Configure Optimization and Suggest
Overview
Skedulo administrators and those with permission to access the Settings menu are able to configure optimization defaults at a global level in the Skedulo web app.
These defaults apply anywhere that the optimization engine is used throughout the app.
When the optimization is enabled for a Skedulo team, certain settings are configured by default. These defaults are used if there are no user-defined optimization settings.
Request access
Contact your Skedulo Customer Success representative to request access to this feature.
Optimization defaults
The following optimization defaults can be configured in Settings > Scheduling > Optimization defaults in the Skedulo web app.
Scheduling goals
| Objective | Description |
|---|---|
| Minimize travel time | This scheduling objective is to distribute work across resources in a way that minimizes the time resources spend traveling between jobs. |
| Balance workload | This option produces a schedule that tries to distribute work between resources so that they have an even amount of allocated time. This includes time spent on scheduled work as well as travel between work locations. It organizes the jobs based on which schedule will result in the fastest completion of all selected jobs. A resource that is further away from available jobs and has little work may be ignored in favor of closer resources who can get the work done sooner, even if that means the closer resources have more work than other resources. |
| Minimize schedule resources | This option produces a schedule by allocating all selected jobs to the least amount of resources possible. Where a balanced workload is based on fairness, “Min Resources” is the opposite, i.e., it will try to allocate everything to one resource who is available in the swimlanes (based on travel, skills, etc.). |
Scheduled jobs
| Scheduled jobs | Description |
|---|---|
| Respect job times over time constraints | When enabled, jobs that are Queued or Pending Allocation and have a set job time as well as time constraints, the optimization engine will prioritize the allocated job time over time constraints. This setting should be disabled at the org level if the company prefers to not schedule a job if a time constraint cannot be met. Note: This option is only available when Respect job times is enabled. |
| Respect job times | When selected, optimization allocates a resource to jobs that are Pending Allocation or Queued based on the time set on the job. This helps when a scheduler has entered a start time that is expected by either the resource and/or the customer. |
Travel time
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Ignore travel times | Ignore all travel times between jobs or activities. |
| Ignore travel times for the first job/activity of the day | Sets the first job of the day to start at the exact time that the resource’s availability begins. Note that the job may be in a location far from the resource’s home address, as the travel is not accounted for during the optimization. |
| Ignore travel times for the last job/activity of the day | Does not account for the resource travelling home, so the job may be set to finish when their availability ends for that day. |
| Set a maximum travel time for all resources (in minutes) | Sets the maximum amount of time a resource should spend traveling between jobs (in minutes). Note: This option is only available when Ignore travel times is deselected. |
Snap and padding
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Set a snap unit for job start times to respect (in minutes) | When this is set to 0 minutes, job start times are set to the minute that best meets the scheduling objective. When this is set to a value, jobs start times are snapped to the nearest time interval after scheduling objectives are met. The default setting is set in the optimization and suggest configuration page. |
| Set a standard time interval between jobs (in minutes) | While optimizing the schedule, this option adds the chosen amount of time (padding) between jobs. If the chosen amount of time cannot be accommodated, the affected job(s) will not be scheduled. The default setting is set in the optimization and suggest configuration page. |
Web application capabilities
Disable auto-suggest on job details
When enabled, auto-suggest will not be available on the job details page.
Allow schedulers to override the optimization defaults
When enabled, users with Scheduler permissions are able to override the global optimization defaults when running optimization from the swimlane and when creating scheduled optimization runs.
When disabled, the defaults are viewable on the swimlane Optimization defaults modal but are not able to be changed.
Configure global optimization defaults
The Scheduling page includes configuration for both Optimization and Suggest features throughout the web app.
The Optimization defaults allow you to define the default scheduling objectives and constraints you want to apply to optimization solutions in the scheduling console and suggestions in the job details view.
- Open the global Optimization defaults under Settings > Scheduling in the Skedulo web app.
- Modify the optimization defaults to set user-defined defaults when running optimization from within the web app. Hold the pointer over the information icon to open the tooltip about the different configuration options.
- When you have finished configuring your optimization goals, click Save to apply the changes to your team.
These default optimization settings will automatically be used throughout the Skedulo web app for the optimization run from the swimlane or scheduled optimization runs unless you override them at runtime or when creating the schedule.
See Swimlane optimization (one-off optimization) or Scheduled optimization for more information about overriding these default settings.
Scheduled optimization
The optimize scheduling engine attempts to find the best scheduling solution (based on the optimize settings) for the job(s) selected within the current scheduling view.
The travel time calculations of the scheduling engine are based on results obtained from the underlying web mapping service.
All available resource(s) must have a valid home address. The scheduling engine takes into account the distance of the resource from the job. If the resource has no home address, they will be ignored.
Refer to Overview of optimization (Mastermind) for more information.
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