer.

The Parameter Sets view includes the basic definition of the parameters that the ABS and the Optimizer use. The Parameters view includes each parameter in a parameter set.

This task is a step in Process of Administering Schedules Using Siebel Scheduler.

To create the parameter set for a schedule

  1. Navigate to the Administration - Scheduling screen, then the Parameter Sets view.
  2. Create a new parameter set record, and complete the fields as appropriate.

    Enter a meaningful name for the parameter set (for example, East Coast Parameters).

  3. Scroll down to the Parameters list, create a new parameter record, and complete the fields as appropriate.

    Some fields are described in the following table.

    Field
    Comments

    Variable Code

    Select the appropriate parameter. For more information about the parameters that you can select, see Parameters for Schedules.

    Variable Value

    Type a value for the parameter.
  4. To view the service regions that are associated with the parameter set, click the Service Regions view tab.

Parameters for Schedules

Table 11 lists the various parameters that you can use to specify a parameter set.

Table 11. Scheduling Parameters
Parameter
Required?
Value
Description

Month Start Date

No

Number, 1-28

Determines the day that the month starts. Use this parameter for constraints that are defined in months. Most users set this parameter to 1. The default value is 1.

Use Assignment Manager

No

0 or 1

Indicates whether the activity is submitted to Assignment Manager to receive a list of engineers capable of performing this work. Set this parameter to 1 to use the AM, unless all employees in a service region have the same skills, or all employees are eligible to perform all the activities. The default value is 1.

Week Start Day

No

Number, 1-7

Determines the day that the week starts. Use this parameter for constraints that are defined in weeks. Most users set this parameter to 1 (Sunday) or 2 (Monday). The default value is 1.

ABS - Activity Category

No

Order number for the Activity Category LOV.

Indicates only activities with the specified category are loaded into the ABS. The default value is all categories. The value can be comma-separated for multiple categories.

The order number for an activity category LOV appears in the List of Values view of the Administration - Data screen. For example, this view shows the order number for a Repair Activity category (FS_ACTIVITY_CLASS type).

ABS - Activity Status

No

Order number for the Activity Status LOV.

Indicates activities with the specified status are not loaded into the ABS. The recommended default value is the order number for the Cancelled status. The value can be comma separated for multiple statuses.

The order number for an activity status LOV appears in the List of Values view of the Administration - Data screen. For example, this view shows the order number for a Cancelled status (EVENT_STATUS type).

ABS - Days to End

Yes

Number

Specifies a number of days (not an absolute date) after the current date. The ABS does not schedule activities for the days that are after the date that this parameter indicates. Consequently, the ABS does not load activities that are scheduled after the date that this parameter indicates.

ABS - Days to Start

Yes

Number

Specifies a number of days (not an absolute date) after the current date. The ABS schedules activities for the days that are on or after the date that this parameter indicates and that are on or before the date that the ABS - Days to End parameter indicates. Then, the ABS loads activities that are scheduled on or after the first day of the month that contains the date that this parameter indicates and that are scheduled on or before the date that the ABS - Days to End parameter indicates. (Because you can define ABS constraints in months, the ABS must load activities that are scheduled on or after the first day of the month.)

This parameter activates at 12:00 A.M. If this parameter is set to 1, then the ABS starts scheduling activities later than midnight after the region is loaded (subject to the schedule used). A value of 0 is not supported for this parameter.

NOTE:  Activities that start in the past but that end after the date that this parameter indicates are still loaded to the ABS.

ABS - Default Number of Slots

No

Number

Specifies how many choices (maximum number of appointment slots) are returned to the user. A higher number of slots gives more flexibility, but can slow the ABS because searching for more slots takes longer. The default value is 5.

ABS - Logging Level

No

Number, 1-5

Controls the amount of information that is written to the ABS log (ApptBook_xxx.log) stored on the server. The lowest level, 1, writes only basic information about the server activities, and the highest level, 5, writes detailed logs that show all actions that occurred.

NOTE:  You must set the Appointment Booking and Optimization Execution event for the ApptBook component to 5 to generate log files when the ABS is loaded.

ABS - Range of Heuristic

No

Number

Determines the time range (in days) that the selection heuristic uses. Values include:

  • 1. A day.
  • 7. A week.

ABS - Selection Heuristic

No

Number

Determines the method for finding time slots. For more information about the methods, see About Heuristic Methods for Schedules.

Values include:

  • 1. Earliest First method.
  • 2. Resource Loading method.
  • 3. Resource Leveling method.

ABS - Timeout

No

Number (Minutes)

Sets how long time slots are locked (in minutes) after the user requests but does not select the slots. After this time, the slots are released and made available for booking by other users. If the user closes the browser or loses a connection, then the slots are again available. Do not set this parameter to zero.

Optimizer - Activity Category

Yes

Sequence number for the Activity Category LOV.

Indicates only activities with the specified category are loaded into the Optimizer. The default value is all categories.

Optimizer - Activity Status

No

Sequence number for the Activity Status LOV.

Indicates activities with the specified status are not loaded into the Optimizer. The recommended default value is Cancelled.

Optimizer - Default Priority

Yes

Sequence number for the Activity Priority LOV.

Indicates the priority for an activity that has no priority.

Optimizer - Glued

Yes

Number (Hours)

Indicates the period when the Optimizer does not change the assigned employees (and schedules) for activities. This period extends from the time when the optimization task begins until the time that this value designates. The optimization task begins when you click the Optimize button in the Service Region List view of the Administration - Scheduling screen.

For example, if you click the Optimize button at 10:00 A.M. and if you set this value to 4 (4 hours), then the Optimizer does not reassign employees for activities (and does not reschedule activities) that are scheduled to occur between 10:00 A.M and 2:00 P.M.

Optimizer - Hard Latest Start

No

0 or 1

Indicates whether the Latest Start field value is a hard or soft constraint. Values include:

  • 0. Soft constraint
  • 1. Hard constraint

The default is 0.

Optimizer - Logging Level

No

Number, 1-5

Controls the amount of information that is written to the Optimizer log (Optimizer_xxx.log) stored on the server. The lowest level, 1, writes only basic information about the server activities, and the highest level, 5, writes detailed logs that show all actions that occurred.

Optimizer - Optimize Heuristic

No

Number, 1-8

Indicates the heuristic used to improve the optimization solution. For more information about the methods, see About Heuristic Methods for Schedules.

Values include:

  • 1. Greedy search
  • 2. Steepest search
  • 3. Greedy search followed by a Tabu search
  • 4. Steepest search followed by a Tabu search
  • 5. Greedy search followed by Fast GLS
  • 6. Steepest search followed by Fast GLS
  • 7. Greedy search followed by GTS
  • 8. Steepest search followed by GTS

where:

GLS is Guided Local Search.

GTS is Guided Tabu Search.

Optimizer - Consider Parts

No

0 or 1

Indicates whether the Optimizer considers the parts in the trunk inventory of an engineer when evaluating the engineer for assignment to an activity. Values include:

  • 0. No
  • 1. Yes

Optimizer - Parts Period

No

Integer (Hours)

Indicates how far in advance the Optimizer considers the parts in the trunk inventory of an engineer.

Optimizer - Save Interval

Yes

Integer (Minutes)

Indicates the frequency with which the Optimizer saves results during optimization.

Because of this parameter, if an application failure occurs during optimization, then some optimized results are not lost. For example, if the optimization time is 3 hours, and the save interval is 1 hour, then the Optimizer saves results every hour during the 3 hour run. If an application failure occurs 2.5 hours after the Optimizer starts, then the first 2 hours of the optimization results are saved. When you restart optimization, the Optimizer uses the 2 hours of results from the previous run.

The time the Optimizer uses to save the results at the save interval is part of the optimization time. Saving the optimized results at the save interval uses extra resources and time. Consider both the importance of saving partially optimized results and the efficiency of optimization time usage. If losing partially optimized results because of an application failure is not an important consideration, then set the save interval parameter to a time that is the same as or longer than the optimization time. Consequently, the Optimizer saves results only when optimization is complete. If losing partially optimized data because of an application failure is an important consideration, then do not set the save interval parameter to less than 1 hour. Consequently, the Optimizer saves results infrequently and uses optimization time efficiently.

Optimizer - Tardiness Cost

Yes

Number (Float)

Indicates the cash value, in dollars, for each hour of violating a soft constraint in the Optimizer - Hard Latest Start parameter.

Optimizer - Task Excl Cost

Yes

Number

Indicates the penalty used to calculate the cost function if an activity is unscheduled.

Optimizer - Timeout

Yes

Integer (Minutes)

Indicates the maximum time in minutes for each optimization.
    
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