Work with multiple schedule boards
It's common for a single dispatcher to schedule large amounts of resources across multiple regions or service centers. Even though the schedule board does let you filter the resources displayed based on factors like skills and territories, it can be a painstaking and error prone undertaking to use the right filter criteria to dispatch a large number of resources efficiently.
For example, let's say that a dispatcher schedules resources for three different territories, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota. They can filter the schedule board to display resources for each individual territory as needed to schedule, but if they schedule hundreds of items a day, they have to constantly change the filters. It's easier and more efficient if the dispatcher has multiple schedule boards that are pre-filtered for each of the territories (North Dakota, South Dakota, and Minnesota) they schedule for. In this instance, the dispatcher can select the schedule board for the territory they want to work with.
You can create more schedule board tabs by selecting the Add Tab button located in the upper right corner of the schedule board. After you create the board, you can modify the default criteria for that board to reflect the resources to display. For example, you can filter a Minnesota resource board to only show resources assigned to the Minnesota territory.
By default, a schedule board tab is only visible to the person who created it but can be made visible to other users if needed. By using the Shared With field, a board can be made available to:
Just Me: The schedule board tab is visible only to the person who created it. (Default)
Everyone: The schedule board tab is accessible to anyone in the organization who has schedule board access.
Specific People: The schedule board tab is only available to specific users that are provided read access to that specific schedule board record. (More configuration is required.)
Share a schedule board
Universal Resource Scheduling includes a table called Schedule Board Settings. Each schedule board tab that is created has a corresponding Schedule Board Settings record created for it. Most of the settings for a schedule board tab can be modified by opening the tab settings and double clicking the schedule board tab. However, when a schedule board tab is set to share with specific people, the specific people to share it with can't be modified from the tab settings. The actual Schedule Board Settings record needs to be shared with the specific people that require access.
This can initially be done by using Advanced Find and changing the look for field to be Schedule Board Settings table. When you select the results button, every schedule board tab that was created displays. Once you locate the schedule board you want to provide access to, select the share button, and the standard Dynamics 365 sharing screen displays. You can provide read access to any users or teams that should have access to the board. The specified schedule board tab is now available to anyone it was shared with.
Helpful hints
If an organization has many schedule board tabs created, more filter criteria can be added to the advanced find criteria to display only the schedule boards that meet those conditions such as only displaying the schedule boards for a specific record owner.
To make the process of sharing boards easier, teams could be created in Dynamics 365. Schedule Board tabs could be shared between those teams. For example, an MN dispatchers' team could be created, and the Minnesota schedule board could be shared with that team. When a dispatcher requires access to that board, they can be added to the MN Dispatchers team.