Linked Activities in Scheduling Engine
Linked Activities in Scheduling engine
Activities in Scheduling engine can be setup with links to each other. This can be used to setup the order in which the activities have to be conducted. There are four main forms of activity links that are handled in the scheduling engine.
- Pre-Requisites: Pre-Requisite linking is defined by that a certain activity needs to be performed before the next activity can start. When two, or more, activities have pre-requisite dependencies to each other the scheduling engine will schedule the activities in the order accordingly to the dependencies. This so that the activities needed to be finished before others can start will be scheduled first in the scheduled.
- Co-Requisites: Co-Requisite linking is defined by that certain activities needs to be performed at the same time. When two, or more, activities have co-requisite dependencies to each other the scheduling engine will schedule the activities so that they will start at the same time.
- Combined activites: Combined activities are similar to co-requisite activities, except that they may also be scheduled, one after the other, to a single resource. So they are like a piece of work that could be done by one person, but it would be done in half the time if two people did it.
- Ordered activites: It is possible to specify that two activities must be done together, one immediately after the other, if they are scheduled. This is useful if there is a sensible order in which to do a number of activities that are at the same location e.g. in a block of flats.
Pre-requisite linking between Work Tasks
Work Tasks that are set as dependent to each other (through a Finish-to-Start relationship) is the base for setting the pre-requisites for the activities sent to Scheduling engine. It is possible to define on each work task if it is dependent on that one, or more, work tasks are to be finished before it can be started. The dependencies can only be set up between work tasks that belongs to the same work order.
When dependencies are defined between work tasks each activity for the work tasks will be linked accordingly when the information is sent to the scheduling engine. An example is a work order with two work tasks. Work task 1 must be finished before work task 2 according to the dependency set up between them in IFS. Each of these two work tasks has one resource demand defined for one resource (one Scheduling engine activity per work task). When the work tasks are sent to Scheduling engine a link will be created between the two activities according to the work task dependency. The activity for work task 2 must then be scheduled after the activity for work task 1.
Co-requisite linking within a Work Task & between Work Tasks
The basic concept for a work task is that all the work to be done within the work task is to be done at the same time. If there are multiple resource demands (multiple Scheduling engine activities) defined within one work task it means that these resources would do the work task at the same time. An example is one work task that has a two resource demands, one electrician and one mechanic needs to attend the work. These two resource demands corresponds to two activities in Scheduling engine. Because of that they are to perform the work at the same time the activities will be set with a co-requisite link when sent to the scheduling engine. In scheduling these two activities will then be scheduled to start at the same time.
Other than Co-requisites between demand lines it’s also possible to define Co-requisites between work tasks. Work Tasks that are set as dependent on each other (through a Start-to-Start relationship) are the base for setting the Co-requisites for the activities sent to the Scheduling engine. It is possible to define each work task if it is dependent on one, or more, work tasks to start at the same time. The dependencies can only be set up between work tasks that belong to the same work order.
Combined linked activites between Work Tasks
Work Tasks that are set as dependent on each other (through a Combined relationship) are the base for setting the Combined link for the activities sent to the Scheduling engine. It is possible to define each work task if it is dependent on one, or more, work tasks to schedule one after the other, to a single resource. The dependencies can only be set up between work tasks that belong to the same work order.
A combined activities links two activities such that they will be scheduled either back-to-back with the same resource, or to be commenced at the same time by two different resources (essentially a corequisite). The choice of how the activity is scheduled is left to the DSE, which will adopt optimum choice for the schedule.
For example, if dispatcher connected Task A and Task B with the Combined dependency type, DSE will determine how these two activities get scheduled according to the optimal scheduling solution. It would be essentially a corequisite or just one after another for the same resource.
Ordered linked activites between Work Tasks
Work Tasks that are set as dependent on each other (through Order-One-Way or Order-Two-Way relationships) are the base for setting the ordered link for the activities sent to the Scheduling engine. It is possible to define each work task if it is dependent on one, or more, work tasks that should ideally be scheduled one after the other. The dependencies can only be set up between work tasks that belong to the same work order.
Ordered One Way: This can also be used to define a suggested order between the activities. If activity A should be done immediately before activity B,then the user can define the Order onde way dependency between Activity A and B.
For example, if I have Task A and Task B connected with the Order one-way dependency type, DSE will Schedule one after another without any interruptions.
In pre-requisites dependency behaves similarly to the combined dependency type but other than the Combine dependency type pre-requisites dependency allows other tasks to be scheduled in between dependency tasks if DSE wants to optimize the schedule.
Ordered Two Way: To specify that the activities should be done one after the other in either direction, then the user can define the Order Two Way dependency between two tasks.
For example, if I have Task A and Task B connected with the Order Two-way dependency type and Task B and Task C connected with the Order Two-way dependency type. DSE will Schedule one after another without any interruptions but the scheduling order of activities does not specify which activity is scheduled before & which one is scheduled after.
Sending linked activities to Scheduling engine
If a dependency is defined between two work tasks (with one activity each) and one of the work tasks are set to the status defined in the scheduling dataset for when to send work task activities to Scheduling engine, both work task activities will be sent to scheduling. Even if one of the work tasks is not in the status for it to be sent to Scheduling engine the activity will anyway be sent when it is linked to another work task that has the status to be sent do scheduling. This is done to always keep the linking of the activities in the scheduling engine. If one of the activities in a linked chain would not be sent, the scheduling engine cannot create the correct linking between the activities.
The activity that belongs to the work task that is not in the "Schedule from Work Task Status" is sent as "do not schedule". First when all the work tasks is in the correct status according to "Schedule from Work Task Status" it will be possible for the activities to be scheduled by Scheduling engine, according to the linking.
Linked activities in Scheduling Workbench
In the Scheduling Workbench on the Activities page the links between activities are displayed with a line with respective colur(Open up the Workbench Legend to identify each color for link activites). For Pre-Requisite, Co-Requisite & Combined dependet activites links will be displayed. to check the details about the Ordered activity user need to check in details view of activity.no links between activites are displayed for Ordered activites.
In addition to that there is the possibility to analyze which other activities that are linked to one activity. If opening the activity details for an activity in the Scheduling Workbench and there is other activities linked the menu option Linked Activities is enabled. In the detail page for the linked activities all dependent activities will be listed.
Linked activities with Appointment Booking
Booking appointments for a work task will also consider the activity links. For a work task that is dependent to another work task with a pre-requisite, Co-requisiye and Combined type depedencies, will be considered in the appointment booking process. Sending an appointment request for a work task to the Appointment Booking Engine will also include all the activities that are linked to the activities for the work task to be booked. An example would be having two work tasks on a work order, each with one resource demanded (one Scheduling engine activity). Work task 1 needs to be completed before work task 2 can be started, defined through a finish-to -start dependency between the work tasks. An appointment is to be booked for work task 1. When sending the appointment request to the Appointment Booking Engine for the activity of work task 1 the linked activity for work task 2 is then also sent in the process. This is done to get a correct result for when there are available appointment slots to book. As an appointment is performed on the work task level this means that also co-requisite links will apply in the appointment booking process if there are multiple resources demanded for the work task. Appointment Booking is not supported ordered activites.