Siebel Field Service Guide > Setting Up and Using the Dispatch Board > Process of Setting Up the Dispatch Board >

Optimizing Display Speeds for the Dispatch Board

This task is a step in Process of Setting Up the Dispatch Board.

To speed up display of the Dispatch Board, the Dispatch Board user interface component gets activity data from a cache rather than from the database. You can further improve the Dispatch Board's display speed by changing the cache size.

With a large cache, a user can retrieve more data without accessing the database. Thus, a large cache size increases the display speed of the Dispatch Board. However, a larger cache also requires more server memory.

Therefore, to determine the optimal cache size, consider the following factors:

• Cache size is the number of entries in the cache. The default is 300, the maximum is 2000 entries, and the minimum is 200 entries.
• Dispatch Board uses a session (or per user) cache, so that each user has an individual activity cache.
• An entry stores a list of the activities for an employee on a particular day. Thus, as the number of employees and viewable days in the Gantt chart increases, the cache size needs to be increased to avoid a slowdown in display speed. You can calculate an appropriate cache size (before adjusting for memory considerations) as follows:

  (10 Employees x 14 Viewable days) + 60 Redundancy= 200 entries

• Memory required by the cache is a function of the number of entries, the number of activities per entry, and the number and data type of ToolTip fields.

To change the cache size

1. Log into Siebel Tools as an administrator.
2. Navigate to Object Explorer > Siebel Objects > Business Service.
3. Query for the name FS Activity Cache.
4. Go to the child object Business Service User Prop.
5. Query for the name Cache Size.
6. Change the default value for cache size and then click Save.

Clearing Cached Activity Data

To speed up display of the Dispatch Board, the Dispatch Board user interface component gets activity data from a cache rather than from the database. The activity data in the cache table is duplicate data created during a user session.

You can clear the data manually at any time by invoking the clean up service, the FS Activity Cache business service. The FS Activity Cache business service uses a CleanUpCacheTable method, which takes no input or output arguments. This method clears the contents of the cache table. To clear the cache table, it is recommended that you call this method nightly during operations downtime or during low usage periods.

There are two common ways in which an administrator can invoke this business service:

• Set up a repeating component job. See Siebel System Administration Guide for more information on creating repeating component jobs.
• Use the business service simulator. See Using the Business Service Simulator to Clear the Cache for more information.

Using the Business Service Simulator to Clear the Cache

Perform the following procedure to clear the Dispatch Board cache from the business service simulator.

To clear the Dispatch Board cache from the business service simulator

1. Navigate to the Administration - Business Service screen > Simulator view.
2. In the Simulator list, create a new record.
3. In the Service Name field, click the select button and choose FS Activity Cache.

   NOTE:  The display name for this service is Field Service Activity Cache Service.

4. In the Method Name field, click the select button and choose CleanUpCacheTable.
5. Click Run.

   The business service method runs, clearing the data from the Dispatch Board cache table.