Using the Dispatch Board
The dispatch board has two main ways to move a job forward: drag-and-drop (on desktop) and the status buttons in the job details sheet (on mobile or when you don’t want to drag).
Drag-and-Drop (Desktop)
On a desktop browser, grab any job card and drop it into a different lane. What happens next depends on which lane you drop into:
Simple transitions — no confirmation
These lanes update instantly when you drop a card:
- Scheduled → En Route
- En Route → On Site
- On Site → En Route (if you need to back up)
The card moves, the job status updates in the database, and your team’s boards refresh within 30 seconds.
Transitions that require a reason
Three lanes need an explanation before the move is saved:
- Paused — a brief pause reason (“Lunch break”, “Waiting on parts”)
- Reschedule Needed — why the job can’t be done today
- Cancelled — why the job was called off
When you drop into one of these, a dialog asks for the reason and optionally a note. If you leave the reason empty, the move is rejected with an error toast.
Transitions that trigger the completion flow
Dropping a job into Completed opens a multi-step modal — see Completing Jobs from Dispatch for the full walkthrough.
Mobile: Status Buttons in the Job Sheet
On phones and tablets, drag-and-drop is disabled. Instead:
- Tap any job card to open the job details sheet (a bottom sheet on mobile, a side panel on desktop).
- The sheet shows status buttons for each available transition: Head There, Arrived, Pause, Need Reschedule, Complete, Cancel.
- Tap the button for the next stage. If the new status needs a reason, the input appears in the same sheet.
This is the same flow used by field crews on their phones — they can update their own jobs without having to drag anything.
Who Can Update Which Jobs
The board enforces these rules automatically:
- Owners can update any job, regardless of crew assignment.
- Team members can only update jobs that are:
- Directly assigned to them, OR
- Assigned to a crew they are a member of.
If a card is not yours to move, the drag handle is disabled and the status buttons in the sheet are grayed out. You can still view the card details.
Quick Action Buttons
Every job card has a row of quick-action buttons at the bottom for the most common field operations:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Start Timer | Starts the job timer on the current device. The timer survives page refreshes and is saved against the job when you complete it. |
| On My Way | Sends the customer the configured arrival text. Disabled after it’s been sent once for this job. |
| Call | Opens your phone’s dialer with the customer’s number. Disabled if the customer has no phone on file. |
| Maps | Opens Google Maps directions to the job’s service address. Disabled if there’s no address. |
| Checklist | Jumps to the job’s checklist screen for ticking off task items. |
| Invoice | Creates a new invoice from this job, or opens the existing invoice if one already exists. |
If a button is grayed out, the underlying data isn’t available — for example, “Call” needs a customer phone number on the profile.
Group by Crew
Above the lanes, you’ll see a Group by Crew toggle. When enabled, the board reorganizes so each crew’s jobs are stacked together under a crew header. This is useful when you have multiple crews running in parallel and want to see each crew’s day at a glance. Unassigned jobs appear in their own section at the top.
Assigning a Crew from a Card
If you see a job marked Unassigned, you have two options:
- From the dispatch board: open the job sheet and use the crew dropdown.
- From the job detail page: click the job name to open its full edit page and assign there.
A single job can be assigned to multiple crews — they’ll all see it on their dispatch board.
What If Two People Move the Same Job?
The board uses last-write-wins. If you drag a job to On Site at the same moment someone in the office drags it to Paused, whichever request reaches the server last will be the final status. Within 30 seconds, both boards will reconcile to the same state. This is rare in practice because crews work on their own jobs and the office typically only intervenes for exceptions.
Related
- Daily Dispatch Overview — what dispatch is and the seven lanes
- Completing Jobs from Dispatch — the completion flow, timer finalization, and review requests
- Crews — setting up crews and adding members
- “On My Way” Notifications — configuring the arrival text