How to Streamline Dispatching in FieldEdge

CSRs and Dispatchers are the unsung heroes of your office, ensuring all work in FieldEdge stays up to date. The demands of the office can often leave them feeling overwhelmed and burnt out. What if there was a way to make dispatching in FieldEdge easier?

This article covers ways we’ve helped our clients simplify dispatching in FieldEdge. These steps will help save your company time, improve productivity, and reduce stress on your employees!

Review Employee Settings in FieldEdge for Improved Dispatching

When discussing challenges with Dispatching – many of our clients will often open the Dispatch Board. While that might seem like the natural place to start, we recommend starting with the Settings screen instead. 

 

Using Skills in FieldEdge

Most FieldEdge Users know that you can click and drag any Work Order onto a Technician on the Dispatch Board. At times, you may have noticed this pop-up:

The reason you can’t assign a Work Order to the Technician is because they don’t possess the Skill needed.

Skills provide a useful signal to your CSRs and Dispatchers regarding the specific expertise of your Technicians. This feature can also help your newer CSRs and Dispatchers from assigning Work Orders to wrong Technicians without a necessary Skill. 

A Skill in FieldEdge is the type of work that your Technicians specialize in. Common Skills to create are: HVAC Install, HVAC Maintenance, and Plumbing S&D. Odds are, you may already have the Skills your company needs inside of your Settings.

 

Navigate to the Employees section in your Settings and choose the Technician you wish to assign a Skill to.

Scroll to the Schedule Skills and Information section, where you’ll find your Skills checklist on the right side. Choose all the Skills your Technician has and click Save. 

If a needed Skill is missing, create it! To make a new Skill, navigate to Settings, choose People, and add a Skill.

Your next step is to check the Tasks within your Settings.  Each Task should have associated Skills. Once implemented, it is easier for office employees to track which Technicians should perform certain Tasks. 

 

PCG Pointer: Assign Skills to anyone that works in the field, not just people with Technician profiles. Your superstar who enjoys working both in the office and field work can also have Skills assigned to their profile! 

 

When a Dispatcher is ready to dispatch a Work Order, a gold star will appear beside the Technician with the ideal Skill set: 

Use Dispatch Groups in FieldEdge

Many people find the Dispatch Board to be a challenging and stressful page in FieldEdge, especially for newcomers in the CSR or Dispatcher role. One way to ease the burden of dispatching is assigning Technicians to a group, making it easier for a Dispatcher to filter through your Technicians. 

You can assign Technicians to Dispatch Groups, inside of Employees Settings. There is a drop-down to assign your Technicians to a Dispatch Group. Select the Group you want this Technician to appear on and don’t forget to save! 

Keep in mind that you can only assign a Technician to one Dispatch Group. Also – feel free to get creative with your Dispatch Groups. While many clients use services (HVAC Install, Plumbing Service, etc.) as their Dispatch Groups, you could also use service areas (North, South) or even tenure (Journeyman, Apprentice, Helper). 

Once you’ve assigned your Technicians to a Dispatch Group, you’ll be able to filter your Dispatch Board by these groups. In the upper right corner of the Dispatch Board screen there is a  drop-down that is set to “All Groups” by default:

Select the drop-down box to select from a list of Dispatch Groups: 

 

Once you select a board view, the Dispatch Board will be narrowed down to the Technicians who are assigned to that board. 

 

With Dispatch Groups, your CSRs and Dispatchers can quickly find an available time and Technician without frantically scrolling through a busy Dispatch Board.

Little-Known FieldEdge Dispatch Board Features

Now that our Employees Settings are squared away for your Dispatch Board, let’s chat about some extra hidden tools your CSRs and Dispatchers can use for smoother operations. 

 

Customize the FieldEdge Work Order View

It’s no secret that the key to dispatching for FieldEdge is dragging and dropping a Work Order onto the Dispatch board. But did you know that you can change the Work Order table? In fact: each employee can customize their own Work Order view.

 

For instance, some of our clients prefer to view their Work Orders by Tasks rather than by Work Order Number. CSRs and Dispatchers can customize their view by dragging columns to their preferences or company priorities:

Use the GPS View in FieldEdge

When you click on a Work Order on the Dispatch Board in FieldEdge, you may notice how the GPS View shows your Work Orders location on the map. Did you know you can also find the Technician closest to that location to reduce drive times?

 

To determine how close a Technician is to the Work Order location, select their name from the GPS drop-down. With a few clicks, Dispatchers can easily screen out Technicians who cannot reach the location on time.  

By combining the GPS view with Skills, Dispatchers can efficiently find the ideal Technician for the job.

 

Want to Learn More about how to Streamline Dispatching in FieldEdge?

Our team at Powerhouse Consulting Group is a certified partner with FieldEdge. We will work with you to understand your workflow, create a strategy to conquer the Dispatch Board, and can provide hands-on training for your team. Contact us today for help with FieldEdge Consulting.