Scheduling and dispatch agent
A calendar that keeps itself straight all day
A job runs long, a customer wants Thursday instead, a tech calls in sick. The scheduling and dispatch agent handles the shuffle and tells everyone who needs to know.
Scheduling and dispatch agent
What does a scheduling and dispatch agent do?
A scheduling and dispatch agent books jobs into open slots, confirms them with the customer, moves them when plans change, and sends the reminder the day before. Optimus Business Solutions in Salem, New Hampshire builds it around your calendar, your crew and the way you route work. It knows which tech does which kind of job, how long each job type takes, and which towns you group together. When a customer asks to move, it offers times that work, updates the calendar and lets the tech know.
Who it helps
For the shop where the schedule lives in one head
In plenty of trade shops the schedule only works because one person holds it in their head, and every change runs through their phone. When they are on a job or out sick, things slip: two jobs booked at once, a customer waiting at home for a truck that is across town. This agent helps shops with a few techs or crews and an owner or office manager tired of being the switchboard.
- Shops with a few techs or crews
- An owner stuck acting as the switchboard
- Customers who reschedule by text at the last minute
What it does
Booked, confirmed, moved and reminded
A new job gets a slot that fits the tech, the job length and the drive. The customer gets a confirmation with the date and arrival window. If they reply asking to move, they get a few open times to choose from, and the calendar updates when they pick. The day before, a reminder goes out. When a job runs over, the next customer hears before they start wondering.
- Slots matched to tech, job length and drive
- Confirmations, plus the reminder the day before
- Reschedules handled by a simple reply
Connected
Runs on your calendar and your field software
It works in the calendar or field service software you use now, through its own connection, along with your business texting and email. New bookings can come from the receptionist, the website or the office, and land in the same schedule. Job notes and the address reach the tech on the device they already carry. Your CRM sees every booking on the customer's record.
- Your calendar or field service software
- Texts and emails sent from your business
- Bookings shown on the customer's record
You stay in charge
You set the rules. It handles the shuffle.
You decide the arrival windows, the jobs each tech can take, the hours you work and what counts as too far. Emergencies, a double booking it cannot untangle, and a customer upset about timing go to a person right away. It never cancels a job on its own. Every booking, move and reminder is logged with the time it happened, so a question about who said what has an answer.
- Your windows, hours and job rules
- It never cancels a job on its own
- A log of every booking and change
Keep going
Where this connects
Each agent takes one job. These are the pages it works beside.
Questions owners ask
Scheduling and dispatch agent: straight answers
Can it decide which tech goes to which job?
Within the rules you give it, yes. You tell it who handles which work, who is licensed for what, and who covers which towns. It suggests or makes the assignment and shows its reason. You can keep the final say on assignments at first, and hand more over once you see its choices match your own.
What happens when a job runs long?
The tech or the office marks it, or the agent sees the job is still open past its window. The next customer gets a heads up with an honest new time. If the rest of the day no longer fits, you get a short list of what to move, and the agent offers those customers new times. Nobody sits at home wondering.
Does the reminder the day before really matter?
It is one of the simplest guards against a wasted trip. A customer who forgot, or who needs to move the job, can say so the day before instead of when your truck pulls into the driveway. The reminder carries the arrival window and an easy way to confirm or ask for a new time.
Can customers book online with it?
Yes, if you want them to. The booking form on your website can offer only the slots that fit the job type and your rules, and the agent takes it from there with the confirmation and the reminder. If you prefer to talk to every new customer first, online requests can wait for your okay before they become bookings.
What if my techs never look at the schedule?
Then the schedule goes to them. Each tech gets the day's jobs, addresses and notes where they already look, as a text or in the field app they carry, plus a message when something changes. They do not have to open anything new, and the office stops making the same round of calls every morning.
Tell us the job that eats your time
Book a 15-minute call and describe the job; you get a straight answer on whether an agent fits it.