I get the impression from watching some of the videos that it is possible to create Resources for Bookings that are not based on elements. For ex., to create a list of IP addresses or a list of engineers that might be assigned to a booking.
Creating the resources are easy enough, but the part I'm missing is, how do you get the resources to show up when creating a booking? Since these resources are not coming from a protocol, I'm not sure how to create a Function. And, without the Function, I'm not sure how to get them into a Service Definition.
I'm probably missing something simple, so any push in the right direction would be appreciated. Thanks!
Hi Jamie,
You can use resource pool inheritance. However, what you want to book needs to be something related to a function resource you add in your booking.
Example : when you book an IP Encoder function resource, you will typically also define a profile parameter, 'IP Address', that will be applied on the Encoder resource at start time of the booking. To avoid conflict, the IP Address needs to be selected from a pool of IP resources. Therefore, the 'IP Address' profile parameter will be linked to that pool, and the SRM Framework will book an item from the pool when booking the IP Encoder function resource.
More info on how to configure it can be found in Docs
In case you have a different use case in mind and Pool Inheritance would not be an option, please provide more details so that alternative can be suggested.
Thanks Emmanuel! I am not familiar with this, but will read about it in the docs and let you know if I have any clarification on the use case after that.
Hi Emmanuel… I checked this out and see how this can be used for booking IP addresses.
The other use case I was considering was if I created a Resource Pool called “SAT.Engineers” and in that group I manually created “people resources” so I could track a list of people who can be booked to support a booking. The challenge is: I can manually create resources, but, since they are not linked to an element, I can’t select a Function for them. Without the function, I can’t get a node for the engineers in the Service Definition. Unless there’s something I’m missing, I guess easiest solution would be to use something like the Skyline Generic Source element, but for people. That way we have a Protocol and can create a Functions.XML file.
Hi Jamie,
Using Resource Scheduling feature, you can book any type of resources. It is not required to create an Element and a function definition.
In case you want to test this, get cloud connected and deploy the SRM User cases Demo package: https://catalog.dataminer.services/catalog/4648
After deployment, you will have a Visual showing camera resources. Just adjust the the Visio drawing so that the InitVar contains following value : YAxisResources:pool=_name_of_your_pool_. Then close and re-open the view and you’ll be able to book non-function resources part of the pool.
In case you want to go one step further and extend bookings based on service definition, then you’ll have to create a custom booking front-end ( which is always better for user experience ).
Hi Jamie, if your use case is to create pools and resource instances (one-by-one or in bulk) such as people, then we have a good blue print application that does exactly that on ziinedev : https://ziinedev.skyline.be/app/06951cc4-5695-4f6c-a49b-55582d72f611/page/Home
In this app, you have a nice example of how DataMiner users can create objects such as organizations, teams and people. In addtion, teams can be made ‘bookable’ as an optional selection. The latter will automatically create bookable resources in the background, and add capacity and capabilities to those (e.g. ‘Team Expertises’ will automatically translate into ‘SRM capabilities’ to all resources in the pool)
Adding to that, we are generalizing the resource administration in a new app, since there is so many use cases where DM users need a simple way to create resources in bulk. You can use this for any ‘unmanaged resource’ (i.e. resource not linked to a specific element, VF, etc), or resources linked to an element (the latter is on the backlog coming available in 1-2 weeks from now). The app is not in an MVP state yet, but could be used in case you need something almost off the shelf quickly
I’ll be happy to walk you through all of that ! Let me know !