The dispatch board¶
Read everybody's day on one screen, spot the work in trouble, and open any one person's day in full.
The board is the Chart view of the Dispatch tab in Lupa Dash. It needs an admin account.
Read the day¶
To read the day:
- Open Dispatch and choose Chart in the view toggle.
- Use the arrows either side of Today to step a day back or forward, or pick a date in the date box. Hovering over the date box lists how many unassigned visits sit on nearby days.
- Read across the lanes.
What you'll see.
- One lane per person. Every active technician and admin has a lane, headed by their name, a technician or admin badge, and how many visits they have that day. A business with nobody to dispatch to sees No active technicians or admins. Invite a teammate from the Team tab.
- Cards at the time they happen. Each card shows the customer, the start time and length in minutes, the visit's status, and — for an address that belongs to a route — the route's coloured dot and name. A shaded stripe at the front of the card is the travel time before it.
- Stacked visits. Where cards sit too close together to read, they collapse into one badge with the person's first name and a count, such as "Dana: 3 visits". Hover over or tap the badge to list the visits, and choose one to open it.
- A now-line across the lanes, on today only.
- Shaded hours at the start and end of a lane, outside the hours that person works.
- The Open pool down the left: work nobody holds yet, with a count. Visits a technician declined show Declined by and their name; visits pushed off a full day show couldn't fit (was the technician's name). Completed and cancelled work is left out.
- The strip above the chart is the whole 24-hour day in miniature. Drag its handles or the window between them to change which hours the chart shows.
The colours. Open Color key under the open pool for the legend:
| Mark | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Red outline | Missed (the visit's time window passed and nobody started it), or declined by a technician |
| Amber outline | Running late: its start time has passed and it hasn't started, or it is under way and past its expected end |
| Amber dashed outline | Pushed off a technician's day because it no longer fit |
| Red badge | This visit is carrying earlier missed visits at the same address |
A lock icon on a card means the visit has a time promised to the customer. A visit from a recurring schedule with a promised time also carries an amber border, whether or not it is running late.
On a past date, anything still Scheduled or Confirmed shows as missed. Future dates show no missed or running-late colours; declined and pushed-off work keeps its outline on any date.
If the board is too dense or too sparse. Choose the gear button for Dispatch settings and pick a Display mode: Auto uses thick rows for up to eight people and thin rows from nine; Thick and Thin force one or the other. The choice is saved in this browser. The button beside the gear turns the names in the lane headers on their side to save width.
If a lane is shaded across hours you expect them to work. The shading comes from each person's own Day starts at and Day ends at. Each person sets these in their own profile, and you cannot change them for someone else. Ask the technician to update them; see Change your name, contact details and working hours. Someone with neither set gets no shading. When a move on the board lays a day out again, anything that would run past that person's Day ends at goes back to the open pool; with no end set, 6:00 PM is used.
Check one person's day¶
To open someone's day:
- Choose the person's name at the left of their lane.
What you'll see. Their agenda for the date: Visits, Estimated visit time, Estimated drive time, Day length (the two added together) and Off-target (how many visits are missed or running late), then the Agenda in time order with each stop's time, length and status. Choose Close to go back.
If Day length is longer than their working hours. There is more on the day than fits. Move something to another lane or back to the pool — see Moving work between people.
Spot a promise that has moved¶
When a visit with a promised time is moved for a customer who asked to be told, its card in the lane carries a red bell icon and the open pool header shows how many visits need client notification. Choose the bell to deal with it — see Tell a customer their time has moved.
Work your own visits as an admin¶
The board is for placing work. Confirming, declining and working your own visits happens on the technician schedule, as it does for any technician.
To work your own visits:
- From Dispatch, choose Tech schedule in the banner at the top of the panel (Managing your own visits?).
- Work the day there — see Your day in Lupa Tech and Working a visit.
The Tech schedule shows your own visits and the open pool, on the same date the board was showing.