Viewing Engineer Availability by Hour or Call

Display by Calls in Engineer Schedule Control determines whether the system calculates availability by hours or by calls assigned per day. Depending on how you set up the control program, the scheduling pop-up window in Call Maintenance shows the number of calls the system can still assign an engineer or the number of hours available.

In both views, negative numbers are possible. If you assign an engineer more calls than you allow in the Calls per Day field or more hours than you allow on the assigned schedule, availability displays a negative number.

Note: Use the Engineer Availability Inquiry (11.13.15.11) to review the same information that displays in Call Maintenance.

You can base availability on the number of calls that the system can still assign to an engineer during a day rather than the available hours that remain. Use this option when calls do not vary much in duration.

Note: Use Display by Calls if most calls take the same amount of time to complete.

If you set Display by Calls to Yes, specify in Engineer Maintenance (11.13.1) the number of calls per day the system can assign an engineer. The system calculates availability by subtracting the number of calls already scheduled from the value of Calls per Day.

Sample Point Determination Using Calls shows how the system calculates points in engineer scheduling based on calls. The standard formula for calculating availability points applies, but calls are used instead of hours.


Engineer Calls per Day	Calls Assigned	Available Today	Avail Points	Value Used in Calculation
10	0	10	10	(10 * 10) + 10 = 110
10	8	2	10	(2 * 10) + 10 = 30

In this example, the system can assign the first engineer 10 calls, although it currently has assigned none. The weighting value in the control program is 10, resulting in an availability of 110.

The second engineer also has a maximum 10 calls per day, but the system has currently assigned 8 calls. Engineer scheduling multiplies the 2 remaining calls by the value in the control program, to arrive at a point calculation of 30. If other factors are the same, the system recommends the first engineer over the second for the next call.

If Display by Calls is No, the system calculates engineer availability in hours. Call scheduling calculates an engineer’s work load by examining the estimated hours for calls already assigned to the engineer.

• Record an estimated time for an engineer in the Call Engineer Schedule Maintenance pop-up that displays in Call Maintenance when you enable engineer scheduling. The estimated time defaults from the Travel and Estimated Time pop-up. These estimated times default either from Call Default Maintenance, if you have defined defaults, or Call Management Control for the work code. See Availability Frame.

• The engineer reviews the call and records an estimated time in Engineer Assignment Maintenance (11.13.15.8). This function is almost identical to the pop-up window in Call Maintenance.

Important: Use Engineer Assignment Maintenance for scheduling, not as an engineer time-keeping device. While an engineer can record time spent on a call, this has no effect on call scheduling. Call scheduling considers only future dates and times.

Based on the number of hours the engineer is scheduled to work, the system determines how many hours remain to be scheduled.

Sample Point Determination (Hours) shows how the system calculates availability based on hours unconsumed. The first engineer has 8 available hours. The control program setting is 10 points for each available hour, so the resulting value is 90. The second engineer has 7 hours consumed with 1 remaining available hour. The resulting value for the second engineer is 20.


Engineer Hours per Day	Hours Used	Available Hours	Avail Points in Control Program	Value Used in Calculation
8	0	8	10	(8 * 10) + 10 = 90
8	7	1	10	(1 * 10) + 10 = 20

Travel time is for reference only and does not affect the estimated hours available for an engineer. To consider travel time in engineer availability, include this time in the hours you estimate for the call.

You can specify typical travel time based on the end user. If you specify this value, it displays by default in the Travel Time field of the Travel and Estimated Time frame of Call Maintenance (11.1.1.1).

Use travel time as a reference for estimating the total time for a call. The total call time consists of travel time plus the time for solving the problem. To adjust for travel time, you need to override the default call duration since the system does not automatically add it to the duration. In many situations, the total time can vary—for example, depending on alternate routes to the end user’s site.