Preparing to Run Siebel Assignment Manager

Siebel Assignment Manager obtains information required for operation from the following sources:

• The assignment rules and criteria, as well as employees, positions, and organizations, that are read from the rule cache file.

• The properties of assignment objects and their property values, the list of values for the picklists, and assignment criteria, attributes, workflow policy components, workflow policy component columns, and other repository information from the database.

• Input parameters for the server component.

  
  

  Note: Assignment Manager uses many Siebel Server resources. It is recommended that you monitor the Siebel Servers whenever Assignment Manager is invoked, especially if you run multiple instances at the same time. For more information about running multiple instances of Assignment Manager, see "About Running Multiple Instances of Siebel Assignment Manager in Batch Mode".

  
  

Before running Assignment Manager, you must perform several preparatory tasks. These tasks include:

1. Assigning rules. See "Process of Defining Assignment Rules"

2. "Updating Your Siebel Assignment Manager Deployment with New Configurations"

3. "Checking the State of Siebel Assignment Manager and Server Request Broker Components"

4. "Modifying the Siebel Assignment Manager Component Parameters"

5. "Setting the Log Level of Siebel Assignment Manager Events"

In addition to the preparatory tasks, some server administration requirements must be considered before running Assignment Manager. For a discussion of these requirements, see the following topics:

• "About Server Administration Requirements After Configuration"

• "About Server Administration Requirements for Assignment Modes"

Checking the State of Siebel Assignment Manager and Server Request Broker Components

This topic is part of "Preparing to Run Siebel Assignment Manager".

Before running Siebel Assignment Manager components, you must first make sure that the Siebel Server can start one or more multithreaded components by checking the Assignment Manager and Server Request Broker server components.

To check the state of the Assignment Manager and Server Request Broker components

1. Navigate to the Administration - Server Management screen, and then the Servers view.

2. In the Component Groups list, query for the Assignment Manager and Server Request Broker components, and check the Server field to verify that these components are running on the appropriate Siebel Server.

   
   

   Tip: The Server field might be a hidden column in this list. You can use the Columns Displayed feature to make fields visible. For more information, see Siebel Fundamentals for Siebel Open UI.

   
   

3. In the State field in the Component Groups list, verify the state of each of the following components:

   • Assignment Manager component is Online.

   • Server Request Broker component is Running.

Note: If these components are not in their required state, then check the log file for errors, and then make the necessary corrections.

Modifying the Siebel Assignment Manager Component Parameters

This topic is part of "Preparing to Run Siebel Assignment Manager".

Before running Siebel Assignment Manager components, configure the Assignment Manager (AsgnSrvr) and Batch Assignment (AsgnBatch) components to enhance their performance for your implementation by modifying the appropriate parameters.

For more information about configuring parameters for server components, see Siebel System Administration Guide.

Table 9-1 lists the component parameters used by Assignment Manager that you can change.

To modify Assignment Manager component parameters

1. Navigate to the Administration - Server Configuration screen, and then Servers.

2. In the Servers list, select your server (if more than one server appears) and make sure that the Assignment Management component group is enabled on that server.

3. In the Components list for the current server, select one of the following:

   • Assignment Manager (AsgnSrvr)

   • Batch Assignment (AsgnBatch)

4. Click the Parameters tab (if it is not already active).

5. In the Parameters list, select the parameters of interest, and adjust the values as required by your implementation to achieve optimal performance.

6. Make sure that the MinMTServers parameter is set to a current value greater than 0. If necessary, then change the value of MinMTServers. If you change the value for MinMTServers or any other parameters that require server restart, then also restart the Siebel Server.

Note: Updated values for most of the parameters listed in Table 9-1 take effect when assignment rules are released and the rulecache.dat file is updated, or when the component is restarted. (Updated values also take effect if the Siebel Server is restarted.)

If you restarted the Siebel Server, then the specified number of Assignment Manager components will be started, using the value of MinMTServers. For more information about MinMTServers, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters". For more information about starting and restarting the Siebel Server, see Siebel System Administration Guide.

Table 9-1 lists the component parameters used by Assignment Manager that you can change. Because many of the parameters function in the same manner for both server components, the parameters for each component are combined into one table.

Note: Some parameters in the table are identified as advanced. In the GUI, click the Advanced button in the Component Parameters list to display these parameters for the applicable component.

Table 9-1 Assignment Manager (AsgnSrvr) and Batch Assignment (AsgnBatch) Parameters

Parameter Name	Parameter Alias	Asgn Srvr	Batch Asgn	Description
Active Employee Where Clause	ActiveEmpLOVCode	Yes	Yes	Used to exclude inactive employees from assignment by specifying an SQL WHERE clause. Note: You must set the same values for the ActiveEmpLOVCode and ActivePosWhereClause parameters consistently among AsgnSrvr, AsgnBatch, and the workflow policy program (if used). Otherwise, you might encounter unexpected results. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
Active Position Where Clause	ActivePosWhereClause	Yes	Yes	Used to exclude inactive positions from assignment by specifying an SQL WHERE clause. Note: You must set the same values for the ActiveEmpLOVCode and ActivePosWhereClause parameters consistently among AsgnSrvr, AsgnBatch, and the workflow policy program (if used). Otherwise, you might encounter unexpected results. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
Actual Assignment Key	ActualAsgnKey	Yes	Yes	The key value used when Assignment Manager is running in delta reporting mode to identify candidates by this key value in the actual result table. For more information about delta reporting mode, see "About Running Assignment Manager in Reporting Mode".
Add Scores across Rules	AddScores	Yes	Yes	If TRUE, then scores for the same candidate are added across rules. The default value is FALSE. See "Configuring Siebel Assignment Manager to Add Scores Across Rules".
Allow Duplicate Positions	AllowDupPostn	Yes	Yes	Allows assignment of duplicate positions to the team. This is an advanced parameter. The default value is FALSE. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
Assignment History Cache Size	CacheSize	Yes	No	Indicates the assignment history cache size, in kilobytes. This is an advanced parameter. The default value is 300.
Assignment Key	AsgnKey	Yes	Yes	Indicates the rule set used for key-based routing, that is, the row ID of the assignment rule group that is associated with the rules that you want to evaluate. The default value of the parameter is All AM Rule Set, in which case all active rules are evaluated.
Assignment Mode	AsgnMode	Yes	Yes	Indicates the assignment mode (Match, Assign, MatchAssign, Denorm, or Cancel). The default value is MatchAssign. For more information about AsgnMode, see "About Using External Components to Invoke Siebel Assignment Manager".
Assignment Object Name	AsgnObjName	Yes	Yes	Indicates the name of the assignment object.
Batch Size	BatchSize	Yes	Yes	Indicates the number of objects to be assigned before committing the transaction. The default value is 100.
Check If CandidateActive	CheckIfCandidateActive	Yes	Yes	Determines whether Assignment Manager checks a candidate's activation and expiration date during evaluation of every rule. The default value is FALSE.
Check version iterations	CheckVerIter	Yes	No	Defines the frequency of time Assignment Manager checks whether the rule version has changed. This value also represents the time lag before the new rules take effect, after the Release button has been clicked. Assignment Manager checks the version from the database every N iterations. One integer value equals ten seconds (minimum value is 1). This is an advanced parameter. The default value is 6. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
Copy Candidate Specific Data	CopyCandSpecData	Yes	Yes	Indicates whether Assignment Manager copies attribute values from dynamic candidate to the result table. The default value is No.
Copy Person Specific Data	CopyPersonSpecData	Yes	Yes	Indicates whether Assignment Manager copies attribute values from dynamic candidates to the result table. The default value is No.
Default Tasks	DfltTasks	Yes	Yes	Indicates the default number of service tasks to start (server-mode only). This is an advanced parameter. Note: You must restart the component or server for a new value to take effect. The default value is 0.
Dynamic Candidate Parameters	DynCandParam	Yes	Yes	Semicolon-separated parameter, whose value pairs are used to substitute the variables in the Dynamic Candidate definitions in Siebel Tools. Format = Name of Param1:Value for param1; Name of Param2:Value for param2; and so on.
Ignore Calendar Criteria	IgnoreCalCrit	Yes	Yes	Allows a match to be made without taking into account calendar availability. The default value is FALSE.
Ignore assignment rule cache	IgnoreCache	Yes	Yes	Indicates whether Assignment Manager ignores the assignment rule cache and reads from the database. This is an advanced parameter. The default value is FALSE.
Independent Rule Group Cache	IndepRuleGroupCache	No	Yes	If TRUE, then the Batch Assignment component maintains a separate cache file for this rule group for this request. The default value is TRUE.
Key Based Enabled	KeyBasedEnabled	Yes	No	Enables key-based routing for a component that has been predefined for that attribute. This is an advanced parameter. The default value is TRUE. Note: If the value is set to FALSE, then the Server Request Broker is not able to route requests to the Assignment Manager, and interactive assignment will not work. (Interactive assignment relies on the Assignment Manager component).
List of excluded organization ids	ExcludeOrgList	Yes	Yes	Indicates a comma-separated list of organization IDs to be excluded from assignment. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
List of excluded person ids	ExcludePersonList	Yes	Yes	Indicates a comma-separated list of employee or position IDs to be excluded from assignment. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
Log txn only on change	LogTxnChgOnly	Yes	Yes	Logs a transaction only when the assignment has changed (for example, when the sales team is updated). By default, this parameter is set to TRUE. Setting this parameter to FALSE causes Assignment Manager to log a transaction in the S_DOCK_TXN_LOG table on reassignment even when there is no change in rules or assignees. This is an advanced parameter. Note: If there is a change in at least one of the primaries, or if there is a change in at least one of the team tables, then Assignment Manager updates columns (primaries, ASGN_DT, and system columns) on the object row. However, if there is no net change, only the ASGN_DT column is updated. For information about how this parameter works with regard to merge conflicts, see Siebel Remote and Replication Manager Administration Guide.
Maximum MT Servers	MaxMTServers	Yes	No	Indicates the maximum number of active server processes for a multithreaded service. The default value is 1. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
Maximum Routing Keys	MaxRouteKeys	Yes	No	Indicates the number of keys allocated for the routing. Used for interactive assignment. This is an advanced parameter.
Maximum Tasks	MaxTasks	Yes	Yes	Indicates the maximum number of running tasks for a service. The default value is 20. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
Minimum MT Servers	MinMTServers	Yes	No	Indicates the minimum number of active server processes for a multithreaded service. The default value is 1. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
Object Row Id	ObjRowId	Yes	No	Indicates the row ID of the object to assign.
Object Row Sql Statement	ObjRowSqlStmt	Yes	Yes	Represents the SQL statement that when executed gives the object row IDs to be assigned. Note: You can use this parameter to specify the rows to be assigned in lieu of the ObjRowId or ObjWhereClause parameters.
Object Where Clause	ObjWhereClause	Yes	Yes	A WHERE clause of the object for use with interactive and batch assignment. For more information, see "About Using an Object WHERE Clause to Restrict the Number of Records Processed".
Organization Key Value	OrgKeyVal	Yes	Yes	Used to stamp rows when assigning organizations and UseKeyVal = Key Value.
Person Key Value	PersonKeyVal	Yes	Yes	Used to stamp rows when assigning employees or positions and UseKeyVal = Key Value.
Primary Organization Id	PrOrganizationId	Yes	No	Indicates the ID of the organization to be assigned as the primary. This is an advanced parameter.
Primary Person Id	PrPersonId	Yes	No	Indicates the ID of the person to be assigned as the primary. This is an advanced parameter.
Primary Rule Id	PrRuleId	Yes	No	Indicates the ID of the rule to be assigned as the primary.
Refresh people skills interval	MaxSkillsAge	Yes	No	Indicates the interval in which people skills are refreshed, in seconds. Setting the value to 0 (zero) disables refresh. This is an advanced parameter. The default value is 0. For more information about this parameter, see "Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters".
Regular Assignment	RegularAsgn	Yes	No	Indicates whether Assignment Manager performs regular assignment. Note: Assignment Manager can also run in reporting mode. The default value is TRUE.
Replace Key Values	ReplaceKeyVal	Yes	Yes	Indicates whether Assignment Manager looks for candidates in the team table that have a value stamped in the Key column. These candidates are then compared to those that qualify for the rule and are removed, updated, or inserted. This parameter is a comma-separated string and is dependent on what is passed in the UseKeyVal parameter.
Replace Team Members	ReplaceTeamMembers	Yes	Yes	Allows deletion of team members if they no longer qualify. This is an advanced parameter.
Reporting Mode	RptMode	Yes	Yes	Indicates what reporting mode Assignment Manager will run. Values are: None, Snapshot, and Delta. The default value is None.
Request Id	ReqId	Yes	Yes	Assignment Manager generates a request ID for each server component job. When AsgnMode = Match, passing candidates are stored in a temporary table with the request ID. Then, Assignment Manager uses this request ID to find (match) the correct entries in the table. This is an advanced parameter.
Return Property Set	ReturnPropSet	Yes	No	If TRUE, then Assignment Manager returns a hierarchical property set containing qualified or assigned candidates. See "About Using External Components to Invoke Siebel Assignment Manager".
Use FOR UPDATE	UseForUpdate	Yes	Yes	If TRUE, then Assignment Manager uses the FOR UPDATE SQL clause to lock primary table rows so that, during evaluation and assignment, no other process or user can make changes to this row. This is an advanced parameter.
Use Key Value	UseKeyVal	Yes	Yes	Indicates whether Assignment Manager uses a key value to filter and stamp the candidate. Values are: None, Rule Group, and Key Value. The default value is None.
Use Rule Minimum Score	UseRuleMinScore	Yes	Yes	If TRUE, then Assignment Manager filters out candidates that do not get at least the minimum score on the assignment rule. The default value is FALSE.

Additional Information About Assignment Manager and Batch Assignment Component Parameters

This topic is part of "Preparing to Run Siebel Assignment Manager".

The information in this topic provides further explanation for some of the parameters used with the Assignment Manager (AsgnMgr) and Batch Assignment (AsgnBatch) components, and why you might want to use them. The name provided in parentheses is the alias for the parameter.

For more information about setting these parameters and for a more complete list of parameters, see "Modifying the Siebel Assignment Manager Component Parameters".

For more information about configuring parameters for server components, see Siebel System Administration Guide.

Active Employee Where Clause (ActiveEmpLOVCode) and Active Position Where Clause (ActivePosWhereClause) Parameters

You can choose to include only active employees for assignment rule evaluation. For example, you might want to effectively exclude inactive employees or employees who are on a leave of absence from assignment consideration.

You include active employees by using the Active Employee Where Clause component-level parameter (or using ActiveEmpLOVCode from the Server Manager command line) with an SQL WHERE clause that is based on any column (or columns) on the S_EMP_PER employee table. For example, you could use the EMP_STAT_CD column with the following value to indicate that you want only active employees considered for evaluation and assignment:

AND emp.EMP_STAT_CD='Active'

Other employees are excluded, even if they are explicitly added to an assignment rule as candidates.

Similarly, you can include only active positions by using the Active Position Where Clause component-level parameter (or using ActivePosWhereClause from the Server Manager command line).

Note: Updated values for these parameters take effect when assignment rules are released and the rulecache.dat file is updated, or when the component is restarted. (Updated values also take effect if the Siebel Server is restarted.)

Caution: When specifying the parameters, you must use the emp SQL alias for the S_EMP_PER employee table and the pos alias for the S_POSTN position table. Do this to differentiate from other columns by the same name in other tables that Assignment Manager might use in the same SQL. Otherwise, an SQL error (ambiguous reference to a column) might occur.

Allow Duplicate Positions (AllowDupPostn) Parameter

You can assign duplicate positions by setting the Allow Duplicate Positions parameter when you run an assignment request. By default, the Allow Duplicate Positions parameter is set to FALSE. When you set this parameter to TRUE, Assignment Manager attempts to insert duplicate positions, that is, positions with the same ID in the team table, given those positions do not violate the user key constraints of the table.

You must also set the PositionTeamDenorm user property for the assignment object. The PositionTeamDenorm assignment object user property specifies which destination columns are part of the user key. Assignment Manager checks whether positions with the same ID that pass violate the uniqueness of these key columns. If Assignment Manager detects a violation, only the first position encountered is inserted into the team table, and the other position is ignored. Otherwise, Assignment Manager inserts both positions into the team table.

For example, if there is a violation of the user key when adding positions to the account team, then only the first duplicate position encountered is inserted into the S_ACCNT_POSTN table. For an example of using the PositionTeamDenorm assignment object user property, see "Example of Copying Additional Columns to the Team Table".

Check version iterations (CheckVerIter) Parameter

Changing this parameter to a small value, such as 1, reduces the potential for invalid assignment. For example, running interactive assignment before Assignment Manager detects that the Release button was recently clicked causes assignment based on the previous version of assignment rules. By having a small iteration value, Assignment Manager checks for a newer version of assignment rules more frequently. Test your deployment with this lower parameter value to make sure that it does not interfere with any other database activity.

List of excluded person ids (ExcludePersonList) and List of excluded organization ids (ExcludeOrgList) Parameters

You can choose to exclude a specific candidate or candidates, even though you added the candidate or candidates to an assignment rule. You do so at run time by specifying the ExcludePersonList or the ExcludeOrgList parameter as comma-separated lists of candidate IDs from the Server Manager command line. Assignment Manager does not evaluate these candidates, and because of this, the candidates do not appear in log files even when Match or Assign logging is active.

For example, if an employee has not worked on a service request for several days, and if a request is submitted to assign the same service request, then Assignment Manager assigns the service request to the same person again. That is because, given a set of assignment rules and criteria, Assignment Manager assigns the candidate with the highest score to the object row. By specifying the ExcludePersonList parameter for a particular run, you can exclude this particular candidate from assignment consideration.

Maximum MT Servers (MaxMTServers) Parameter

This parameter controls the maximum number of Assignment Manager server processes that are running at any time on the Siebel Server (when MaxMTServers is greater than MinMTServers). Generally, the default value is sufficient for most deployments, because server processes for Assignment Manager have large resource requirements.

Maximum Tasks (MaxTasks) Parameter

This parameter controls the maximum number of server threads that can run at any time on the Siebel Server. For Assignment Manager, this controls the maximum number of assignments that can be processed concurrently. Set the value of this parameter to the maximum anticipated concurrent requests (dependent on your server's capabilities).

Minimum MT Servers (MinMTServers) Parameter

This parameter controls the number of Assignment Manager server processes that are started when the Siebel Server starts up. If this value is set to zero, then Assignment Manager is disabled. It is recommended that you use the default value of 1, because server processes for Assignment Manager have large resource requirements.

Refresh people skills interval (MaxSkillsAge) Parameter

This parameter controls the interval in which people skills are refreshed, in seconds. If you want to automatically refresh skills without restarting the Assignment Manager component, then set the value of the MaxSkillsAge parameter to the desired update interval (the value must be greater than zero seconds). Then, when rules are released, Assignment Manager refreshes skills and re-creates the rulecache.dat file at the periodic interval set.

This is an advanced parameter.

Note: The MaxSkillsAge parameter, by itself, does not update or re-create the rulecache.dat file. It is only when the rules are released that Assignment Manager refreshes the skills, and re-creates the rulecache.dat file according to the periodic interval set.

Setting the Log Level of Siebel Assignment Manager Events

This topic is part of "Preparing to Run Siebel Assignment Manager".

Before running Siebel Assignment Manager components, you can set event logs to view results. The Assignment Manager, Batch Assignment, and Workflow Monitor Agent server components are configured to use events.

In addition to the events used for other components, the Assignment Manager, Batch Assignment, and Workflow Monitor Agent components use specific events to log information related to assignments:

• Assignment Manager Generic (Generic). Generic events specific to Assignment Manager.

• Loading (Loading). Logging of events that happen during loading.

• Object Assignment (Assign). Logging of events during the assignment phase.

• Rules Evaluation (Match). Logging of events during the evaluation phase.

• SQL Parse and Execute. Traces all executed SQL and enhances debugging.

There are five levels in each of the events:

• Level 0: Used for fatal errors

• Level 1: Used for nonfatal errors and warnings

• Levels 2 through 4: Used for different levels of logging detail

• Level 5: Used for detailed debug information

Assignment Manager uses two events for logging information when assigning object rows. For the evaluation phase, Assignment Manager uses the Rules Evaluation (Match) event. The following levels of information are logged for each level:

• Level 2: Object row-level logging

• Level 3: Rule-level logging

• Level 4: Criterion-level logging

• Level 5: Criterion value-level logging

For the assignment phase, Assignment Manager uses the Object Assignment (Assign) event. The following levels of information are logged for each level:

• Level 2: Object row-level logging

• Level 3: Passing rules-level logging

• Level 4: Passing candidates-level logging

  
  

  Note: You can set the log level of both event types to print a list with combined results. However, when you are assigning too many objects, these settings might create extremely large log files.

  
  

To set the log level of Assignment Manager events

1. Navigate to the Administration - Server Configuration screen, and then Servers.

2. In the Servers list, select your server (if more than one server appears) and make sure the Assignment Management component group is enabled on that server.

3. In the Components list for the current server, select the Assignment Manager, Batch Assignment, or Workflow Monitor Agent component, depending on the component for which you want to set a log level. Make sure that the selected component is running on the correct server.

4. in the Events list, adjust the values for the Log Level field, as required by your implementation, as follows:

   1. Select Rules Evaluation; enter 3 if you want to print a list of assignment rules that were evaluated.

   2. Select Object Assignment; enter 3 if you want to print a list of evaluated assignment rules that passed.

For more information about event logs, see Siebel System Monitoring and Diagnostics Guide.

About Server Administration Requirements After Configuration

This topic is part of "Preparing to Run Siebel Assignment Manager".

After configuring Siebel Assignment Manager objects and attributes or altering assignment policies, it is often necessary to stop and restart various server tasks and components. Table 9-2 summarizes the required server tasks and components that must be restarted based on the type of configuration process. Detailed information about how and when to run these server tasks and components is provided in the remainder of this chapter.

Table 9-2 Server Administration After Configuration

Configuration Process	Restart Assignment Manager	Regenerate Triggers	Restart Workflow Monitor Agent
Adding or configuring an assignment object, assignment attribute, or assignment criteria	Yes	Yes	Yes
Changing assignment policies	No	Yes	Yes
Activating or deactivating assignment policies	No	Yes	Yes

Note: If you want to automatically refresh skills without restarting the Assignment Manager component, then set the value of the Refresh people skills interval (MaxSkillsAge) parameter to the desired update interval (the value must be greater than zero seconds). Then, when rules are released, Assignment Manager refreshes skills and re-creates the rulecache.dat file at the periodic interval set.

About Server Administration Requirements for Assignment Modes

This topic is part of "Preparing to Run Siebel Assignment Manager".

Siebel Assignment Manager requires various functioning server components and tasks based on the selected assignment mode. Table 9-3 summarizes the required components and tasks that must be online or started when selecting a particular mode of assignment. When using mobile assignment, use the information provided for either interactive or batch assignment based on your deployment requirements. Detailed information about starting the applicable components and tasks is covered in the remainder of this chapter.

Table 9-3 Server Requirements for Assignment Modes

Assignment Mode	Set Assignment Manager Online	Start Workflow Monitor Agent	Server Request Broker Running
Interactive Mode	Yes	No	Yes
Dynamic Assignment Mode	No	Yes	No
Batch Assignment Mode	No	No	No

In this table, note the following:

• For dynamic and batch assignment, you do not have to start the Server Request Broker when running your tasks using the Server Manager command-line interface (or using an alternate method, such as setting Default Tasks for the server component).

• This information is based on the default Assignment Request (In Process) seeded action.

Additionally, when using availability-based assignment, make sure that the Field Service component group and the ApptBook component are online.