Experience the new and improved schedule board in Dynamics 365 Field Service (generally available)
In this article, we'll take a look at what's new, and how to switch to the new schedule board in your environment.
The new schedule board is faster, with better usability, and it lays the foundation for new capabilities for multi-day scheduling and intelligent interactions.
Performance
The new schedule board is faster and more responsive when:
- Loading the schedule board
- Selecting schedule board tabs
- Dragging and dropping work orders
- Rescheduling bookings
Usability and accessibility
The new schedule board is a Power Apps Component Framework (PCF) control built on the Unified Client Interface, making it more flexible, supportable, and accessible. The new schedule board will work better on different screen sizes and across form factors.
New color schemes and ways of depicting travel time make it easier for dispatchers to see statuses and details.
For instance, the previous screenshot shows a new "ghost booking" feature that helps dispatchers know if a booking will fit into a schedule before the booking is even scheduled.
Foundation for new capabilities
The new schedule board provides the foundation for future releases that will provide dispatchers insights and recommendations to improve schedules.
Prerequisites
- The next generation schedule board is generally available.
- Dynamics 365 Field Service version 8.8.30.103+
Enable new schedule board
Go to the schedule board and use the toggle button in the top right of the schedule board to switch between the current and new schedule boards.
Select and filter resources
Choose which resources should display on each schedule board tab.
Expand the filter pane and choose Select Resources.
From the list of available resources on the left, move the ones you want to display on the schedule board to the right. Then Apply.
Resource cards
Right-click a resource's name and then choose View Resource Card to see more, like the resource's skill set (characteristics) and roles. From here, you can also initiate a message, email, or phone call.
Map view of requirements and resources
Select the map icon in the upper right of the schedule board to display the resources and requirements on a map.
After expanding the map view, select a resource's name to see their route. The numbers indicate the order the resource is scheduled to arrive at each job (requirement) location.
At a zoomed-out view of the map, the requirements and resources are grouped together, and you can see a count of requirements and resources. This count helps you quickly identify a geographical area with more unscheduled jobs, and then start scheduling the jobs to nearest resources.
You can drag an unscheduled requirement pin from the map to the resource timeline and schedule it to that resource.
You can also drag the resource route to a nearby unscheduled requirement to schedule it and add it to the resource route.
Daily view
The new schedule board supports a daily view of scheduled jobs and supports dragging-and-dropping to the schedule.
Scheduled requirements with a short duration will display across the entire day to make it easier to view details. Hover over the requirement or double-click to see the actual duration.
Weekly and monthly views
Switch to the weekly or monthly views to see scheduled jobs at a higher level. Select a resource's time slot and a requirement below to trigger the booking panel.
The booking panel will help you schedule a work order across multiple days and choose how the work should be divided each day.
Schedule resources
Beyond manual drag and drop scheduling, organizations using resource scheduling optimization can select one or more requirements from the new schedule board and either have the system Suggest resources or Book resources. This feature is currently in Preview for the organizations using Resource Scheduling Optimization.
Selecting Suggest resources will display recommended resources in the right panel for the dispatcher to book.
Selecting Book resources will find the most optimal resources and book them without further actions from the dispatcher.
Suggest resources and Book resource capabilities on the new schedule board are currently only available for organizations using resource scheduling optimization.
Sometimes you might need to optimize only a single resource's schedule, rather than a set of available resources. Single resource optimization provides a quick way to reoptimize a resource's schedule and travel route after schedule changes have occurred during the day - this functionality is now available on the new schedule board. You can right-click a resource from any schedule board view and select Optimize Schedule.
Move bookings to a new resource, a new start date and time, or both
With Field Service v8.8.39+, the new schedule board provides an easy way to reassign and reschedule bookings in the same action. Bookings can be moved to resources on the current schedule board tab or to resources on other schedule board tabs.
Move a booking to a resource on the current schedule board tab, or change the start date/time, or both
Right-click on a booking and select Move to.
Then reassign this booking to any resource on the current schedule board tab, or change the start date and the start time of the booking.
Select Update to apply the changes.
Move a booking to a resource on a different schedule board tab, or change the start date or time, or both
Right-click on a booking and select Move to. Select the filter icon in the resource field and change the filter from Resources on this tab to All resources.
Now you can reassign this booking to any resource on any tab, and change the start date and start time of the booking. Select Update to apply the changes.
Automatic scheduling with optimization goals
The schedule board supports optimization goals. After selecting suggested resources, dispatchers can edit the optimization goal, which dictates how resources are recommended.
There is a default optimization goal that applies to the entire system and serves as the default for optimization requests. Dispatchers can also edit the default optimization goal for each schedule board. Finally, dispatchers can edit the optimization goal for a single optimization request by selecting Suggest Resources.
Edit multi-day bookings
After a multi-day booking is created across multiple days, weeks, or months, dispatchers can right-click a booking, select edit, and change how many hours are assigned for each day, week, or month via a booking panel on the right.
Configuration considerations
- The new schedule board is currently supported on Microsoft Edge, Chrome, and Firefox browsers. Currently, Internet Explorer 11 is not supported.
When to use the new versus current schedule board
The new schedule board is recommended for manual scheduling scenarios and for organizations that want to get up and running with a scheduling solution for dispatchers; the new schedule board is designed and built to deliver improved performance and usability. Users who perform drag-and-drop scheduling or users who only need to see the schedule board can use the new schedule board during preview. Also, organizations using resource scheduling optimization should consider using the new schedule board because the resource scheduling optimization capabilities are embedded.
The in-market schedule board is recommended for more complex scheduling scenarios like assisted scheduling, multi-resource scheduling, using requirement groups, and so on.
Use the following feature comparison table to understand which version of the schedule board is right for your business.
| Feature | Category | New schedule board | Old schedule board | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manual scheduling | Dispatcher | Yes | Yes | Dispatcher can manually select a resource and create a booking for an unscheduled requirement by interactions like dragging and dropping the requirements, selecting an open timeslot, and using booking panel. |
| Assisted scheduling | Dispatcher | 2021 release wave 2 | Yes | Dispatcher can select an unscheduled requirement on the requirement panel and select "Find Availability," which opens up the schedule assistant view, and shows the available timeslots for the available resources. Dispatcher can choose a timeslot and create a booking. |
| Automated scheduling | Dispatcher | For existing resource scheduling optimization customers, public preview is available. | No | The default capabilities of resource scheduling optimizer functionality are made available in the schedule board, enabling dispatchers to manage schedules from a requirement's or resources point of view with the organization's business goals applied automatically by the optimizer. |
| Auto update travel time | Dispatcher | Yes | Yes | When a booking is manually scheduled or rescheduled via drag-and-drop, the travel time from the resource's previous location is automatically calculated and displayed in the front of the booking. See more details. |
| View modes - Hourly, daily | Dispatcher | Yes | Yes | Show the resources and their bookings on the hourly and daily views of the schedule board. |
| View modes - Weekly, monthly | Dispatcher | Yes | Yes | Show the resources and their bookings on the weekly and monthly views of the schedule board. |
| View types - List view | Dispatcher | Yes | Yes | List view is a simple view, in which bookings of the resources are shown as a simple list. This list view provides accessible view to the Users to browse and create Bookings |
| View types - Map view | Dispatcher | Yes | Yes | |
| View types - Details view | Dispatcher | 2021 release wave 2 | Yes | Details view is a configurable view, to show and add details of a resource, requirement, or a booking record. |
| Multi-resource scheduling | Dispatcher | 2021 release wave 2 | Yes | Requirement groups allow you to define groups of resources that would be appropriate for a job and to then schedule all those resources with a single search. With requirement groups, you can mix and match the different types of resources—such as individual field technicians, a whole crew, equipment, or facilities—needed for a job |
| Multi-day assisted scheduling | Dispatcher | 2021 release wave 2 | Yes | Work orders and scheduling requirements can be scheduled across multiple days and weeks. A common example is scheduling a 40-hour work order across an entire work week where the field technician is expected to perform more detailed work at the same location each day. |
| Multi-day manual scheduling | Dispatcher | Yes | Yes | Work orders and scheduling requirements can be scheduled across multiple days and weeks. A common example is scheduling a 40-hour work order across an entire work week where the field technician is expected to perform more detailed work at the same location each day. |
| Pools and crews | Dispatcher | 2021 release wave 2 | Yes | Resource pool scheduling allows you to assemble groups of similar resources to manage capacity and give schedulers the option to assign specific resources at a later time. Resource crews allow dispatchers to search and schedule multiple resources at once. Crews can include a group of employees, subcontractors, equipment, facilities, or any combination thereof who will perform the same work during a period of time. Crews speed up and simplify the scheduling process and allow team members to work together more consistently. |
| Configuration | Admin | 2021 release wave 2 | Yes | Admin can create new tabs on the schedule board and configure changes on the board, tab settings, and scheduler settings |
| Extensibility | Admin | 2021 release wave 2 | Yes | Admin can extend the schedule board and use extensibility on some of features like Custom Booking template (Hours) - HTML Custom Booking alerts - HTML Custom Resource Cell Template - HTML Custom Filter Layout - Universal FetchXML SB/SA Retrieve Resources Query - Universal FetchXML SB/SA Retrieve Constraints query - Universal FetchXML Custom Web resource support Client Extensions (support for JavaScript, style sheets, and Localizations files) Booking Rules (Support for custom business logic via JavaScript on the booking creation) |
Continue to use the current schedule board for common functions like:
- Creating and deleting schedule board tabs.
- Schedule board tab settings.
- Schedule board configurations like number of days in a view or applying filter territories.
Add new schedule board to custom sitemap area
When using a custom sitemap or an app module, you'll need to update the sitemap to consume the new schedule board preview.
The following snippet is what it looks like before:
<SubArea Id="msdyn_ScheduleBoardSubArea" ResourceId="SitemapDesigner.NewSubArea" VectorIcon="$webresource:msdyn_/Icons/SVG/Calendar.svg" Url="$webresource:msdyn_/fps/ScheduleBoard/ScheduleBoard.html" Client="All,Outlook,OutlookLaptopClient,OutlookWorkstationClient,Web" AvailableOffline="true" PassParams="false" Sku="All,OnPremise,Live,SPLA">
The next snippet is what it looks like after:
<SubArea Id="msdyn_ScheduleBoardSubArea" ResourceId="SitemapDesigner.NewSubArea" VectorIcon="$webresource:msdyn_/Icons/SVG/Calendar.svg" Url="/main.aspx?pagetype=entitylist&etn=msdyn_scheduleboardsetting" Client="All,Outlook,OutlookLaptopClient,OutlookWorkstationClient,Web" AvailableOffline="true" PassParams="false" Sku="All,OnPremise,Live,SPLA">
URL:
/main.aspx?pagetype=entitylist&etn=msdyn_scheduleboardsetting
ID:
msdyn_scheduleboardtoggle
Additional notes
- The schedule board is only supported in Unified Interface web (Field Service v8.x+) and not in tablets or phones.
- The booking status colors that appear on the schedule board have lower opacity than the defined booking status colors. This behavior is similar to the Outlook calendar. When a booking is selected on the schedule board, the booking color will appear with normal opacity.
Uninstall schedule board
To uninstall the new schedule board solution ("Resource Scheduling Controls"), perform the following steps.
- Go to the Schedule Board Settings entity customization form.
- Remove the new schedule board preview control from the grid.
- Save and publish the changes.
- Go to the resource scheduling app, clear the browser's cache, and reload schedule board. The old schedule board will load without the toggle in the top right of the screen.
- Once the solution is uninstalled, the new schedule board will not be available for the environment until you upgrade your Field Service app to the latest available version.
Support for drag-and-drop to create bookings on schedule board
Drag-and-drop functionality to create bookings on the new schedule board is not supported in Firefox web browsers. This functionality will be supported in a future update.
Note
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