Modern Windows UI design Component Software Specailists - .NET, WPF, WinForms, Silverlight, ActiveX

Case Study

Field Service Management and DBI Controls

VIEW

Supply chains start with research and development, raw material sourcing, logistics kicks in with shipping and transportation, transitioning through multiple layers of production to where products are packaged and then shipped for end use. Toward the end of the supply chain often requires implementation, installation, warranty and ongoing service by a skilled workforce. Field Service Management. Whether packaged or custom built, field services applications provide service organizations and contractors with intuitive insights for fulfulling Service Order Processing, Dispatch and Scheduling, Contract Administration, Preventive Maintenance, Returns Management, as well as Payment Processing and External Systems Integration.

THE CHALLENGE

Often packaged software provides excellent accounting, financial management, distribution, purchasing, inventory control, manufacturing, project accounting, payroll and human resources functionality. The service industry requires a more flexible and accommodating approach to resource management and logistics planning, not available in packaged software, without reinventing the wheel. Many of DBI' customers, PureLogic, PepsiCo, Laminaar... as examples, select DBI Technologies' Solution Schedule .NET and Studio Controls .NET components to provide this essential software functionality at a fraction of the cost of building custom end-to-end visibility functionality.

HOW WE DID IT

"We knew the type of interface and functionality we wanted for our customers… ”, said Jeffery Southworth, past Director of Product Development at PureLogic. “… and were pleased that Microsoft’s Visual Studio was available to help us take full advantage of DBI’s .NET components. Not only did DBI have exactly what we needed in the way of Resource Scheduling and Dispatch we also found they had a comprehensive collection of data, presentation and general UI / UX design controls, as well. After evaluating and stress testing the DBI controls, along with a few phone calls back and forth, we started to incorporate DBI's Solution Schedule .NET and Studio Controls .NET components into our project.”

"I was very pleased with how fast we were able to implement these controls. And we took full advantage of DBI's custom component services, which really jump-started our development process. Their consulting team really knows their stuff, and why wouldn’t they? They’ve been building commercial scheduling and UI / UX Data software for years. Within three weeks of committing to our approach, we had a fully functional drag and drop Service Dispatch and Scheduling application including bidirectional integration with our Service Order Processing module. We were amazed at how fast we were able to satisfy this complex requirement and still keep it intuitive and easy to use for our customers.”

WHAT IT DOES

“DBI Technologies' dbiList, dbiDate, and dbiSchedule controls offer an efficient way to present scheduled and unscheduled service orders to the dispatcher for sorting, selecting, scheduling, and unscheduling.

To schedule an order, the dispatcher uses the DBI Calendar control to select the schedule date, and then drags the unscheduled order from the dbiList to an available start time for an eligible Team Resource. The dispatcher can then increase or decrease the time period allocated to the order by simply resizing the timebar with the mouse. Using Microsoft VS we were able to easily include the following code in the AfterTimeBarDrop() event of the dbiSchedule control to update the Team Resource, Arrival Date/Time, and Departure Date/Time on the underlying service order record in the Dynamics GP database.”

Private Sub DbiSchedule1_AfterTimeBarDrop(sender As System.Object, e As Dbi.WinControl.Schedule.AfterTimeBarDropEventArgs) Handles DbiSchedule1.AfterTimeBarDrop

'Update team and arrival/departure date/time values

SmServiceTrxHdrOpenTable.Key = 1

SmServiceTrxHdrOpenTable.SmDocumentNumber.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Tag

iTableError1 = SmServiceTrxHdrOpenTable.Change() 'Passive lock

If iTableError1 = TableError.NoError Then

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmTeamItemNumber.Value = e.ScheduleItem.Tag 'Team Item Number

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledArrivalDate.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Start

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledArrivalTime.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Start

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledDepartureDate.Value = e.TimeBarItem.End

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledDepartureTime.Value = e.TimeBarItem.End

iTableError1 = EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.Save()

If iTableError1 = TableError.NoError Then

Me.lstScheduledOrders.Items.Add(Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.SelectedItems(0).Text)

Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Items.Remove(Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.SelectedItems(0)) 'Selected item

Select Case Me.lstScheduledOrders.SortColumn

Case 0 'Order Number

Me.lstScheduledOrders.Sort(0)

Case 1 'Name

Me.lstScheduledOrders.Sort(1)

Case 2 'Address

Me.lstScheduledOrders.Sort(2)

End Select

sTimeBarTip = e.TimeBarItem.Text

Else

Dynamics.Forms.SyVisualStudioHelper.Functions.DexError.Invoke("Error " + Str(iTableError1) +

": Unable to save record in SM Service Trx Header Open table.")

Exit Sub

End If

Else

Dynamics.Forms.SyVisualStudioHelper.Functions.DexError.Invoke("Error " + Str(iTableError1) +

": Unable to lock record in SM Service Trx Header Open table.")

Exit Sub

End If

End Sub

“To unschedule an order, the dispatcher simply selects an order from the Scheduled Service Order dbiList and drags it into the Unscheduled Service Order dbiList. We were then able to include the following code in the lstUnscheduledOrders_DropList() event of the dbiList to remove the timebar from the dbiSchedule as well as the Team Resource, Arrival Date/Time and Departure Date/Time from the underlying service order in the Dynamics GP database.”

'Update arrival/departure date/time values

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmTeamItemNumber.Clear() 'Team Item Number

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledArrivalDate.Clear()

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledArrivalTime.Clear()

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledDepartureDate.Clear()

EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.SmScheduledDepartureTime.Clear()

iTableError1 = EService360.Tables.SmServiceTrxHdrOpen.Save()

If iTableError1 = TableError.NoError Then

'Add the new node into the list

Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Items.Add(Me.lstScheduledOrders.SelectedItems(0).Text)

Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Tag = Me.lstScheduledOrders.Tag

Select Case Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.SortColumn

Case 0 'Order Number

Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Sort(0)

Case 1 'Name

Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Sort(1)

Case 2 'Address

Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Sort(2)

End Select

'Select unscheduled order

For Each oNodeItem In Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Items

If oNodeItem.GetCellText(0) = Me.lstScheduledOrders.Tag Then

oNodeItem.Selected = True

Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.EnsureVisible(oNodeItem) 'ensure the selected item is visible in the control's viewing area

Exit For

End If

'Remove timebar from schedule

Dim bExitAll As Boolean

For iTeamItem As Integer = 0 To Me.DbiSchedule1.Items.Count - 1

For iTimeBarItem As Integer = 0 To Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars.Count - 1

If Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars(iTimeBarItem).Tag = Me.lstUnscheduledOrders.Tag Then

Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars(iTimeBarItem).End =

Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars(iTimeBarItem).Start 'Workaround to clear RulerSelectColor

Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars.Remove(Me.DbiSchedule1.Items(iTeamItem).TimeBars(iTimeBarItem))

Me.DbiScheduleObject1.Start = Me.DbiDate1.Date.AddHours(Me.cboScheduleStartTime.SelectedIndex)

Me.DbiScheduleObject1.End = Me.DbiDate1.Date.AddDays(1)

bExitAll = True

Exit For

End If

If bExitAll = True Then

Exit For

End If

'Remove the original dbiNodeItem from the source dbiList control

Me.lstScheduledOrders.Items.Remove(Me.lstScheduledOrders.SelectedItems(0)) 'First selected item

'Unselect all timebar items

For iTimeBarSelected As Integer = 0 To DbiSchedule1.SelectedTimeBars.Count - 1

DbiSchedule1.SelectedTimeBars(iTimeBarSelected).IsSelected = False

“And finally, to create a seamless bidirectional integration between the Service Dispatch and Scheduling application and our Service Order Processing module, we added the following code to the TimeBarDoubleClick() event of the dbiSchedule control which automatically opens the Service Transaction Entry window and displays the specified Service Order below.”

Private Sub DbiSchedule1_TimeBarDoubleClick(sender As System.Object, e As Dbi.WinControl.Schedule.TimeBarDoubleClickEventArgs) Handles DbiSchedule1.TimeBarDoubleClick

If cboBranch.SelectedIndex >= 0 Then

If EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmBranchId.Value = cboBranch.SelectedItem And

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmDocumentType.Value = 2 And

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmDocumentNumber.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Tag And

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.DisplayExistingRecord.Value = True Then 'User is displaying this record

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.Open() ' bring to front

Else

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.ClearButton.RunValidate()

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmBranchId.Value = cboBranch.SelectedItem

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmBranchId.RunValidate()

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmDocumentType.Value = 2

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmDocumentNumber.Value = e.TimeBarItem.Tag

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.DisplayExistingRecord.RunValidate()

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmServiceTrxEntry.SmCustomerName.Focus()

EService360.Forms.SmServiceTrxEntry.Open() ' bring to front

End If

End Sub

“And vice versa, when the user clicks the highlighted button on the Service Transaction Entry window our trigger logic automatically opens the Service Dispatch and Scheduling window and highlights the selected Service Order.“

CONCLUSION

The combination of Visual Studio, great Developers skills and the right component software - Solutions Schedule and Studio Controls - are unbeatable for creating intuitively interactive presentations of enterprise Resource data for planning, scheduling and optimizing the value of supply chains, logistics and field service management. For further in-depth discussions and samples of how DBI’s component software products can be integrated into any project, please download a Solutions Schedule .NET Enterprise product evaluation today: https://www.dbi-tech.com/Trials/dbi_TrialDownloads.aspx

All DBI component software products include detailed, per component help files, sample applications for each control along with sample source code and all combined with full annual product maintenance and technical support services.

Please contact for further information...

DBI Technologies Inc - www.dbi-tech.com