Workforce, Generic Assignment

Question

workforce, can you create a "generic assignment" so that whoever is able to, can accomplish the task?

Anonymous User · Answer

Would be interested in talking more. Is there something better then the Help Menu? or forum for getting answers? no manual?  I realize a number of items can be self explanatory but it seems other tasks have not outlet for resolution...

There are a number of people in my group, some from my organization some through a NIFC organization. But When I try to add them they are not showing up? What do I need to do to get them to display on my list.

I thought there was a way to have the id field auto populate the associated Collector or Survey123 field? I have gone in the advanced tab, set it up, but it does not happen when I make an assignment.

If this does work, it would be nice to be able to add additional fields. Also, I was trying to change the field choice in the receiving layer but it limits me to the 1st field, Global ID and one other.

Scott Jones

Assistant Chief

Special Operations

Shasta-Trinity Unit

CALFIRE

Cell

530-448-2406

Craig Gillgrass · Answer

Scott, very extensive reply, thank you for taking the time to get this documented.

You've outlined a number of requests, some of which we're considering for Workforce (e.g. the Worker being able to view unassigned work and assign it to themselves or pick it up), others which are in out backlog but are not assigned to any upcoming release (the idea of assigning work based on areas/zones) and some which are not in our roadmap (the idea that Workers can view the assignments of other Workers).

It is tough to go into details on the forum for such an extensive list.  Happy to go into more detail offline on your use cases and what you are looking for - if you want to DM me we can set up a time for a call.

Craig

Anonymous User · Answer

If I have a workforce that is otherwise idle when not responding to a specific event, I as a one of the workers have a number of generic tasks that always need to be done. I work in the fire service. Right now we are utilizing collector to record our fuels reduction work. The crews are out in the field daily doing various fuels reduction work, using collector they record from a preset list (PL) which project they were on, activity from PL, crew id from PL, date; they also record the amount of time they are at the project and the amount of time they use various power tools. (side note, it would be awesome to have a duration clock). At the end of each day, they are supposed to draw the area for where the fuels reduction treatment took place (walking is not always an option as these are inmates and they must maintain line of sight security).

It is most often the case that these projects will take days or weeks to complete, and there is not always the same Supervisor or Crew working the project. So if the Admin Supervisor was able to build a list of assignments (projects) that needed to be completed in Workforce, during the morning meeting, each crew could determine which one they were going to work on, open the assignment in Collector record the data for the day and then at the end of the day, update the status in Workforce.

There might also be the opportunity for Field personnel to identify a specific need, possibly in Survey123. Let's say, organizing the training props at Station 15. This is not a high priority assignment and will only take a crew of 15 about an hour, so it is the perfect project for one of the crews that completes their daily assignment early one day. Having this listed as an open assignment, a crew that has time, could open the Assignment, see the picture of what is in disarray, and determine if they have enough time left to begin this assignment.

We also do inspections, similar to the hydrant list. There are times that these inspections are a priority and given the opportunity a dispatcher could identify closest resource but we will most often not have that luxury and would need to identify to the inspectors the need to facilitate a number of inspections that need to be completed, and allow them to determine who will be inspecting which area. While at a location they might need additional help, if you have a dedicated dispatcher that can be facilitated with an additional assignment,  but if you don't have a dedicated dispatcher and there was a mechanism where they could request assistance and other workers got a blast message, the response would be internal versus external.

Let's assume that an organization has re-occuring tasks that need to be addressed. Each day/week/month; they need to open/close gates, check status of rain gauges, snow stakes, boundary lines, update burning status signs. For some of these there are actual data that needs to be recorded so there might be tables attached in Collector that the worker could fill in, or the dispatcher might record for them (assuming radio). I am not sure what the cost is for each worker to have access to Workforce/Colllector/Survey123? but I can think of certain applications where it might not be realistic for each person to have an account.  With the re-occuring tasks, lets assume that I have a workforce of 50 paid and 50 volunteers. And of the 50 paid, only 30 are working on any given day and 5 of those would be Leads. Depending on cost, the organization might only get a handful of licences which might be based on zones, the leads would get the assignments and then determine which workers to send. Proximity might not be the best reason, possibly a specific skill set is needed for the task.

For volunteers there could be as many as 30 assisting on any given day, and this happens more frequent then would allow for temporary licences to be issued. So now the leads are not only organizing the paid staff, they might have some of the paid staff also be given licenses, so now there are 5 additional licences which would also be based on zones. Might be extra work in the morning for the lead dispatcher to identify who is Lead_1; Scott, Lead_2 ;Mary... Specialist_1; Judy,... Specialist_5; Caitlin, but they could if it was important on the map display, or just know from morning reports.

The Leads may be in their zone, finding tasks that need to be completed, creating assignments, sending pictures, the Specialists would review and organize the assignments from workforce for paid and volunteer staff.

Kinda long, not sure if you would prefer email for additional thoughts...