Managing jobs as a dispatcher

As a dispatcher, your role is to keep jobs moving smoothly from the moment a quote is accepted through to completion. You have access to the full jobs dashboard, can assign technicians, update job statuses, and communicate with customers on behalf of the business. This article covers your core job management responsibilities.

Your role as dispatcher

Dispatchers sit between the business owner and the technicians in the field. You are responsible for making sure every accepted job has a technician assigned, an appointment scheduled, and a clear path to completion. You do not send quotes — that is the owner's responsibility — but once a job is accepted, day-to-day management is yours.

The jobs list view

Log in to TruePro and go to Jobs. You will see all active jobs for the business. Use the status filter to find jobs needing attention — for example, jobs in "Accepted" status that do not yet have a scheduled appointment. Sort by date to see what is coming up soonest.

Assigning technicians

1. Open the job that needs a technician assigned.
2. Use the Technician dropdown on the job detail page to pick a name — it saves as soon as you choose one, no separate save step needed.
3. Check the calendar view to confirm they do not have a clash before assigning them to an appointment time.

Monitoring live operations

Go to Operations in the main menu to open the Live Dispatch Board. This gives you a real-time view of every appointment scheduled for today:

• Each row shows the appointment time, customer suburb, service type, and assigned team.
• A colour-coded status badge tells you at a glance whether a technician is scheduled, en route, on site, overrunning, overdue, or completed.
• A left-border stripe highlights appointments that need attention — red for overdue, amber for not yet en route.
• An elapsed-time indicator shows how long a technician has been on site.

Status meanings:

• Scheduled — appointment is in the future and no action has been taken yet.
• Not en route (amber) — the appointment start is within 15 minutes but the technician has not marked en route.
• En route — technician has marked themselves en route.
• Overdue (red) — either 15 minutes past start time with no arrival logged, or 5 minutes past start with no en-route or arrival.
• On site — technician has arrived.
• Overrunning — technician is still on site more than 5 minutes past the scheduled end time.
• Departed — technician has left the site.
• Completed — job marked complete.

A collapsed Tomorrow section at the bottom shows tomorrow's appointments. Any that still have no team assigned are flagged so you can sort them before the day starts.

If any of today's appointments have no team assigned, a warning banner appears at the top of the board. Fix these immediately — an unassigned appointment cannot be dispatched.

Updating job statuses

You can update job statuses from the dashboard when a technician cannot do so themselves — for example, if there is a connectivity issue in the field. Use this sparingly and always ensure the status accurately reflects what is actually happening on the job.

Viewing customer messages

All messages between the customer and the business are visible in the job's message thread. As a dispatcher, you can read and respond to customer messages. Always be professional — messages are recorded and may be reviewed in the event of a reported issue.