Scheduling components in Workforce Optimization for ITSM

  • Release version: Yokohama
  • Updated January 30, 2025
  • 3 minutes to read
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    Summary of Scheduling components in Workforce Optimization for ITSM

    Workforce Optimization for ITSM in the Yokohama release provides comprehensive scheduling capabilities to manage agent shifts and schedules effectively. It includes defined roles for different levels of access, configurable properties to control scheduling behaviors, scheduled jobs for maintenance, and customizable user preferences to tailor the scheduling experience in the Service Operations Workspace.

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    Roles

    • Shift Planning User (snshiftplanning.user): Read-only access to view schedules and shifts.
    • Shift Planning Agent (snshiftplanning.agent): Allows agents to access their calendars and request shift swaps or time off.
    • Shift Planning Admin (snshiftplanning.admin): Grants full administrative rights to create, read, update, and delete schedules and shifts.

    Configurable Properties

    These properties enable customization of scheduling features to fit organizational needs:

    • Mobile Event Display Range: Configure how many past (-1 to -31 days, default -31) and future (1 to 90 days, default 90) shift events display on the mobile app.
    • Agent Break Time Editing: Enable or disable agents’ ability to edit or add/remove break times within their shifts (both default to false).
    • Schedule Caching and Auto-Assignment: Set cache duration for agent schedules (default 5 days), number of auto-assigned preferred shifts (default 1), and maximum shifts agents can sign up for (default 1).
    • Agent Signup Controls: Enable agents to sign up for shifts (default true), control visibility of signup links in the Service Operations Workspace, and define notification lead time before shift signup due dates (default 2 days).
    • Shift Display Options: Choose to display shift names or event types (default is true to show shift names).
    • UI and Integration Settings: Control typeahead list behavior when assigning agents and enable Microsoft Outlook calendar synchronization (default false).

    Note: Property changes typically take 24 hours to apply unless the "Shift Planning - Delete All Agent Schedules Cache" scheduled job is run manually to refresh immediately.

    Scheduled Jobs

    The system includes a daily scheduled job that clears the agent schedule cache to maintain performance and data freshness:

    • Shift Planning - Delete All Agent Schedules Cache: Deletes cached scheduling data daily at 2:30 am and can be run on-demand after data imports.

    User Preferences

    ServiceNow administrators can configure user preferences to control pagination and display sizes for scheduling views within the workspace:

    • workspace.onCallShiftsPageSize: Sets max number of on-call shifts shown per page.
    • workspace.workShiftsPageSize: Sets max number of work shifts shown per page.
    • workspace.schedulePlanPageSize: Sets max number of scheduling plans shown per page.

    Preferences can be set individually or system-wide to optimize workspace usability for agents and managers.

    Workforce Optimization for ITSM has roles to administer agent shifts and schedules and properties to configure default behavior.

    Roles

    Role title [name] Description Contains roles
    Shift Planning User [sn_shift_planning.user] Grants read access for scheduling including the ability to view schedules and shifts.
    Shift Planning Agent [sn_shift_planning.agent] Grants agents access to their calendar. Agents can request shift swap or time off. sn_shift_planning.user
    Shift Planning Admin [sn_shift_planning.admin] Grants administrative access to create, read, update, and delete (CRUD) schedules and work shifts.
    • sn_shift_planning.approver
    • sn_shift_planning.user
    • sn_shift_planning.agent

    Properties

    Property Description
    sn_itsm_ mobile_agent.events_query_days_past The maximum number of days past events for your shifts can be displayed on your mobile application. You can enter values that range from -1 to -31.
    • Type: Integer
    • Default value: -31
    sn_itsm_ mobile_agent.events_query_days_future The maximum number of days future events for your shifts can be displayed on your mobile application. You can enter values that range from 1 to 90.
    • Type: Integer
    • Default value: 90
    sn_uib_agent_sp.allow_agent_edit_break Enables agents to edit the start and end time of their break time in a shift span.
    • Type: true|false
    • Default value: false
    sn_uib_agent_sp.allow_agent_add_remove_break Enables agents to add or remove their break time in a shift span.
    • Type: true|false
    • Default value: false
    sn_shift_planning.number_of_days_to_cache Number of days to cache agent schedules.
    • Type: Integer
    • Default value: 5
    sn_shift_planning.max_shifts_to_autoassign Number of preferred shifts from a schedule plan that will be auto-assigned.
    • Type: Integer
    • Default value: 1
    sn_shift_planning.max_shifts_allowed_for_signup The maximum number of shifts that agents can sign up for within a schedule plan.
    • Type: Integer
    • Default value:1
    sn_shift_planning.enable_agent_signup Enable agents to sign up for their own shifts.
    • Type: true|false
    • Default value:true
    sn_shift_planning.enable_schedule_signup_link Enables or disables the link in the Upcoming section in the Service Operations Workspace landing page where agents can view shifts that they've signed up for that are due on the current day and the day after the current day.
    • Type:true|false
    • Default value: true
    sn_shift_planning.days_to_signup_due_date The number of days before the shift sign-up due date when agents and managers are notified.
    • Type: Integer
    • Default value: 2
    sn_shift_planning.display_shift_name Set this property to true to display the shift name. If the value is set to false, the event type will be displayed.
    • Type: Boolean
    • Default value: True
    Note:
    It will take 24 hours for any changes you make to the property value to take effect. To view the changes immediately, run the Shift Planning - Delete All Agent Schedules Cache scheduled job.
    assignShiftAgentsTypeaheadDisableAutoClose

    Turns off the closing of the Assign agents to this shift typeahead list every time an agent is selected.

    In the application navigator, enter sys_ux_page_property.LISTand press Enter.
    • Type:true|false
    • Default value: false
    sn_wfo_outlook.enable_outlook_sync
    Set this property to true to turn on the synchronization between the agent's calendar and the Microsoft Outlook calendar.
    • Type: Boolean
    • Default value: False

    Scheduled jobs

    Table 1. Scheduled Job
    Name Description
    Shift Planning - Delete All Agent Schedules Cache Deletes cache from the sn_shift_planning_agent_availability table.
    • Runs automatically everyday at 2:30 am
    • Run this job on-demand when you import data.

    User preferences

    Navigate to All > User Administration > User Preferences and add the preferences listed in the table below.
    Note:
    To set a system-wide user preference, select the System check box.
    For information on setting user preferences, see User preferences.
    User Preference Description
    workspace.onCallShiftsPageSize Set the maximum number of on-call shifts to view per page in the On-call shifts tab in the Shifts side panel.
    • Name: workspace.onCallShiftsPageSize
    • Type: Integer
    • Value: Enter the preferred number of on-call shifts you want to view per page.
    workspace.workShiftsPageSize Set the maximum number of work shifts to view per page in the Work shifts tab in the Shifts side panel.
    • Name: workspace.workShiftsPageSize
    • Type: Integer
    • Value: Enter the preferred number of work shifts you want to view per page.
    workspace.schedulePlanPageSize Set the maximum number of scheduling plans to view per page in the Schedules side panel.
    • Name: workspace.schedulePlanPageSize
    • Type: Integer
    • Value: Enter the preferred number of schedules you want to view per page.