This update introduces granular holiday exclusion rules at the dependency level for multistage activity workflows in field service scheduling. By allowing operational managers to configure whether time offsets should account for or skip global and organizational holidays, the system improves scheduling precision. This ensures that sequential tasks are automatically and accurately spaced to prevent premature scheduling during non-working days.
Please note that this new feature is currently available only for manual multistage scheduling. Support for semi-automatic (interactive) and automatic (virtual and real-time) scheduling will be introduced in a future release.
Configuration settings
To configure holiday exclusion behavior for task dependencies, complete the following steps in the system user interface:
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Navigate to the Multistage Group management section in the main dashboard.
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Select the specific multistage group you want to modify, or click Create New Group.
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Select or add the two activities you want to link.
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Click on the dependency line or connection between the two activities to open the Dependency Details panel.
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Locate the two new configuration flags in the panel and update them based on your scheduling requirements.
The table below outlines the available fields, their types, default values, and functional behaviors:
|
Field name |
Type |
Default |
Description |
|
Consider Calendar Holidays |
Boolean |
Yes |
When enabled, the offset calculation excludes any holidays defined in the Global System Calendar. |
|
Consider Operational Center Holidays |
Boolean |
Yes |
When enabled, the offset calculation excludes holidays specific to the Operational Center (OC) associated with the activity. |
Backward compatibility
Both flags default to Yes. This ensures that existing dependencies continue to function as they did previously (treating holidays as normal days) unless manually updated.
Operational logic
The system manages holidays by skipping over restricted days when validating the earliest allowable start time for a successor activity.
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Holiday exclusion enabled (checked): The offset treats all days as standard calendar days. For example, if an activity has a 2-day offset starting on a Friday, the successor activity can be scheduled on Sunday, regardless of whether Sunday is a holiday.
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Holiday exclusion disabled (unchecked): The offset counts only valid, operational days. If an activity has a 2-day offset starting on Friday, and both Saturday and Sunday are holidays, the system skips those two days. The offset count resumes on Monday, meaning the successor activity cannot be scheduled until Tuesday.
Note: These two settings can be used simultaneously. If both are unchecked the system will exclude a day if it is marked as a holiday in either the common Calendar or in the specific Operational Center Calendar.
Scheduling impact
Holiday exclusion logic applies consistently across all manual scheduling operations related to complex jobs. This ensures defined offsets remain valid and compliant with technical or labor requirements during manual dispatching.
Use case example
The following scenario demonstrates how the system calculates timelines when holiday exclusions are active.
Scenario configuration
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Location: North East Gas Operational Center
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Dependency type: Finish-to-Start
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Minimum offset: 2 days
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Consider Calendar Holidays setting: No (Unchecked)
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Consider Operational Center Holidays setting: No (Unchecked)
Timeline calculation data
|
Date |
Activity status / System calculation |
|
Friday, Dec 31st |
The "Pour Concrete" activity is planned. |
|
Saturday, Jan 1st |
Skipped (Common Bank Holiday). |
|
Sunday, Jan 2nd |
Skipped (Operational Center Holiday for "North East Gas"). |
|
Monday, Jan 3rd |
Offset Day 1. |
|
Tuesday, Jan 4th |
Offset Day 2. |
Result: The system successfully prevents the "Load Testing" activity from being scheduled prematurely. The earliest a planner can manually schedule the second activity is Tuesday, January 4th.