Read the dispatch board

Most of a dispatcher's day is spent reading the board, not clicking through it. So knowing what each part is telling you — and where a problem hides before it becomes a missed appointment — matters more than knowing every button. This guide walks the board top to bottom: the three views, what a job card tells you at a glance, what to check first thing, and how a change takes effect.

Three views of the same day

The switch at the top of the board flips between three ways of looking at the same work:

Schedule — the timeline. Rows are technicians; each job sits against the time it's scheduled, so you can see gaps, overlaps, and who's free at 2pm. This is the default and where you'll spend most of your time. You can view it by day, week, or month.
Board — a status view. Jobs are grouped in columns: Unassigned, Scheduled, In Progress, and Completed, so you can see what's stuck rather than what's when.
Map — the same jobs as pins, so you can see who's driving across town and who's clustered. On a day that's been route-optimized, each tech's stops connect in order. When you apply a plan from the board's Optimize control, the stops follow that plan's order; see Optimize a day.

Use the search box (top of the board) to narrow any view to matching jobs — type a customer name, a job number, a city, or a tech. The Filters button narrows the board by job type, department, and job status (All jobs or On hold · parts), and, for a multi-branch company, by branch. When the company has territories, Territory is there too. It shows a count when any filter is active. On a wide screen each active filter is a removable chip beside the button.

Territory offers All territories and each territory name. You can select more than one. All territories is every job the board already shows. A dispatcher who belongs to territories starts on those territories. With one branch selected, only that branch's territories count, and the board is empty when none of them are in that branch until you choose All territories. Owners and office staff start on All territories. A dispatcher who belongs to none starts there too. A link to a territory that is invalid, inactive, or outside the branch says That territory selection is not available and loads nothing. Back to dispatch clears it. Territories narrow the board. They do not hide a job the person is otherwise allowed to open.

What a job card tells you

Every job on the board is a card, and it's built to be read in a glance:

Customer name is the headline. The scheduled time sits top-right — or Unscheduled if the job hasn't been placed on the timeline yet.
The meta line underneath reads WO-number · type · location · equipment — enough to know what the job is and where without opening it.
On the Schedule timeline, and on an unassigned card beside it, the card's one chip is Emergency or To check. To check is neutral: the visit has a conflict to look at, and the conflict line can read SLA breached. High priority is not that chip. One emergency in a lane can carry an ember edge; the others say Emergency without it.
On the Board, the priority badge reads Emergency or High. High has an amber left edge. On the desktop Board, Emergency is the badge alone, with no coloured edge; on the phone Board, an emergency visit card also has an ember left edge. Small pills flag a hold when one is on: On hold · parts, Awaiting parts, Awaiting customer, Waiting for access, Needs second tech, or Other, plus Warranty and SLA warning. A job that needs a set number of technicians also shows how many are on it, such as 1 of 2 assigned. Canceled and no-show visits do not count. A job with no saved crew size does not show that line.

Suggested assignments

An unassigned job may show a suggested technician — a name, a short reason (the drive time, the matching certification, the open slot), and a match percentage. This is a proposal, not a done deal: nothing is assigned until you Apply, and Apply puts the job on the schedule. Dismiss clears it and lets you assign someone else from the dropdown. On the timeline, a dashed proposed slot also has Change… to review a different placement. A Suggested batch card spells out what Apply will do to the schedule before you click it. An owner or office manager also sees Suggestions for dispatch on that card. Switching it off turns suggested assignments off for the company. Turning them back on is Dispatch auto-assign under Automations, not on this card. A dispatcher sees the card without that switch. If a job has no start time yet, assigning from the card dropdown asks you to Pick a start time to assign a technician — drag it onto the timeline first. If the planner couldn't find a qualified tech — say the job needs a certification nobody available holds — it says so in an amber note instead of guessing, and you assign manually.

What to check first

Reading the board in the morning, work in this order:

Anything unassigned with today's date. An unassigned job is the most direct path to a missed appointment — it won't get done today until someone's on it.
SLA warnings. A job flagged as approaching its guaranteed response window is a promise about to break. Handle it before the flag turns to SLA breach.
Emergencies. The jobs marked Emergency — make sure each one has a qualified tech and a realistic slot.
Drive-time conflicts. Two back-to-back jobs across town from each other is a gap the board can flag but won't silently fix. Re-order or reassign.
A job still In Progress well past its expected duration. Worth a quick check-in call before it cascades into the rest of that tech's afternoon.

The fact line under the toolbar gives you the day's shape at a glance: how many jobs are scheduled, how many are unassigned, how many distinct people are assigned today, and how many technicians are on the roster. When there are any, an expandable N emergencies count lists exactly which jobs. Check it before you dig in.

Making a change

To reassign a job, drag its card onto a different technician or time slot. As you do, Thermal re-checks skills, required certifications, and drive time, and warns you if the move creates a conflict — it won't stop you (you may know something it doesn't), but it won't let the conflict pass silently either. The move takes effect immediately. There's no separate save step.

On the Board, drag a visit's card back to Unassigned to take it off the schedule. If that job has only one visit, the job goes back to unscheduled. It is not canceled. If the job has several visits, that one visit is canceled and the others stay.

If a change needs a judgment call the board can't make for you — bumping a customer's window, or telling someone their tech is running late — that part is still on you. The board surfaces the problem; the phone call is yours.

Reference

Job and priority values — the full set of job statuses (unscheduled through completed) and priorities (emergency, high, normal, low), generated straight from the product, are in Status & domain values.
Who can reach Dispatch — Owners, Dispatchers, and Office users; not Technicians. See Roles & permissions.