Scheduling for a service business like yours is a balancing act. You want all of your team members to be working on projects that play to their strengths while having plenty of work to do but not so much that they have to miss deadlines or experience burnout.

‌Managing expectations between different stakeholders, multiple team members and business leaders can get complicated.

‌To manage these overlapping expectations, you need a powerful automation tool that offers flexibility and provides the insights needed to give concrete answers to questions like, "Can we move the schedule up two weeks for an additional fee?" or "Would you be interested in taking on a much larger role in our new project?"

‌The modern innovation of dynamic scheduling makes it easier to allocate team time, set timelines and maximize employee skill sets. At the same time, dynamic scheduling keeps overhead hours low and helps you identify opportunities for taking on new client projects.

What is Dynamic Scheduling?

Dynamic scheduling uses software to predict your employee utilization, allowing you to distribute your team's resources far into the future. Using dynamic scheduling, you can allocate daily, weekly and monthly time to different projects for each team member. It provides at-a-glance clarity on whether someone is under booked, overbooked or booked for too much of the wrong kind of work.

‌Because dynamic scheduling is a snapshot of what projects are underway and which ones are coming soon, it is part of a wider picture of the health of your business and the direction your client work is taking.

‌Dynamic scheduling is particularly helpful for project management. From letting clients know if you can or cannot fast-track a project to deciding things like whether hiring a new person is required to take on additional work, dynamic scheduling allows you to get better data to answer client questions honestly without having to "wait and see" how certain projects go.

What is Dynamic Scheduling Software?

Dynamic scheduling is made possible with powerful software tools that keep your team members informed on their individual work and what others are focused on. Since most firms have more than one person who works on gathering, scheduling and assigning tasks, dynamic scheduling software gives every team member the appropriate permissions to schedule within the dynamic interface.

‌Using automated team scheduling, dynamic scheduling software allows you to adjust projects when timelines change and predict where the change will create bottlenecks down the road.

For example, imagine this month one of your team members has the time to make a quick edit and fast-track a project, but when additional changes get requested or quick edits become a habit, you will want to know how those tasks will impact the rest of your client projects.

With dynamic scheduling software, your business will have a complete picture of employee availability to reference as you take on new client work and it will keep you informed about the impact of any unexpected changes.

What are the Benefits of Dynamic Scheduling Software?

Having full access to your team’s availability and its impact on your client work is a tremendous benefit for service businesses, but dynamic scheduling benefits go beyond this primary solution. Some of the major benefits of dynamic scheduling software include:

• Forecasting and Solving Budget Issues Early: If you look at the team schedule and realize that more billable hours have been used than expected in the project timeline, you can note when the hours are likely to run out and make adjustments early. You can also take advantage of sharing with your clients that their projects are ahead of schedule — all because of the advanced forecasting tools available.

• Coordination for Meetings and Events: Dynamic scheduling tools often also integrate with Google and Office products so that your team has access to everyone's appointment availability and can quickly schedule team meetings in ways that don't interfere with anyone’s schedule.

• Task and Approval Integration: Some scheduling tools like Oas36ty’s offer an approval feature, which allows you to assign tasks and share the timeline of the project itself as a way to communicate clearly with stakeholders and get the needed approvals before proceeding with a project.

• Notification Tools Keep Everyone on Track: Managing multiple client projects can get chaotic, so it's easy to get sidetracked by competing priorities. Scheduling tools with automatic notifications will keep your team on track, with reminders to finish the most urgent tasks before their deadlines.  

• United Front and Documentation Benefits: When everyone is working from a centralized calendar of work, you can give more consistent answers when your clients have questions. If there is ever a misunderstanding, a well-updated, dynamic schedule gives you the answers you need to clarify quickly with confidence and move forward.

• Well-Scheduled Employees Are Happier: Your team benefits when they know exactly what is expected of them. With fewer surprise assignments or crunch-time tasks, a dynamic scheduling tool can boost your team's productivity and job satisfaction at the same time.

With one powerful, dynamic schedule, you can create more organized workflows for your team. The potential for more efficient client work grows when everyone knows their role, when tasks are due and how changes may impact a project timeline.

This information included in a dynamic schedule provides your team with the key data needed to make smart, informed decisions for your business. And with better alignment on timelines, you’ll be more likely to deliver great results to your clients, which builds your reputation and improves customer loyalty. ‌

Try Dynamic Scheduling Software with Oas36ty's

Dynamic scheduling becomes even more powerful when you can assign tasks linked to all aspects of your client work, including client records, sales, retainers, tickets and projects. With this ability, the scheduling system becomes an integrated part of your workflows and improves efficiency across your business.

Oas36ty’s is a tool that can offer all this and more as both a dynamic scheduling solution and an end-to-end client work management system that connects work across your entire client journey.

Finding a great dynamic scheduling software doesn't have to be difficult — sign up for a free trial of Oas36ty’s to see it in action. You'll be amazed at how seamlessly it integrates with the tools your team already relies upon, and how it aggregates valuable information to aid you in making more informed decisions.

What is  Resource Scheduling?

I would respond with a second question; how do organizations manage pre-sale and post-sale requests or requirements from customers? One word, Delivery. It is almost impossible to deliver without an optimum schedule. In its simplistic and purest form scheduling is matching the right resource to the right customer, at the right time. That is not as easy as it sounds. There are countless amounts of use cases that make it more and more increasing difficult for organizations to adopt a viable scheduling solutioning.

When looking at the customer journey, and identifying key areas, we can find a clue as to what solution can fit the bill. Generally speaking, when addressing customer requirements organizations are concerned most about Management, Duration of work, Planning, the type of work, and recording the work. Regardless of the size of your organization, the implications for meeting customer satisfaction in all the previously mentioned areas can pay large dividends. Really then there is an equaly large need to schedule anything with the ability to build to scale. That is where Microsoft Universal Resource Scheduling comes in!

What is Universal Resource Scheduling?

Often in Dynamics365 we create custom tables (Entities) to track records. Microsoft being in tune with customers’ needs created Universal Resources Scheduling (URS) to empower organizations to schedule anything. Organizations can make any custom or system entities schedulable. In our next article we will walk thru this process. It is important to mention that URS is an entirely separate solution. The fact that other offerings leverage the Solution’s scheduling capabilities proves that Microsoft’s confidence is not misplaced.

From Financial Services to Government & Healthcare to Higher Educations to Religious organizations there are a variety of industry use cases. URS’s reach in outstanding! However, one might ask why not just use activities, or appointments. Great Question.

Activities vs Universal Resource Scheduling

What is the difference between Resource Scheduling and Activities? Activities are events that are initiated by me(owner), or my team. Usually, they include tasks like follow-ups in sales, meeting with clients, sending letters or making telephone calls, etc.  Resource Scheduling are tasks assigned for me, something that somebody wants me to do for to them based on my skills, territory/locations, and my availability. Additionally, with Resource Scheduling you get the Schedule Board. This gives you a holistic view of everyone's availability, their skillsets, and what the customer is expecting for you to do. URS provides a broader view of Customer’s needs, and who in organization and address them.

Why Universal Resource Scheduling?

You have an organized view that allow for optimization of placing your resources where they need to be.

URS assigns the best resources to jobs and tasks based on:

• Resource availability
• Required skills
• Promised time windows
• Business unit
• Geographic territory and more

Again, this functionality is able to work in conjunction with other Dynamics365 offerings including Sales, Field Service, Customer Service, and Project Service Automation, and custom entities. Really URS fills-in the gaps we see in many organizations today. In our next article we will outline how to enable this for a custom entity. See you then!

FAQ's

What is a resource scheduler?

Resource scheduling is identifying and allocating the resources required to complete a specific project within a given time. It helps you assign tasks according to people's skills and availability, so that you avoid under- or over-utilization of team members.

How will Resource Scheduling software benefit my business?

Implementing our Resource Scheduling software allows you to seamlessly blend appointed, planned, and responsive, last-minute work across your field-based workforce. Resource Scheduling allows a real-time view of your field operatives and their job status, helping you to stay on track. A truly dynamic scheduler like ours offers the most cost-effective and suitable time for a job which is complemented by route optimisation to help reduce no-access rates and missed appointments.

How will Resource Scheduling software assist in managing my field-based operation?

Resource Scheduling software allows you to define your human resources by different dimensions - such as skills, accreditations and languages spoken – and classify non-human resources, such as vehicles, materials, and special equipment. It automatically aligns the most appropriate resource to the right task using your organisation’s defined rules, helping to improve first-time-fix rates, customer service and productivity. Resource Scheduler helps you to understand every dimension of your operation through real-time reporting. This includes how you are measuring up to key performance indicators, how changes in appointment setting, customer demand and geographic elements are affecting performance and delivering actionable insight.

Are there additional modules?

Yes, Resource Scheduling is designed to address new needs and challenges as your business grows. Adding more functionality whilst keeping the same foundation.

• Operative On Way - A real-time messaging and mapping service which alerts customers when their operative expects to arrive at their premises and allows them to follow their progress on a map
• Cyclical Servicing - An optional add-on module which allows you to bulk appoint, large batches of pre-planned visits
• Project Planner - an additional module that helps you manage complex, planned projects or interdependent cycles of work
• Integrated Mapping - Live mapping allows you to visualise routes and locate resources during the day. Coupled with Operative On Way, it creates a powerful tool to show real-time resource distribution

Who is Resource Scheduling software for?

Resource Scheduling software is for organisations who have a mobile workforce and operate in housing, local and central government, social care, retail, utilities and many more.

How will Resource Scheduling software improve field team productivity?

Resource Scheduling software holds information about your human resource, such as skills, accreditations, languages spoken etc. It also stores information about non-human resources such as vehicles, equipment and geography. This allows Resource Scheduling to allocate the most appropriate resource to the right task, enabling an average increase in worker productivity of 25 per cent.

Resource Scheduling enables you to track performance against job type and worker. By drilling down into every job or task, managers can spot trends in changing demands to better match workforce to workload.

What key features are included in Resource Scheduling?

1. Define your work and your resources to ensure that every permutation of work allocation is considered when scheduling tasks.
2. Optimise appointments at the first point of contact – for your organisation and your customers.
3. Gain real-time visibility of progress against the scheduled work and ensure that emerging day challenges are all taken in your stride.
4. Respond by dynamically scheduling work based on operative availability, location, skills, and other factors.
5. Understand every dimension of your operation through real-time reporting. How you are measuring up to key performance indicators and how changes in appointment setting, customer demand and geographic elements are affecting performance. Resource Scheduling delivers actionable insight.