TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Schedule Config Tab Layout
• 1. Toolbar
• 2. Slot Configuration Grid
  • Defining Slots
  • Slot Rules
• 3. Suspended Days
• 4. Slot Utilisation Grid
  • Blocking Slots
• 5. Slot Calendar
• Keyboard Shortcuts
• Examples
  • Scenario A
  • Scenario B
  • Scenario C
• Further Support

Introduction

The Schedule Config tab is an advanced tab that lets Project admins define the deployment unit's Start date, times, number of Migration Slots, project constraints, End date etc. 

Schedule Config Tab Layout

This section consist of the following 5 core areas:

1. Toolbar 
2. Slot Config 
3. Suspended Days
4. Slot Utilisation
5. Slot Calendar

1. Toolbar

The toolbar across the top provides quick access to common features:

1. Save Changes made to the Deployment Unit schedule
2. Reload the Deployment Unit schedule
3. Toggle between Global Slots (enabled by default) and Local Slots that can be customised
4. Specify the DU Start time with the option to select an All Day timeframe
5. Specify the DU End time with the option to select an All Day timeframe
6. Copy from Global DU will create a local copy of the global schedule for editing (Local Slots must be enabled first)
7. Copy to other DU will copy the Deployment Unit's schedule (Local Slots must be enabled first)

2. Slot Configuration Grid

Details about each deployment slot are listed in Slot Configuration grid.  With the slot-type toggle set to Global Slots, the panel will show a read-only grid of predefined deployment slots.  To specify a custom schedule, toggle the slot type to Local Slots and either tap Click here to add new item (1) to manually create a new schedule or click the Copy from Global to DU (2) to base the custom schedule on the global schedule.

For example, we are able to migrate 5 users every day at 9am, 12pm and 3pm. We also have some additional resources available to help on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9am and 12pm. However, we lose some resources on the evening slots.

Defining Slots

1. The DU is given a Start / End date in the toolbar (not shown)
2. Our baseline availability is defined.
   1. These are slots with no Valid From/To set this means they are valid for the duration of the DU's Start/End date range.
   2. We aren't going to migrate users on the weekend so the Sat/Sun boxes are unchecked. 
   3. A line is created for each start time (9am, 12pm, 3pm) )and an end time is also entered
   4. The number of slots (i.e. Users we can migrate) is entered
   5. An optional note can be entered for the slot
3. Adjustments to the baseline are defined.
   1. Adjustments have a Valid From/To date
   2. If an adjustment has the same start time and end time as a baseline slot it will be added to that base slot number.
   3. An adjustment can be used to increase or decrease the baseline slot number. To decrease enter a negative slot number.
   4. Adjustments don't have to change a baseline time and can be used to create new slots times. Simply enter a start and end date that doesn't correspond to a baseline time. 
   5. In our example, we are adding 10 slots to the 9am/12pm Tuesday/Thursday slots and taking 2 slots away from all 3pm slots.
4. Slots can be temporarily disabled using the Enabled tickbox to remove them from the schedule without deleting them from the DU.
5. Slots can be removed from the DU by ticking the Delete checkbox and saving the changes. 
6. Validation Rules
   1. The ( i ) icon on the top left of the grid will popup a list of rules that slot times must follow. 

Slot Rules

• Baseline Slots are slots without Valid From and Valid Todates specified and span the full range of the DU. There can only be one baseline time per slot time.
  • i.e. Two baseline times can not start at the same time.
• Adjustment Slots are slots with a 'Valid from/to'  date set. 
  • i.e. A 'Valid From' time must have a corresponding 'Valid To' time and visa versa.
• Adjustment Slots cannot overlap other adjustment slots at the same Start Time. 
  • They can overlap if the Start Times are different.
•  Basic Rules
  • The 'Start Time' must have an End Time and it must be before the 'End time'
  • The 'Valid From' must have a Valid To date and it must be before 'Valid To' date

3. Suspended Days

Suspended days remove whole days from your list of available slots. They are a good way to handle Bank Holidays, Change Freezes, etc without having to define complicated adjustment slots.

4. Slot Utilisation Grid

The Slot Utilisation grid shows all of the slots defined in the Slot Config grid as a list. This list has the number of Slots per date/time, the number of blocked shots, free slots, and used slots. The utilisation % and graph. 

• Group Slots By 
  • Slot Time: Shows all slots and their individual slot times on each day
  • Day: Groups all the slots into a per day list and aggregates the slot counts
  • Week: Groups all the slots into a per week total and aggregates the slot counts
• Mini Grid Tools to select, copy and pivot grid data
• Utilisation Color Chart
  •  The goal is to fill all of your slots with users so the utilisation goes from Red when the slots are underutilised to green when the slots are 100% full.
  • Red  0% - 79%
  • Orange: 80% - 99%
  • Green: 100 %
  • Grey: Expired slots whose date is now in the past

Blocking Slots

Blocked slots are a fast way of ramping down the capacity of a schedule. The work similar to negative adjustment slots but are faster to work with as you don't have to define a row on the schedule with a valid from/to date and they work on Global schedules, 

Slots can be blocked by selecting a group of slots on the utilisation grid, right-clicking, and selecting the number of slots to block.

5. Slot Calendar

A calendar view of the utilisation grid.

Keyboard Shortcuts

• Reload: CTRL+R
• Save: CTRL+S

Examples

Click on the following articles for further scenario based examples

• Scenario A

• Scenario B

• Scenario C

Further Support

If you require further support, please visit ManagementStudio's Service Desk to search the knowledge base or create a new support ticket.