The Dispatch Board: Your Real-Time Command Center for Field Operations

"Where's Mike? Is he done with the Johnson job yet? Can he squeeze in an emergency call in the afternoon?"

If this frantic internal monologue sounds familiar, you need a dispatch board. While a calendar is great for planning the week, a dispatch board is your command center for managing the day. It's the difference between planning a flight and being the air traffic controller.

In TradeCraft, the Dispatch Board provides a Kanban-style, real-time view of all your active jobs, organized by their current status. Here's why it's a game-changer for any service business.

Total Visibility in a Single Glance

A typical dispatch board has columns for each stage of a job's life cycle:

• Scheduled: The job is planned but work hasn't started.
• Dispatched: The technician has been notified and has acknowledged the job.
• On Route: The technician is on their way to the job site.
• In Progress: Work has begun.
• On Hold: The job is paused, perhaps waiting for a part or customer approval.

By seeing all your jobs organized this way, you can instantly understand the state of your entire operation without having to make a single phone call.

Smarter, Faster Dispatching

When an emergency call comes in, the dispatch board is your best friend. You can immediately see which technician is closest to finishing their current job or who might be on hold. This allows you to make an intelligent dispatching decision in seconds, improving your response time and impressing your customers.

Improved Team Communication

The dispatch board acts as a single source of truth for your entire team.

• Dispatchers know the real-time status of every technician.
• Technicians in the field can update their status with a tap on their mobile app, automatically moving their job card to the next column on the board.
• Office Staff can confidently answer customer inquiries about a job's status because they have access to the same live information.

Accountability and Performance Tracking

The dispatch board creates a clear record of how a job progressed. You can see how long a job spent in each stage, helping you identify bottlenecks in your workflow. Are jobs sitting in the "Scheduled" column for too long? Is one technician consistently faster than others? This data is invaluable for refining your processes and coaching your team.

If your goal is to run a smooth, efficient, and responsive field service operation, a dispatch board isn't just a nice-to-have feature; it's an absolute necessity.