Explore Scheduling

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Describe the parts of a schedule.
  
• Explain how you can incorporate business priorities into scheduling.
  
• Discuss factors to balance when making a schedule.
  

This module covers the Classic Dispatch Console, hereby referenced in the badge as ‘dispatch console.’ For information about the new Scheduling Console, check out our help documentation.

Before You Start

Before you complete any steps in this badge, make sure you complete the hands-on checks and hands-on challenges (HOCs) in the Field Service Basics badge using the same Trailhead Playground. The work you do in the HOCs here builds on the work you complete in that badge.

• Field Service Basics
  

Get to Know the Classic Dispatcher Console

Your customers expect fast and reliable on-site service, and delivering it takes some serious coordination behind the scenes. That's exactly what Agentforce Field Service and Operations is built for.

As you learned in the Field Service Basics badge, Agentforce Field Service and Operations connects your workforce, products, and customers on a single platform so you can deliver exceptional service at every job site. Whether your business handles a handful of daily appointments or manages thousands of mobile workers across multiple regions, Agentforce Field Service and Operations gives you the tools to schedule smarter, respond faster, and keep customers happy.

But the real power of Field Service lies in the managed package, which unlocks a powerful suite of features built to handle complex field operations. By leveraging the power of optimization rules and scheduling policies, the scheduling engine takes the guess work out of managing appointments. No more manual juggling, the engine automatically ensures every technician is exactly where they need to be, at exactly the right time.

And tying it all together is the dispatcher console. Think of it as mission control for your entire field operation—a centralized workspace that gives dispatchers complete visibility and control without ever having to leave a single screen. It's organized around four key elements that seamlessly work together.

• Appointment List: Every service appointment in one place, filterable and up to date.
  
• Scheduling Actions: Quick tools to assign, reassign, or optimize jobs without breaking a sweat.
  
• Mobile Worker Availability Chart: A visual snapshot of your field team's capacity, so it's easy to see who has room for the next job.
  
• Interactive Map: A live map of appointments and workers, great for making smart, location-based decisions fast.
  

A dispatcher can use the console to track jobs in a Gantt schedule, which is a visual timeline showing every appointment across your team. It gives you a snapshot of who, what, when, and where questions about each appointment by simply hovering on it. For example, you can see that the current status is in Scheduled (1), and the technician is scheduled to work from 8:32 to 10:32 on June 13, 2020 (2).

You can then double-click the appointment, and click the Work Order tab to answer who and where questions. You can see that the client is Associated Supply Company (1) and the work will be completed at 1442 2nd St A, Santa Monica, CA, 90401 (2).

Why Is This Appointment in This Slot?

Now that we have answered the who, what, when, and where questions for this appointment, you may be curious about the why.

• Why did this particular appointment end up where it is on the schedule?
  
• Why did the scheduling engine choose this mobile worker instead of someone else?
  
• Why did it choose this particular time?
  

Let’s look at this from the very beginning and get some answers.

First, your service rep gets a call from a customer requesting a particular service—in this case an installation. The rep creates a work order specifying the work to be performed and including details like the skills required, the location of the client, and suitable working hours. Based on this information, the engine looks for all possible candidates (from your company’s list of service resources) who are qualified to perform the service, and are available between the earliest permitted start date and the due date for the job.

This creates a pool of possible candidates who are qualified and available. If there’s only one mobile worker who can work in the required time, we’re done. But usually more than one candidate appears. Then the engine chooses the best time slot and best mobile worker using the company’s business priorities.

This is something worth highlighting. Agentforce Field Service and Operations isn't just about getting jobs on a calendar. It's about getting the right job to the right person at the right time, based on what actually matters to your business. That's where scheduling policies come in.

Parts of a Scheduling Policy

A scheduling policy is your way of telling Agentforce Field Service and Operations what good scheduling looks like for your organization. Every business is a little different. Some prioritize keeping travel time low. Others need to make sure every job is handled by someone with a specific certification. Scheduling policies let you encode those priorities directly into how Agentforce Field Service and Operations makes decisions, so the system is always working toward your goals rather than just filling slots on a calendar.

Every scheduling policy is made up of two building blocks:

• Work rules
  
• Service objectives
  

Work rules come first. Think of them as the binary filters that narrow down your pool of candidates before any decisions are made. Work rules answer questions like: Does this mobile worker have the right skills for the job? Are they available during the appointment window? Do they cover the right territory? If a candidate doesn't meet the criteria set by your work rules, they're ruled out. This keeps unqualified workers from being assigned to jobs they aren't equipped to handle, and is the first step of building that pool of candidates we talked about.

Once work rules have narrowed down a list of qualified candidates, service objectives take over. This is where your business priorities come into play. Service objectives evaluate the remaining candidates and rank them based on what matters most to your organization. If minimizing travel time is your top priority, for example, the qualified worker who is closest to the job site will rise to the top of the list.

Put It All Together

Field service organizations track how the platform meets their business priorities by using key performance indicators like travel time and worker utilization. Here's the thing, though: qualifications, availability, location, and business priorities don't always align. The most skilled worker for a job might also be the farthest away. The closest available worker might already be stretched thin. Let’s look at some questions and priorities a company might need to balance when scheduling.

Scheduling is a balancing act, and that's exactly why scheduling policies are so powerful. They help you outline a clear set of priorities to follow when tradeoffs have to be made, so every decision is consistent, intentional, and aligned with what your business actually needs.

The good news is that you don't have to figure it all out on your own. Agentforce Field Service and Operations comes with one of the most capable scheduling and optimization engines out there, developed and refined over more than 20 years and trusted by thousands of customers every single day.

Now that you understand how scheduling policies work and what goes into building them, take a moment to think about your own business. What are your top priorities? What tradeoffs come up most often for your team? Those answers are the foundation of a great scheduling policy.

Resources

• Salesforce Help: Work in the Field Service Classic Dispatcher Console
• Salesforce Help: Using Agentforce as a Dispatcher