Getting around dispatch in Workflows

For dispatch staff · ~6 min read

The dispatch screens are one place with six tabs along the top. Every tab shows the same booked jobs. Each tab answers a different question, so pick the one that matches what you’re doing.

The six tabs

Tab	Use it to
Board	See every job as a card in a lane for its dispatch status. Drag a card to the next lane to move it along.
Grid	See the same jobs as a list you can sort, export and print.
Capacity	See how full each run is, day by day, before you promise a date.
Schedule	Book the jobs that are waiting. The To book tray sits beside your runs and days.
Calendar	See each run’s day against the clock. Reschedule, complete, take payment and build a route.
Map	See one day’s stops on a map, in the order they’ll be visited.

Along the top

The header row sits at the top of every tab:

• ? — opens this page.
• Scan — full-screen scanning for a warehouse tablet. It appears only if you have scanning access.

The Print menu, on Board, Grid, Schedule and Calendar, has the Run sheet and Truck sheet for the dates showing. See Printing.

The date and filter row is on Board, Grid, Capacity and Schedule:

• Day, Week and Month choose how much you see. The arrows and Today move you through time.
• Filters opens the panel:
  • Dispatch status, Dispatch type, Run, Branch and Customer group
  • From and To dates
  • Group lanes by (No grouping or Run)
  • Columns, for the lanes you want on the board. Show all brings every lane back.
• Each filter you set shows as a chip under the row. Close a chip to remove that filter, or use Clear to remove them all.

With Day, Week or Month, the screens open on the current one. A From and To range you set yourself is kept until it’s in the past; then the screens go back to the current week.

Find a job

Type an order number, customer name or order reference into Search order / customer… on the Board or Grid, or Find a job… on the Calendar, then press Enter.

Search looks at every date

Search isn’t limited to the dates showing. It finds the job wherever it’s booked, so there’s no need to widen the dates first. It shows the newest 200 matching orders. Each card says the day the job is booked, e.g. Booked Fri 24 Oct. On the Calendar, click a match to go to its day.

Booked jobs that weren’t made in your factory (bought-in items, say) are found and shown too, marked No factory job. If a job hasn’t been booked yet, it won’t be on the Board: look in the To book tray on Schedule.

The 3-month date range

Board, Grid, Schedule and Capacity show up to 3 months at a time. If you set From and To further apart than that, you’ll see:

That’s more than 3 months of jobs to show at once. Pick a shorter date range, or search for the job by number or customer.

Pick a shorter range, or search for the job instead. The limit keeps the screens quick for everyone in your business.

Book a job

1. Open Schedule. The To book tray on the left lists the jobs waiting for an install date. Each one shows its suburb and how much of it has been made.
2. Click the job in the tray. A banner reads Moving … — click a run and day to book it.
3. Click the run and day you want. The job is booked onto that run for that date.

Changed your mind? Select Cancel on the banner before you click a day. A day that already has bookings shows a Route button, which opens that run’s stops on the Map.

Change a job’s details

Click a card on the Board to open the job on the right. There you can set:

• Run for this order — which installer or run does the whole order
• Dispatch status, Dispatch type, Dispatch date and Dispatch notes — for each item

Save when you’re done. Pay In is also here if you have dispatch access.

Dragging a card to another lane on the Board sets its dispatch status: the whole order with Orders showing, or just that line with Line items showing.

Status changes can send email

If a dispatch status is set up to email the customer, moving a job into it sends that email straight away.

Work with the Calendar

• Overlap draws every run on shared columns. Split gives each run its own column.
• Runs, on the left, chooses which installers you see. With a lot of runs, untick the ones you don’t need, or look at one day at a time.
• Click a booking to change its status (for the whole order) or Reschedule it. You can also Open order, get Directions, Complete / Pay In, Email documents or see its History.
• Drag a booking to move it to another time or run.
• Route, on each day, lays that day’s stops out in driving order. Nothing changes until you save it.

More detail: Dispatch calendar & routes.

Printing

You want	Where it is
Every installer’s run for the dates showing	Print › Run sheet on Board, Grid, Schedule or Calendar
What each run needs to load for the dates showing	Print › Truck sheet — products by group, with quantity totals
To email the Run or Truck sheet	Email on Board or Grid, then tick Run sheet or Truck sheet — for the same dates
One installer’s sheet only	Filter to that Run first (on the Calendar, tick just that run), then Print or Email
Job sheets for everything showing (your dates and filters)	Print › Job Sheets (merged PDF) on Board or Grid
One job’s job sheet or labels	The icons on its card or Grid row

Print a run sheet

1. Set the dates you want — Day for a single day, or Week for the week ahead. To print one installer’s run, filter to that Run too.
2. Open Print and select Run sheet (or Truck sheet).
3. Your browser’s print window opens. Each day starts on a new page.

What’s on it: each installer in your installer order, one after another. Jobs with no run come last, under (No Installer).

Within a run, jobs are in the order the installer visits them: the saved route if there is one, otherwise preferred time, then job number. Each job shows:

• its stop number
• address and suburb
• preferred time
• job number and customer
• phone and mobile
• job type
• account status, plus the amount owing on a cash-on-delivery account
• dispatch notes
• every product, with size, quantity and the item’s notes

One run after another

Runs follow straight on from each other to save paper. A job is never split across two pages, and an installer’s name always stays with their first job.

Who can print it: anyone with access to the dispatch screens, including people who only have dispatch scanning access. It doesn’t need access to Reports. Installers who see only their own calendar don’t get the Print menu.

Common questions

Question	Answer
A customer is on the phone — when is their job booked?	Search for them (Board or Grid) or use Find a job… (Calendar). Each match shows the day it’s booked.
A job I know about isn’t on the Board	The Board shows jobs by booked date for the dates showing. Search for it, or check the To book tray on Schedule if it hasn’t been booked yet.
“That’s more than 3 months…”	Shorten the dates, or search for the job instead.
The calendar is too crowded to read	Untick runs you don’t need under Runs, switch to Overlap, or look at one day at a time.
The run sheet is missing a job	It shows every job booked on the dates showing, for the runs showing. Check the job’s dispatch date and the Run filter, and look under (No Installer) for a job with no run.
I need the run sheet for one installer	Filter to that Run (on the Calendar, tick just that run), then Print › Run sheet. Email sends the same.