Meetings (5.7)

The Meetings element within DRS has been redesigned to allow customers to use this as an ‘Unavailability with travel time’ feature. This means that workers can be assigned to attend a meeting at a desired location and the Meeting feature will allow this 'job' to be sent to the workers PDA, update to say that the meeting has been completed, and will also allow for travel time to be scheduled around the meeting time.

How To Configure Meetings

Enabling Meetings within DRS

For all users who need access to configure Meetings, the following Profile Permission will need to be enabled. Without this permission, the meetings tab and below functionality will not be visible.

Configuring a Meeting Location

First, you need to configure a Customer location for a meeting to occur. To create a location for a meeting, you first must create a Customer Template which identifies the customer as a meeting location. This is accessed through the Configuration tab, in the Modelling section, under Customer Templates.

This is done by setting the value for 'Template for meeting' to YES.

Once created, you can create your Meeting Location by creating a normal Customer Object and attaching the Meeting Template to it.

Configuring a Meeting Job Template

Next, you need to configure your Meeting Job Template. This is accessed through the Configuration tab, in the Modelling section, under Job Templates.

By default a Standard Meeting Job template is available in DRS. You can create your own Meeting job Template template as well, should you need this. Within the Meeting Job Template, you can configure default object attributes specifically for your Meeting template.

By allowing the template to be Geolocalised, it is possible for travel time to be calculated before and after the meeting.

Configuring a Meeting Service Order and Job Template

Next, configure a Service Order Template to create the Order object for your Meeting. This is accessed through the Configuration tab, in the Modelling section, under Service Order Templates.

Select the 'Template for Meeting' tickbox which will limit the Job templates displayed when a row is added to the Job Sequence section, only Meeting templates will be displayed in the dropdown list.

It is only possible to have one Job Template allocated to a Meeting Order Template, if more than one row is added to the Job Sequences section the following error will be displayed when the template is saved.

Once the Service Order Meeting Template has been created it is possible to create meetings via the Meetings tab in DRS using the 'New’ button. This will display the business data added by default or by design, the selected customer and it will default to schedule on today's date.

Creating a Meeting for your Workers

Meetings are created for scheduling from the Meetings tab within the DRS UI. This tab's visibility is controlled by profile permissions and may need to be enabled by your system administrator before it is available to you.

To successfully create Meetings that can schedule and be requested through the API by your Mobile system, you will need to ensure that all basic and mandatory data is completed on the Job and Order object. Mandatory items are marked with a red bar to the left of the data entry option.

By selecting 'Add' next to the 'Workers in the meeting' section, a screen will display all workers that can be invited to attend the meeting.

It is possible to select multiple workers and these will be added to the Meeting. The question mark icon will display until 'Check Workers Availability' is selected and then this will be updated to display as a tick or cross depending on whether they are available to attend.

The 'Forced' option allows for the Meeting to be forced onto the workers diaries in cases where attendance is mandatory. The bin icon allows for workers to be removed from the meeting if required.

If workers are unable to attend the meeting, a reason will be provided so that the user can determine whether this is a conflict with a job on the diary or if this is due to a configuration issue such as a Working Hours Calendar.

Schedule the Meeting

Once you have set all the required information and selected your workers, click the button at the top of the screen marked 'Schedule the Meeting'. This will attempt to schedule the meeting based on your selected settings. If you have selected to Force the meeting, this will override any scheduling conflicts created by the meeting.

Once the meeting has been successfully scheduled it will appear on the workers diary in dark blue. This is setup by default  on the Standard configuration. If you have configured a different diary template, your experience may vary.

Sending the Meeting to Mobile Workers

When scheduled, a Meeting will output an Appointment Confirmation update, via Web Services or Flat File, to your Back Office system. The format of the Appointment Confirmation will match the format provided for standard Job Appointments.

Meetings will be despatched through the standard getSchedule and getNextJob commands via Mobile Gateway and Web Service Gateway to your mobile device. The format of the meeting within the response will be the same as a standard Job. Your Mobile working solution can provide updates to the Meeting using the standard updateBooking requests in the standard format. This allows for the workers to Complete the meeting and get their next job of the day sent.

The configuration of your Mobile and Back Office solutions will need to be compliant with the Meetings functionality to fully support your Mobile Workers. Communications from DRS are designed to replicate the standard Job workflow as closely as possible to minimise the impact on the standard process.

Advice can be given by OneAdvanced Consultancy and Product teams, however with the exception of Job Manager customers, OneAdvanced cannot provide responsibility for ensuring your Mobile and Back Office solutions remain compliant.