Embodiments of the invention are concerned with allocating resources to tasks and have particular application to situations where the availability of resources and the tasks to be performed change dynamically and the resources are mobile.When dealing with a mobile resource such as a field
technician, typically a series of tasks, known for example as a “tour” of tasks, is allocated to the resource. A known factor in scheduling tasks in a tour is
travel time between tasks, and as a result the geographical position of the tasks can be a factor in building a tour. If a resource reports in and the
scheduling system adjusts the provisional schedule, for example by adding one or more tasks to a tour, those tasks will be chosen at least in part with regard to the geographical location of the resource and that of existing tasks in the tour. This assessment is conventionally performed on the basis of the coordinates of the task completed by the resource (which are fixed), and is adequate when the resource is physically present at the task location when he reports in. However, in practice, a resource may not be at the expected geographical location of the last task dealt with. For example, a telephone
technician may go back to the
telephone exchange before reporting in; in such a situation, any decisions as regards adjustment of the schedule may be based on inaccurate data and result in a degenerative modification to the schedule.Embodiments of the invention utilise a
selection criterion that enables actual
location data to be used for scheduling of future work: this
selection criterion is associated with the status of the resource in relation to progress with a given task, and can most appropriately be identified on the basis of whether or not the resource has completed a task. An
advantage of basing the use of actual
location data on this criterion is that the state of the resource is relatively stable in relation to various anchor points in the schedule when a task has been completed. As a result a point that is known with some confidence in the schedule can be mapped to the present location of the resource.