11-3 Dispatch Board

Service Receivables features are available only if you have purchased the Service Receivables Add-On Module.

In the 11-3 Dispatch Board window, you can view appointments in the calendar, view the travel time, view the properties of a work order, add new employees to the employee list, set preferences, add email addresses to technicians in the employee list, and configure the email setup information.

If you enter work orders in the 11-2 Work Orders/Invoices/Credits window without assigning technicians, the Dispatch Board displays those work orders in the Unassigned column. You can then assign the appointments to technicians by moving them to the appropriate times and technicians, and Sage 100 Contractor adds that information to the records for you.

Zoom In or Out

The zoom slider is by default set at 100%. If you have a lot of technicians scheduled for the day, you can zoom out by using the slider and going to the left, or by clicking the [Ctrl] button and clicking the [-] button. The white area in the grid is the regular working hours (start and finish times) set by selecting Preferences in the Settings menu.

Note: Note that grid lines will draw in the grid beyond midnight, but that time is not available to schedule.

Viewing appointments in the schedule

You can view appointments in a 1 Day view or a 5 Days view.

1 Day view: In the 1 Day view, the time is shown in hour blocks. The amount of information displayed in the hour block, as well as column size and width, are set by selecting Preferences in the Settings menu.

5 Days view: At a quick glance, you can see the availability of a technician for today and the next four days by clicking [5 Days]. To see one technician's schedule in an expanded view in the 5 Days view, click the double arrow icon centered under the technician’s name. Clicking on it when the arrows point to the right expands the column and clicking on it when the arrows point to the left collapses the column.

To adjust appointment duration

1

Open 11-3 Dispatch Board.

2

Using the data control, select the day you want to view.

3

In the column of the technician, drag the bottom of the appointment down to set the duration of the appointment.

To adjust travel time

In 11-3 Dispatch Board, you can add or edit the travel time for an appointment. Travel time appears as a light green block above the appointment.

To adjust travel time, drag the top of the appointment up to set the travel time.

You can move an appointment to a different day.

To reschedule an appointment

1

Open 11-3 Dispatch Board.

2

Using the data control, select the day you want to view.

3

Right-click the appointment you want to move.

4

Click Move to.

5

In the Calendar, double-click the date to which you want to assign the appointment.

To display the properties of an appointment

1

Open 11-3 Dispatch Board.

2

From the Options menu, select Dispatch Board.

3

Using the data control, select the day you want to view.

4

Right-click the appointment, then click Properties.

When you click Refresh on the menu bar, Sage 100 Contractor updates the Dispatch Board to reflect all recent changes made to appointments.

To refresh the Dispatch Board

1

Open 11-3 Dispatch Board.

2

On the menu bar, select Refresh.

Creating new work orders from the Dispatch Board

Service Receivables features are available only if you have purchased the Service Receivables Add-On Module.

To create a new work order from the Dispatch Board:

Setting up employees and vendors for the Dispatch Board

Service Receivables features are available only if you have purchased the Service Receivables Add-On Module.

To display a list of service technicians (employees and subcontractors) in the Dispatch tab, you must set up the dispatch list.

To set up a dispatch list

1

Open 11-3 Dispatch Board.

2

On the Settings menu, click Column Setup.

3

In the Record Type cell, enter E for Employee or V for Vendor.

4

In the Employee/Vendor cell, click to open Display lookup window, and then enter an employee number.

5

In the Display As cell, enter the name you want to appear.

6

In the Technician's Email Address cell, enter the email address for the technician.

7

On the File menu, click the [Save] button.

Configuring the Dispatch Board email settings

To set the field list options for each company

Note: The information sent in the email message will be based upon the field selections you make here. Every email sent for the Dispatch Board will use this list.

1

Select the fields you want to see displayed in the email messages.

a

To add a field, click on the field name in the Available fields box and then click on the [Add] button.

b

To remove a field, click on the field name in the Show these fields in this order box and then click the [Remove] button.

c

To change the order of fields displayed, click on the field name and then click the [Move Up] or [Move Down] button.

2

(Optional) Select the checkbox for "Warn me when previously sent information becomes invalid" if you would like a dialog box to pop up when previously emailed information changes in the Dispatch Board.

To set the email options

1

Open 11-3 Dispatch Board.

2

From the Settings menu, select Email Setup.

3

Click [Email Settings].

4

Select one of the following options for how you would like your emails to be sent:

a

Select Send email using Microsoft Outlook to use Outlook to send your emails.

i

Enter an email address.

b

Select Send email using the company's default SMTP connection.

i

Enter the email address.

ii

Enter the password.

Note: The mail server is set up in the Email/Fax Configuration tab of 7-2 Company Information. How? If you have not set up an email server, the Mail Server field will be blank. If you have set up an email server, the IP address is shown here, but is not editable.

c

Select Send email using this alternate SMTP connection to configure the email server setup.

i

Enter the mail server information and select whether it Requires authentication and/or Uses SSL.

ii

Enter the Port #.

iii

Enter the email address.

iv

(Optional) Enter the password.

5

Click [OK].

6

Verify that the Email from field has the correct email address.

7

Click [OK].

Emailing work orders to technicians

Service Receivables features are available only if you have purchased the Service Receivables Add-On Module.

There are several ways to email work orders to technicians.

To email all technicians

1

Open 11-3 Dispatch Board.

2

In the Dispatch Board window, click Options, then click Email All Technicians and select one of the following options:

a

Select [All Dispatches for the Day] to send all currently scheduled dispatches for each technician.

b

Select [First Dispatch of the Day] to send just the first scheduled dispatch for each technician.

To email a single work order to a technician

1

Open 11-3 Dispatch Board.

2

Right-click on the work order and select Email to Technician.

To email all daily work orders to a technician

1

Open 11-3 Dispatch Board.

2

Left-click on the technician's name in the column header and select Email All.

Note:

• If you have chosen to email the technician the duration of the job, if the duration changes on the Dispatch Board after emailing to a technician (and preference is set up to warn of changes), you will get a dialog box to update the email to the technician. Also, if the dispatch is moved to a new time, date, deleted or unassigned, you will also be notified to send an updated or cancellation email to the technician.

• You must make the changes to a dispatch on the Dispatch Board with a previously emailed dispatch to send the technician an email about the updated dispatch. If you make these changes in the work order, the dispatch moves to the correct time or date, but no email is sent to the technician and no warning symbol is displayed.

• If the preference for warning is not selected, and information that was emailed changes, you'll see a warning icon in the work order box.

Tip: You must set the Warn me when previously sent information becomes invalid checkbox in the Dispatch Board, by going to Settings, then selecting Email Setup. How?

About prioritizing work orders and employees

You can assign a priority number to each work order and to each employee assigned to that work order. The priority lets a dispatcher assess how important a work order is, or how important it is for an employee to go out on a particular job.

Important! If the priority of the employee is different from the priority of the work order, the Dispatch Board displays the employee's priority.

Customizing the priority dropdown list

You can customize the 8 selections in the priority dropdown list in 11-2 Work Orders/Invoices/Credits to make it applicable to your workflow. When you look at the appointment on the Dispatch Board, its priority appears as a color in the upper right corner.

Example #1: Priority by Service Level Agreement

For example, if you want to assign priority by service level agreement, you can do the following:

Priority	Color
1-4 Hour Response Time	Red
2-Same Day Response	Orange
3-8 Hour Response Time	Yellow
4-24 Hour Response Time	Green
5-48 Hour Response Time	Gray

Example #2: Priority by County

Priority	Color
West County	Red
North County	Yellow
East County	Green
South County	Blue

To customize the priority dropdown list

1

Open 11-2 Work Orders/Invoices/Credits.

2

Click the Dispatch tab.

3

Click the up arrow to the right of the priority dropdown list.

4

In the Label and Prompt tab, do the following:

a

Type a name for the Priority label in the User Description field. Use only letters or numbers, up to 19 characters, spaces included.

b

Type a prompt to help you identify what information the User Description field. This information displays in the status bar.

5

In the Item Names and Colors tab, do the following:

a

Type text in the fields to customize your section names.

b

To change the color for the section name, click the lookup button to the right.

6

If you need to remove a section or insert a section, do the following:

a

Click the [Advanced Options] link.

Note: You must be the Supervisor user to access the Advanced Options area.

b

Delete the unneeded sections. If a section name is assigned to a record, you cannot delete that section.

c

Click [OK].

The changes are reflected in the Section Name and dropdown menu.