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Scheduling Policy Objectives (Minimize Travel) Not Applied When Work Rule Uses Fixed Gap

Publish Date: Jul 27, 2026
Description

Symptoms

The Minimize Travel Scheduling Policy Objective has no effect on technician assignment results. Technicians with longer travel times are assigned instead of closer technicians, and slot grades do not reflect travel differences. 

Cause

When Fixed Gap is enabled on a Service Resource Availability work rule, the scheduling engine does not consider travel time when selecting candidates or grading slots. The Minimize Travel objective grades candidates based on added travel — since travel is excluded from scheduling decisions, all candidates receive an equivalent travel grade and the objective has no differentiation effect.

Note: Travel time is still calculated and displayed on the Gantt even when Fixed Gap is active. The exclusion applies only to scheduling slot decisions, not to travel display.

Resolution

Option 1 — Remove Fixed Gap

If Fixed Gap is not required for your scheduling scenario:

  1. Go to Field Service Setup > Scheduling Policies and open the affected policy.
  2. Open the Service Resource Availability Work Rule.
  3. Uncheck Fixed Gap and save.
  4. Re-run scheduling for affected Service Appointments.

After saving, the scheduling engine will consider travel time during candidate evaluation and the Minimize Travel objective will influence assignment results.

Option 2 — Use Offsite Appointment (when Fixed Gap must remain)

If Fixed Gap is required for other appointments in the same policy (for example, to enforce minimum buffer time between remote consultations), use the Offsite Appointment field on individual Service Appointment records instead of removing Fixed Gap from the Work Rule.

Marking a Service Appointment as Offsite schedules it without travel time on an appointment-by-appointment basis, allowing the policy's Fixed Gap to remain in effect for other appointments.

Knowledge Article Number

005386904

 
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