Handle day-to-day exceptions

Most days, something on an already-set schedule needs to change — a job runs long, a customer needs a different afternoon, a technician sends something back from the field that needs a decision. This guide covers the routine exceptions: rescheduling, reassigning, putting a job on hold, and acting on what a technician reports. For a same-day urgent call that has to be slotted into an already-full day, see Handle an emergency job.

Reschedule a visit

Drag its card to a new time or day on the board. What that move does depends on where you drop it:

Onto a different time on the same tech's row (or a different day, in Week view) — moves the time only, keeps the same technician.
Onto a different technician's row — moves the time and reassigns it in one drag (see below).

Either way, the move runs through the same placement checks covered in Schedule and assign a job. A double-booked tech, a time outside their working hours, or a move that lands the job past its SLA window all surface as a warning you can override with Schedule anyway. If the customer had already been confirmed for the old time, Notify customer of the new time is on unless you turn it off. A same-day move of 30 minutes or less sends nothing. A longer move, or a move to another day, requests a change notice when the box stays on. Delivery still follows notification settings, channel readiness and customer stops. Leave it on unless you're handling that call yourself.

Reassign a visit

Drag the card onto a different technician's row. Thermal re-checks that tech's certifications, working hours, and existing schedule for the new placement — the same checks a fresh assignment gets — and, once it applies, notifies both the outgoing and the incoming technician. To swap technicians without changing the time, drop the card on the new tech's row at the same slot it was already in.

If a change bumps someone else's appointment to make room, the board shows you the conflict — it doesn't call the customer for you. That part's still a phone call on your end.

Put a job on hold

When a job is stalled, set Hold Status on the job's Summary section, then Save.

On hold · waiting for parts takes the job off the technician's active list and blocks invoicing. The board shows On hold · parts. Clear it with Release parts hold, or set the field back to No hold.
Awaiting customer does not change the job's status or take it off the schedule. The board shows an Awaiting customer pill. Clear it by setting the field back to No hold.

A technician can put the same parts hold on from Needs parts (Put this job on hold until the parts arrive). That one also shows Awaiting parts when a parts request is open. Don't set Hold Status again for the same wait.

For anything other than parts, the technician uses Put on hold on the job and picks Awaiting customer, Waiting for site access, Needs a second technician, or Other. Other needs a note. The visit stays on the board. The card shows the reason and, under it, the note. The job record's Blocking this job card shows Reason, Note, and Since. Resume on the technician's job clears both the reason and the note. The office Hold Status list offers No hold, On hold · waiting for parts, and Awaiting customer. It does not offer Waiting for site access, Needs a second technician, or Other. Saving a different Hold Status from the office clears the technician's note.

Field requests from technicians

A technician working a job in the field can send back a request without being able to change the schedule themselves — a reschedule ask, a recommend work writeup, a request for a follow-up visit, or a needs parts note. These land in the Field requests panel at the top of the dispatch board, grouped by type, each with the tech's own note and who asked.

Reviewing one is a two-step split on purpose: the panel's Approve only marks the request reviewed — the underlying reschedule, follow-up visit, or quote is still a separate, explicit action you take yourself (rescheduling the visit, building the quote, and so on). Dismiss clears a request you're not going to act on. Nothing here changes the schedule on its own; it's a queue of things that need your judgment call, not an auto-apply.

Message the technician

The job's Summary section has Messages. That thread is between the office and the assigned technicians. Customers can't see it. Sending a message does not change the schedule. The technician opens the same thread from Messages on the job page.

Reference

Field request types — reschedule, recommend_work, follow_up_visit, needs_parts, and every other domain value Thermal uses, generated straight from the product, are in Status & domain values.
Who can reach Dispatch and Jobs — Owners, Dispatchers, and Office users; not Technicians. See Roles & permissions.