doForms Dispatch Scheduler provides a convenient interface to view and create dispatches. Dispatches can be viewed all at once or according to color-coded statuses, and can be viewed per employee by day, week, or month. When creating dispatches, you may choose to send a dispatch to a mobile user, or to anyone with an email address.
Notes:
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If you don't want mobile users to have access to Dispatch Scheduler, you must modify their user permissions on the Manage Mobile Users screen.
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Dispatches scheduled through Dispatch Scheduler will show up in the standard Dispatch tab in the doForms portal; however, dispatches scheduled through the standard Dispatch tab will not appear in the Dispatch Scheduler.
Launching Dispatch Scheduler
To launch Dispatch Scheduler, select Dispatch Scheduler from the Dispatch menu (highlighted in red, below):
Viewing Dispatches
General information
Refer to the numbered highlights in the image shown below for information on viewing dispatches in the Dispatch Scheduler:
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By default, existing dispatches appear per employee, in rows categorized by the mobile unit they are a member of.
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The Dispatch Scheduler provides many different views of your existing dispatches. The All Jobs view shows you a sequential list of dispatches, the date and time they were dispatched, as well as History links that, when clicked, will show you the history of the dispatches' statuses.
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Select from the drop-down list to view existing dispatches. Dispatches can be viewed all at once (All Jobs), or by color-coded statuses. Click a status to only show dispatches with that particular status. Click the settings button to modify color settings.
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Click an existing dispatch (either in the grid view or All Jobs view). The dispatch will open in a separate window, allowing you to view the form and dispatch heading information.
Note: The dispatch name shown in the grid is the record name on the form. If there is no record name, then the dispatch name shown in the grid is the form name. For example, in the image below, the purple dispatch name with the numbered highlight "4" is HVAC Service Order, which is the form name.
Viewing dispatches for all mobile users in a single day
To view all dispatches in a single day for all mobile users, select the Day button, and then select a day (highlighted in red, below). The dispatch grid will display existing dispatches arranged per mobile user, in rows categorized by their designated mobile unit (highlighted in green, below).
You can set the calendar start time and end time, thus determining the window of time that is displayed in the Day view. The start time and end time can be selected at the bottom of the Dispatch Scheduler main screen (see image below). Note that the start time and end time must both be within the same calendar day (i.e., start time and end time cannot span across two calendar days).
The following image shows the calendar shown in Day view, with a Start Time of 9AM (highlighted in red) and an End Time of 5PM (highlighted in green):
Viewing dispatches for a single user in a week
To view a single mobile user's dispatches for the week, first select a mobile user. Select the Week button, and then select a day contained within that week (highlighted in red, below). The dispatch grid will display existing dispatches for that user for that week (highlighted in green, below).
You can set the calendar start time and end time, thus determining the window of time that is displayed in the Week view. The start time and end time can be selected at the bottom of the Dispatch Scheduler main screen (see image below). Note that the start time and end time must both be within the same calendar day (i.e., start time and end time cannot span across two calendar days).
The following image shows the calendar shown in Week view, with a Start Time of 9AM (highlighted in red) and an End Time of 5PM (highlighted in green):
Viewing dispatches for a single user in a month
To view a single mobile user's dispatches for the month, first select a mobile user. Select the Month button, and then select a day contained within that month (highlighted in red, below). The dispatch grid will display existing dispatches for that user for that month (highlighted in green, below).
Viewing dispatches for a single user in a single day
To view a single mobile user's dispatches for a single day, first select a mobile user. Select the Agenda button, and then select a day (highlighted in red, below). The dispatch grid will display existing dispatches for that user for that day (highlighted in green, below).
Viewing dispatch history
To view the history of a dispatch's statuses, including the date(s) and time(s) that the status changed, click any History link next to the desired dispatch (highlighted in red, below).
Creating Dispatches
To create a new dispatch, either click the Dispatch button (highlighted in red, below), or click a dispatch starting time for the mobile user you wish to send the dispatch to (highlighted in green, below):
A dispatch form will appear and default to Send to: Mobile (highlighted in red, below). If you clicked a dispatch starting time above, your form header will pre-populate with the mobile user's Name, Mobile Number, Date of dispatch, and Start Time (highlighted in green, below) (note that the Start Time defaults to the next available time for the current day). If you clicked the Dispatch button above, these fields will not pre-populate, and you will need to manually enter this information.
If you select the Send to: Email option instead (highlighted in red, below), the dispatch will change to an email format. Fill in the Email to, Subject line, and Body message (highlighted in green, below). (Note: click here for full documentation about Fill & Send.)
Using Data Names in your custom body message or email subjects
Users can use data names from existing fields in their form to populate their custom body messages. For example, if a user wanted to have the message include the customers name they could use this sentence as an example: Thank You {Customer_Name} for the order (in this example {Customer_Name} is a field in the form where the user would type the customers name). Now every time a new name is entered the body message data name will be replaced with the valuer entered in the form.
Users can also use data names in their email subjects. Just like with the body message, when in the report settings for an email field and also using the "Custom" option for the email subject, users can create custom strings or sentences using the forms data names. For example, a user could want to identify each email by customer name and by invoice number by adding the data names {Customer_Name} - {Invoice Number} to their custom email subject. In this example the values entered in the form form for customer name and invoice number would be shown on the email subject when the email was received.
Select a Project and Form from their respective drop-down lists (highlighted in red, below), and the selected form will appear (highlighted in green, below). Pre-populate any form fields if desired.
Click Save (highlighted in green, below) to save as a pending dispatch (mobile dispatch only). Click Send to open a dialog box (highlighted in red, below). Click the Now button to send the dispatch immediately. Click the Scheduled button to send the dispatch on the dispatch's scheduled Date according to a set time.
If you click the Scheduled button above, the following dialog box will appear. Using the Time drop-downs, select the time you wish to send out the dispatch. When you are done, click the Schedule link (highlighted in red, below):
Settings
Selecting default project and/or form for new dispatches.
In the Settings window, users can now select a default project and/or form, which will pre-populate the dispatch each time a new dispatch is created. Note that you can only select from projects and forms that you as a web user have access to.
To select a default project and/or form for new dispatches, open the Dispatch Scheduler Settings window by clicking the settings icon (highlighted in red, below). Select a default project from the Project drop-down list (highlighted in green, below). Select a default form from the Form drop-down list (highlighted in green, below).
The selected default project and/or form will pre-populate the dispatch each time a new dispatch is created (highlighted in red, below):
Selecting mobile groups to expand by default within the Dispatch Scheduler main screen.
In the Settings window, users can now select one or more (or all) mobile groups to expand in the Dispatch Scheduler main screen, showing the individual mobile users in those mobile groups.
To select which mobile group(s) expand by default in the Dispatch Scheduler main screen, open the Dispatch Scheduler Settings window by clicking the settings icon (highlighted in red, below). To expand all mobile groups by default, select the Expand all mobile groups radio button (highlighted in green, below). To expand individual mobile groups by default, select the Expand only radio button, and then select checkboxes for individual mobile groups (highlighted in green, below).
In the Settings window shown below, the user has selected the Electrical, HVAC, and Plumbing mobile groups to expand:
In the Dispatch Scheduler main screen, the Electrical, HVAC, and Plumbing mobile groups expand (highlighted in green, below), while the Main and Dispatch to Email mobile groups remain closed (highlighted in red, below):
