1. Administering Oracle Fusion Field Service
  2. Add an Activity Type in Oracle Fusion Field Service

Add an Activity Type in Oracle Fusion Field Service

An activity type defines the properties based on which users can create activities. The properties could be whether the activity is created for customers, internal activities, or team work, whether travel needs to be calculated for the activity, whether the activity can be rescheduled, and so on. You can't change some features after you start creating activities for some activity types. Whether you change the features for existing activity types on the user interface or through REST APIs, the application validates the features and displays warnings, as appropriate.

Before you start

  • Decide whether you want to use work skills and work zones with activities and configure them on the Configuration > Business Rules page.
  • Decide whether you want to track resources' location and provide the Enable GPS Telemetry permissions for the required user types on the Configuration > User Types page.

Here's what to do

  1. In Fusion Setup and Maintenance, go to Navigator > My Enterprise > Offering Setup. Select the Field Service offering. In the Scheduling and Dispatch functional area, select the Activity Types task. The Activity Types page displays all the activity types you've created so far.
  2. In the Setup field in the header, select Activity Types.
    The Activity Types page displays all the activity types you've created so far.
  3. Click the plus icon.
    The Add Activity Type drawer opens and displays the General, Costs, Time Slots and Color Themes tabs.
  4. On the General tab, complete these fields:
    • Enabled: Move the slider to enable the activity type. The activity type is disabled by default, you must enable it to create activities.
    • Name: Enter a name for the activity type in English and in all the languages that are active in the application. This name appears on all the pages in the application.
    • Label: Enter a unique identifier for the activity type. This identifier is mapped to the REST API.
    • Activity Type Group: Select the activity type group this activity type belongs to, for example, Customer, Internal, Teamwork, or Task.
    • Mode: Select the mode in which the activity is operated from these options:
      • Regular: Select this if the activities are regular, normal activities such as estimation, inspection, and so on.
      • Mass: Select this if the activities can be performed by multiple resources simultaneously. For example, team meeting, or training. If you select this option at the time of creating the activity type and save the activity type, you can't clear it later. However, if you've cleared it at the time of creating the activity type, you can select it later. But, you see a warning message. These fields aren’t available for mass activity type:
        • Teamwork
        • Reassign
        • Unordered activities
        • Reschedule
      • Teamwork: Select this to define that the activities are allowed for teamwork. Teamwork is an activity that's performed by minimum two resources: a team leader and an assistant. You can select this option only while creating the activity type. After you select this option and save the activity type, you can't clear it. Similarly, if you clear it at the time of creating the activity type, you can't select it later. When the Teamwork activity feature is enabled, these activity type features are disabled:
        • Segmented
        • Reassign
        • Unassigned
        • Reschedule
        • Unscheduled
        • Work Zones
        • Work Skills
        • Inventory
      • Segmented: Select this mode to define that the activities of this type are intended to be used for field work that must be split into segments, which can be scheduled and assigned to mobile workers. You can select this option only while creating the activity type. When you select this option, a new section, Enable segmenting and extended duration, appears in the Add activity type window where you can set the duration for segments. After you select this option and save the activity type, you can't clear it. Similarly, if you clear it at the time of creating the activity type, you can't select it later. These fields are displayed in the Enable segmenting and extended duration section:
        • Minimum Duration of a Segment, Minutes: Select the minimum length (in minutes) of each segment the activity is to be split.
        • Maximum Segment Duration for a Single Day, Minutes: Select the maximum total duration (in minutes) of the activity segments for any day.

          The duration define here's allocated across one or more segments created on the same day. Segmantable activities can’t be used for teamwork and can’t be created as mass activities. For more information on Segmentable activities, see the Segmentable Activities topic available in the Using Core Application Guide.

    • Default Duration: Enter the time taken in minutes to complete the activity. This is the default value and it will be used when no statistics are available for the activity.
  5. On the Settings tab, complete the fields in these sections:
    • Allowed Scheduling:
      • Reschedule: Select the checkbox to define that the activities can be rescheduled to another date.
      • Unscheduled: Select this checkbox to define the activities can be planned without a scheduled date.
      • Reassign: Select the checkbox to define that the activities can be moved from one resource to another. You can't select this option if you've selected Teamwork.

      • Unassigned: Select the checkbox to define that the activities can be created in a bucket. If you select this option at the time of creating the activity type and save the activity type, you can't clear it later. However, if you've cleared it at the time of creating the activity type, you can select it later. But, you see a warning message.

        You can't select this option if you've selected Teamwork.

        You can select this option only if you've selected Reassign.

      • Unordered: Select the checkbox to define that the activities can be unordered activities. If you select this option at the time of creating the activity type and save the activity type, you can't clear it later. However, if you've cleared it at the time of creating the activity type, you can select it later. But, you see a warning message.

        Unordered activities are the ones for which the order of processing isn't defined. Such activities don't have an estimated time of arrival. The resource, dispatcher, or routing might define the order (for example, command change order in mobile interface or edit activity command in web interface).

    • Enforced Constraints:
      • Inventory: Select the checkbox to define that inventory can be used for activities. For example, installation can have inventory, but lunch breaks and team meetings don't have inventory. You can't select this option if you've selected Teamwork. If you select this option at the time of creating the activity type and save the Activity type, you can't clear it later. However, if you've cleared it at the time of creating the activity type, you can select it later. But, you see a warning message.
      • Required Inventory: Select the checkbox to define that the required inventory is supported for activities of this type.

      • Work Skills: Select the checkbox to define that the work skills are calculated and assigned to the activities, based on some conditions. Later, only resources with matching work skills are considered for assignment of the activity. If you don't select this checkbox, work skills aren't considered and the activity can be assigned to any available resource. You can't select this option if you've selected Teamwork.

        This option doesn't depend on the Reassign feature (as work skills are used not only to move activities but to calculate capacity).

        If you choose to use work skills, you must configure Business Rules to allow support of work skills (Configuration > Business Rules > Work Skills support).

      • Work Zones: Select the checkbox to define that the resource work zone must be calculated for this type of activities. This option can't be enabled if Teamwork is selected. If this option is selected and a work zone can't be calculated, a warning is displayed when such an activity is moved; routing will not assign such activities. If using work zones, business rules must be configured to support work zones (Configuration > Business Rules > Work Zones support).
      • Use Customer Time Zone: Select the checkbox to define that the activity is scheduled based on the customer’s time zone to ensure SLA and service windows are met, regardless of the resource’s time zone.
    • Statistics:

      • Predict Durations: Select the checkbox to define that the activities are estimated using the statistics that are gathered at the resource level and company level.

      • Requires Travel: Select the checkbox to define that the travel time to an activity must be calculated. If you've selected Requires Travel for an activity and it has neither the travel key (that is, zip code) nor coordinates, a company default value is used as a value of travel to and from the activity.

        If the feature is selected, the algorithm implemented for activities is used for all activities of the type.

        If the feature isn't selected:
        • The travel time to activities of the type is always calculated as zero (0), as if location of activities of the type is the same as location of the previous activity.
        • travel to the next stop also starts from this previous location.
    • Geolocation:
      • Track Resource Location: Select the checkbox to define that the resource's geolocation is monitored and recorded for all activities in Started status. Location tracking resumes after the activity status changes (that is, the status changes to ‘Completed/End’, ‘Suspend’, or ‘Not Done’) and, the route is still active. This functionality is supported in the Oracle Fusion Field Service Core Application (browser) and installed applications (Android and iOS) and requires Oracle Fusion Field Service Smart Location, Oracle Field Service Professional Cloud Service or Oracle Field Service Enterprise Cloud Service. This message isn't displayed if you've not selected Enable GPS Telemetry in the Configuration > User Types > Permissions section.
  6. On the Time Slots tab, select predefined time slots within which the activity can be performed.
    After you select this option and save the activity type, if you try to clear the option, you see the message, ‘Time Slot values will not be preserved after the change of this feature.’ If you don't select this checkbox when the Time slot field is added to the Edit/View activity context layout, then it's replaced with the Service Window field.
  7. On the Color Themes tab, select the color palette to be copied from an existing activity type.
    The color scheme of the selected activity type is duplicated.
  8. Click Add.
    The activity type is added.