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Administering Service Regions

Business administrators can define and manage service regions and related data for Siebel Field Service Integration to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1. For more information, see About Service Regions.

This topic contains the following related information:

• Defining Service Regions Using Siebel Field Service Integration to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1
• Migrating Service Regions to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1
• Checking for Failed Migration of Employee and Activity Data to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1
• Rolling Back Service Regions from Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

This task is a step in Process of Administering Schedules Using Siebel Field Service Integration to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1.

Defining Service Regions Using Siebel Field Service Integration to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

Business administrators define service regions in the Siebel application using the Service Regions List view of the Administration - Scheduling screen. For more information about defining service regions, see Defining Service Regions.

The following fields for service region administration apply to scheduling using Siebel Scheduler, but do not apply to the integration to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1:

• Cost Variables (Cost List, Currency, Travel Cost, and Cost Function)
• Configuration Parameters (Parameter Set, Constraint Set, Time Windows, Min Travel Time, Avg Travel Time, Avg Travel Speed, and Unit Of Measure)

Migrating Service Regions to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

When it is appropriate to do so according to business requirements, business administrators migrate existing service regions to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1. They migrate service regions one at a time.

Before migrating a service region, note the following requirements:

• Associating geocodes with address in bulk was performed in the Addresses view of the Administration - Data screen on all addresses for the service region that you migrate. For more information, see Administering Addresses.
• Skills transfer rules were defined in the Skills Transfer - Rules Administration view of the Administration - Scheduling screen. For more information, see Managing Activity Skills for Skills-Based Assignments.

As part of the migration, the following events occur:

• Employees, associated Schedules, Exception Hours, addresses, and skills are transferred to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1.
• Applicable activities that are based on defined criteria are transferred along with the associated skills. The associated skills are obtained when you click the Persist Activity Skills button.

To migrate a service region to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

1. Navigate to the Administration - Scheduling screen, then the Service Region List view.
2. Select the record for the service region that you want to migrate.
3. Click Persist Activity Skills if activities have to be populated with assignment skills by using skill transfer rules.

   If Persist Activity Skills are not populated, then the activities being transferred to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler do not have skills associated with them.

   The applicable activities are associated with skills by using the skills transfer rules in the Skills Transfer Rules - Administration view of the Administration - Scheduling screen.

   Activity filtration for the current service region is based on the following criteria:

   • The value of the Status field for the activity must not be Done, Completed or Cancelled.
   • The value of the Latest Start field for the activity must be NULL or later than today, or the value of the Planned End field must be NULL or later than today.
4. Click Transfer to ORS.

   When the transfer is complete, the Sync Success Description field for the service region indicates a status of Successfully Migrated to ORS, and the Engine field value changes from iLog (for Siebel Scheduler) to ORS (for Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1). Also, the Transfer Complete field (if it appears) is checked.

   The service region is now ready for scheduling using Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1. All subsequent appointments for this service region are scheduled using Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1.

Checking for Failed Migration of Employee and Activity Data to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

After business administrators migrate a service region to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1, they can check whether all applicable employees and activities migrated successfully.

To check for failed migration of employee or activity data to Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

1. Navigate to the Administration - Scheduling screen, then the Cutover Monitoring view.
2. Select the record for the service region that you migrated.
3. Click the Employees view tab to see all employees that were not migrated.

   The reason for the failure appears in the Sync Success Description field.

4. Click the Activities view tab to see all activities that were not migrated.

   The reason for the failure appears in the Sync Success Description field.

Associating Service Area in Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1 with Scheduler Area

Before booking appointments using Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1, the Service Area created in Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1 for the Service Region in Siebel Field Service needs to be linked to a Scheduler Area. For more information about associating service areas in Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1, see About Documentation for Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1.

Rolling Back Service Regions from Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

When it is necessary for a deployment, business administrators can roll back a migrated service region so that it again uses Siebel Scheduler instead of Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1. They roll back service regions one at a time.

After the rollback is complete, the business administrator must make sure that the requirements for scheduling the service region using Siebel Scheduler are satisfied. For information about scheduling appointments using Siebel Scheduler, see Scheduling Using Siebel Scheduler.

NOTE:  The schedule that is generated using Siebel Scheduler is different from the schedule that is generated using the Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1 engine because the optimization algorithms for the two engines are different.

To roll back a service region from Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1

1. Navigate to the Administration - Scheduling screen, then the Service Region List view.
2. Select the record for the service region that you want to roll back.

   The value of the Engine field must be ORS (for Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1).

3. Click Menu, and select Rollback Service Region.

   When the rollback is complete, the Sync Success Description field for the service region indicates a status of Rollback Complete, and the Engine field value changes from ORS (for Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1) to iLog (for Siebel Scheduler). Also, the Transfer Complete field (if it appears) is unchecked.

   The mapping between the service region and system region is removed. In Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1, the applicable employees are inactivated, and the appointments in Oracle Real-Time Scheduler 2.1 are cancelled. These appointments continue to exist in the Siebel application, and can be loaded into Siebel Scheduler for scheduling.

   All subsequent activities for this service region are sent to Siebel Scheduler for scheduling.