ArcGIS Workforce - Thoughts on archiving information

[DfIRivers]

Hi,

we are in the process of planning the roll-out of ArcGIS Workforce to our field staff.

I'm conscious that the Dispatcher's view will become cluttered as more and more assignments are created, assigned and completed. I have configured Dashboards outside of Workforce to allow our managers (not just the Dispatchers) to have a view of what jobs are ongoing in the live system.

Going forward, our management, would like to be able to review (look back on) what jobs have been completed against assets.  But if completed jobs are deleted from the Workforce platform, then they're gone.

So, what steps do you take to archive completed jobs? but still have the information accessible.

And, is there a way to take snapshots of the live project database (just in case the database becomes corrupted and we might need to revert to a backup).

Grateful if you could share your experience/knowledge.

[PanGIS]

Hi @DfIRivers 

Maybe non the best solution but:

I exported the feature Layer from ArcGIS Online and I use it as archive in ArcGIS Pro.

Then, at the end of every month, I Append the assignments of that month from the Online layer to this archive and I delete the assignments from the Online layer in ArcGIS Pro.

Every beginning of the month the Assignment layer is empty and my offline has all the old records.

The archive layer could be republished on Online, but in our case there is no need.

[IanGallo]

If your asset ID is stored in the WF assignment you can export those assignments to a feature class related to your assets. 

[AndyMinor2]

First, are you running in AGOL or Enterprise? 

[DfIRivers]

Hi @AndyMinor2 , we are running on Enterprise.

[AndyMinor2]

Ok. I find the data structure of Workforce on Enterprise is more challenging to archive due to the joined tables for Workers, Dispatchers, and Assignment types along with the Assignments feature layer.

One way we have done this is to create a copy of the entire structure then you can use that as your archive and then export and append the data out of the live Workforce project into the archive copy and delete those records from the live Workforce project. Maintaining the joins based on global ids for all 3 tables was the tricky part.

Another way would be to export the assignments data out of the live Workforce project and build a model to add a field and calculate the assignment types, workers and dispatchers based on their hardcoded global ids in the assignment layer. You could build that into a tool that you can run periodically and have it delete the assignments once they have been exported and appended to your archive layer. That would eliminate the need to maintain the joined tables. You will just have to make sure you keep your model updated with new assignment types, workers, and dispatchers for your global id calculations.

[DfIRivers]

Hi @AndyMinor2 , thanks for the reply. Can I please clarify..

How would you go about coping the entire structure.. if I open the Workforce project there isn't an option to 'clone' project or 'Save As'.

And assuming I did make a copy of the entire structure, is this a structure that I'd be able to open on desktop using Workforce.. or would I be building a Dashboard based on the feature layer.

[AndyMinor2]

You would need to make a copy of each item - workforce assignment feature layer and each table and move them to a different folder and make sure all the joins are setup. You would do this from Pro or the Content tab using the Export Data tool. You really don't need the Worker point feature layer or Assignment integrations for the archive so you can ignore those.

Once you have a copy of the assignments layer and the tables, you can move them to another folder and setup dashboards or web apps using that data to interact with it. You can open it in Pro to create maps or in Enterprise for Dashboards just like any other feature layer with joined tables. It just won't be the layer Workforce is writing to. Then you will need to setup your process to export new data from the live Workforce assignments layer and append it to your archive copy in the other folder. But you will also need to do the same to the tables if you add new dispatchers, assignment types or workers so the new global ids can relate to the new names. Otherwise you will have global ids in the assignments that don't relate to the joined tables.

[DfIRivers]

Hi @AndyMinor2 thanks for the reply.. I've been trying to figure this out using ArcGIS Pro.. so started by

• Exporting my Workforce Assignments layer to a feature class in a local fgdb (making sure to Preserve the GlobalID)
• Exporting my Dispatchers table to the same fgdb.
• Adding a Guid field to my Dispatchers table (called [OriginalGlobalID]).
• Created a temporary join between the [Name] in my Fgdb Dispatchers table to [Name] in my Workforce Dispatchers table, then populated the [OriginalGlobalID] filed and removed the Join.
• In my Fgdb I then created a Relationship Class between the Dispatchers table and my Assignments table, based on [OriginalGlobalID] --> [[dispatcherid]
• I then published my Fgdb Assignments layer as a feature class in it brought over the Dispatcher table too.

I guess if I was able to export the Workforce 'Dispatcher' & 'Assignment Type' table and preserve Global IDs for the tables then I wouldn't have so much hassle with creating Guid fields and re-populating.  is there an option to preserve Global IDs when exporting tables?

And Not sure how to set up and populate an [OrignalGlobalID] field in my Fgdb 'Assignment Type' table - what fields would I join?

Am I going about this the right way, or is there a simpler way to create a copy of the Workforce Assignments layer and preserve the table relationships?

Many thanks for you help so far!

[AndyMinor2]

You can preserve the global ID in the Export Features tool in Pro in the Environments tab.