Define Broadcast

Explanation

This activity is used to define scheduling broadcasts. Broadcasts are company specific and each company can have one or more broadcasts defined for it. The broadcast tells the Scheduling Engine how and when a plan is to be returned to IFS Cloud. Broadcasts can be set up per allocation type, i.e. Dynamic Scheduling Engine (DSE), Appointment Booking Engine (ABE), Schedule Dispatch Service(SDS) or Scheduling Workbench (ISWB). The connection between the broadcast and allocation type is made on the applicable dataset. For more information on setting up a dataset, refer to the activity Define Dataset. Note: There can be one broadcast set up for both DSE and SDS broadcasts, whereas a separate broadcast is required for a ISWB and ABE broadcast.

• For DSE broadcasts, the DSE produces a plan which you can choose to assign or unassign directly on the work task.
• For ABE broadcast, the ABE returns a plan with a set of suggested appointment offers, in which you can select one of them as the booked appointment for the work task.
• For SDS broadcasts, the SDS will return the suggested dispatches, i.e. the work task activities and resources that are suggested to be assigned, to IFS Cloud. The allocation suggestions that are returned will automaticall create a work assignment for the work task and the work assignment is created in status Assigned and the Allocated To field on the work assignment is set to the suggested resource's ID.
• For ISWB broadcasts, IFS Cloud will be synchronized with the changes made to the data in the Scheduling Workbench.

For DSE broadcasts, how the plan is to be returned is determined by the broadcast type that is selected. If the broadcast is set up with the File broadcast type, the plan is returned and stored using File transfer. If the Webservice broadcast type is selected, the plans will be returned using HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) services.

The parameters for each broadcast type must be entered when defining the broadcast.

For the File broadcast type, the "file_path" parameter will define the relevant output path for the File messages. The Schedule Broadcast Manager can either;

• Write to the file input folder in IFS Connect on the IFS Cloud server for processing files from PSO.
• Write to a local folder on the PSO server and configure IFS Connect with a remote file reader agent that reads that folder.

The file_path must be set from the viewpoint of the Schedule Broadcast Manager. When a File broadcast type is created the "file_path" parameter will be automatically created with the value #BROADCAST_FILE_PATH# specified in Scheduling Dataset Parameters. If the #BROADCAST_FILE_PATH# is not specified in the Scheduling Dataset Parameters the value in Scheduling Configuration will be used. The value can also be specified on the broadcast parameter.

When a Webservice broadcast type is created the "username" "password", "url" and "wsid' parameters will be automatically created with the value #BROADCAST_USERNAME#, #BROADCAST_PASSWORD#, #BROADCAST_URL# and #BROADCAST_WSID# specified in Scheduling Dataset Parameters. If the parameters #BROADCAST_USERNAME#, #BROADCAST_PASSWORD#, #BROADCAST_URL# and #BROADCAST_WSID# are not specified in the Scheduling Dataset Parameters the value in Scheduling Configuration will be used. The value can also be specified on the broadcast parameter.

When the plan is to be returned is determined by several values, i.e. the minimum plan quality, maximum wait and maximum frequency. The minimum plan quality determines the minimum quality of the plan that is to be returned while the maximum wait determines the maximum time to wait before returning the plan (in minutes). The plan will be returned when either the minimum plan quality is reached or when the maximum wait time is reached, whichever occurs first. The maximum frequency determines the frequency (in minutes) at which the plans should be returned. You can choose the type of plan that should be returned, i.e. a complete plan, change plan or a workbench plan. When setting up an ISWB or ABE broadcast, the minimum plan quality, maximum wait minutes and maximum frequency should be set to "0" or left blank.

Broadcast Parameter Values

The value of the selected broadcast parameter. Valid values are:

File:

• file_path - The output path of the broadcast as seen from the Schedule Broadcast Manager service on the Planning and Scheduling Optimization (PSO) server, e.g. "C:\IFS\Scheduling\Output". The path should correspond to the file reader input folder in IFS Connect on the IFS Cloud server for processing files from PSO. The recommended setting is to use the substitution variable #BROADCAST_FILE_PATH#.

Http:

• username - Name of the user that is allowed to access the Planning and Scheduling Optimization Integration (user granted to the permission set SCH360_WEBSERVICE). The recommended setting is to use the substitution variable #BROADCAST_USERNAME# 
  • If IFS Middleware Server is setup to use Single Sign-On (SSO), in addition to the above requisites the user also has to be an Active Directory (AD) user and the username has to be specified in the DOMAIN\USERNAME format.
• password - Password of the user that is allowed to access the Planning and Scheduling Optimization Integration (password of user granted to the permission set SCH360_WEBSERVICE). The recommended setting is to use the substitution variable #BROADCAST_PASSWORD#
  • If the user is an AD user, enter the AD password of the user.
• url - Address of the Web Service (SOAP Gateway) in IFS Cloud (e.g. http://SERVERNAME:58080/int/soapgateway). The recommended setting is to use the substitution variable #BROADCAST_URL#. It also allows using other substitution variables (e.g., #URL#/int/soapgateway). For more information on substitution variables please refer to the Define Scheduling Configuration section in the IFS Cloud Documentation.
• wsid - Identifier of the Web Service (IFS should be used for all broadcast plan types, except for Workbench where IFSWORKBENCH should be used). The recommended setting is to use the substitution variable #BROADCAST_WSID#. It will then automatically use the correct wsid for the broadcast plan type.

Prerequisites

To perform this activity, the company must have been defined in IFS/Enterprise.

System Effects

• Scheduling broadcasts are defined for the company and the applicable broadcast can be activated.
• The broadcasts can be connected to scheduling datasets.