How to configure Assignment Groups visibility in Dispatcher Workspace?

Tejal Patil1
Tera Expert

3 weeks ago

Hi Community,


I have a requirement to make certain Assignment Groups available for selection in the Assignment Group filter within Dispatcher Workspace.
Based on my initial understanding, an assignment group should become visible in Dispatcher Workspace when:

The user is a member of that assignment group, and
The group has Group Type = wm_dispatcher

 

This approach worked for one or two assignment groups, which are currently visible in the Assignment Group dropdown. However, I am trying to add a few more assignment groups, and those are not appearing—even after confirming user membership and the group type.
While researching further, I noticed that in Dispatcher Workspace → Settings → General tab, there is an option:

“Choose which assignment groups to set as the default selection in the toolbar”

Only a limited set of assignment groups appear in this configuration list, and those same groups are the only ones visible in the Assignment Group filter within Dispatcher Workspace. The additional assignment groups I want to expose do not appear here at all, which seems to be the reason they are not selectable in the workspace.


My questions:

How is this list of assignment groups in the Dispatcher Settings (General tab) actually populated?
Are there additional configuration steps, roles, plugins, or criteria (beyond group membership and wm_dispatcher group type) that control assignment group visibility in Dispatcher Workspace?
How can I add new assignment groups so they appear both in the Dispatcher Settings and in the Assignment Group filter for selection?

 

Any guidance or pointers to documentation would be greatly appreciated.


Thanks in advance!

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SanketKhabiya
Tera Contributor

3 weeks ago

Based on my analysis and testing, the Assignment Groups visible in Dispatcher Workspace → Settings → General (Assignment Group selection) are not pulled from all groups with Group Type = wm_dispatcher. There are additional criteria involved.

Below is a consolidated explanation:

🔍 How the Assignment Group list is populated

The Dispatcher Workspace filters assignment groups based on Field Service Management (FSM) context, not just group configuration.

Mandatory conditions

An Assignment Group must:

  • Be Active

  • Have Group Type = wm_dispatcher

  • The logged-in user must be a member of the group

 Additional criteria (important)

Even if the above is satisfied, groups may still not appear unless the following conditions are met:

1. Linked to a Service Territory

Dispatcher Workspace is territory-driven.

  • Navigate to Service Territory [wm_territory]

  • Ensure the Assignment Group is added in the Assignment Groups related list

If not linked → the group will not appear

2. Contains valid workforce users

The group should include users with Field Service roles such as:

  • wm_dispatcher

  • wm_technician

  • wm_agent

Groups without relevant workforce users may be ignored by the workspace.

3. Used in FSM context (recommended)

Groups that are actively used in FSM configurations are more likely to appear:

  • Work Orders / Work Order Tasks

  • Assignment Rules

  • Scheduling Policies

4. Domain considerations (if applicable)

If Domain Separation is enabled:

  • The group and user must belong to the same domain

5. Caching behavior

Dispatcher Workspace uses caching.

After making changes:

  • Perform a hard refresh (Ctrl + Shift + R)

  • Or run cache.do

  • Or re-login

Steps to make new Assignment Groups visible

  1. Create/Update the Assignment Group

    • Active = true

    • Group Type = wm_dispatcher

  2. Add users with FSM roles (wm_dispatcher, wm_technician)

  3. Link the group to a Service Territory

  4. (Optional) Use the group in Work Orders or Assignment Rules

  5. Clear cache / reload workspace

📌 Conclusion

Dispatcher Workspace only displays Assignment Groups that are:

  • Dispatcher-enabled

  • Territory-associated

  • Workforce-relevant

  • Contextually usable within FSM

This is why some groups appear in the Settings and Assignment Group filter while others do not.

Hope this helps!

Tejal Patil1
Tera Expert
In response to SanketKhabiya

3 weeks ago - last edited 3 weeks ago

Hello @SanketKhabiya 

 

Thanks for the quick response — really appreciated.

 

I checked the first point you mentioned regarding linking Assignment Groups to a Service Territory, but it appears that Service Territory functionality is not available in our instance.

  1. I am not able to find the wm_territory table in the navigator.
  2. I also tried navigating via All > Field Service > Territory Planning > Territories, as mentioned in ServiceNow documentation, but this path does not exist in our environment.
  3. As per the documentation, creating or editing Service Territories requires the roles
    sn_fsm_tp.fsm_territory_planner and sn_fsm_tp.fsm_territory_manager, however these roles are also not available in our instance, even after searching explicitly.

So I believe Service Territory–based configuration is not applicable in our case.

 

FYI: All Assignment Groups we are referring to are FSM related only.
Another observation related to Assignment Group visibility: Under the Field Services – ICC dispatcher group, there are a total of 5 Assignment Groups configured. Out of these:

3 Assignment Groups are visible and selectable in Dispatcher Workspace
2 Assignment Groups are not visible, even though:

The user is a member of those groups
The Group Type is set to wm_dispatcher for all of them


One additional difference I noticed is that these 2 non-visible assignment groups contain only contractor users (no internal users). I’m not sure if that has any impact on assignment group visibility in Dispatcher Workspace.

 

Actual Requirement
The real requirement is driven by a Dispatcher use case:
Some dispatchers want to apply filters in Dispatcher Workspace to work only with contractor users, where those contractors belong to specific assignment groups.

In more detail:
On the left panel (Work Order Tasks list), we apply filters such as:
Service.name contains "Project"
Scheduled Start = Today
State is one of Accepted / WIP

 

Based on these filtered WOTs, the right-side “Search Resource” panel should only show the resources who are:
Assigned to those WOTs(All Assigned to will be contractor-only)

For example:
If 5 WOTs are visible on the left panel, only the 5 contractor users assigned to those WOTs should be visible in the Search Resource panel.

 

We have implemented this logic successfully using an Advanced Resource Filter. However, during testing we found that the specific contractor-only assignment groups are not visible for selection in Dispatcher Workspace, which prevents these contractor users from showing up in the Search Resource panel.

FYI:  To make the contractor-based Assignment Groups visible to dispatchers, we attempted to add dispatchers to the contractor groups and also set their group type to wm_dispatcher. However, we are unable to add them to these groups, and we are unsure whether this approach is valid.

 

Given this assignment group visibility limitation:
How should we validate or enable this functionality?
Are there any additional conditions or configurations that control assignment group visibility in Dispatcher Workspace, especially for contractor-only groups?

 

Any guidance on how Dispatcher Workspace determines which assignment groups are available—and how to include these contractor groups — would be very helpful.

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suhaskp
Tera Contributor

3 weeks ago

Hi,

Assignment Group visibility in Dispatcher Workspace depends on user roles, group membership, and configuration of the workspace filters.

Solution:

Ensure the groups are correctly configured and accessible to the user.

Steps:

  1. Verify User is member of the Assignment Group
  2. Check Group record:
    • Active = true
    • Correct type/category (if filtering applied)
  3. Review Workspace filter configuration:
    • Open UI Builder → Dispatcher Workspace
    • Check Assignment Group filter component
  4. Ensure ACLs allow access to the group table

Additional Check:

If using Advanced Work Assignment / FSM:

  • Verify dispatch group configuration
  • Check territory or scheduling constraints

Explanation:

Workspace filters only show data that the logged-in user has access to and that meets configured filter conditions.

Reference:

https://docs.servicenow.com/bundle/tokyo-field-service-management/page/product/field-service-managem...

Hope this helps.

Kindly mark as correct if it resolves your issue.

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Tejal Patil1
Tera Expert
In response to suhaskp

3 weeks ago

Hello @suhaskp 

 

Thanks for the response.

 

I’ve observed that only contractor-based groups are not visible in the Dispatcher Workspace for Assignment Group selection. My requirement is to display all Work Orders (WOTs) associated with contractor-based groups and to show their Assigned To users (FYI: these are also contractor users) in the Search Resource panel.

 

During my research, I came across an article suggesting that contractor‑based groups are not supported in Dispatcher Workspace for the Xanadu/Yokohama releases.
https://www.servicenow.com/community/field-service-management-forum/contractor-groups-not-visible-in...

 

I’ve added the detailed requirement in the thread below. Could you please take a look and share your thoughts or recommendations on this?

 

Thanks in advance!

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