Schedule Optimization travel estimate providers

  • Release version: Zurich
  • Updated July 31, 2025
  • 2 minutes to read
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    Summary of Schedule Optimization travel estimate providers

    Schedule Optimization in ServiceNow relies on accurate travel time estimates between agents and work order tasks to allocate resources efficiently. It supports two travel estimate providers: Straight-line and Beans.AI. Administrators must select and configure a travel estimate provider for qualifier-level groups to ensure proper scheduling performance.

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    Travel Estimate Providers

    • Straight-line: This provider estimates travel time based on direct distance. Administrators configure properties such as regional speed limits and multipliers to adjust estimates according to travel duration brackets (e.g., increasing estimates for trips under 15 minutes). It serves as a fallback option if no map provider is selected.
    • Beans.AI: This map provider offers more precise travel time estimates by querying location matrices. Administrators set up connection and credential records in IntegrationHub and can limit the number of queried locations to optimize performance. If the query exceeds the configured limit, the system defaults to straight-line estimation.

    Configuration and Limits

    • Administrators configure travel estimate properties and limits through specific ServiceNow modules: Scheduling Attributes for straight-line settings, and Map Provider Configuration for Beans.AI.
    • Beans.AI default settings include a request threshold limit of 5,000 and a maximum location element count of 250,000, accommodating large optimization runs.
    • The default maximum number of location points per Beans.AI query is 300, adjustable to balance accuracy and system performance.

    Practical Benefits

    Choosing and properly configuring a travel estimate provider enables more accurate scheduling by considering realistic travel times. Accurate estimates improve agent assignment efficiency, reduce travel delays, and enhance overall field service delivery.

    Travel estimate providers used by Schedule Optimization.

    Efficient allocation of work order tasks to agents depends on accurate estimation of travel time, taking into account both the agent's location and the task's location. Schedule Optimization supports two options to calculate distances between agents and task, Straight-line and Beans.AI. An administrator is required to select a travel estimate provider for all qualifier-level groups. See, Create a scheduling attribute for Schedule Optimization for more information on where the options are located.

    Straight-line

    To enter straight-line travel estimate configuration properties, an administrator can navigate to All > Schedule Optimization > Configuration > Scheduling Attributes and open the travel estimate configuration record.

    In the General tab, you can add the speed limit for the region in the speed multiplier field.

    In the Multipliers tab, the multipliers defined in the straight-line calculation are the values that the estimated straight-line travel time is multiplied by, depending on the time bracket the estimate falls in. If the travel time is less than 15 minutes, multiply by a value greater than 1, to increase the estimated travel time. If the travel time is greater than 15 minutes, multiply by a positive value smaller than 1 to decrease the estimated travel time.

    Note:
    Straight-line distance calculation is a fallback logic in case a customer doesn’t want to choose a map provider for travel time estimates.

    Beans.AI

    Beans.AI is the map provider that Schedule Optimization supports for travel time estimates.

    To create a connection and credential record for Beans.AI, an administrator can navigate to All > IntegrationHub > Connection and Credentials > Connection and Credentials Aliases.

    Travel estimates are obtained every time Schedule Optimization runs. An administrator can limit the number of locations that are queried from Beans.AI. For example, if optimization runs for two agents and two tasks, a 4x4 matrix is sent to Beans.AI to find the shortest distance to the new location. A 4x4 matrix sends 16 location elements to Beans.AI. If the number of locations queried exceeds the set value, the query defaults to straight-line. To change the maximum number of location points allowed in a provider call, an administrator can navigate to All > Schedule Optimization > Configuration > > Properties > and change the value in the Travel Time Estimates field. The default value is set to 300.

    To change the configurations for Beans.AI, an administrator can navigate to All > Map Integrations for Field Service > Map Provider Configuration.

    By default, the Inputs field is set to Beans.AI. By default Decision table is set up as indicated in the table.
    Table 1. Fields in Beans.AI configuration for travel time estimates
    Field Value
    Request Threshold Limit 5000 [considering 50 runs a day with 100 groups in each run]
    Max Location Element Count 250,000 [considering 500 x500 matrix support per Map Provider call]
    Note:
    Straight-line distance calculation is a fallback logic in case a customer doesn’t want to choose a map provider for travel time estimates.