As I revise for the MB2-718 exam (Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Service) I’m creating blog posts detailing all aspects of my revision. I hope these posts will aid anyone who is also revising for this exam. In this post I will review the setup & configuration of Field Service.
For reference I have shown the skills measured statement for the Field Service section of the MB2-718 exam below. Many of the items mentioned will be impacted by setup & configuration! Making understanding how to configure the Field Service application an important topic.
In my introductory posts I described many entities which must be configured to support your implementation of Field Service, including resources, products and services. (Plus many more.) In addition to items like this you will also need to understand how security roles are applied in Field Service and what administrative settings we have available.
Collectively all of these thing cover a large amount of concepts! Because of this I will break this post down into several parts;
- Part One – Security roles and admin settings
- Part Two – Products and Services
- Part Three (This post) – Resources
Resources
Before you can think about creating work orders you are going to need to create some resources capable of delivering the services on those work orders. A resource is essentially anything which can be scheduled (booked), this might be a field agent, a piece of equipment, or even a Dynamics 365 contact.
Note: You may wish to schedule contacts to enable scheduling of resources who are not directly part of your organization. (For example, as sub-contractors).
You create Field Service resources using the “Bookable Resources” option in the field service administration area.
Each resource is first given a type. Valid types are “Generic”, “Contact”, “User”, “Equipment” or “Group”. More often than not your field engineers will be users. So let’s look at creating a user, one tab at a time.
General Tab
In the general tab we select the resource type. In this example I am creating a user as a resource. Next we pick the Dynamics 365 user. You will need to have already created the user in Office 365 and given them appropriate security role(s) in the security settings option.
We also define the time zone that the user works in. Important if you provide service across multiple countries.
Field Service Tab
If you have Project Service installed you may have a project service tab. My focus here is Field Service so I’m not going to mention those options! But it is important to know that resources are shared between Field Service and Project Service Automation. Actually we have a concept called “unified scheduling” that allows us to schedule other items beyond just work orders.
In the Field Service tab we next define various details about the resource. Including what warehouse to take any inventory parts from. I have simply said the main warehouse but one possible option is to create a “Van” as a virtual warehouse. As the engineer may supply parts from the back of his van!
Normally an engineer will see all appointments on their schedule. Drip scheduling would show just the next appointment each time.
Characteristics
Next we define the skills the resource has by adding their characteristics and proficiency levels. This information is later used in the scheduling assistant to ensure only qualified engineers are recommended.
Category Associations
Next I can associate each resource with multiple resource categories. This might reflect the roles the resource can assume. In my example this resource could work as a technician or a health and safety inspector.
Common Tab
The common tabs includes several fields common to Field Service and Project Service Automation. Start and end location are used when calculating routes. In my example the engineer will start each day from his home address and end the end at the company address.
The company address or “organizational Unit Address” will be the based on the Geocode associated with the resources organizational unit.
Next we define various scheduling options. Such as deciding if this resource should be shown on the Field Service scheduling board.
Work Hours
An important next step is to define the work hours of the resource. Do they work 9 to 5 Monday to Friday or some other working pattern? You access work hours form the navigation menu on the resource.
Selecting the “Work Hours” option will show the working pattern for this resource on a calendar. You can select the setup option to change the working pattern for a given day or every day.
Selecting setup gives access to a screen like the one below which allows definition of a revised working pattern.
Note: If the resource is on holiday this will also be reflected in this working calendar.
Resource Territory
If you use territories it is also important to set the resources territory. (or territories) Below you can see that I have added this resource to both the east and west midlands territories.
The territory information on a resource and their work pattern will impact the way they show in the Field Service Schedule Board. Below you can see that the resource I just created is available from 9am and is shown in my view of resources working in the West Midlands.
Creating resources is a pretty simple thing in Field Service but still an essential step in configuring the application. And one you should practice as part of your exam prep for the MB2-718 exam.
NEIL PARKHURST 
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