Scheduling capabilities

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Note

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This article describes the new scheduling capabilities in the April '19 release.

Support for greater than 1 resource capacity

In some cases, not all resources are equally productive. For example, a more experienced technician might be able to repair two bicycles simultaneously, while a less experienced technician can only work on one bicycle at a time. To accommodate for such cases, Resource Scheduling Optimization is now able to schedule resources with a capacity greater than 1.

Support for "Matches Resource Role" constraints

Organizations can now define a resource role for requirements; the optimizer will assign bookings to resources with the matched resource role, while simultaneously meeting other defined constraints.

Support for "Must Choose Resource" constraints

Sometimes, businesses might have special commitments with their customers, like always dispatching specific resources to an important customer. With the new Must Choose Resource constraint, businesses will be able to define a resource preference for requirements. The optimizer will assign bookings to the resource in the Must Choose Resource list, while also meeting other defined constraints.

Optimization objective for as soon as possible (ASAP)

Occasionally, there might be more resource capacity than there is demand for resources (for example, work orders). In these circumstances, there is a business decision about whether to fully book some resources or leave resources with some capacity as a contingency for emergency or unplanned work.

The April '19 release enables a new objective for as soon as possible (ASAP), so that organizations can select and rerank with other scheduling objectives to balance the need to reserve some capacity with the need to keep resources busy all day.