AllowEmpOT

The employees’ maximum allowed overtime should be included when making appointment offers.

CalltoFix

This option specifies that the job’s ETF will be used instead of its ETA to calculate its lateness (using its Service Hours), and will be used as well as its ETA to determine if it’s outside its access hours.

ConsecShift

This option requests the use of consecutive shifts (as well as allowing contiguous shifts) for splitting long duration jobs.

ContigShift

This option requests the use of only contiguous shift time splits for long duration jobs.

DupUseEmpID

When offerTextEmpID is also supplied, offers for different EmpIDs but that are otherwise identical may be returned.

If this option isn’t set, even though offerTextEmpID is supplied, offers that are for different EmpIDs but are otherwise identical are considered to be duplicates and only the lowest cost one may be returned.

If dupUseEmpID is set but offerTextEmpID isn’t, then dupUseEmpID is ignored.

FixtoEmp

This option will cause the chosen operative to effectively become mandatory.

NonConsecShift

Allows the use of non-consecutive shifts (as well as allowing contiguous and consecutive shifts) for splitting long duration jobs

OfferBestOnlyPerEmp

If supplied, then only the best set of offers for each available employee will be returned. The best offer is the earliest one whose PromType matches the supplied NumReqType. If not set, more than one set of offers for each employee can be returned.

OfferTextCost

Requests that the cost of the offer be returned as part of the OfferText. The cost returned will be the difference in travel cost between the job being in the position of the offer as opposed to it not being there.

OfferTextEmpID

The ID of the operative notionally given the job will be returned in the offer. However it should be remember if using this that ServiceOptimizer may optimize it to another operative at any time.

RemoveMandatory

This option will cause any previously specified mandatory operatives (1 or 2, ordered or not) to be removed from the job. An error won’t be returned if the job has no mandatory operatives. This option has no effect on preferred or excluded operatives.

RestrictSearch

The search for sets of offers biased towards those employees for whom the greater numbers of possible offers were found for the first jobs in the request.

ReqConfirm

This option will indicate on the Gantt that this job should be confirmed.

ServAsAccHours

This option makes the job’s access hours pattern the same as its service hours pattern. (If an access hours pattern is also supplied in an AccHoursPatts structure, SP_ACCHOURS_DUPLICATED (390) will be returned.)

SetConfirmed

This option sets the ConfirmedState of the job to Confirmed.

SetDispStatusBack

This option will cause the job’s dispatch status to be set to Tentative.

SetNotFixed

This option will remove the fixed flag from the job (if it were previously fixed).

SpareIgnVanStock

The spareIgnVanStock option indicates to ServiceOptimizer that vehicle stock should be ignored when generating appointments. Any ReqSpares data supplied as part of the offer request will still be read in by ServiceOptimizer, but SP_SPAREID_INVALID (111) will not be returned if any of the supplied ReqSpares is not in the ServiceOptimizer database.

If spareIgnVanStock is set then the SpareForceGo (see ForceOptions) flag will be ignored.

SetUnEarmark

This option will cause an unearmark to be generated (should one be required).

UseAccessHours

This option's effect is to cause access hour overrides to be generated from the job’s existing access hours (which may be from an access hours pattern) that overlap the same operative day on which the job’s ETA is current scheduled. If the job has no access hours on that operative day, a single access hours override from the start of the operative day to the end will be set.

This option's effect is to, for jobs with a JobType that allows the job to be split, only use the supplied extraDuration field when calculating the total duration of the job parts - the duration from the JobType is ignored. However, for jobs with a JobType that does not allow the job to be split, the useExtraDuration option will be ignored.

When the useExtraDuration option is used:

• There is no minimum value for extraDuration, although it must be > 0.
• The parameters SJEDMax and SJTDMax will not be applied, however, there will be a maximum allowed: extraDuration < JobType duration.
• All other aspects of total duration of the job parts are unaffected; specifically, the extraOverhead and stdExtraDuration are added in the same way as normal.

This is a RESERVED option for internal use only. It allows the Rebook function in Gantt to prevent offers being filtered out by the API Agent when determining a list of FRU's that can accept the job.

It will ensure that the FRU string is used to ignore all other fields in the filter detecting uniqueness. Thus only
one offer from each responding FRUs should be returned. If used then the action of the following options will be ignored in the Apaigent but not in the FRU:

• OfferTextEmpID
• DupUseEmpID
• InTray

IgnoreCapacity

Indicates that the capacity for every day should be treated as though it was 100%, i.e. the capacity check values set for each day should be ignored.

IgnoreOverlap

For use in calls to the Request Appointments SOAP API under circumstances where a follow on set of part jobs is to be booked via the Book Split Dependency Group Jobs SOAP API. When set to true, if it is impossible to find spaces for all required job parts, then the offers returned are able to include places where other work items would be overlapped.

A mandatory employee must be supplied, if not, then setting IgnoreOverlap, will return SP_OPTIONS_INVALID (80).

Intray

A ‘catch all’ option to by-pass all constraint checking. The job is not even provisionally allocated to an operative, but remains in an in-tray until it is either manually allocated or another attempt is made to allocate it through the ABS. Both of these operations are done from the Gantt. The job will only be put into the in-tray of one of the FRUs that is mapped to the job’s location (region). Exactly which FRU is undefined, but it won’t be put into an FRU with no posted operatives.

If a mandatory FRU is supplied, the job will be booked into that FRU. If a mandatory DRU is supplied, the job will be booked into an FRU in that DRU.

If one or more mandatory Employees are supplied, but no mandatory FRU or DRU, the job will be booked into an FRU where one of those Employees has a posting (during the memory horizon) to one of the FRUs mapped to the job’s location.

If one or more mandatory Employees are supplied as well as a mandatory FRU, the job will be booked into that FRU as long as at least one of those Employees has a posting to that FRU at some time during the memory horizon.

If one or more mandatory Employees are supplied as well as a mandatory DRU, the job will be booked into an FRU in that DRU as long as at least one of those Employees has a posting to that FRU at some time during the memory horizon.

IntrayAfterAll

First attempts to allocate the job in the normal way. If this isn’t possible, and neither a mandatory DRU nor a mandatory FRU nor mandatory employees are supplied, the job is booked into an FRU where, during the SLA Search Window, there is at least one employee with the skills to do the job (similar to InTrayWithSkills). The Gantt can then be used to try to allocate it, either manually or through the ABS again.

If a mandatory FRU is supplied in ReqUnitType, UnitType and Unit, then the job will be put into that FRU’s in-tray as long as there is an employee in that FRU with the required skills during the SLA Search Window (though he may not be available). If this is not the case, SP_UNIT_INVALID (28) is returned.

If a mandatory DRU is supplied, the job will be put into the in-tray of one of the FRUs in that DRU as long as there is an employee in that FRU with the required skills during the SLA Search Window (though he may not be available). If this is not the case, SP_UNIT_INVALID (28) is returned.

If one or more mandatory employees are supplied in ReqEmpType and EmpID, a check will be made that one of them has the skills to do the job (at some time during the SLA Search Window), and the job will be put into the in-tray of the FRU where one of those employees is working. If none of them have the skills, SP_EMP_NOT_SKILLED (75) will be returned. If the employee is working in more than one FRU, the job will be put into the in-tray of the FRU with the (numerically) lowest preference factor. If there is more than one FRU with the same preference factor, then which of those is chosen is undefined.

If both a mandatory FRU and one or more mandatory employees are supplied, and the employees aren’t posted to the FRU at any time, the job will be put into the in-tray for the mandatory FRU as long as, during the memory horizon, there is at least one employee with the skills.

If both a mandatory DRU and one or more mandatory employees are supplied, and the employees aren’t posted to any of the FRUs in that DRU at any time, the job will be put into the in-tray of one of the FRUs in that DRU as long as, during the memory horizon, there is at least one employee with the skills.

In all cases, the job will only ever be booked into an FRU that its location (region) is mapped to.

Note: The 3 In-Tray ForceOptions (above) are mutually exclusive. SP_OPTION_COMBINATION_INVALID (159) will be returned if more than 1 of them is set.

IntrayWithSkill

Is another option to by-pass constraint checking, though the job will still only be put into the in-tray of one of the FRUs that is mapped to the job’s location (region). However, a skills check is done when placing the job: If there is one FRU containing an employee with the skills to do the job at some time during the SLA Search Window (see 6.6), even if that employee is not available, then the job will be put into that FRU’s in-tray. If there is more than one FRU, the one with the (numerically) lowest preference factor will be chosen. If there is more than one FRU with the same preference factor, one of them will be chosen, but which one chosen is undefined. If one or more mandatory employees are supplied, they will be stored but otherwise ignored. If a mandatory FRU is supplied it will be ignored (and not stored). If a mandatory DRU is supplied, it will be ignored.

NoLocalKnowledge

Ignores local knowledge checks in candidate searches.

NoTravel

Sets the travel time (travel-to) to zero. i.e. Jobs with “NoTravel” are skipped in travel calculations. Travel time to next location will be based on previous location.

Reassign

Allows existing jobs to be re-assigned among operatives in an attempt to fit this new job into the schedule. Use of this option will increase response times; this may be controlled by means of the database parameters ABS_reassign_jobs_max, ABS_reassign_options_max, and ABS_reassign_timeout.

SpareForceGo

Indicates that a job that requires spares should still be allocated even if all of the required spares are not available. This means that if all the spares are available from vehicle stock they may be used, otherwise they need to be sourced externally.

CheckFrozen

SP_FROZEN_DAY (585) is returned if the new activity would be on a date where the engineer’s schedule is frozen.

CheckJobDealloc

If the new standard activity would overlap existing jobs, those jobs are de-allocated (to the in-tray), unless their status is SPDS_LoggedOff or SPDS_Cleared, in which case they will be left overlapping. The new activity is created.

If none of these options is set the new activity is created anyway and any consequent overlaps are left as they are.

CheckJobs

SP_OVERLAPPED_JOBS (132) will be returned if the new activity would overlap existing jobs. The new activity is not created.

CheckJobsAllowBreakAH

If this is also set with the above option, the shuffled jobs’ access hours can be broken to remove overlaps.

CheckJobsShuffle

Existing Tentative, Earmarked and Contacted jobs will be shuffled to try to remove overlaps. If removing the overlaps would mean the jobs’ access hours would be broken, then the call is aborted and SP_WOULD_BREAK_ACCESS_HOURS (371) is returned.

CheckStdActs

SP_OVERLAPPED_STDACTS (160) will be returned if the new activity would overlap existing standard activities. The new activity is not created.

OverlapBreaks

Currently not used. This option has been added for future use in determining the behaviour when breaks are overlapped by standard activities.