Bookshelf v7.5: Setting Up the Dispatch Board

Siebel Field Service Guide > Scheduling and Dispatch > Dispatch >

Setting Up the Dispatch Board

Setting up the Dispatch Board includes the following tasks:

Assign employees to service regions in User Administration > Employees > Service Details.

Assign schedules to employees in Schedule field in User Administration > Employees > Service Details and the exception records in User Administration > Employees >Employee Exception Hours.

Assign responsibilities to employees in User Administration > Employees > More Info.

Set up rules for the Assignment Manager.

Set the system preference for the Dispatch Board.

Set the user preferences for the Dispatch Board.

System Preference for the Dispatch Board

The Dispatch Board allows a dispatcher or customer service representative to drag an activity from the Unscheduled Activities list to a block of time and employee in the Gantt chart. If the service region of the activity is different from the service region selected for the Gantt chart, the result depends on the setting of the system preference FSDB:Override Service Region:

If the value of the system preference is TRUE, then the dispatcher can drop the activity on the Gantt chart and the service region for the activity is automatically changed to the service region selected for the Gantt chart.

If the value is FALSE, then the dispatcher cannot drop the activity on the Gantt chart and an error is returned.

Changing the Behavior of the Activity Gantt Chart

Field Service provides control over many aspects of the Activity Gantt Chart. To change these settings, on the application-level menu, choose View > User Preferences > Dispatch Board. Table 39 describes the settings for the Dispatch Board.

Table 39. Options for the Activity Gantt Chart
Group/Field	Description
Time Span	Sets the time scale for the Gantt chart: Year/Month Year/Week Month/Week Month/Day Week/Day Day/Hour
Time Interval in Minutes	The smallest unit of time displayed on the Gantt chart. The default is 30 minutes.
Date Shown	The day that appears by default: Today Last Date Chosen (in the Date fields)
Start Day at	The start time for a work day. The default is 9 a.m.
End Day at	The end time for a work day. The default is 5 p.m.
Use Color Scheme	A drop-down list that applies a color scheme to either Activity Priority, Activity Status, or Activity Type.
Color	The colors of the bars representing scheduled activities. A different color can be assigned to each of these categories and subcategories: Activity Priority: ASAP, High, Medium, and Low. Activity Status; for example, Not Started, In Progress, On Hold, Done, Cancelled, Acknowledged, and Declined. Activity Type: Various types, chosen from a drop-down list. Click the Color field to the right of the Category field to select a color from a drop-down list.
Service Region	The default value that appears in the Service Region field, selected from a drop-down list.
Auto-Update Service Region	This check box determines whether the last service region displayed in the Activities Gantt chart appears the next time the user goes to the Dispatch Board screen.