Overview

Plan the day, assign work and handle changes from the field.

Common tasks

• Read today’s board
• Schedule and assign a job
• Manage return visits
• Resolve a hold/reschedule
• Fit an emergency job
• Take a caller’s request
• Create a new job
• Book a callback
• Assign a subcontractor
• Stage parts for planned maintenance

Dispatcher covers the moment-to-moment work of running today's schedule: reading the board, deciding who goes where, resolving conflicts, and handling whatever comes in that wasn't planned. This is the role that lives in Dispatch and Jobs most of the day.

Getting started

New to Dispatch? This is your onboarding path — five guides, in order, that take you from reading the board to handling whatever the day throws at you. Work through them top to bottom on your first pass; come back to any one of them later as a reference once the board is second nature.

1. Read the dispatch board — start here. Learn what each part of the board is telling you, and how to spot a problem before it's a missed appointment.
2. Schedule and assign a job — put a job on the calendar, work with suggested assignments, and know when a placement needs a second look.
3. Multi-visit jobs — handle jobs that take more than one trip, and understand how a job's status rolls up from every visit on it.
4. Handle day-to-day exceptions — reschedules, reassignments, holds, and acting on what a technician sends back from the field.
5. Handle an emergency job — the last skill to pick up: slot an urgent job into an already-full day without blowing up the rest of the schedule.