Domain Model: Schedule - proposed definition

[Israel Beniaminy <israel.beniaminy@clicksoftware.com>]

Hello all,

One of the action items from the last meeting was defining the "Schedule" part of the domain model. Here is my proposal. Please review.

Note: I recommend moving "Schedule" in the domain model so that it constrains the "Activity" object, not the "Task" object. Rationale: A task might have several activities which don't share the same schedule constraints. One example is in a telco, installing a new wired line to a customer's home. This task might include two activities: activity A1 is making the connections at the local switchboard, and activity A2 is connecting the line at the customer's home. Assuming that the customer visit has been set to Wednesday between 2PM and 4PM, and that today is Monday, the time constraint for A1's schedule is any time between Monday and Wednesday 4PM, whereas A2's time constraint must be between 2PM and 4PM on Wednesday (there would also be a time dependency between A1 and A2, but that is handled elsewhere in the domain model).

If we accept this recommendation, changes need to be made in several places in the specs document.

Proposal for contents of item "5.1.3 Schedule":
The Schedule associated with an Activity has three logical parts: The time constraints defining when the activity may be executed; the planned time for executing the activity; and the actual time when the activity was delivered. [Note for the group, not to be included in the text: the last part, actual time, may be removed from here and placed in the "Activity history entry", but it is useful to group the planned-vs-actual time information in one place. It is true that this suggestion can lead to duplicate data - actual start time being recorded both on "Schedule" and on "Activity History Entry" - but I think this is OK since the history entries may be seen as a kind of detailed logging; for example, if the activity was started multiple times, e.g. due to suspensions, we will still have just one official "start time" in the Schedule object; it is up to the Manager to decide which start time to select].

The Activity MUST have a "time constraints" part, which MUST include a "Latest Start" date-time data element, specifying the latest time when the Activity may be started. Note that this does not constrain the time when the Activity may be finished.

The "time constraints" part MAY also include the following elements:
Earliest Start: date-time data element specifying the earliest time when the Activity may be started (if not specified, it is assumed that the Activity may be started at any time between the present and the Latest Start).
Latest Finish: date-time data element specifying the latest time when the Activity may be finished
Appointment Start, Appointment Finish: date-time data elements specifying the start and end of the appointment, that is the time window during which the service provider has promised that the service would be delivered. If one of these elements is specified, the other one MUST be specified as well.

The Appointment constraint, if specified, overrides the other constraints. It is intended for use in cases similar to the following common use case: Assume the customer a service contract specifying that service must be provided within 2 business days from the time when the customer requested the service. Therefore, if the customer calls on Tuesday noon, the Latest Start will be set to Thursday noon. During the interaction between the customer and the service provider, they may set a service appointment for Wednesday between 10AM and noon. This will be specified in the Appointment Start and Appointment Finish elements. Still, it is useful for the Assignee to know the Latest Start data: for example, the Assignee might have some delays and check which of the Assignee's planned Activities may be moved and still meet the original Latest Start.

The Activity MAY have a "Planned Schedule" part. If this part exists, it MUST include a "Planned Start" date-time data element. In the above example, where the service appointment was set for Wednesday between 10AM and noon, the Planned Start element might show that the Activity was set to start at 11AM. It MAY also include a "Planned Finish" date-time data element.

The Activity MAY have an "Actual Schedule" part. If this part exists, it MUST include at least "Actual Start" date-time data element, specifying when the Assignee actually started performing the Activity. It MAY also include an "Actual Finish" date-time data element.

No enforcement of logical relationships between the Schedule elements
The Manager and Implementation are not required to enforce logical relationships between the Schedule elements. For example, it is permissible for the Planned Start to be in violation of the timing constraint specified by the Latest Start element. Such a situation may arise, for example, if the Manager is unable to schedule the Activity in such a way that obeys the constraint (possibly due to lack of work capacity) but schedules it at a later time, since being late may be better than not performing the Activity at all.

-----Original Message-----
From: thinh.nguyenphu@nsn.com [mailto:thinh.nguyenphu@nsn.com] 
Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 12:39 AM
To: ffm@lists.oasis-open.org
Subject: [ffm] Groups - FFMII-Specification-Foundation-20110826-v1.0-wd01.docx uploaded

Hello,
Enclosed document is the initial draf of FFMII Specification.  Please use this version when submitting your text changes.

Regards,
Thinh

 -- Mr. Thinh Nguyenphu

The document named FFMII-Specification-Foundation-20110826-v1.0-wd01.docx
has been submitted by Mr. Thinh Nguyenphu to the OASIS Field Force Management (FFM) TC document repository.

Document Description:


View Document Details:
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/document.php?document_id=43352

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http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/download.php/43352/FFMII-Specification-Foundation-20110826-v1.0-wd01.docx


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