--- schema_version: "1" id: 0fa971456860c015f676075476bec3d43be559255f474a183aa09a6e5fb21f7d title: Schedule Appointments by Using Priorities collection: admin version: current locale: en-us portal_url: https://docs.salesforce.com/admin/current/en-us/service/264-0-0/pfs_scheduling_priority.md canonical_url: https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_scheduling_priority.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 source_site: help.salesforce.com content_type: documentation content_hash: fe860c71f74dcb40df1746f6e89094b9deb428d83b960dc70ec5ecb3506658d7 description: Prioritize appointments to schedule them even if your calendar is full. This way, you can schedule important appointments over less urgent ones. When you’re using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization, and no time slot is available, appointments with lower or equal priorities can be unscheduled (dropped) and replaced by higher-priority appointments. When you’re not using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization, and no time slot is available, lower-priority appointments can overlap with higher-priority appointments. products: - Field Service release: "264" --- # Schedule Appointments by Using Priorities Prioritize appointments to schedule them even if your calendar is full. This way, you can schedule important appointments over less urgent ones. When you’re using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization, and no time slot is available, appointments with lower or equal priorities can be unscheduled (dropped) and replaced by higher-priority appointments. When you’re not using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization, and no time slot is available, lower-priority appointments can overlap with higher-priority appointments. ### Required Editions
Available in: both Salesforce Classic (not available in all orgs) and Lightning Experience
The Agentforce Field Service and Operations core features, managed package, and mobile app are available in Enterprise, Unlimited, and Developer Editions.
User Permissions Needed
To set up scheduling priorities and customize the service appointment page: FSL Admin custom permission set
To schedule from the Classic Dispatch Console:

One of these custom permission sets:

  • Field Service Admin Permissions
  • Field Service Call Center Rep Permissions
  • Field Service Dispatcher Permissions
![Package icon](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-support_field_service-264-0-0-production-enus/3f7dceb9-dd70-454a-b49e-bbb4526a158d/support_field_service/images/fs_package.png) _This is a Field Service managed package feature._ Use priorities with scheduling actions, such as Get Candidates, Book Appointments, or Schedule. To maximize the strategic value of scheduling, define priority values that reflect your unique business goals. Integrate data from across your Salesforce org to make sure that scheduling supports goals such as strengthening customer relationships, maximizing revenue, and maintaining critical assets. Identify key priority drivers and configure your settings so that scheduling actions accurately prioritize visits to reflect these values. This topic covers: - [How Priorities Work](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_scheduling_priority.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Field Service behavior differs depending on the optimization type you’re using and the features you’ve enabled.") - [Set Up Priorities](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_scheduling_priority.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "If you have just a few urgent appointments, you can use priorities with scheduling actions, such as Get Candidates, Book Appointments, or Schedule. Identify what drives your priorities first. Then you’re ready to configure Field Service so that scheduling actions can prioritize visits.") - [Scheduling Prioritized Appointments When Using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_scheduling_priority.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5) - [Scheduling Prioritized Appointments When Not Using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_scheduling_priority.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5) - [Considerations When Scheduling Using Priorities](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_scheduling_priority.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Before you use priorities to schedule appointments, review the considerations.") For examples on how to define service appointment priorities so that the most critical work is addressed promptly, see [Use Cases for Prioritizing Field Service Appointments](https://help.salesforce.com/articleView?id=service.pfs_scheduling_priority_optimization_use_cases.htm&language=en_US). ## How Priorities Work Field Service behavior differs depending on the optimization type you’re using and the features you’ve enabled.
ENABLED FEATURES RESULT EXCEPTIONS HOW IT WORKS

With Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization:
  • When scheduling appointments, the appointments with lower or equal priorities can be dropped from the Gantt.
  • When using appointment booking, you can be offered slots, that if booked, can drop lower-priority or equal-priority appointments from the Gantt.

A service appointment isn’t dropped if it:

  • Has a lower or equal priority

    And

  • Is in a pinned status or is defined as keep scheduled
  • Slide a service resource’s appointments on the Gantt.
  • If availability exists within the scheduling horizon for the appointment being scheduled, the system attempts to reshuffle dropped appointments to another day or resource. If availability exists only outside the scheduling horizon, dropped appointments return to unscheduled status.
  • If there’s still no availability, search for lower-priority or equal-priority appointments that can be dropped from the Gantt.
  • If a solution wasn’t found, the appointment isn’t scheduled and no changes are made to the Gantt.

If an appointment can be scheduled but the overall schedule is of a lower quality, based on your scheduling policy’s objectives, the appointment won’t be scheduled.

Without Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization:

Schedule over lower priority appointment

 When scheduling appointments or using get candidates, appointments with higher priorities can be booked over appointments with lower priorities, causing an overlap. If a service appointment has a lower priority and is in a pinned status, it isn’t dropped from the Gantt and a higher-priority appointment isn’t booked over it. Lower priority appointments are ignored, leading to possible overlaps.
## Set Up Priorities If you have just a few urgent appointments, you can use priorities with scheduling actions, such as Get Candidates, Book Appointments, or Schedule. Identify what drives your priorities first. Then you’re ready to configure Field Service so that scheduling actions can prioritize visits. 1. Specify a priority field. 1. From the App Launcher, find and select **Field Service Admin**. 2. Click the **Field Service Settings** tab. 3. Under Scheduling, click **General Logic**. 4. Under Scheduling Priority, select a priority field. You can select one or more fields on service appointments, work orders, and work order line items. 5. Assign a fixed priority. For example, the managed package provides the Scheduling Priority field on parent work orders and work order line items. By default, Scheduling Priority values are 1 to 4, where 1 is Critical and 4 is Low. 6. Create a dynamic priority field by using a custom formula field. For example, create a formula that sets appointment priorities based on the difference between today’s date and the due date. Scheduling and optimization looks at the service appointment priority field first. If that field isn’t defined or empty, the appointment’s priority is derived from the field on the parent work order or work order line item. 2. Select a priority scale. The default priority range is a 1 to 10 scale, where 1 is the highest priority and 10 is the lowest priority. The 1 to 10 scale works well for most priority cases, but we recommend using the 1 to 100 scale, especially if your use case requires a broad range of values. Go to **Field Service Settings** | **Scheduling** | **General Logic** in the Field Service Admin app, and select the optional 1 to 100 scale. Field Service supports only whole numbers such that decimal points are ignored when calculating priorities. For example, 3.94 is considered as 3. Any number above the priority range is considered as lowest priority. 3. Customize the service appointment page layout, and add the **Schedule over lower priority appointment** field. If you aren’t using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization and you enable this option, scheduling actions can schedule service appointments at the same time as lower-priority appointments that are already scheduled, creating an overlap. If a lower-priority service appointment is in a pinned status, other appointments aren't scheduled over it, and there's no overlap. If you’re using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization, enable [Reshuffling and Sliding](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_sliding_service_appointment.htm&type=5&language=en_US). Low-priority appointments are dropped instead of overlaps occuring. ## Scheduling Prioritized Appointments When Using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization 1. Enable [Sliding and Reshuffling](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_sliding_service_appointment.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Free up time for scheduling more appointments when using Field Service appointment booking and scheduling. With sliding, service appointments on the Gantt can move to an earlier or later time, within the resource’s availability for the same shift. By using reshuffling and sliding together, service appointments on the Gantt can also move to a different day or to a different resource. Reshuffling and sliding service appointments provide more time slot availability and faster SLA compliance and enable the scheduling of longer service appointments by reducing white spaces."). 2. Open the appointment and select **Schedule over lower priority appointment**. 3. Click **Schedule**, or **Reschedule** if the appointment is already scheduled, or if the appointment isn’t scheduled, click **Book Appointment**. 4. If an appointment is dropped from the Gantt, schedule the appointment at a later time. ## Scheduling Prioritized Appointments When Not Using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization 1. Open the appointment and select **Schedule over lower priority appointment**. 2. Click **Schedule** or **Get Candidates**. 3. If a higher-priority appointments are scheduled over lower-priority appointments, use scheduling recipes or in-day optimization to resolve overlaps. ![Example](https://sf-zdocs-cdn-prod.zoominsoftware.com/tdta-service-support_field_service-264-0-0-production-enus/3f7dceb9-dd70-454a-b49e-bbb4526a158d/images/icon_example.png) Example To schedule an urgent break-fix when the Gantt is full, create a work order and set its priority to 1. Open the related service appointment, and click **Schedule over lower priority appointment**. Then, in the Classic Dispatch Console, select the critical break-fix appointment from the appointment list and schedule the appointment. If scheduling succeeds, the lower-priority appointment is dropped from the Gantt so that the higher-priority appointment can be scheduled (added to the Gantt). ## Considerations When Scheduling Using Priorities Before you use priorities to schedule appointments, review the considerations. - If you’re using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization, when scheduling considers slots for the appointment, it ignores the Schedule over lower priority appointment field for already scheduled appointments. If you don’t want appointments to be dropped, use the Keep Scheduled criteria. When you’re not using Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization, scheduled appointments that have Schedule over lower priority appointment enabled, aren’t scheduled with an overlap even if they are a lower priority than the appointment being scheduled. - When you have many high-priority appointments to schedule, use In-Day or Global optimization. Optimization considers priority fields and reschedules lower priority appointments if possible. Optimization doesn’t use the Schedule over lower priority appointment field. See [Optimize Field Service Appointments Using Priorities](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_scheduling_priority_optimization.htm&type=5&language=en_US). - If a service appointment with priority 2 has a 30-minute travel time and you can schedule 2 appointments with priority 32 and a 5-minute travel time (assuming all service appointments have a duration of 15 minutes), the engine prefers the two low-priority appointments because their combined priority is higher. For an appointment to unschedule two or more appointments, it must have a priority that is higher than the sum of all other appointment priorities. For example, one service appointment with priority 2 is equivalent to Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization priority 99, and two service appointments with priority 32 are equivalent to priority 69 + 69 = 138. The engine sums the priority of the two service appointments, and because it’s higher than the priority of the single high-priority service appointment, it schedules the two low-priority service appointments. - If a higher-priority appointment overlaps with a lower-priority appointment, the appointment is ignored in travel calculations. This means that travel time from the last appointment or home base and travel time to the next appointment or home base is calculated using the location of the higher-priority appointment. - If both Enhanced Scheduling and Optimization and the Sliding and Reshuffling are enabled: - When you try to schedule a complex work chain, other appointments can slide only to earlier or later in the day. The appointments can’t be reshuffled or dropped. - When you try to schedule a multiday service appointment, it can slide only to earlier or later in the day. Multiday appointments can’t be reshuffled or dropped. - When you try to schedule a high-priority service appointment, scheduled complex work chains can’t be reshuffled or dropped, even if they have a lower priority. - When you try to schedule a high-priority service appointment, multiday service appointments can’t be reshuffled or dropped, even if they have a lower priority. #### See Also - [Set Up Sliding and Reshuffling for Scheduling and Appointment Booking](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_sliding_service_appointment.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "Free up time for scheduling more appointments when using Field Service appointment booking and scheduling. With sliding, service appointments on the Gantt can move to an earlier or later time, within the resource’s availability for the same shift. By using reshuffling and sliding together, service appointments on the Gantt can also move to a different day or to a different resource. Reshuffling and sliding service appointments provide more time slot availability and faster SLA compliance and enable the scheduling of longer service appointments by reducing white spaces.") - [Prioritize Field Service Appointments for Optimization](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_scheduling_priority_optimization.htm&release=264.0.0&type=5 "When your team’s availability is limited, prioritize critical service appointments over less pressing work. You can assign dynamic priorities, such as values that increase as due dates approach. Optimization can consider priority values when it schedules appointments to time slots.") - [Manage Field Service Scheduling Overlaps](https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=service.pfs_enhanced_optimization_per_territory_limitations.htm&type=5&language=en_US)