The service chain is bigger than just optimized scheduling on the day of service. Even the best optimization algorithms can hit an early limit if the rest of the chain is ignored. If a service company's workload is, say, 150 percent of its capacity for an extended period of time, then no level of optimization can overcome this reality.

Part 1 of this series established that service supply chains have many planning levels and time horizons, which can be roughly divided into the following categories: the immediate period around the day of service, and forecasting and  planning for the day of service. My blog post then expanded on the various approaches to the challenges on the actual day of service.

Part 2 delved more deeply into the intricate execution issues on the day of service, starting with optimized scheduling, or the "W-6" optimization challenge: Who, does What, with What, When, Where, and for Whom? Mobile communication was established as the best means for dispatchers to communicate the schedule and job details to the resources, receive updates, notify customer cancellations, and continually optimize their schedule in response to all changes. Additionally, astute dispatchers use location data from global positioning system tools to continually optimize schedules and divert the right resources to an emergency job.

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