For round-robin and queue length distribution management methods, you can further refine task assignment by selecting the Check Availability Against User Calendar option; if the logically selected user is unavailable, the assignment evaluation process moves on to the next logical user. The user's availability determined using both My webMethods Server business calendars and a user's personal calendar (assuming these calendars are defined and configured).

When availability checking is selected, the calendar checking process is as follows:

The next working day is determined by applying the task queue time to the user's business calendar (as defined in My webMethods). For example, suppose that the user's business calendar defines working days as Monday through Friday, 9 A.M. - 5 P.M. In this case, the next working day is calculated as following:

All tasks queued after 5:00 P.M. Friday and before 5:00 P.M. Monday will be given a working day of Monday. Any holidays configured in the business calendar are also considered.

When a task is being assigned to or accepted for another user, the system checks the user's personal calendar to determine if the user is available on this working day, taking into consideration only Out of the Office and Busy types of calendar events that are scheduled for the entire day. All other event types and durations are ignored. For example if a user has scheduled meetings marked as Busy during the day, the task is still assigned to the user if there are any available times between the meetings.

You can also view a user's personal calendar on the Task List Management page in My webMethods when you manually assign a task or accept a task for another user.

For more information about creating and working with business calendars and personal user calendars, see the PDF publication webMethods Task Engine User’s Guide.