Example workflow for assigning tasks to agents based on Capacity and Reservations

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Example workflow for assigning tasks to agents based on Capacity and Reservations

    This workflow demonstrates how ServiceNow’s dynamic scheduling feature can intelligently assign tasks to agents by considering capacity reservations, work types, and overflow settings. It ensures optimal allocation of resources within an assignment group by enforcing predefined work type capacity percentages.

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    Key Features

    • Dynamic Scheduling: Automatically distributes tasks to agents based on capacity rules and work type allocations.
    • Capacity Definitions: Define daily task capacity per agent (e.g., 4 tasks daily).
    • Capacity Reservation Rules: Set specific percentages of workload for work types, such as 25% for 'Install' and 25% for 'Break fix', with overflow allowance.
    • Capacity Assignments: Link capacity definitions to specific assignment groups to enforce the scheduling rules.
    • Work Types and Tasks: Manage tasks with assigned work types (Install, Break fix) or without any specified type to balance workload distribution.
    • Auto Assign Feature: Enables automatic task assignment reflecting the configured capacity percentages and overflow rules.

    How to Implement

    • Enable Dynamic Scheduling: Ensure the feature is active in your instance.
    • Prepare Assignment Group: Verify the target group (e.g., 'North Group') has active members and agent schedules defined.
    • Create Capacity Definition: Set capacity by tasks with daily frequency and a defined number of tasks (e.g., 4 daily).
    • Define Capacity Reservation Rules: Create rules allocating 25% capacity to 'Install' work type and 25% to 'Break fix' work type, both allowing overflow.
    • Link Reservations to Capacity Definition: Combine the rules under the capacity definition.
    • Assign Capacity to Group: Create capacity assignment records targeting the assignment group with appropriate effective dates.
    • Create Work Orders and Tasks: Generate tasks with specific work types ('Install', 'Break fix') and tasks without work types to test distribution.
    • Use Auto Assign: Select tasks and trigger auto assignment to distribute tasks according to the capacity and reservation rules.

    Expected Outcomes

    • Tasks are assigned to agents in the assignment group respecting the configured capacity percentages (25% Install, 25% Break fix, 50% any/no type).
    • Overflow rules ensure that if one work type exceeds capacity, tasks can still be assigned within the overall capacity.
    • Optimal utilization of agent time and balanced task distribution across multiple work types.
    • Administrators gain control over workload allocation with visibility into how tasks are dynamically distributed.

    Explore how dynamic scheduling intelligently distributes tasks, considering the defined capacity reservations, work types, and overflow settings, ensuring optimal utilization of resources in the group.

    As an administrator, your goal is to ensure that assignment group works 25% on 'Install' work type, 25% on 'Break fix' work type, and the remaining 50% can be of any type or no type of work. The following example demonstrates how to achieve this through dynamic scheduling.

    Prerequisites:
    • Ensure Dynamic Scheduling is enabled.
    • Ensure that your target assignment group, for instance, the 'North Group', has at least one active member.
    • Create an agent schedule record ('agent_work_schedule') for a user, specifying the 'Day Shift (8:00-5:00)' work schedule.
    1. Capacity Definition Setup:
      • Create a capacity definition record with 'Capacity by' set to 'Tasks', assigning a value of '4' tasks daily.
      • Set the frequency of this capacity to 'Daily' to align with your scheduling needs.
    2. Capacity Reservation Rules: Create two capacity reservation rules
      • Rule 1 ('Install Work'): Conditions set for 'Work type' as 'Install,' allocate 25%, and allow overflow.
      • Rule 2 ('Break Fix Work'): Conditions set for 'Work type' as 'Break fix,' allocate 25%, and allow overflow.
    3. Tag Reservations to Definition: Link the created reservation rules to the definition crafted in step 1, forming a structure.
    4. Capacity Assignment:
      • Within the related lists of the capacity definition, create a new 'Capacity Assignment' record.
      • Link it to the capacity definition, select the target assignment group ('North Group'), set the effective start date to the current date and time, and repeat for '5' times to auto-fill the end date.
    5. Create work order of install type:
      • Create a work order ('wm_order'), specifying the location as 'Colorado,' and mark it 'Ready for qualification'.
      • Open the work order task, ensuring the dispatch group and required assignment group ('North Group') are filled.
      • Set the work type as 'Install' and click 'Qualified'; the task transitions to the Pending Dispatch state.
      • Repeat the process twice to have 3 'Install' type tasks available for the day.
    6. Create work order of break-fix type:
      • Create a work order ('wm_order'), specifying the location as 'Colorado,' and mark it 'Ready for qualification.'
      • A new work order task ('wm_task') is generated; open it, ensuring the dispatch group and required assignment group ('North') are filled.
      • Set the work type as 'Break fix' and click 'Qualified'; the task moves to the Pending Dispatch state.
      • Repeat the process twice to have 3 'Break fix' type tasks available for the day.
    7. Create work order tasks without a specified work type:
      • Open a work order task, ensure the dispatch group and required assignment group ('North') are filled, and leave the work type field blank.
      • Click 'Qualified'; the task transitions to the Pending Dispatch state.
      • Repeat this process twice to have 3 tasks without a specified work type available for the day.
    8. Dynamic Scheduling:
      • Open the four tasks created in the list view and click 'Auto Assign' from the overflow action menu.
      • A modal window displays possible assignments, allocating tasks based on the predefined 25% capacity for 'Install' type, 25% for 'Break fix' type, and the remaining 50% for any type or no type at all.