Dispatch

If selected, operators assigned standby work are not returned to standby work after starting overlapping work. This includes instances where assigned work ends before standby work or when standby work overlaps with gaps in multi-piece work.

If the standby work starts before the overlapping work, the operator does the standby work until the overlapping work begins, at which point they are removed from the standby work. This property is cleared by default.

Related tasks: OPS-24064 and OPS-24345.

• Now, if selected, the work is assigned and the assign employee dialog no longer appears.
• Now, an Assign Detail dropdown list is available (an Assign Type can be selected if multiple options are available). When assigning an employee, if the Previous button is used to return the previous employee, the originally offered work is once again available.

Related tasks: OPS-24064 and OPS-24345.

If the employee Absence Type's Open Work Action is Open conflicting pieces only or Open all work assignments, then the work is assigned to the employee only if the Absence Type's Coexist Work Type Group matches the work being assigned; otherwise the work is opened for reassignment.

Note that this behavior is different than in Activate Day, where absence types with coexist absences are handled based on the OPS > Absence > Absence Work Coexist Handling property.

Additionally, an issue where Work Assignment Assistant disqualified previously valid work piece(s) when an adjustment was made to a Standby Reports work time and the Work Assignment Assistant profile was re-run has been fixed.

Extra Work can now be created directly from the Open Work dialog in the Daily Activity screen.

A new property was added: OPS > Dispatch > Open Work > Create Associated Work from Absence. If selected, Extra Work can be created from absences in the Open Work dialog.

If an associated Absence Type is selected in the Open Work dialog, a checkbox for Create Extra Work is available.

Two new fields were added in the Absence Types screen: Associated Extra Work Type and Associated Extra Work Subtype. To define absence types that are eligible for extra work creation, define the Coexist Work Type Group, the Associated Extra Work Type, and the Associated Extra Work Subtype.

To use this feature, select the OPS > Dispatch > Open Work > Create Associated Extra Work from Absence property; define the Default Work Name for work in Work Subtypes ancillary data; and define Absence Types. Absence Types with Associated Extra Work Types and Associated Extra Work Subtypes are used for automatic work generation.

Database change: WorkSubtype.DefaultWorkName was added.

• Work in the Work Available For Assignment pane now shows the actual work violations, not a duplicate of those for work in the Assigned and Suggested Work pane.
• Actual violations for work are now shown before and after work assignment.
• A spelling error (Assigment) was corrected.

• OPS > Dispatch > Daily Activity > Employee Messages > Delete. Ability to delete employee messages that have not been acknowledged or printed yet.
• OPS > Dispatch > Daily Activity > Employee Messages > Edit. Ability to enter new employee messages or change employee messages that haven't been acknowledged or printed yet.

Note that system behavior changes are based on the OPS > Dispatch > Edit Work Times > Calculate SignOn and SignOff property setting.

• OPS > Dispatch > Suggest Employee > Allow to Offer Work Without Restriction
  • If this property is enabled, you can bypass your employee list's recommended sequence and offer work in any order.
  • If enabled, the Skip Employee button does not appear in the Suggest Employee dialog.
• OPS > Dispatch > Suggest Employee > Show Previously Offer Work > Enable
  • If this property is selected, the Show Previously Offered Work option appears in the Suggest Employee dialog. Toggle this option to show or hide employees already offered work.
• OPS > Dispatch > Suggest Employee > Show Previously Offer Work > Consider Assign Type
  • If Show Previously Offered Work > Enable is not selected, this property does not apply.
  • If this property is enabled, selecting the Show Previously Offered Work option in the Suggest Employee dialog only shows employees with the appropriate Assign Type.

Fixed an issue in Work Assignment Assistant where, when Override Multi-Piece Assignment was selected (Allow Each Piece of a Multi Piece Run Together must be enabled in the Work Assignment Assistant Profile screen for this option to be available), violation warnings for overlapping work did not disappear after resolving them.

Violation warnings for overlapping work in the Assigned and Suggested Work pane now disappear as expected when you resolve the warning by dragging work back to the Work Available For Assignment pane.

Added an OK button to the Extra Pay dialog.

Click OK to save changes. Click Cancel to discard changes and close the dialog.

Re-factored Daily Activity cache data:

Added a new property OPS > Dispatch > Use CacheData > Min Refresh Time Interval. This property reduces the frequency of data refreshes. The refresh request will wait until the specified time in seconds and refresh once.

Select an employee or work with an assigned employee and then select the Show Employee Profile button. The employee record opens in the Employee Profile screen.

Improved the re-publishing of assignments for single employee when an absence is created in Publish Assignments.

Added a custom module to update work assignment information when Use Modified Assign Types From Costing is selected

Updated the properties descriptions for Absence Types For Republish Assignments and Assign Types For Republish Assignments.

Fixed the issue of conflicting records in OpsPublishedWork by removing the outdated record before re-publishing

Fixed an issue where users could not look up operators based on the date and division access in the Employee Profile Context.

Added a security feature to verify the operator’s status and division before displaying the Employee Profile.

Fixed an issue where open-ended absences created before the most recent active sign-up period were not displayed in Work Planner screen.

Enhanced the logic for handling open-ended absences when there is no sign-up for the current system date or when there is a future sign-up.

Fixed an inconsistency between Employee Profile and Daily Activity Open Work dialog when creating an absence with both Open Ended Flag and Default ToDate Flag enabled

Modified the Daily Activity to use the same logic as Employee Profile for displaying default absence information

Fixed a bug where the Show Employee Profile option was not visible in the dropdown menu by default in the Daily Activity screen. The option can now be enabled or disabled from the Customize Smart Menu.

Fixed a bug where the user settings for the Show Employee Profile option were not saved after closing and reopening the client shell or the Daily Activity screen. The option will now retain the user preferences across sessions.

Fixed a bug that caused work overlap violation to sometimes be ignored in the work assignment options screen.

Implemented the correct ordering of work rule violations and warnings according to the priority.

On holiday dates, volunteer operators were sometimes not listed in the employee pane when the context setting was selected.

Fixed the issue by correcting the logic for displaying volunteer operators on holiday dates.

Fixed long load times with Daily Activity module when Quick Filter is enabled. The system now performs faster and more responsive when loading and refreshing the Daily Activity screen, opening work, assigning employees to work, and using the quick extra work feature.

Fixed excessive calls within Daily Activity that resulted in performance issues. The system now consolidates security and cache service calls, and reduces network traffic and database queries.

Improved performance of OPS Daily Status screen. The system now loads and displays the screen faster, and allows moving between months more smoothly.

Fixed issues with the Work Assignment Assistant (WAA) when using the ‘Previous’ button to navigate between operators. The system no longer generates incorrect messages or errors, and correctly displays the work assignment status of each operator.

Fixed the count of available operators in the WAA screen to match the Daily Employee List screen. The system now includes absent employees in the WAA profile if the option is selected, and skips ineligible operators on absences

Fixed an issue where an error appeared instead of the cost allocation pop-up when clicking on the cost allocation icon from the toolbar in the Runs Display screen.

Fixed a bug where Activate Day did not display or create employee messages for operators with expired skills before the operational day being activated.

Added a required skill (DL) for bus operators and improved the logging of skill expiration messages in Activate Day.

Fixed a bug that caused absence conflicts to show up for all work types regardless of the coexist work type group settings.

Fixed a bug that caused absence conflicts to show up as warnings instead of errors in the Work Rule Progression screen.

• Work Planner now shows a warning instead of an error when assigning work on a day off.
• Fixed the UI for the Severity dropdown menu.

• Using a Custom filter does not limit the number of returned work records.
• Only open work and open group work is shown in the dialog.
• Work violations are shown by absence, then by skill, then by the largest work rule violation.

The Weekly Minimum Regular Day(s) Off rule type is used to create warnings to alert dispatchers when work is assigned to employees who should have a minimum number of days off in a work week. This includes regular days off and considers absences that count as work on regular days off. Weeks are defined based on the property OPS > General > First Operational Day of Week. This rule is typically applied to Activate Day, Assignment Assistant, Daily Activity, and Work Planner. (Note that Activate Day applies the violation attribute to work in the Daily Activity screen. Violations are not included in the Activate Day log.)

Two new fields were added to the OPS Work Assignment Rules ancillary data screen to accommodate rule types that are not time-based: Severity (severity level of the violation: None, Warning, or Violation) and Quantity (minimum number of days off).

Note that because this rule is not a time-based rule, only the Details, Severity Level, and Rule Name columns are applicable in the Work Rule Progression dialog. Total Time, Threshold, Percentage Display, and Remaining Time show default system values.

Relates to OPS-26028.

Now, Sign On and Sign Off times retain any defined values when nodes are updated and if the OPS > Dispatch > Edit Work Times > Calculate SignOn and SignOff property is selected, then Sign On and Sign Off times are recalculated as expected.

• If selected, the Stand-by Sign Off dialog does not have the Put back on Stand By at: option selected.

• If cleared, the Stand-by Sign Off dialog has the Put back on Stand By at: option selected and the Set SignIn Required and Set SignOff Required options are shown.

• An issue where extra work could be created with a non-garage node as the Sign On node but Sign In Req. would still be selected in the Daily Activity screen even though the OPS > SIT > Sign-In Required Method property was defined as Sign-In at Garage.

  Now, if extra work is created in the Extra Work screen or in the Quick Work dialog, the system checks the Sign-On Node field. If the selected node is a garage, then the Sign In Req. option on the Daily Activity screen is selected. If the selected node is not a garage, then Sign In Req. is cleared.

• An issue where extra work could be created with a non-garage node as the Sign Off node but Sign Off Req. would still be selected in the Daily Activity screen even though the OPS > SIT > Sign-Off Required Method property was defined as Sign-Off at Garage.

  Now, if extra work is created in the Extra Work screen or in the Quick Work dialog, the system checks the Sign-Off Node field. If the selected node is a garage, then the Sign Off Req. option on the Daily Activity screen is selected. If the selected node is not a garage, then Sign Off Req. is cleared.

• A The Parameter is incorrect. error in the Daily Activity screen when it is opened for the first time if Disable is selected on the Quick Filter tab.
• A Failed to Assign Employee assert error when assigning only the first piece of a multi-piece run if the second piece did not include report time.

In the Work Subtypes screen, the Activity Flag field was renamed Activity Required.

A second issue, where selecting an inactivated day closed the Context dialog was also fixed.

• An Attributes column was added. This shows work canceled and trip canceled icons associated with specific work or blocks.
• A Merge Blocks option was added. Select this to restore the block.
• All original blocks are now shown and canceled work is marked with dashed red lines.

Related tasks: OPS-30238; OPS-OPS-30390

In Properties, the description of the OPS > Employee Activities > Floating screen property was updated to better reflect its purpose. It now reads: If selected, in the Daily Activity screen and the Timekeeping screen, employee work assignments are shown in the Employee Activities dialog and the main screen remains active. If cleared, employee work assignments are shown in the Employee Activities screen.

Related tasks: OPS-30238; OPS-30390

The OPS > Dispatch > Work Assignment > Apply Default Report Time for Multi Pieces property only applies to Fixed Route Fx Runs work sources.

Related tasks: OPS-30547; OPS-30675.

Under Version 21, the "Upgrade 21.0 Step 36. Populate OPSDailyEmployee Status" utility moves employee comments into the OPSDailyStatus table if that table is not already populated.

Now, if the OPS > Smart Context > Enable property is selected, then the From Date shows the current date and the To Date shows 20 days into the future the first time the screen is loaded.

• in the Holiday screen when selecting Next in the Holiday Configuration - General page when creating a New Holiday
• in the OPS Travels screen after setting the Context (F3) in the Daily Activity screen
• when updating the Start Travel field in the Edit Work Times dialog

• If Require Approval is cleared, then the Approval Status is Not Applicable, the field is not editable, and no other options are shown.
• If Require Approval is selected, then the Approval Status is initially set to Pending and can be updated to Denied or Approved.

  Not Applicable is not an option for extra pay types that require approval.

Now, in the OPS Weekly Roster Context (F3), the Configuration field only shows a division group if the user is granted access to all of the divisions within that group.