Add an Activity Bundling Rule to Optimize Workload

When you create an activity bundling rule to optimize workload, activities that satisfy the rule are assigned to the same resource, so that the resource performs the activities in a single visit. You can achieve this either using automatic scheduling by Routing or by assigning the activities manually through the Assignment Assistant. This way you reduce the duration of same-site activities and improve the utilization of resources.

1. Click Configuration > Bundling Rules.
2. Click Add Bundling Rule.
3. Complete these fields:

   • Label: Enter a label for the activity bundling rule. APIs use this label to identify the bundling rule.

   • Active: Select the check box to make the activity bundling rule Active. The application calculates activity bundles only for the rules that have a status of Active.
   • Name: Enter a name for the activity bundling rule in the English language and other languages that are required by your organization.
4. To add the activity bundling keys, click Add Key.
   1. On the Add bundling key dialog box, select the activity property that you want to identify as the bundling key.
      Among the standard fields you can select appt_number, caddress, ccity, czip, customer_number, and aworktype. Among the custom properties you can select string, integer, and enum types of properties.

      Routing compares the values defined in the activity fields against the specified criterion. Activities are grouped together as a visit, only if the values of all activity bundling keys match the specified criterion. For example, if you select Work Order [appt_number] as the bundling key, Routing bundles all the activities that have this work order.

   2. Select Take the entire value of short fields to define the maximum limit of characters that's taken from the value of a field or property selected as the bundling key. Deselect this check box to define the maximum length manually.
   3. Enter the maximum length of the field or property to be considered as the bundling key in the Length field. This number must be between 1 and 64.
5. To create a bundling key to optimize the workload, select Group same-site activities into a Visit.
   Routing identifies future activities based on the bundling keys and schedules them to the same day and assigns them to the same mobile worker. You can create only one bundling rule for optimizing workload.
6. Use the slider and set the lower and upper limits of ratio for the duration of bundled activities.

   This is the ratio of the average duration of activities that are part of a bundle (except for the first one) to the duration that's currently estimated for such activities. This ratio is applied to the original estimate to get the estimated duration of bundled activities. The ratio isn't applied to the estimated duration of the first activity of the bundle. The first activity continues to have the same duration as a similar standalone activity. You can also see the value calculated by the application based on the duration reported by the mobile workers. The final ratio that's applied to the estimated durations of the bundled activities, which isn't the first, is within the lower and upper limits set here. So, if the calculated ratio lies within the limits, that value is used. If not, then the limit closet to the calculated value is used.

   You can use the limits to override the ratio to be used for the duration of non-first bundled activities. To override, set both the lower and upper limits to the value that you want to use. Because, the application always respects the limits, it uses the value you've set. For example, if your desired ratio is 80%, then set both the lower and upper limits to 80% to use this always, regardless of what the calculated value is. Similarly, to disable this feature and to have the application behave the way it used to, set the lower and upper limits to 100%.

   For more information, see the Bundling of Activities section in the Using Routing guide.

7. Click Add.
   The activity bundling rule is added; you can’t add anymore rules to optimize workload.