Using Dynamic Worker Lists

A dynamic worker list is a list of recipients that the workflow works out at the moment it runs by querying the worker directory. It is what allows a single template to notify a dynamic and ever-changing list of workers.

The Worker Lookup activity produces a dynamic worker list. The activities that follow it in the diagram take their recipient from that list, so a lookup followed by a send activity inside a loop contacts each worker in turn. Learn more

The alternative is the Fixed Contact List activity, which holds worker names and destinations that you enter yourself. It supports name and destination only, so use Worker Lookup whenever the workflow needs scheduling, assignment, acknowledgment, or location information.

To configure a dynamic worker list:

  1. Open Workbench. In Project Explorer, expand your project > Alarms and Notifications > Connected Field Service > Templates, and double-click your template to open the template designer.

  2. Drag Worker Lookup from the Activities Library onto the Diagram Editor.

  3. In the Worker Lookup section of the properties panel, narrow the population the lookup draws from:

    1. In Filter by group name, enter the group or groups to draw from, for example CFS Field Workers. Separate multiple group names with commas; a worker in any of them is returned. Use the group name as it appears in Project Explorer, without the source name in parentheses.

    2. In Filter by user name, enter a worker's name if the lookup should return only that person.

  4. Select Apply scheduling restrictions so that only workers whose availability schedule says they are on duty are returned. Learn more

    A lookup can return no workers at all—when every worker in the group is off shift or disabled, for example. The workflow treats it as a valid list of workers (with 0 workers to be contacted).

  5. To route based on what the alarm is about, select Apply alarm source restrictions. Select Apply alarm area restrictions as well if the lookup should also consider the alarm's area. The Apply alarm area restrictions option is only available when Apply alarm source restrictions is selected. Learn more

  6. In Top count, enter the maximum number of workers the lookup may return. Enter 0 for no limit.

  7. Under Worker contact options, decide how the list is consumed:

    • Contact filtered workers one-at-a-time—Each pass through the diagram contacts the next worker on the list. This is what you want in a loop that escalates from one worker to the next.

    • Contact filtered workers all at once—Every send activity connected to this lookup contacts the whole list. The setting is reset by the next worker block in the diagram.

  8. To contact the same set of workers again later in the diagram without querying the directory a second time, drag Repeat Contact List onto the diagram at that point. It replays the workers processed by the most recent worker block, each worker once.

  9. Confirm that the Validation Log reports no errors and click Apply.