Siebel Field Service Guide > Scheduling and Dispatch > Dispatch Board Screen >

Assigning and Scheduling Field Service Activities

After creating activities and activity plans, local dispatchers familiar with their territory and employees can assign and schedule activities manually.

To schedule field service engineers manually

1. Navigate to the Service screen > Service Request List view.
2. Drill down on the SR # field for a selected service request and click the Activities view tab.
3. Drill down on the Status field for the selected activity you want to schedule.

   The Dispatch Board screen appears. The unscheduled activity is listed below the Gantt Chart. The Gantt Chart displays employee names and their scheduled activities, if any.

   NOTE:  The Gantt Chart only displays employees pertaining to a selected service region or a service region hierarchy.

4. If no names are listed in the Gantt chart, select a service region for the activity in the Unscheduled Activities list, and drag and drop the activity onto the Gantt Chart.

To assign field service engineers with Assignment Manager

1. Navigate to the Activities screen.
2. Drill down on the Type field for a selected activity and click the More Info view tab.
3. Click the menu button and choose Assign.

   A dialog box appears with names of field service employees ranked in order of preference.

   The suggested assignments are based on a variety of criteria including workload and skills, which are set up using the Assignment Manager. For instructions on configuring the Assignment Manager, see Siebel Assignment Manager Administration Guide.

4. Select the employee assigned to perform this activity and click OK.

To add a service region to the Dispatch Board

1. Navigate to the Dispatch Board screen.

   The Gantt Chart view appears.

2. Click Select Service Region.
3. In the Pick Service Region dialog box, select a service region and click OK.

   The field service engineers associated with the selected service region and descendant service regions (child service regions and their children) appear in the left column of the Gantt chart.

   NOTE:  Available hours are shown in the Gantt chart with colors that represent rate types. Non-working periods are grey, working periods are white, overtime periods are orange, and extended overtime periods are brown. If no colors are specified for activities, yellow boxes are the default to indicate activities that are assigned and scheduled.

To create a new activity with the Dispatch Board

1. Navigate to the Dispatch Board screen.

   The Gantt Chart view appears.

2. In the Unscheduled Activities subview, add a record and complete the fields as appropriate.

Centralized dispatchers can assign and schedule activities after searching for activities in a service region.

To assign and schedule field service engineers with the Dispatch Board

1. Navigate to the Dispatch Board screen.

   The Gantt Chart view appears.

2. In the Unscheduled Activities subview, select an activity.

   NOTE:  To assign an activity, it must have a type.

3. Drag and drop the selected activity onto a field service engineer's schedule in the Gantt chart.

   The activity appears as a horizontal bar. Holding the cursor over this bar displays a pop-up window, which provides a description of the activity.

4. To remove an activity, drag it back to the Drag/Drop column in the Unscheduled Activities subview.

   NOTE:  To allow you to remove an activity, the Unscheduled Activities subview must contain at least one record.