The complete guide to technician scheduling

Scheduling is where a field-service company makes or loses its margin. This guide covers the five decisions that matter, in the order to make them.

1. Windows

Offer two-hour windows, not four. A four-hour window loses the customer a morning and does not save the dispatcher anything once routing is automatic.

2. Buffers

Every job gets a buffer after it, sized to the job type. A filter change gets ten minutes; a boiler replacement gets forty-five. The buffer is what absorbs the overrun before it reaches the next customer.

3. Skills

Tag every technician with what they are certified for and every job type with what it needs. Kiosk will not offer a gas job to someone without the gas ticket, and the dispatcher stops having to remember who has what.

4. Territories

Draw them on the map, loosely. A technician can cross a boundary for an emergency; they should not cross it for a routine service.

5. The order of the day

Emergencies first, then anything with a hard window, then routine work sorted by distance. Let the routing do the sorting. The dispatcher's job is the exceptions.

Frequently asked

The questions below are the ones our support team answers most, on this subject.