Location, skills, and availability are used to determine what?

In ServiceNow Field Service Management, the core logic for assigning a work order task to a technician revolves around three primary criteria: skills, location, and availability. The system's matching and scheduling engines, particularly Dynamic Scheduling, use these factors to evaluate the pool of available agents and identify the most suitable candidate for a specific job. This ensures that the assigned agent has the necessary expertise, is geographically close to minimize travel time, and is free to perform the work within the required schedule, thereby optimizing service delivery.

B. Customer preferred technicians: While customer preference can be a configured criterion, it is a secondary constraint, not the primary outcome determined by the core logic of location, skills, and availability.
C. Work order qualification: Work order qualification is the process of defining the requirements for a task (e.g., what skills are needed), which then serve as input for the agent matching process.
D. Agent schedules: Agent schedules are an input that determines an agent's availability. The system uses this availability, along with location and skills, to assign tasks, not to create the schedule itself.

1. ServiceNow Product Documentation - Dynamic Scheduling: "Dynamic scheduling uses criteria, such as agent skills, location, and availability, to find the best agent for a task and to schedule the task automatically."

Source: ServiceNow Product Documentation, Washington DC Release, Field Service Management, "Dynamic scheduling for field service".

2. ServiceNow Product Documentation - Matching Rules: "Matching rules identify potential agents for a work order task based on predefined criteria. The base system provides matching rules for matching skills, parts and stockrooms, and assigned location." (Availability is a core filter applied alongside these rules).

Source: ServiceNow Product Documentation, Washington DC Release, Field Service Management, "Matching rules for work order tasks".

3. ServiceNow Now Learning - Field Service Management (FSM) Fundamentals: The courseware explains that the dispatcher's primary goal is to assign the right technician to the right job at the right time. This is achieved by evaluating agent skills, availability (from their schedule), and location (via agent map).

Source: ServiceNow Now Learning, Course: Field Service Management (FSM) Fundamentals, Module: "Scheduling and Dispatch". (Content accessible via official ServiceNow training portal).