6Working with Activities
Search for an Activity
The activity search field is located in the upper right corner. It is represented by a magnifying glass.
Enter at least three characters of the word or the numerical value you want to search.
The results display below the search box.
Narrow the Activity Search Results
You can use Search Preferences to narrow and order the search results. Search Preferences are pre-configured by your administrator.
Click the gear icon to view the search preference.
Click the check boxes next to the options that you wish to search by from the Search Preferences menu, as shown in the following figure:
Drag and drop the categories in the list to change the priority of the preferences in the search results.
Select the date range for the search results from the drop-down menu.
Click Back to search and enter the search value.
Moving an Activity
When you identify an activity or group of activities that are in jeopardy, you can move the activities to another resource or to a bucket for re-assignment at a later time.
You can move activities from three different locations in the interface:
List view: You can move one activity or multiple activities at once. The application proposes resources that might be a good match for the activity. You can also choose where a new activity will fall in the new resources schedule.
Time view: From this view, you can drag an activity from one resource to another. You can move only one activity at a time. The application chooses the best time in the resource’s schedule and automatically moves the job to that time slot.
Map view: From this view, you can drag an activity from one resource to another. You can move only one activity at a time. The application chooses the best time in the resource’s schedule and automatically moves the job to that time slot.
Move an Activity in the List View
When you are in the List view, you can move an activity between resources using the Move link in the Hints box.
Select the new owner from that list.
Choose a resource if you want to assign the activity now.
Choose a bucket if you want the activity to be reassign during the next batch assignment.
On the right side of the screen, the moved activity displays in the new resource’s route.
If the activity displays in green or there is no comment in the Comments column, the new resource is projected to arrive at the customer’s location within the service window. If the activity displays in red or a comment is displayed in the Comments column, the new resource might miss the service window. If other activities are showing in red, the new activity jeopardizes the red activities; the Comments column displays the reason. When activities turn red, another resource may be a better choice.
Move an Activity in the Time View
You can move activities between resources in the Time view using drag and drop.
Find the activity that you want to move, then drag it onto the new resource.
When you drag the activity onto a new resource, the application checks the move against the route to identify potential problems. If the application does not detect any potential problems with the move, the activity is added to the timeline. The application chooses the time slot automatically based on system information. If the application detects a problem, a Move dialog displays an alert. You can either move the activity anyway, or move it to another resource.
When you drag the activity over the resource, a box appears around the resource’s name. If the box is red, the resource is not available for work. If the box is green, the resource is available to take the job. The box displays some text indicating whether the activity can be moved, as shown in the following figure:
The following figure shows a red box around the resource who is not available for work, and the reason for the activity not being moved:
Move an Activity in Map View
When you are in Map View, you can move an activity between resources using drag and drop.
Moving Activities Back to the Bucket
You might want to move activities from resources back to the bucket for a number of reasons.
A resource called in sick and you have already assigned him or her a route.
A resource is assigned activities that might place him or her in an overtime situation.
An activity is in jeopardy after routing.
A resource requested a particular day off, but the calendar does not reflect it as a non-working day and a route has already been assigned to him or her.
Warnings When Moving Activities
This topic describes the warning messages that you would encounter while moving activities.
Service window warning
SLA warning
Overtime warning
Linked activity warnings
Has successor scheduled earlier
Has predecessor scheduled later
Has simultaneous activity
Work zone mismatch
Work skills mismatch
Soft skill mismatch
Linked activity warnings
Has successor scheduled earlier: This warning appears for a pending activity linked to another activity that should be started after but is scheduled before its estimated completion.
Has predecessor scheduled later: This warning appears for a pending activity linked to another activity that should be finished before but is scheduled after its estimated start.
Has simultaneous activity: This warning appears for a pending activity linked to another activity that should be started simultaneously but is scheduled to a different time.
Overtime alert: This alert notifies you that the estimated completion time of the activity extends beyond the end of a resource’s working day.
Work Zone mismatch alert: The application doesn't allow you to assign an activity to a resource without a required work zone. The only exception is when the All check box is selected. In this case, the resource is shown in red and the "Work zone mismatch" alert appears in its hint.
Work skill mismatch alert: This alert displays when you move an activity to a resource that does not have the required and preferred qualification level of an activity skill. The only exception is when the All check box is selected. In this case, the resource is shown in red and the "Work skill mismatch" alert appears in its hint. Depending on your settings, the Work skill mismatch alert either prevents you from moving the activity, or gives you the option to move it, or let you cancel the move.
Soft Skill mismatch alert: If an activity is to be moved to a resource and a work skill level of this resource is more than (or equal to) the level 'required' to complete this activity, but less than the 'preferred' level, the 'Soft skill mismatch' alert appears. In case of the 'Soft skill mismatch' warning, the resource is not removed from the list of available resources on the Move activity screen (the All check box doesn't affect this behavior). But, it is shown in a different color (blue) than a regular one and the 'Soft skill mismatch' text is shown in its hint message. The 'preferable' skill level is ignored by the 'Self assignment' constraint that is used to filter activities in bucket. In this case the 'required' level is only checked. The 'Soft skill mismatch' warning is shown on attempt to move an activity to a technician with an insufficient 'preferred' skill level.
Do not move alert: This alert displays when you try to move an activity type that is not allowed to move between resources. Activity types are configured in the Add activity type page.
If an activity has a list of Forbidden resources, the application doesn't allow to assign it to one of these resources. They are not shown in the GUI (regardless of the "All" option).
If an activity has a list of Required resources, these resources are only shown in GUI (regardless of the "All" option).
If an activity has a list of Preferred resources, these resources are shown in GUI by default. Other resources are returned if the All option is set. In this case such resources are shown in red and the Resource is not preferred message appears for the activity to be moved.
Forbidden
The resulting list of the Forbidden resources is a union of the original activity lists.
Required
If activities to be moved have the Required resources, the result is an intersection.
Activities without the Required list are not processed. If only one of the two activities has the Required list, this list is only used in the restriction.
If two activities have the Required lists and these lists are not intersected, all the activities cannot be assigned together to the same resource.
Preferred
If any of the activities has the Required list, the Preferred resources are ignored.
The result Preferred list is calculated as an intersection.
Activities without the Preferred list are not processed. If only one of two activities has the Preferred list, this list is only used in the restriction.
If two activities have the Preferred lists and these lists are not intersected, all the activities cannot be assigned together to the same resource (can be overridden using the All option).
Add an Activity to a Route
While activities are usually added to routes through the routing process, you can manually add an activity to a route. This feature is helpful when you must set aside some time for a resource so that the application does not route any activities during that time.
Select the activity type from the Activity Type drop-down list.
If this activity is an internal activity, the layout of the screen changes. Otherwise, the screen stays the same.
Working with Non-Travel Activities
When an activity does not require travel (Calculate travel check box is cleared for the Activity type), the idle time before that activity is considered as travel to the next activity requiring travel in the route.
The travel between activities can be split into two (or more) pieces by inserting non-travel activities in between. As a result, in Time View, non-travel activities are placed over the travel time for activities that require travel. Non-travel activity may have a different location when compared to the previous travel-required activity (or provider start location), if a non-travel activity is placed over a travel-required activity.
First activity: For example, installation requires travelling, ends at 10:00
Second activity: For example, phone call doesn’t require travelling starts at 17:00 and ends at 17:10
Third activity: For example, upgrade requires travelling; service window starts at 17:30 and ends at 18:00
| Time | Action |
|---|---|
| 10:00 | First activity is finished |
| 10:00 to 14:20 | Idle time |
| 14:20 to 17:00 | Travel toward third activity |
| 17:00 to 17:10 | Second activity (phone call) |
| 17:10 to 17:30 | Continue travel toward third activity |
| 17:30 | Third activity started without any overdue and as early as the service window allows |
About Access Hours
Access Hours define the intervals in which an asset such as a building or equipment is accessible for resources. Access Schedule is the exact time interval and the days on which the asset is accessible. Access Schedule is always set up in the activity time zone and the Access Hours field is calculated in the time zone of the Activity Provider. So, the Access Hours field is recalculated every time an activity is scheduled or assigned.
Mon-Fri: 8AM-12PM, 13PM-17PM
Sat: 10AM-12PM
Exceptions: 2018-01-01, 2018-05-01
The Access Hours and Access Schedule fields affect routing. When activities are created, routed, and moved, the Access Hours and Access Schedule are taken into consideration. If the access hours and access schedule are not within the activity schedule, the application displays an alert. If the activity is within the Access Schedule, it is assigned to a free slot in the provider queue adjusting the Access Schedule if possible. Otherwise an alert that the asset may not be accessible beyond the defined access hours is shown.
Interpreting Access Hours
Empty schedule (or no schedule at all) and empty exception dates (or no exception dates at all) means no restriction, or 24x7 availability.
Empty schedule (or no schedule at all) and some exception dates filled means 24x7 availability except exception dates, and not available on exception dates.
Schedule includes all seven days (and may be some exception dates filled) means the availability is defined by the schedule for the given week day, and the asset is not available on exception dates, if any.
Schedule includes some, but not all seven days (and may be some exception dates filled) means the availability is defined by the schedule for the given week day, if it is defined. The asset is not available on the week days for which no schedule is defined; also, the asset is not available on exception dates, if any.
Set an Access Schedule to an Activity
While Access Schedules are usually added to an activity during the activity creation process, you can manually set an Access Schedule to an activity.
Add a Mass Activity
When you create an activity for one resource that you would like to use for other resources, you can create a mass activity. For example, if all the technicians are required to attend a training, you add a mass activity.
Add a Repeating Activity
You can create activities that appear on a resource’s route repeatedly for a specified period of time. Examples of repeating activities include meetings and lunch breaks.
Select the Repeating activity check box.
Add a Pre-Work Activity
You can add a pre-work activity for work that you want to complete in advance of another activity.
Duration for Suspended, Reopened, and Pre-Work Activities
You can set the duration for suspended, reopened, and pre-work activities manually. This helps while estimating the remaining duration—it shows the additional work that is needed to complete the activity.
The new pending activity is populated with the value submitted on the Suspend activity screen.
Prework is populated with the value submitted on the Start prework screen.
The reopened activity is populated with the value submitted on the Reopen activity screen.
Add an Activity to a Shift
When you add an activity to a shift, the activity is added to the calendars of all of the resources that have that shift assigned to them.
Linking Activities
The concept of linking activities applies to a variety of situations in which jobs and resources must be linked and sequenced together over time.
The following examples illustrate the diversity of linking activities:
When a technician is assigned an activity that takes more than a day to complete, how do you make sure that activity continues to be assigned to him or her until it has been completed?
A group of workers may be assigned to a series of activities related in such a way that the first one must be completed before the second can be started, and so on. What’s the most efficient way to keep that big job moving efficiently?
And what about a necessary break in a task that creates a corresponding gap in a technician’s schedule? What can you do to make sure your resources remain productive while “waiting for the paint to dry”?
When activities are related serially over time or when routing relationships cause a break in the schedule, linking activities can be used to manage the link and restore efficiency.
The first step in linking activities is to create link types that correspond to the four linking relationships represented graphically on the New Link template. The next is to use those link types to link actual activities for Routing.
Linking activities automatically
Oracle Field Service Cloud can link two activities together based on the information you send to the application using APIs.
About Activity Link Types
Activity link types identify the way that two or more activities can be linked together and specify the constraints, if any, that should be placed on assigning and scheduling resources.
Before you can link activities, you must create activity link types.
Activity link types are generic. You can reuse a link type to link various activities over time. In addition to the type of linkage (start-to-finish, etc.) consider more specific characteristics such as the interval between activities and any rules you want to make about assigning and scheduling those activities.
Regular link type: This link type places the first activity in the schedule before the second activity.
Reverse link type: This link type places the second activity in the schedule before the first activity.
The links that you create – both regular and reverse – will be available in the drop-down list that displays when you link activities.
Start-to-Start: Second activity starts after the first has been started.
Finish-to-Start: Second activity starts after the first one has been finished
Simultaneous: Both activities start at the same time.
Related: The relationship between these two activities is not sequential.
Because each of these link types generates two different linking options — regular and reverse — your linkage "library" could begin with at least 8 different link types, further differentiated by the amount of time between activities and any assignment and scheduling constraints — such as same technician over two days, different technicians on the same day that you want to place on them.
Create an Activity Link Type
Before you can link activities, you must create activity link types. Activity link types define how the activities are linked for example, the minimum interval between activities, the constraints for scheduling activities, constraints for assigning activities, and so on.
Select the graphic at the top of the screen that represents the way that you want to link the two activities.
Link Activities Manually
You can link activities to make sure that they occur in a certain order when the routing is run. Activities you might want to link include a trip to the depot to pick up a piece of non-standard inventory prior to an installation or a job that involves multiple workers performing related tasks in a certain sequence. You can automatically link activities using the Inbound API.
To link activities manually:
Click Add link.
The Add link window displays.
Cancel an Activity
You can only cancel pending activities.
In the Cancel Activity box, complete all required fields and select a Cancellation Reason from the drop-down list.
The fields on this dialog vary based on the way the application is configured for your organization.
Click OK.
The activity is removed from the time view, but still appears in the list view with a small block of time.
Changing Activity Status on Behalf of a Resource
Activate a Queue or Route
For the application to monitor delivery in real time and respond to updates, a resource must activate his or her queue, or route. In the event that the resource forgets to activate his or her queue on time, you can activate the queue and reset the actual time for the resource.
Start an Activity
Typically, resources mark activities as started when they begin to perform the activities. As a dispatcher, you can start an activity on behalf of a resource if necessary.
Prerequisites: You can start an activity only under the following circumstances:
The route that the activity is assigned to is activated.
All previous ordered activities are completed, suspended, marked not done, or cancelled.
A dispatcher can adjust the start time of an activity, but cannot set a start time that would begin before a prior activity’s end time. Resources cannot adjust start times. To start an activity:
Click the Start link.
The Start activity dialog appears. The start time defaults to the current time.
If necessary, change the time.
Add Time to an Activity
If the resource cannot complete the activity by the estimated end time, then they can add time to the activity through their mobile interface. If necessary, you can add time to the activity on behalf of the resource. You can add time only to an activity that is started.
Click Adjust time in the Hint.
Complete an Activity
Typically, resources mark activities as complete when they complete the actual activities. If necessary, you can mark the activity as complete on behalf of the resource.
Suspend an Activity
When resources must return to activities at a later time and they do not want to cancel the activity, they can suspend the activity. If necessary, you can suspend the activity on the resource’s behalf.
Suspending an activity captures the time that a resource has already spent working on it and creates a new, duplicate activity that can be started at any time throughout the day.
In the Hints box, click Suspend.
The Suspend activity dialog is displayed:
In the Work Area, the current portion of the activity closes. It displays as a suspended activity (scheduled, but not ordered) in the lower half of the screen.
Assign Not Done Status to an Activity
When resources discover that they cannot complete activities, they mark the activity as not-done status. If necessary, you can change the status for them. Unlike suspend, which creates a duplicate copy of the activity to be completed by the technician the same day, the not done status is considered to be a final status, like completed. For example: the customer was not home, or the customer asked to reschedule.
Deactivate a Route or Queue
At the end of their shifts, resources must deactivate their routes. You can deactivate the route on behalf of the resource if necessary.
Click Deactivate Queue.
The Deactivate queue dialog appears.
Group Operations
The Group Operations feature makes it easy to perform the same action on multiple activities simultaneously. For example, this feature could be used when a resource calls in after routing has run for the day. The activities for that day can be placed back into the bucket all at once to be routed to other resources.
Move a Group of Activities
When a group of activities is at risk, you can move it to avoid the service window being missed.
Select multiple activities in the first column of the Work Area or select the Select All check box.
To see a list of all resources and buckets, select the check box next to All.
The Move dialog appears, and the screen populates with resources and buckets available. The items to be moved will display in the selected resource’s/bucket’s route.
If moving the activities will cause either them or subsequent activities on the route to jeopardize their service window, the activities display in red. Such activities also have appropriate comments in the Comments column. If moving the activities does not cause any jeopardy, then the activities appear in green.
If the desired resource or bucket is visible, select it.
If not, then search for the resource or bucket from the Find box.
Change Activities in Groups
You can make changes to multiple activities at once.
Click Change link from the top of the Work Area.
The Change group of activities dialog displays a list of parameters that you can edit.
Cancel Activities by Group or Team
If a customer has canceled a site visit, you can cancel the activities that was assigned to the team that was scheduled to visit the customer.
Use the drop-down menu to select a Cancellation Reason and then add any pertinent notes.
The following figure shows the Cancel group of activities dialog:
Multi-Day Activities
Multi-day activities are activities that can be carried over to the next day. They are normal activities that are split into segments and managed individually. In other words, amulti-day activity comprises a set of activities, each representing a single-day task with definite start and end times.
You create a multi-day activity based on the total duration of the activity, number of segments, and the duration for each segment. You must also identify the route or the sequence of the segments in the activity. Multi-day activities can be represented graphically and can be assigned to one or multiple resources. These activities also respond to events that occur as the activity progresses. Technicians receive segments of multi-day activities in their routes and can handle them as single-day activities. Multi-day activities are represented as separate bars on the Time view, can be assigned to buckets or technicians, and support time monitoring and status changes.
Multi-Day Activities and Their Segmentation
A multi-day activity comprises a set of activities, each representing a single-day task with definite start and end times. You can assign each single-day activity to a different resource. A single-day activity is also known as a segment. Further, you can start and complete a segment or the entire activity. Before you create a multi-day activity, you must create a multi-day activity type.
This helps to find all segments of the same multi-day activity quickly, especially when they are assigned to different resources.
Non-Scheduled Multi-Day Activities
Non-scheduled multi-day activities are the activities that do not have the performance date specified in a route.
A multi-day activity can be created in or moved to the non-scheduled pool of a bucket or a route. When you create a non-scheduled activity, the segments are not generated and only the total duration of the multi-day activity is displayed.
If a multi-day activity is moved from the scheduled to non-scheduled pool, all the segments are deleted and the activity is merged into a single entity with a definite duration.
Not-Ordered Multi-Day Activities
If the position of an activity is not defined in a route, it is referred to as a not-ordered activity.
If you enable Support of not-ordered, a multi-day activity is marked as not-ordered. A default segment is created on the first day of the activity even if the time duration is not specified. This default segment with minimal duration always remains even after modification so that you can monitor the not-ordered activity in the current route.
The duration of the not-ordered multi-day activity segment is a value in between Minimal duration of a single segment parameter and Maximal total duration of segments created for a particular day parameter. The actual duration of a segment can also be equal to the available time period in the route. This setup allows you to perform not-ordered multi-day activities in between other activities.
Other Specifications
This section includes the specifications for multi-day activities in areas such as property inheritance, activity search, travel time calculation, work zone and work skill support, inventory and required inventory support, capacity management and routing, and so on.
Property inheritance from a multi-day activity to its segments
In a pending multi-day activity all fields and custom properties are inherited by the segments from the multi-day activity with the exception of the Duration and Position in route fields which are determined for each segment. If a file property is added to a multi-day activity, the content of such property is not cloned to each segment. Instead, reference to the file property is created for segments. If a new file is uploaded to a started segment, the new File ID will be used only for the segment for which it was created. All other segments will refer to the file uploaded to the entire activity, if any.
Activity search
All existing segments of a scheduled multi-day activity. The activity itself is not returned.
Non-scheduled multi-day activities.
Support of Work Zones, Work Skills, and preferred resources
If the Support of work zones, Support of work skills, and Support of preferred resources features are enabled for the multi-day activity type, they will be determined for all activities of such type. The work zone, work skills, and preferred resources are determined for the entire multi-day activity and retrieved for each segment on demand. The same work zone, the set of work skills, and the same preferred resources are applied to all segments.
Travel time calculation
For multi-day activities with the ‘Calculate travel’ option enabled travel time is calculated for all segments of a multi-day activity. The calculation logic and usage for statistical purposes is the same as for single-day activities.
Support of inventory and required inventory
Any inventory added to a multi-day activity is added for the entire activity. Each segment shows the same set of inventory. Any inventory action (install, deinstall, add, and so on) can only be performed on a specific segment. However, these operations will update the inventory list for the entire multi-day activity and, consequently, the inventory list shown for all other segments. Similarly, any required inventory is also assigned to the multi-day activity rather than its segments. The same required inventory is shown for all segments. All required inventory actions are performed for the multi-day activity and update the required inventory list for all segments. Note: Required inventory added to a multi-day activity sets no assignment restrictions. No alerts are shown when the resource’s inventory does not match the required inventory.
Capacity management and routing
Multi-day activities are handled as "internal" activities.
Multi-day activities cannot be booked with the "get_capacity" function. This function doesn't calculate capacity categories for such activities.
Multi-day activities are not included in the Used quota values on the Quota view. Instead, they are added to Other activities.
Activity links
Manage—in the Links tab of the Activity details screen
Manage—in the Move confirmation dialog
Mobility—on the Linked activities screen
Nearby activities search
The Nearby Activities function does not show either multi-day activities or their segments. Therefore, none of them can be found among the Nearby Activities search results.
Activity history
You can retrieve history from both, a non-scheduled multi-day activity and a segment of a scheduled multi-day activity. The history for a non-scheduled activity contains records for the activity itself. The history for a segment contains records for the current segment and for the entire activity. Some actions relate both, the multi-day activity and one of its segments. In this case, the history contains two records, the one for the entire activity marked with (multi-day activity) in the Action column.
Processing of multi-day activities by Daily Extract
Daily Extract stores multi-day activities and their segments together with activities of other types and extracts them into the Activity Fields file. Multi-day activities can be identified by their type—‘multiday_activity’ for the entire multi-day activity and ‘multiday_activity_segment’ for individual segments of a multi-day activity. If a multi-day is still in progress, each daily extraction contains the completed segments of the activity in the current day routes. As soon as the entire activity is completed, the extracted file contains the data of both, the individual segments and the entire multi-day activity.
Add a Multi-Day Activity
You can segment a complex task to create a multi-day activity. A multi-day activity can be created in a pool of a bucket or a route. You can also mark the activity as scheduled activity or non-scheduled activity once created.
Constraints on Creating a Multi-Day Activity
When a multi-day activity is created, its segments are generated automatically. In generating the segments the functionality takes into account various constraints ensuring efficient tasks distribution and compliance with the customer agreements.
The following constraints are applied when a multi-day activity is created for a particular date (a scheduled activity):
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When a scheduled multi-day activity is assigned to a certain route, its segments are always generated starting from the date of the route. The first segment is always inserted on the day which the activity is scheduled, regardless of whether a corresponding free time interval is available in the route.
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The minimum duration of a single segment is always observed. If the route for a particular day has no time interval for a minimal single segment, no segment is created for that day, except the first segment of a scheduled multi-day activity which is always created on the selected date.
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If for the period of 31 days after the creation of the last assigned segment there is no available interval for assigning the remaining duration of the multi-day activity, the remaining duration is moved to the non-scheduled pool of the same resource making the activity partially scheduled.
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The service window constraint applies only to the first segment of a multi-day activity in the route.
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When creating a multi-day activity, the application should observe the service window constraint not only for the multi-day activity but also for other activities in the route. However, the less time that remains from ETA to the service window end, the higher is the probability of service window overdue. To reduce the overdue probability, the application reserves 20% of the service window scheduling the activity only to the first 80% of the service window interval.
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In addition to the service window reservation, the Service Window Warning parameter defined on the Display screen also controls the service window compliance.
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If the SLA start corresponds to the day on which the multi-day activity is started, this value is used as the minimum ETA for the first created segment of such activity.
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No multi-day activity segments are created on non-working days. If a non-working calendar has been assigned to the resource after the multi-day activity creation, the segment assigned to that day is not moved automatically. An alert is generated indicating that a manual action is required. Such behavior is intended to prevent unnecessary segment changes or removals when the calendar is changed only temporarily.
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On-call calendar is ignored in multi-day activity segment creation.
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When a multi-day activity is non-scheduled, no segments are created. Segments will be created as soon as the activity is scheduled to a particular day.
Multi-Day Activity Hint
Multi-day activities display the hint pop-up dialog, similar to single-day activities. Hint appears on both, the scheduled and the non-scheduled segments. The hint content is defined in the Visible hint columns for activities context layout. At the same time, hints of multi-day activities or their segments always contain theMulti-day status property regardless of the context layout settings.
Segments of scheduled, pending, complete, and not done activities: The hit contains the activity status, the total duration of the multi-day activity and the total number of segments into which he multi-day activity is split. The Duration field shows the duration of the selected segment.
Canceled activities: The hint contains the activity status (canceled).
Segments of started activities: The hint contains the activity status, the total duration of the multi-day activity, the activity progress in percent, the number of segments in a final status in the total number of segments. The Duration field shows the duration of the selected segment. The progress value is calculated as the combined duration of all finished segments divided by the total duration of the multi-day activity. In this case, the total number of segments does not include canceled and deleted segments.
Non-scheduled activities: The hint contains the activity status (pending) and the total duration of the multi-day activity with the non-scheduled duration shown separately. As opposed to scheduled activity segments, the Duration field shows the duration of the entire multi-day activity. The hint also contains the number of segments created out of the non-scheduled Multi-day activity, which for fully non-scheduled activities is always ‘0’.
Partially-scheduled activities and their segments: When a part of a non-scheduled multi-day activity has been moved to the route(s) generating one or more segments and the rest of the multi-day activity remains in the non-scheduled pool, the hints of both the scheduled segments and the non-scheduled part of the multi-day activity contain the activity status and the total duration of the multi-day activity with the non-scheduled duration shown separately. The hint also contains the number of segments created out of the non-scheduled multi-day activity. The Duration field of a scheduled segment shows the duration of such segment, while the Duration field of the non-scheduled part of the activity shows the total activity duration. Multi-day activity hints appear on Time, List, and Map views containing the same information.
Multi-Day Activity Status
A multi-day activity has an own status which in some cases may be different from the status of its segments. The status of a multi-day activity is determined by the activity progress and by the statuses of its segments.
A multi-day activity is created in the pending status and remains pending if all its segments are in the pending, cancelled or deleted status, or if it has no segments at all (non-scheduled multi-day activities).
As soon as one of the segments is started, the status is changed to started.
When one or more segments of a multi-day activity are in the completed or not done status, and there are no other started or pending segments, the activity has the completed status.
A multi-day activity is in the completed or not done status when one or more segments of a multi-day activity are in the completed or not done status, respectively, and there are no other started or pending segments.
A multi-day activity changes its status to cancelled when all its segments have been canceled or when the entire activity is canceled together with one of the segments. At the same time no segments must be in the completed or not done status.
If the canceled activity is in a not-activated route, it can also be deleted. For an activity to be deleted, it must have no canceled segments or segments in activated routes.
Assigning Multi-Day Activity to a Bucket
You can assign an activity to the route of the bucket and reassign it to the resource route.
When a scheduled multi-day activity is created in a bucket, it is split into segments and mapped for capacity management processing.
When the activity is created in a bucket, only one segment is created for each day. The duration of such segment is equal to the value of the Maximal total duration of segments created parameter of the activity.
If a multi-day activity is created in a bucket that doesn’t have a working calendar, the first segment is created on the day the activity is created. The duration of such segment is equal to the value of the Maximal total duration of segments created for a particular day of the activity. No other segment is created and the rest of the multi-day activity is marked as non-scheduled.
Segments are not created for the non-working days in the bucket.
View and Edit a Multi-Day Activity
You can see the overview of a multi-day activity in the Time, List, and Map views. To view or edit the details of the activity, you must go to the Activity details screen. When you access the activity details from a started segment or a segment in a final status, the Activity details screen shows data of the current segment only. When you update the details of a started segment only the current segment is updated.
Click Details.
The Activity details screen appears, as shown in the following figure:
The Multi-Day Activity Links Tab
The Details screen of a multi-day activity shows all its segments in one place. The Links tab contains a list of all the segments. The list is organized as a table showing the segment date, status, start time and duration. The list also contains the Details and List view links allowing you to quickly switch between the details of activity segments and find them on the List View.
Start a Multi-Day Activity
You start a multi-day activity the same way you start a single-day activity. However, the multi-day activity starts when its first pending status segment is started. Further, you can start each segment separately.
Complete and Not Done Activities
You can mark an activity status as completed at the end of a task. Activities or segments that are started but cannot be completed due to various reasons can be marked as not-done.
You can complete or incomplete the entire activity or a single segment of the activity.
When the time to complete and the last segment complete simultaneously, then the activity is marked Complete.
If the segment completes before the time to complete, the remaining duration is moved to non-scheduled pool and the activity is marked as Started.
The Multi-day activity is finished check box is selected by default for the last segment of the activity. This check box is disabled for all other segments.
If you complete an entire activity with a segment, which is not the last segment, all the remaining segments are deleted and the activity is marked complete/not done. Further, all subsequent segments are deleted from the route(s).
Complete a Multi-Day Activity
You can mark either a segment or an entire activity as complete. For a segment to be marked as complete, it must be in Started status. You can also mark an activity as complete, after you finish the last segment of the activity. You can also mark the incomplete activity as not done.
Cancel a Multi-Day Activity
You can cancel a pending multi-day activity or a pending segment within the activity.
Reopen a Multi-Day Activity
You can reopen a canceled segment or a cancelled activity or an activity in the final status. You cannot reopen a single segment in a final status. When you reopen a multi-day activity, the same activity is recreated. The reopened multi-day activity will have the same list of segments in its Links tab as well as other attributes.
Moving Multi-Day Activities
You can move and reschedule all the segments or a single segment of an activity to a specific date.
You can drag and drop an activity or a segment on a resource or route to move the activity. The duration on the hint allows you to estimate if the destination time slot is enough to move the activity or segment.
For the scheduled multi-day activities, the hint displays the duration of the particular segment and for the non-scheduled activities the duration of the entire activity is displayed.
reassign segments to another resource
reschedule a segment to another day
reassign multiple segments to another resource
reschedule multiple segments to another day
move multi-day activity or segment to/from buckets
move multi-day activity or segment to the non-scheduled pool
move multi-day activity from non-scheduled pool and create scheduled segments for a single day only or generate segments for the entire duration of the activity
You can drag-and-drop activities to perform all these actions, and some others, in the Activities View. The Move link is not supported for multi-day activities. When you drag an activity or a segment, a hint prompts you to drop the activity on a resource or route to which you want to move the activity. The hint also contains the activity or segment duration, so that the you can estimate if the destination time slot is enough to move the activity or segment. For scheduled multi-day activities, the hint shows the duration of the particular segment, while for non-scheduled activities it shows the duration of the entire activity.
Move a Multi-Day Activity Between Resources or Dates
When a scheduled activity is moved to another resource or rescheduled to another date, all its pending segments are deleted and recreated in the new location. The recreated activity segments can have different destination route, date, and duration from the initial activity. In addition, number of segments may also differ.
Move a Multi-Day Activity Between Non-Scheduled Pool
When you drag-and drop a multi-day activity from a non-scheduled pool to the route of a resource, an activity with its segments is generated according to the route constraints. You can also move an activity from a route to the non-scheduled pool.
Move a Multi-Day Activity in a Bucket
If a multi-day activity is created in a bucket, it can be moved to the route of a resource based on the time available in the route. If the destination route has no available time intervals, one segment of the minimal duration set for the activity type is still created.
Reorder Multi-Day Activity Segments Within a Route
A segment of a multi-day activity can be moved to a different place in the same route.
Manage Group Actions
When the Activities screen is set to the List View, you can select the segments of scheduled multi-day activities for group actions together with other activities in the route. In this case only Change and Cancel actions are available. When you select only multi-day activity segments, the Move action is not shown.
Adjust Activity and Segment Duration
You can adjust the duration of activities and the individual segments that comprise them. The duration of the complete task is set up while creating a multi-day activity. You must adjust the Time to complete value to adjust the activity and segment durations.
When you first create a scheduled multi-day activity, it is automatically split into segments. The duration of each segment is calculated according to the constraints and the actual time available in the route of the resource. You can adjust the activity and segment duration based on these constraints, however, the purpose, procedure and results of such adjustments may be different.
Adjust Activity Duration
The duration of a scheduled multi-day activity is the sum of durations of all its segments. You can adjust the time to complete the activity to manage its duration.
Adjust Segment Duration
Although activity segments are initially generated automatically, you can change their parameters manually. Such manual changes are preserved during further automatic recalculations. Also, you change a segment manually in a route that contains other segments of the same multi-day activity, such other segments will also be protected against automatic recalculations.
Teamwork
Teamwork is a feature that allows a resource or group of resources to assist each other either on a specific job or on an on-going basis.
team leader – This is the resource who is being assisted.
assistant – The resource who is assisting.
In the assistant’s work order queue, time will be reserved and marked as assisting (the team leader). The arrow points to the person who is in need of assistance.
Use the Assign to Team link in the Actions menu.
Use the Assign to team link in the hints box.
Drag and drop into the resource tree.
Both the team leader and individual resources can start and complete teamwork on their mobile device. If any resources cannot do this, the team leader can do it for them.
The assistant can open a teamwork activity and see the route of the team leader in Oracle Field Service Mobility Cloud Service on the day of the teamwork.
The assistant can reschedule a scheduled regular activity assigned to the team leader within the day(s) of teamwork, but can't reschedule it to other day(s) when there is no teamwork.
The assistant can't reschedule a scheduled regular activity assigned to the team leader to a non-scheduled pool.
If the assistant tries to perform actions that are not permitted with a scheduled regular activity assigned to the team leader, the message, "You are not authorized to move the activity" appears.
Use the Assign to Team Function
To use the Assign Team function using the Actions menu:
Click Assign to Team.
The Assign (assists) dialog box appears.
Select the pencil icon to display the Resource Tree.
Choose one.
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Use desired filters if necessary.
Type the resource name or ID in the search field.
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Select your desired resource.
Descriptions of the fields in the Assign resource to team dialog box is listed below:Assists to: Select the pencil to search for your desired resource. Start typing the name of the resource in the search field that the selected resource will be assisting (the Team Leader). the application will search and bring up resource options as you are typing. Or you can click the name of the resource in the resource tree and it will fill in the Assists to field.
Position in Route: Select the position this activity will fall in the route. You can select beginning of route, in between other scheduled activities; end of route, or as a not ordered activity.
Duration: Enter the length of time this teamwork assignment will last by using the drop down menus for hours and minutes.
Time Slot: Time Slot refers to a time window that this teamwork needs to happen within. The default is all day, but you can change to reflect a specific time slot. Click the Time Slot check box to select the time slot you want this activity to be performed.
Activity type: Select the teamwork Activity Type from the drop down list.
Repeating Activity: If this is repeating Teamwork, select the box next to Repeating activity to open repeat options. You can indicate if this Teamwork should repeat daily or weekly and which days/weeks on which it should repeat.
The Assists to field populates.
Once you have completed all required information, click OK or Close to Cancel.
Teamwork appears in the Assistant’s work queue, and the Resource Tree indicates that the Team Leader is being assisted.
Assign Teamwork Using the Drag-and-Drop Function
You can assign teamwork using multiple ways and drag and drop is one of the ways. Be aware that there are two roles involved in teamwork—Team Leader and Assistant.
The second way to assign Teamwork is to drag and drop one Resource to another.
Drag the Assistant to the Resource who will be the Team Leader.
When dragging over names in the Resource Tree, hints may appear to indicate whether or not the selected Resource can participate in Teamwork.
