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Service Orders

Use the service orders module to set up the bidirectional message flow between Dime.Scheduler and service orders in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This page walks you through the FastTrack configuration and shows how service orders are sent, planned, and kept in sync.

Setup​

Configuring service orders in the Fast track wizard

Enable service orders solution​

To use the FastTrack solution, select Enable Service Order Planning.

Creating tasks​

Two checkboxes control how tasks are created:

  • To create a single task in Dime.Scheduler for the service order, select Send Service Header as Task.
  • To create a task for each service item line, select Send Lines with Service Header.

Send Service Header as Task​

With this option, a resource allocation for the service order is created in Business Central as soon as you drag and drop the task in Dime.Scheduler. The new record captures the details of the appointment you just planned. The resource allocation and the Dime.Scheduler appointment stay linked: any change to the service order appointments is reflected in Business Central automatically and immediately.

Resource allocation

Send Lines with Service Header​

With this switch on, no allocation lines are created when you drag and drop a task onto the planning board. Instead, Dime.Scheduler updates the starting and finishing times of the service order.

Default duration​

A planned task in Dime.Scheduler defaults to 1 hour when you drag it from the open tasks list onto a resource on the planning board. To use a different default, enter a value in the Default Duration Service Line field.

Indicators​

  • The Default Category option lets you select which BC field sets the color of a planned task when you drag and drop a task from the open tasks list onto a resource on the planning board. Choose between service order type, repair status (from the service item line), and service zone. Leave it blank to use the default color (blue).

  • The Default Timemarker option lets you select which BC field sets the color of the time marker on a planned task when you drag and drop a task from the open tasks list onto a resource on the planning board. Choose between service order type, repair status (from the service item line), and service zone. Leave it blank to skip time markers.

  • The Show Repair Status as option lets you select how the planned task(s) in Dime.Scheduler update when the repair status on the service item line in BC changes. You can update the category or the time marker. It makes sense to align this with the default category and default time marker settings, though it is not required. For example, you can select service order type as the default category and have the category update when the repair status changes. The color then shows the order type until the repair status changes, at which point it reflects that status.

This video shows how these fields work:

Create appointment with resource allocation​

When set to true, appointments are created, updated, or deleted as resource allocations on the service order change.

Timesheets​

Select Update Time Sheet from Planning Board to create or update the resource's time sheet in BC automatically whenever a task is allocated to a resource or a planned task is modified in Dime.Scheduler.

Filters​

The FastTrack wizard automatically creates the configuration for the Skill Filter and Service Zone Filter if they were enabled in the standard resource section. BC then sends the skills a resource needs (based on the service item and the service zone of the service order) to Dime.Scheduler, so the user can apply the automatic filter to select the right resource for the task.

Usage​

Actions​

List Actions​

See common actions for an overview of the list actions for this type.

Card actions​

The following actions are available on the service order:

  • Send service order
  • Delete service order

Service orders

Creating service orders​

The flow is straightforward: when you create a service order and run the send to Dime.Scheduler action, the connector gathers all the relevant data about the service order and its work items, and sends it to Dime.Scheduler.

The following entities are used in the graph:

  • Service header
  • Service item lines
  • Customer
  • Contact

Dime.Scheduler maintains the relationship between a service header and a service item line: the service header maps to a Job, and each service item line maps to a Task record. When a service order has multiple lines, those lines link to the same job in Dime.Scheduler. Once planned, they trace back to the same service order.

info

This is the default behavior. When switched off, the Send Service Header as Task field lets you ignore the service item lines and map the service header to a task. Instead of a 1:N relationship, this feature flag enforces a 1:1 relationship. Otherwise, and if Send Lines with Service Header is enabled, the behavior described above applies.

When you send the service order to Dime.Scheduler, those tasks are created.

Service orders

There is more setup that connects a field of the service header or item to an appointment's visual indicators. For example, a category can reflect a service item's repair status, or a service header's service order type or service zone code. This is the default behavior, but it is easy to BYOBL (Bring Your Own Business Logic) to Dime.Scheduler and use other fields as the source for an appointment's color-coded visual indicator. More configuration is available to tweak the default behavior, such as default duration service line, which sets the default duration of an appointment when you drag the task to the planning board.

Planning service orders​

The open task grid shows the work that needs to be planned. Planning a service item is easy: drag the task onto the right timeslot for the right resource, and you have registered a service order. How this appointment is processed in Business Central using the standard connector for Dime.Scheduler depends on the task level you configured in this module: header level or service item level.

It may also create timesheets if that switch was turned on.

Note the following caveat:

  • When a service order is marked as 'Finished' in Business Central, Dime.Scheduler will not process any other incoming appointments.

Repair status​

The standard BC "Repair Status Setup" page has been extended with one new field: Lock Appointment. This lets you fix the planning based on the status of the order in Business Central.

Repair status