Understanding Service Orders

In PeopleSoft Resource Management, you can request services for a customer by using a service order. The service order form captures information about the engagement and includes one or more resource requests. The resource request section of a service order captures data that is needed to find qualified resources to work on the engagement. Each resource request can have a unique set of skill and date requirements. You can request multiple resources on a single resource request, provided that the same requirements apply for each. Resource Matching uses the specifications in the service order and resource request to search for available, qualified resources.

This section lists prerequisites and discusses:

  • The service order form.

  • Service order and resource request status.

  • Service order templates.

  • Service order workflow.

Complete these steps before you work with service orders:

The service order form consists of two tabs—Resource Requests and Order Summary. The Resource Requests tab contains the details of each resource request on the order. The Order Summary tab contains header information, a summary of the requests, and links to other service order options.

By creating a service order, you can:

  • Capture customer resource requirements that you can fulfill at a later time.

  • Capture customer resource requirements that a different user can fulfill.

  • Provide an audit trail of customer orders that you can analyze to track metrics.

When you first access the service order form, you specify the dates, hours per day, and qualifications or keywords that Resource Matching will use to find the best resources for the job. You can define project team requirements by creating a resource request for each project role, and you can request multiple resources to fulfill a role.

When you are ready to finalize the order, enter additional details about the project and customer, and identify the organization and person that are responsible for fulfilling the order.

As the order proceeds through the approval and fulfillment processes, use the form to:

  • Review fulfillment progress and assigned resources.

  • Capture additional information or customer requirements for the order.

  • Review an order for completeness and understand the requirements before processing.

Service order status indicates where the order is in the fulfillment process. The system automatically updates status based on the fulfillment progress of the associated resource requests; you can change the status manually at any time.

This table lists the service order status values that specific actions or processes trigger:

Service Order Status

Triggering Action or Process

Draft

Click the Save for Later button on the Resource Requests or Order Summary tab. Use this option to save a service order to return to at a later time if all of the required fields are not entered or if the order is not ready for submission.

New

Click the Save and Submit button on the Order Summary tab. Use this option to save a new service order and submit it to the person who is responsible for staffing to begin the fulfillment process.

Open

Manually change the status to Open. Use this status to indicate that you no longer consider an order to be in New status (for example, if you have reviewed it but have not yet made assignments).

In Process

Create an assignment in any status for at least one resource request on this service order.

Canceled

Cancel all resource requests on a service order. This action automatically cancels the service order. Use this status to indicate that the customer canceled their order for services.

Note: You cannot cancel a service order that is in a Draft status. You can delete a Draft service order using the Delete Service Order page.

Closed

  • Create assignments with a status of Assigned to fulfill all of the resource request quantities of this service order.

  • Cancel the last open resource request on a service order that contains other resource requests that are in a Closed status. This action automatically closes the service order.

  • Update all the Open service order lines to Closed status. Assignments in the status other than Assign, Canceled, or Completed are updated to Canceled status.

    If an assignment end date occurs prior to closing the service order, the assignment changes to Completed status.

    After a service order is closed, the related fields on the service order are grayed out; users cannot delete the closed line.

A resource request status indicates where the individual request is in the fulfillment process. The system updates the status automatically based on fulfillment progress; you can manually change the status at any time.

This table lists the resource request status values that specific activities or processes trigger:

Resource Request Status

Triggering Action or Process

Open

Create a new resource request.

Canceled

  • Manually change the resource request status to Canceled.

  • Cancel the service order for this resource request if no assignments are associated with the request. This action automatically cancels the resource request.

  • Remove or cancel a generic resource that is associated with this resource request from the Resource page or Manage Generic Resources page in PeopleSoft Program Management. This action automatically cancels the resource request.

Closed

  • Create assignments with a status of Assigned to fulfill the quantity of resources who are requested on this resource request.

  • Manually change the resource request status to Closed.

Service order templates reduce the amount of work that is required to create a service order by pre-populating many of the field values that are needed to create a new service order. You can create one or more standardized service order templates to use when similar or repetitive projects must be staffed.

Service order templates populate fields on both service order tabs—Resource Requests and Order Summary. A template may also include multiple resource request lines.

Information that is stored on service order templates automatically populates new service orders when you use this option. You can then modify any default values or enter additional information as needed.

Workflow options for service order processing or notification messages are specified for the business unit during implementation. If workflow options are enabled for the business unit, these actions may occur:

  • When a service order is submitted, a notification of a new service order is routed to the worklist of the person who is identified on the service order as responsible for staffing the order.

  • If the person who is responsible for staffing the order changes, a notification of the service order is routed to the worklist of the new responsible person. An email notification of the changed service order is also sent to the new responsible person.

  • Each time the service order status changes, the system sends an email notification to the person who is responsible for staffing the order (unless that is the person who made the change) and to the interested parties who are listed on a service order.