Table 9. Scheduling Parameters
|
|
|
|
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:
|
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:
|
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. |