Dynamics 365 Asset Management: Scheduling Asset Maintenance – Dispatcher Tools
Wouldn’t it be great to know the ‘what, when and how’ for facility maintenance? For all types of maintenance needed (preventative, reactive, etc.), Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management will now allow a schedule to generate, with the proper setup of course. Once the Asset Management module setup is complete, the dispatcher tools available in Dynamics are easy to use!
Let’s first review some of the setup requirements needed before the dispatch process can occur.
Workers – To be available for an asset work order, the employee will first need to be created in Dynamics as a Human Resource (Organization administration > Resources > Resources). Then, the employee can be added to the worker list in the Asset Management module (Asset management > Setup > Workers > Workers). These workers can be added to a Group and/or Functional Location. By grouping the workers, a dispatcher will know which skill set the worker has to complete the necessary maintenance. By adding a functional location, the dispatcher will not accidently schedule a worker from San Diego to work in Atlanta!
Lifecycle State – The work order lifecycle state will need to be setup to allow scheduling. To verify this parameter was selected, navigate to the following Dynamics menu location: Asset management > Setup > Work orders > Lifecycle states. On the General FastTab, look for the ‘allow scheduling’ toggle button and set to Yes for each lifecycle state where scheduling will be allowed. Once this is complete, navigate to the Asset Management work orders to begin the dispatch or scheduling process. Asset management > Common > Work orders > All work orders > General Tab
Now, let’s get ready to dispatch!
An asset management work order can be dispatched, or scheduled, a few different ways. Within the Schedule menu (pictured below), there are four options: Schedule, Dispatch, Delete Schedule, and Work Order Schedule. Let’s dive into Schedule and Dispatch.
Schedule: Asset work orders are ready to schedule once the forecast (estimated hours) and worker have been added. Select the work orders that are ready to schedule. This selection can be manual, or column filters can be used, like Current Lifecycle State or Criticality.
Click the Schedule option from the General tab to open the scheduling menu. Finite capacity parameters are automatically set to yes. This helps to avoid schedule overlapping. If these selections are changed to no, a list of work orders will be shown with over-scheduled capacity. From the message, the work order can be opened and rescheduled if needed. Detailed information about the calculated scores on work order and maintenance worked will be shown if the Verbose parameter is set to yes before the schedule is ran.
** Tip of the day ** To avoid rescheduling work orders already schedule for the next week, add the function (greaterThanUtcDate(7)) as the Expected start date in the Records to include section of the scheduling menu.
What if the schedule is incorrect for a work order? Just use the Delete Schedule function to remove the work order from the current schedule, then manually update the lifecycle state to reflect the change or reschedule using the functions described in this blog.
Dispatch: This scheduling function offers a few more options. If there are work orders created without workers or the maintenance forecast hours are incorrect, these can be updated using the Dispatch scheduling option. Let’s use a real-world example to see how this functionality works.
The maintenance clerk, Carrie, is working in the Work Order Management workspace. Her job today is to update the lifecycle state as needed for active work orders. Carrie has noticed three new work orders. From her workspace, she clicks on the Unscheduled icon to take her to the All Work Orders screen for scheduling.
Carrie has noticed the new work orders are not assigned to a worker. Remembering her training, she knows to use the Dispatch option in the Schedule menu to add a worker and schedule the work order.
Carrie will select the two work orders with the Corrective work order type and assign them to Pierre.
Carrie also remembers having the ability to update the schedule hours as needed. Her supervisor has recently emailed to request an additional hour be added to the schedule for Safety work order types. From the Dispatch schedule option, she can update the hours and assign the missing worker.
As you may have noticed, there are usually several ways to accomplish the same task in Dynamics 365. The path may be different, but the end result will be the same. Use the information provided today on Asset Management dispatch tools to ensure the facility maintenance schedule is accurate and least interruptive to the business.
Check out these other blogs related to D365 Asset management using the following links:
Dynamics 365 Asset Management Warranty Policies for Facility Assets
Dynamics 365 – Exploring Asset Management: Reactive Maintenance