RESOURCE SCHEDULING FOR FIELD SERVICES

Schedules are generated that satisfy the objectives of a field services provider given a set of resources and a set of work orders. More particularly, work orders are identified, as well as the identity of resources that are capable with fulfilling one or more of the work orders, are obtained. Feasible paths are established for each resource that identify a sequence of one or more work orders that can be fulfilled by the resource over the course of the resource's work shift and which reflect one or more scheduling objectives. These feasible paths are established in a series of iterations, with each iteration identifying additional paths. After each iteration, it is determined if a pre-selected time limit has been exceeded, and whenever the time limit has been exceeded, path generation ceases. Schedules are established for the resources using the generated paths and are then provided to the field service provider.