Overview of bookable resources
Dynamics 365’s Universal Resource Scheduling (URS) provides organizations with the ability to schedule resources in Dynamics 365 for items like:
Work orders.
Projects.
Any scenario where a resource needs to be scheduled to complete work or have items noted on their schedule.
For example, let’s say you have your employees request time off in Dynamics 365 using a custom table. Once the request is approved, display the resources time off on the schedule board dispatchers use, so dispatchers can consider it when they attempt to schedule resources for other items.
Universal Resource Scheduling is the base scheduling solution that allows organizations to schedule and dispatch items. We include it for organizations that are using Dynamics 365’s Field Service or Project Operations solutions. It provides the core scheduling functionality; the Field Service and Project Operations solutions use that functionality to schedule resources for specific items like work orders.
How URS works
There are three primary record types that are used to schedule an item. Those record types are:
Item to be scheduled (Ex. Work Order)
Resource Requirement
Bookable Resource Booking
When an item that needs to be scheduled such as a work order is created in Dynamics 365, it typically includes information that affects how to schedule it.
For example, a work order typically includes items such as:
The work order type, priority, and location.
Tasks to be done, products, and services included, and skills needed by people completing the job.
Preferences for service delivery such as time windows, preferred technician, etc.
After the record is created, a record called a resource requirement record is created. The resource requirement record is used to schedule the item in the system. It defines the specifics that are required to schedule the record. The requirement record is what is used to locate qualified resources to meet the requirement.
A resource requirement for a work order might include:
The customer and duration information pulled from the work order.
Any date and time windows, or resource preferences.
More relevant scheduling information, such as skills and territories.
After a resource requirement is scheduled, a record called a bookable resource booking is created. It provides the specific details around the resource responsible for completing the item. It provides more details such as estimated and actual arrival times, and the status of the booking.
A resource booking for a resource requirement would include:
The resource (person) responsible for completing the work order.
Estimated and actual time and status-related information.
Travel information such as miles and duration can also be populated.
As relevant information such as the booking status is updated, relevant information on the Work Order such as the status of the work order is updated as well.
URS component overview
URS components are broken out into three types of items:
Scheduling: Used to setup and configure items like resources, skills, proficiency models, and fulfillment preferences.
Tools: Represents the schedule board that it used for manual scheduling of resources.
Settings: Used to configure supporting scheduling components such as booking statuses, priorities, and mapping preferences.
Scheduling components
Resource Requirements: Define the specific resource requirements that are needed for a specific item that needs to be scheduled. For example, a resource requirement might specify that a resource is needed that is:
Proficient in .NET.
Available on Tuesday from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
Belongs to the west coast territory.
Resource Bookings: Define which resource is scheduled for which item and which time. They also include statuses that define where the resource is at in the process. For example, a resource booking would be created if John is scheduled to work on a broken printer issue tomorrow from 8:00 AM to 11:00AM. When John arrives on site, his status can be changed from In progress to Completed as he completes work.
Resources: Define the specific people, facilities, or equipment that can be scheduled to work on items. Resources could represent Internal employees, partner contractors, facilities, equipment, crews, or resource pools.
Resource Groups: Used to group together multiple resources that can be used to work on items.
Tools
- Schedule Board: The interactive calendar that can be used to schedule specific resources for different items. The schedule board can be filtered as needed and can be viewed as a map to make it easier to schedule items.
Settings
The settings area in the Resource Scheduling application is where you can configure the different behaviors and features that are used as part of Universal Resource Scheduling. For example, from the Settings area, you can define the resources that are available to schedule, configure the different skills and roles that can be assigned to resources, and configure more scheduling settings. You can access the Settings area by selecting it from the bottom of the navigation pane at the left of the screen.
Once you are in the settings area, the configuration settings are broken into two options:
Resources: Used to create resources in the application. In addition, there are several settings that options that can be configured to help define resources.
Scheduling: Used to configure the different features that can be used when scheduling items through various methods.
The following items are available under the resources group:
Resources: Define the specific people, facilities, or equipment that can be scheduled to work on items. Resources could represent Internal employees, partner contractors, facilities, equipment, crews, or resource pools.
Roles: Define the roles that resources might have in an organization. For example, an organization might create roles for positions like developer, consultant, or project manager.
Skills: Define specific skills or certifications that resources can possess. They could designate specific programs, credentials, and certifications. For example, you might define a resource skill for a specific platform like Azure, or you might define a resource skill that specifies a security clearance level.
Proficiency Models: Define how proficient a resource is. Proficiency models are used with skills to locate the most qualified resource. For example, a project might require a resource that is proficient in a product, while another project might just need a resource that is familiar.
Organizational Units: Represent containers that can be used to group resources together. Organizational Units might represent a location that resources can be dispatched out of, or they could be used to group together resources based on a region or service center.
Work Hour Templates: Used to create templates that can be assigned to specific resources to define the hours that they're available to work on items. For example, let’s say that you have multiple technicians in a specific time zone that work from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. A work hour template can be created and associated with each of those resources.
The following items are available under the scheduling group:
Administration: Used to configure specific settings for URS such as mapping providers, default statuses and enabling specific entities for use with URS.
Requirement Priorities: Used to note the priority of the requirement. Priorities can be taken into consideration to ensure that items with higher priorities are scheduled with items that are considered lower priorities.
Requirement Statuses: Used to define the status of a requirement that is waiting to be booked. For example, you might have a requirement status of unscheduled that specifies they specific requirement has yet to be scheduled.
Booking Statuses: Used to define the status of bookings. Dispatchers or technicians can change booking statuses as they're working on a specific item. For example, and organization might define the booking statuses of scheduled, traveling, in progress, and completed.
Fulfillment Preferences: Help to specify how items can be scheduled. For example, a fulfillable preference might define that when attempting to schedule an item:
It should use intervals of 60 minutes.
They should be scheduled at the top of every hour.
Business Closures: Specifies when an organization isn't open such as holidays.
Resource Group Templates: Used to quickly define resource groups.
Now that we introduced you to URS concepts and how to move around in the Resource scheduling application, let's examine how to set up some of these features in more detail.