In this tutorial, you will learn how to use the basic functionality behind the Dispatch Board in ServiceCEO.
The Dispatch Board is the calendar within ServiceCEO, but it is also the central nervous system of the software. You can start any work flow from this portion of the software.
Take a look at the top-right corner at the Common actions task bar.
By clicking on the Common actions bar, you can show a map of all of your work, add jobs, estimates, customers, and also print out work orders and route sheets for the day (or week).
Changing Layouts
You will be able to change the layout of the Dispatch Board by using the calendar and view options on the top-left of the Dispatch Board.
In this particular instance, you are viewing the Dispatch Board for this one day in 15 minute increments. You can switch to view a whole week and also switch the increments in the day view from any increment from 15 minutes to 240 minutes. Additionally, you can easily switch between days and weeks by using the arrows around the displayed date. Finally, you can click on the Calendar icon to move easily between specific dates.
Teams and Employees
On the left-hand side of the Dispatch Board, you can see your employees and teams.
The Teams will be displayed on the top with the Employees displayed on the bottom.
If you click on an Employee’s name, it will bring up a pop-up.
From this pop-up, you will have access to your employee’s contact information (phone and email), you can click on “View Employee” to go to their employee record, you can view their driving directions for the day or week, or you can print their invoices, work orders, or route sheets for the day by using the drop-down Reports area.
Scheduled Jobs
Next to the employees, you will see all of your work orders that are scheduled out for the day (or week).
Each job is marked by a few different things:
Color – Marks the Status of the Work Order (Blue=Open, Green=Closed, Red=Cancelled)
Customer’s Name – Displayed in the center of the job
Zip Code – Zip or Postal Code of the Service Location
Icon – Substatus of the job created during implementation
To see more details on any job, simply click on the Customer’s name.
At the top, you will have the Summary of the Job (in this instance it is 5/22). You also have quick access to the Customer file by clicking on the blue link or their contact information by clicking on the contact icon to the right of the customer link. In this pop-up, you also see the current Status and Substatus, the Work Order number, the business unit the job is applied to, the service contact and location, and additional notes and information pertaining to this work order. At the bottom of this pop-up, you will be able to print or email the invoice or work order for this job.
Note: The “Schedule another Work Order after this one” link is covered in our scheduling tutorial.
Drag and Drop Functionality
On the Dispatch Board, you can click down on and Work Order and move it to another time or employees schedule.
When doing this, note that a green message will pop-up above the Work Order, showing exactly where you are currently moving the Work Order to. You can drag and drop jobs from the queues that will be covered in the next section of this tutorial. Additionally, you can extend the amount of time allotted to a Work Order by hovering towards the end of the blue bar and dragging the job out.
Dispatch Board Queues
At the bottom of the Dispatch Board there are three lists.
The Unassigned Work Orders are jobs that have a specific date and/or time but do not yet have an employee or team assigned. This queue only shows jobs for the day or week that you are viewing. When you have decided on an employee or team, you can simply drag and drop the job onto the Dispatch Board to schedule it with a specific employee or team.
The Unscheduled Work Orders are jobs that have no date, time, employee, or team assigned to them yet. While the work order is in this queue, you will be able to see the Substatus, the Customer, the Duration of the job, the Service Location, and the Summary of the Job (with a link to the full work order). You can also click on the blue bar to the right to see more information on the work order. When you have decided on an employee and time, you can simply drag and drop the blue bar onto the Dispatch Board to schedule it with a specific employee or team.
The Earlier Opening Request queue is a list of work orders that have not been completed and the customer has requested an earlier opening than their scheduled appointment. If the “Earlier Opening Request” checkbox has been selected on the work order, then it will appear on this list. When you have decided on an employee and time, you can simply drag and drop the blue bar onto the Dispatch Board to schedule it with a specific employee or team.
Note: The names of the lists will appear Red if there are jobs that need to be assigned.
Custom Views – Dispatch Board
Custom Views allow you to limit the calendar to see only particular employees, teams, or types of jobs.
To create a new Custom View, click on “New View”.
On the left hand side, we see a list of Filter Options that will help us create the new view. If you are using Business Units, you can select to choose work orders of a particular business unit.
You can also filter by your Employees or Teams assigned to the Work Orders.
Using this filter, you will be able to choose specific employees and even Unassigned work orders that have not be given to a particular employee.
You can also filter by the Job Type
This is useful for if you only wanted to filter through jobs of a particular purpose, whether it be a recurring job or a one-time job.
You can also filter by the Status and Substatus on the Work Order
You can narrow down these Work Orders by Status or even by Substatus. This will help you set reminders, close out jobs, and make sure you stay on top of specific status types.
You can also filter by Service Locations.
Service Locations can be filtered by City, State/Province, or Zip as well as by Zone if you are using Zones within ServiceCEO.
Options Filtering
In the Options area, you can add or delete additional information from the Dispatch Board, such as removing unscheduled and earlier opening requests. Additionally, you can add information to see, such as the Work Order Type or Zone flags.
Custom Fields
Custom Fields can help you define and sort criteria that is not naturally within ServiceCEO.
To complete creating a custom view, be sure to check off all of the criteria that you will be searching for, and select save. You will now have that view permanently saved in your drop down views menu to help you sort through your Dispatch Board.
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