Oracle 21C, Manual

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Oracle Field Service
Using Core Application
Chapter 2
Dispatcher Activities
Link Activities
The concept of linking activities applies to a variety of situations in which jobs and resources must be linked and
sequenced together over time.
These examples illustrate the diversity of linking activities:
• Let’s say a technician is assigned an activity that takes more than a day to complete. How do you make sure
that activity continues to be assigned to the technician until it has been completed?
• A group of workers may be assigned to a series of activities related in such a way that the first one must be
completed before the second can be started, and so on. What’s the most efficient way to keep that big job
moving efficiently?
• And, what about a necessary break in a task that creates a gap in a technician’s schedule? What can you do to
make sure your resources remain productive while “waiting for the paint to dry”?
When activities are related serially over time or when routing relationships cause a break in the schedule, you can link
activities and restore efficiency.
The first step in linking activities is to create link types that correspond to the four linking relationships represented
graphically on the New Link template. The next is to use those link types to link actual activities for Routing.
Linking Activities Automatically
Oracle Field Service can link two activities based on the information you send to the application using APIs.
Activity Link Types
Activity link types identify the way that two or more activities are linked. It specifies the constraints, if any, that are
placed while assigning and scheduling resources.
Before you can link activities, you must create activity link types.
Activity link types are generic. You can reuse a link type to link activities over time. Apart from the link type, you can add
specific characteristics such as the interval between activities and any rules for assigning and scheduling the resources.
There are two types of activity links:
• Regular link type: This link type places the first activity in the schedule before the second activity.
• Reverse link type: This link type places the second activity in the schedule before the first activity.
The links that you create – both regular and reverse – are available when you link activities.
The activity link type template shown below features four different linkages:
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