What’s new in the Dynamics 365 Resource Scheduling Optimization version 2.5 release

Applies to: Dynamics 365 Organization 9.0+ with Field Service Solution

With the goal of continuously improving quality, performance, usability, and responding to some customer feedback, we recently released the Resource Scheduling Optimization v2.5 update. Below are the new features and capabilities introduced in this release.

Extensible Optimization Scope

Scope is the RSO mechanism to define the relevant inputs:  resources requirements, resources and existing resource bookings. It also includes the timeframes to be considered for optimization. Extensible scope leverages Dynamics 365 entity views providing an easy and flexible way to define what to be optimized (resource requirements, resources and existing resource bookings)

Feature Details

Upon opening the Scheduling Optimization Scope form, a user can select existing system views or personal views (for which he has read permission) from the Resource, Requirement, and Resource view dropdowns.

1. Take ‘Resource View’ as an example: I have defined a ‘0_WA Resources’ view with the below filter conditions, which is equivalent to configuring WA territory as optimization scope in the previous version. Users can apply more filter conditions as needed to specify resources they need optimized. RSO will respect the Optimize Scheduling setting on individual resource records on top of the resource view filters.

2. User must select at least one requirement or booking view for what needs to be optimized.

3. If the user selects Booking View, he can set it to ‘Now or After.’ For example: I want to optimize bookings for the next 5 days, from 2 hours on (while excluding bookings within next 2 hours and bookings in the past). The current, out-of-the-box Dynamics 365 entity view filter doesn’t support this ‘Now or After’ condition; RSO enabled this additional setting on top of whatever filter conditions are defined for that booking view.

4. Optimization Range Settings is the time range where bookings can be created/updated/deleted.

5. User can preview resources, requirements, and bookings for optimization scope through the Schedule Board:
   1. Resource filters on the Schedule Board are pre-populated from Resource View. The resource list matches the number of resources defined in Resource View. RSO will display a lock icon and tooltip to indicate if a resource is not enabled for optimization (even though it was added into Resource View).
   2. Requirements under Eligible for Optimization match the records from Requirement View.

6. User can modify filters on the left panel and save into scope:
   1. If Resource View referred by optimization scope is a system view, modified filters through the Schedule Board will be saved as a new personal view.
   2. If Resource View referred by optimization scope is a personal view, modified filters through Schedule Board will be saved back into the same personal view.

7. Run optimization schedule, and open optimization request:
   1. The user can see which resources are being optimized, and which resources are not optimized (and for what reason).
       
   2. Optimization Start/End Range for specific run:

RSO Deployment App Enhancements

• New and modern UI, with an intuitive user experience
• Simplified deployment process, with fewer necessary clicks
• Meets accessibility requirements
• Enabled capability to delete RSO Azure deployment from customer side

For more information:

• Release Notes for Resource Scheduling Optimization (v2.0) – Dynamics 365
• What’s New for Dynamics 365 Resource Scheduling Optimization v1.5 Release
• What’s new in the July 2017 update for Field Service and Project Service Automation
• Use Resource Scheduling Optimization to schedule multiple booking requirements on a recurring basis
• Scheduling anything in Dynamics 365 with Universal Resource Scheduling
• What’s new in Dynamics 365 for Field Service and Project Service Automation
• Dynamics 365 for Field Service – User’s Guide
• Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation – User’s Guide

Feifei Qiu

Program Manager

Dynamics 365, Field Project Service Team

365blog

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