1.7.2 Using the Suggest Feature

Overview

The suggest engine uses the available resources to propose time slots for a single selected job. The results are displayed in the swimlanes allowing the scheduler to choose the most suitable option. 

How to Use Suggest

The suggest feature is available from the action bar of the horizontal swimlanes (in the scheduling console) and is automatically enabled in the job details view.

Prerequisites

Set Scheduling Window

The "scheduling window" is the period that is considered by the suggest engine. It is defined by setting a "view" range.

When the view is set to "Day," suggest attempts to schedule a job from the current time until the end of the selected day, i.e., up to midnight.

When the view is set to three days or one week, suggest attempts to schedule a job from the current time up to the end of the last day of the selected period.

Figure 1. How to set the view range in the scheduling console. 

Get Suggestions

From the scheduling console:

• Choose a job for "Suggest." The job's status should be "Queued" or "Pending Allocation" for the suggest button to be available (on the job card).
• Click the suggest button on the job card. If any suggestions available, they will be displayed in the swimlanes.

Figure 2. A queued job with the suggest button displayed.

With a queued job, if a job has an allocated resource(s) already, the suggested time slot for those resources will be marked green. If the resource(s) have not been previously allocated, they are marked blue.

Where a resource has been allocated to a job (suggestions marked green), clicking on any of the green options in the swimlanes will result in them being assigned to that job for that time slot. 

Figure 3. Selection of a job in the scheduling console, showing suggested time slots for allocation. 

Clear suggestions

Suggestions can be cleared by toggling the "Suggest" button on the job card.

Suggest in Job Details View

The job's status should be "Queued" or "Pending Allocation" for "Suggest" to automatically provide suggestions for an optimal resource allocation. If any suggestions are available, they will be displayed in the swimlanes as light blue or green blocks (blue indicating an unallocated resource, green indicating a resource has already been allocated).

Figure 4. Suggested time slots for an unallocated job, in job details view. Note the time blocks are blue and green.

Applying time constraints to a job may impact how "Suggest" recommends a resource allocation—two admin settings control how:

1. Respect Job Times (ON by default).
2. Respect Job Times over Time Constraints (ON by default).

When both admin settings are enabled (i.e., the default behavior) and a date and time have been defined, then the time that has been set will be respected by "Suggest," and it will make its recommendations accordingly.

Figure 5. Suggested time slots for an unallocated job, in job details view. Note the date and time are respected.

With both admin settings enabled (i.e., the default behavior) and a time constraint applied, then the job time that has been set will be respected by "Suggest," and it will make its recommendations accordingly.

Figure 6. Suggested time slots for an unallocated job, in job details view. Note, constraints are applied but the date and time are respected.

When neither admin setting is enabled (i.e., both are OFF), the time constraints are considered as hard constraints and any time slots within the time constraints limits can be recommended by "Suggest."

Figure 7. Using suggest to allocate a job using time constraints.

Also, see Job Time Constraints. 

Save suggestion

Click on any suggested job placeholder to schedule the job:

• The selected resource will be allocated to the job.
• The job will be scheduled for the selected date and time.

No Suggestion Found

Sometimes suggestions cannot be found due to the rules applied. When this happens, a notification will be displayed (saying "No resources available").

Figure 8. An example of the notification that is displayed if no resources are available to suggest.