Dispatch

Overview

The Dispatch page was designed around your Dispatcher and CSR needs. It allows for the capability to schedule and dispatch jobs, view technician schedules, monitor and adjust workloads, and more all in one location.  Dispatch is the main page used to keep your office running smoothly for the day

The dispatch page is full of features and information that can be overwhelming to look at. Below we will help break these features down for you

Navigate to Dispatch   

You can access the Dispatch page by navigating to the following location:

• From the main menu on the left-hand side of the screen, select Dispatch and then Dispatch
  
  Main Menu – Dispatch

Dispatch – Features:

The Dispatch page is divided into three panels: Dispatch, Calendar and Map

Dispatch Screen

Below is a brief explanation of each dispatch panel:

•  Dispatch:  Located in top-left portion of Dispatch page.   Displays information in a grid type view
•  Calendar: Located in bottom portion of the Dispatch page.  Displays information in a calendar view
•  Map:  Located in top-right portion of dispatch page.  Displays information on a map type view

Dispatch:

The dispatch panel has been designed to allow for quick toggling between different views

Dispatch

From the top of the dispatch page you can select which view you would like to look at by clicking on the view name

Dispatch – Options

Tool tips have been associated with each dispatch view. In order to view the tool tip associated with a dispatch view, hover your cursor over the (#) displayed to the right of a Dispatch View

Dispatch View – tool tip

Below is a brief explanation of the different view types available from the Dispatch panel:

Item	Sort Order	Functionality
	Status Date (descending)	Displays a list of all work orders where the Job Status = ‘Active’ or ‘Travel’
	Job Date (ascending)	Displays a list of all work orders that have no open purchase orders and meet one of the following conditions: Job Status = ‘Scheduled’ and the job date is for today or a future date/time Job Status = ‘Ready to Schedule’ (shown as ‘Promised’) and the job date is greater than today
	Job Date (descending)	Displays a list of work orders that meets any of the following conditions: Work Orders that were received today as 'Rescheduled' but not work orders with status 'Active/Travel/Tech-Completed' Work Orders that have 'Open' purchase orders associated with them
	Job Date (descending)	Displays a list of work orders that have not been completed and meet the following conditions: Job Date is prior to today There are no 'Open' purchase orders associated with the work order
	Status Date (descending)	Displays a list of all work orders where the Job Status = Tech Completed
	Date Created (descending)	Displays a list of all work order meeting the following conditions: Source does not equal ‘Customer Call’ or ‘Mobile’ (meaning the job was scheduled through an online source) Status is 'Request' OR status is 'Ready to Schedule' and the number of 'Ready to Schedule' status records is 1 and the number of 'Request' status records is 0 The Online tab will be red whenever there are work orders in it and it is not the selected tab Additional Notes:  WOs in Online view will also appear under the 'Appts.' tab if it is a Non-Warranty Job where the customer selected a specific Date/Time Slot from the website WOs in Online view will also appear under the 'Followup' tab if it is a Warranty Request received from the website (where the customer is requesting a call to schedule a visit and did not select a specific Date/Time Slot from the website) To remove work orders from the Online tab, use either the Bucket Scheduler or the Simple Scheduler to confirm the scheduled appointment
		Will launch the New Work Order allowing you the capability to quickly create a new work order from the Dispatch (screen)
		Will filter the Dispatch panel to only display the work order number entered in the search field and what view type/tab it is located under. Clicking the X next to the Search WO # field will clear the search filter and will redisplay all work orders under the selected view If the WO appears in more than one view, the results will return the first view in which the WO appears.  (e.g.  Jobs scheduled through the mrappliance.com website will appear in both 'Appts. & Online' view or 'Follwup & Online' view depending on if the job was an Online Warranty Request or NonWarranty Job.  However, the Search WO will only display the job under the first view it finds: Appts or Followup)

Did you know: The numerical value listed to the right of each dispatch view indicates how many work orders are currently listed under that view

Dispatch Grid

Below is a brief explanation of the different columns available from the dispatch view. Not all columns will be available from every dispatch view

Item	Functionality
Edit	Displays a list of work order options  edit WO):  Will open the work order allowing you to view information about the work order and make changes if needed  (show notes):  Will open a Job Notes popup window allowing you to view all notes that have been entered on the work order
WO	Displays ticket # from work order
Tech	Displays primary technician listed on work order
Customer	Displays customer name the work order is for
PO Status	Displays information based off PO statuses listed on the work order Color Explanation: Red: Indicates POs on the work order with a PO Status = Open Yellow:  Indicates POs on the work order with a PO Status = Ordered Green:  Indicates work orders with no PO or where all PO Statuses = Closed Color displayed is based on the PO with the lowest status on the work order.  (e.g.  If a work order has 3 POs, 1 marked as ordered and 2 marked as closed, then the color will display yellow based off the PO with status = ordered)
Job Date	Will display the date and time the work order was scheduled for. Nonscheduled work orders will display the date and time slot the work order was promised for
Status	Displays the current job status listed on the work order
Status Date	Displays the date/time the work order was changed to current job status
Received on Mobile	Displays last date/time the work order was download to a technician’s iPad
Duration	Displays length of time work order has been in current Active/Travel status
Code	Displays dispatch code selected on work order
Address	Displays customer address listed on work order

Additional Features

Tech (column) will display an orange circle icon if there are secondary technicians listed on the work order. Hovering your mouse over the icon will display the name(s) of the secondary technicians

Dispatch – secondary tech

Under any Dispatch view, the Job Date column will display as a pale red background if  is checked on a work order.  This will allow office staff the capability to indicate that a job has been confirmed with the customer, reviewed, etc. and is now ready to schedule

Dispatch – grid view         

Dispatch (grid) rows will alternate between grey/white row colors to make each row more pronounced

Dispatch View

Calendar

The calendar panel has been designed to allow for quick viewing of all work orders that are scheduled for a single day at a time. The calendar panel makes it easy to see a technician’s work load for any given day and where there may be gaps in the schedule allowing for additional jobs

Calendar              

Calendar Options

The top-left portion of the Calendar panel provides different options allowing you to determine what information is displayed on the Calendar

Calendar - Options            

Below is a brief explanation of the different Calendar options:

Item	Functionality
	Indicates the date that is currently being displayed on the Calendar
	Allow you to view a different calendar date by moving  forward or  backward by one day at a time
	Opens a calendar picker allowing you to select a specific date to view
	Launches the Pick List report based off the date selected in the Calendar
	Button toggles between ‘Show Completed’ & ‘Hide Completed’   If clicked, will display Work Orders with a Job Status = Tech Comp on the Calendar
	Button toggles between ‘Show Travel’ & ‘Hide Travel’   If clicked, the Calendar will be filtered to no longer display the green travel blocks in front of work orders
	Drop-down changes how work order blocks are displayed on the Dispatch Calendar: Postal Code: default value) Will display work order blocks on the Dispatch Calendar based on customer postal code Customer Name: Will display work order blocks on the Dispatch Calendar based on customer name City: Will display work order blocks on the Dispatch Calendar based on customer city Selecting a Dispatch Schedule Item Type from the drop-down box will automatically update the DispatchScheduleItemType Employee Option for the logged in user.  This will allow SmartWare to remember the last option the user selected to view work order blocks by on the Dispatch Calendar
	Drop-down changes how range of calendar view Day: (default value) Will display work order blocks on the Dispatch Calendar based on the day selected Week: Will display work order blocks on the Dispatch Calendar based on the week selected Month: Will display work order blocks on the Dispatch Calendar based on the month selected Year: Will display work order blocks on the Dispatch Calendar based on the year selected
	By selecting this button, the calendar grid will zoom in showing less and less of the timeline
	By selecting this button, the calendar grid will zoom out showing more of the timeline
	By selecting this (refresh) button, the calendar grid will update with new information

Buckets

This section only applies to offices who are utilizing the Bucket Scheduler feature. If you are utilizing the Simple Scheduler you can ignore this section

When you assign work orders to specific time slots through the Bucket Scheduler, they are sorted on the dispatch calendar into job buckets. Buckets will only appear if there is a job assigned for the specific bucket and date

Dispatch - Buckets

Below is an explanation of each bucket that can appear on the Calendar:

Item	Functionality
AM	Will display all work orders that were scheduled through the Bucket Scheduler and meet any of the following criteria: Job Status = First Call and there was no technician selected Job Status = AM
AT	Will display all work orders that were schedule through the Bucket Scheduler and where Job Status = Anytime
PM	Will display all work orders that were scheduled through the Bucket Scheduler and meet any of the following criteria: Job Status = Last Call and there was no technician selected Job Status = PM

• Number directly after Bucket name represents the number of work orders that are currently in each bucket
• The (#) number displayed represents the number of warranty work orders that are currently in each bucket
• Left-clicking on a bucket will display a list of work orders that are currently assigned to the bucket
  • A scroll bar will appear if there are more than 12 work orders in the Dispatch Calendar Bucket you are trying to view the bucket work order list for
    
    Dispatch Calendar – left click bucket menu
  • Below is a brief explanation of the available options from left-clicking on a bucket:
    

    Item	Functionality
    	Edit button will open work order allowing you to make changes
    	Show in Grid button will filter the Dispatch panel to only display the selected work order and which dispatch view it falls under
    	Bucket work order list will display information about the work order in black text on a white background (e.g. WO ticket #, customer name, and work order zip/postal code)
    	Bucket work order list will include an orange message to the right of the work order information indicating why a job was not routed. Messages will only appear in the bucket work order list if the router has been accepted for the specific date.

     

Calendar Block Colors

Blocks colors: Different colored blocks will appear on the calendar to represent a different item.  Below is an explanation of each block color

• Green blocks: A solid green block will appear to the left of a work order on the calendar and represents the estimated travel time it should take a technician to reach the job site. 
  • If the work order is in a Travel status, the green block will represent how long it's been in Travel. If this block is very long it's an indication the technician set themselves to Travel and never set themselves to Active or Clocked Out
    
    Calendar – Travel Time Block
    
    
• Grey blocks:  Represents time off that was scheduled for a technician in their employee record
  
  Calendar – Time Off Block
  
  
• Other Colored blocks:
  • Work orders can appear in different colors depending if the dispatch code selected on the work order has a color associated with it. In general, work order blocks will appear directly after green travel time block and can be identified by looking for the 5-digit zip/postal code
    
    Calendar – Work Order Block

At the top of each work order block will appear a colored line indicating the status of the work order. Below is an explanation of each of these colors:

Color	Functionality
	Green:  Represents a work order where the Job Status = Active
	Yellow:  Represents a work order where the Job Status = Travel
	Grey:  Represents a work order where the Job Status = Scheduled
	Blue:  Represents a work order where Warranty box was selected
	Dark Blue:  Represents a work order where the Time Slot = Last Call
	Dark Grey:  Represents a work order where the Time Slot = First Call

Inactive Technicians

Employee's with security role: 'technician' who have been marked as 'inactive' in SmartWare will appear on the Dispatch Calendar if there are 'open' work orders still assigned to the technician

• Inactive Technician rows will appear towards the bottom of the Dispatch Calendar
• Restrictions exist to prevent dragging a work order to an inactive technician row.  You will receive a Red message indicating 'You can't move an event to disabled tech:...' message and you will be prevented from reassigning the work order to the inactive technician
  
  Dispatch Calendar - disabled tech message
• Right clicking on an inactive employee row will display a list of work orders that the technician is still associated with allowing you to quickly see which work orders need to be reassigned or updated
  Dispatch Calendar - Inactive Tech - WO List

Additional Features

Calendar (grid) rows will alternate between grey/white row colors to make each row more pronounced

Dispatch Calendar

Work Orders with secondary technicians will appear on the Dispatch > Calendar view for the secondary technician

• A pale red circle will appear in the work order block indicating that the technician is listed as a secondary technician on the work order
  
  Calendar view

• If the work order changes time (either through the work order panel or by dragging the work order to a different time on the Dispatch > Calendar), then the work order will move to the appropriate time frame for all technicians listed on the work order

A work order count will display to the right of a technician’s name on the Calendar indicating the number of jobs that have been assigned to a specific technician for the selected date

Calendar – technicians list

Left-clicking on a technician’s name will display technician’s total route distance and time for the selected

• Distance and time are estimated numbers and may not reflect the actual distance and time a technician traveled for the day
  
  Calendar – technicians list

Hovering your mouse over a job on the calendar will display a tool-tip with quick reference items about the work order. From the tool-tip, you can quickly see information like the customer, customer address, date/time the work order was scheduled for, ticket #, time slot, dispatch code and job description note

Work Order – Tool Tip

Double click on a work order from the calendar will open the work order in edit mode allowing you to make changes

Left-click on a work order from the calendar view will display the work order location on the Map panel

Work Order location on Map

• The work order popup screen will display the primary technician’s name as listed on the work order, the WO #, customer name, and the job date and job time on the work order
• Edit button will open the work order allowing you to make changes
• Show in Grid button will filter the dispatch panel to only display the selected work order and which dispatch view (tab) it falls under

Right-clicking on a work order from the calendar panel will display additional options you can take

Right-click options from Calendar

Below is a brief explanation of each option:

Item	Functionality
	Will display the location of the work order address on the Map
	Will filter the Dispatch panel to only display the selected work order and which dispatch view (tab) it falls under
	Will display a list of all notes entered on the work order
	Will open the work order screen for the selected job allowing you to make changes.
	Will bring up a Cancel Work Order popup screen allowing you to select a cancel reason and enter comments as to why you are canceling the work order.  Canceling the work order will change the job status to Canceled and will remove it from the calendar.

What makes a technician appear on the calendar?

You will only see employee names appear in the Calendar panel who have a status of ‘Active’ and have been assigned the Role: Technician in their employee record

Employee Time off will display on the Dispatch > Calendar panel allowing you to see when a technician will be out of the office and unavailable to work. Double click on a time-off block will jump you to the Employee time-off entry. Hovering over a time-off block will display a tool tip with additional information (e.g. time off reason, hours, date)

You may change technician or job start time by left-clicking on a work order and dragging it to the appropriate tech or timeslot on the calendar. Work orders that have a Job Status of Active or Travel may not be moved on the calendar.

A job length may be extended by hovering your mouse at the start or end of a work order block until you see the  double-sided arrow appear on the dispatch calendar.  With the double-sided arrow visible, left-click and drag your mouse to extend or shorten the work order job length.

Map

The Map panel was designed to display the Active / Travel information for the current day. This allows for easily viewing jobs technicians are in route to and jobs technicians are currently active on

Below is a brief explanation of each Map options:

Item	Functionality
	Button toggles between ‘Hide Active/Travel’ & ‘Show Active/Travel’    If clicked, map will filter to no longer display Active and Travel information
	Button toggles between ‘Hide Active/Travel’ & ‘Show Active/Travel’    If clicked, map will display Active and Travel information
	Button re-centers map by zooming view to show all houses and trucks
	Button toggles between 'Show Map' & 'Hide Map' If clicked, map will expand the Map section to its previous size on the right side of the Dispatch panel User preference for hide/show of the Dispatch Map will be automatically saved as an Employee Option and will persist after browser refresh and logout/login
	Button toggles between 'Show Map' & 'Hide Map' If clicked, map will collapse and be hidden on the Dispatch panel User preference for hide/show of the Dispatch Map will be automatically saved as an Employee Option and will persist after browser refresh and logout/login
	Icon represents a work order that is scheduled for the current day.  Different color icons represent different status:  Green:  Work Order Job Status = Active  Yellow:  Work Order Job Status = Travel  Orange: Work Orders that where active or travel before the current date
	con represents a technician’s truck.  Each Technicians vehicle will be represented by the first letter of their last name appearing on the truck.  Different color icons represent different status:  Green: Technician is marked as Job Status = Active on the job  Yellow: Technician is marked as Job Status = Travel on the job  Orange:  Technicians who currently show as Clocked-out (inactive), but the technician has synced their location after being Active/Travel on a job
	Number icons on the Map represent the Jobs for a specific Technician and the order that the technician is scheduled to perform those jobs Numbers will only be displayed on the Map when a technician’s name has been selected (highlighted) on the Calendar View You may view more than one technician’s jobs on the calendar at the same time Each technician will be represented by a different color to make identifying work orders associated with specific technicians easier

Additional Items: 

By default, the Map panel is centered based off the primary address located in Setup Franchise and will be set at a fixed zoom level

Left-clicking on a House, Truck, or Number icon will display a popup screen with additional information about that item

Work Order location on Map

• The work order popup screen will display the primary technician’s name as listed on the work order, the WO #, customer name, and the job date and job time on the work order
•  Edit button will open the work order allowing you to make changes
•   Show in Grid button will filter the Dispatch panel to only display the selected work order and which dispatch view (tab) it falls under

Colored lines on the map:

Colored lines on the Map are used to help determine expected travel routes for technicians

• Colored lines between numbers: Represent a specific technician’s scheduled work orders and the recommended route a technician should take to each job
• Colored lines between trucks and houses: Represents the expected travel route of a technician to their next job

View work order locations on map:

You may view a work orders location on the map by preforming the following steps:

• From the Dispatch panel, left-click on the work order address displayed in the grid
• From the Calendar panel, left-click on a work order

When a work order is selected to view on the map, the map will keep its current zoom level, but will pan to the work order location

View technician jobs on the map:

Left-click on a technician’s name from the calendar will display the technician’s scheduled work orders for the day on the map

You may view multiple technician’s jobs on the map at a time by following one of the available viewing options listed below:

Option	Functionality
View all technicians	To view ALL technician’s scheduled work orders on the map, click ‘Select All’ from the bottom of the Calendar.
View select technicians (only)	To view technician’s scheduled work orders on the map, left-click on each technician’s name from the calendar you would like to view.

Each technician’s name will appear highlighted in a different color to represent their jobs on the map

Multiple Tech Selection

Work Orders will appear with a colored number icon. Each number represents the order in which the technician is scheduled to perform their jobs. 1 representing the technicians first job of the day, where 3 would represent the technicians third job 

Did you know:  If a technician’s name is selected from the calendar to view on the map, below each technician’s name will display the total route distance and time for the selected technician and day. Distance and time are estimated numbers and may not reflect the actual distance and time a technician traveled for the day.

Unselect a technician from the map:

There are two ways to unselect technician’s names from appearing on the map. See below for an explanation of each method:

Option	Functionality
Unselect all technicians	To stop viewing ALL technician’s scheduled work orders on the map, click ‘Clear All’ from the bottom of the Calendar.
Unselect specific technicians (only)	Left-click the technician’s name from the calendar to unselect the technician and no longer display their schedule on the map

Map Functions:

Move the map:

To move the map around: left-click and hold your mouse, then drag the map by moving your mouse. Release your mouse to stop

You can also move the map by first single clicking on the map and then using your arrow keys. See below for an explanation of each arrow key

Arrow Key	Direction
Up	Moves the map North
Right	Moves the map East
Down	Moves the map South
Left	Moves the map West

Zoom in/out of the map: 

There are a few different ways to zoom in and out on the map

• In the bottom right, click  or
  

  Button	Function
  	Will zoom in on the map
  	Will zoom out on the map

• Scroll in/out of the map by using the scroll wheel on your mouse
• Double click using your mouse:
  • Double clicking the left button on your mouse will zoom the map in
  • Double clicking the right button on your mouse will zoom the map out

Section Resize:

You can expand or minimize the amount of information you see for each view on the Dispatch section by utilizing the resize feature

• Hover your mouse on the single line that appears between each view until you see one of the following images appear:  
• Once you see one of these images, left-click with your mouse and drag the section in the direction you would like to expand it
  

  Item	Functionality
  	Will adjust horizontal view on the dispatch allowing you to see more/less of either the Dispatch (grid) View or the Calendar View
  	Will adjust vertical view on dispatch allowing you to see more/less of either the Map View or the Dispatch/Calendar View If the map is resized so that it can barely be seen, it will automatically hide If the map is resized from hidden to something smaller than the threshold for automatic hiding, it will expand it to show the map Vertical resizing will automatically re-center the Dispatch Calendar schedule