Learn more

About the Dispatch Board

Note: Service Receivables features are available only if you purchased the Service Receivables Add-On Module.

Note: If you open the 11-3 Dispatch Board window, you have opened the Dispatch Board in view-only mode. In this window, you can view appointments in the calendar, view the travel time, view the properties of a work order, and add new employees to the employee list. Because this window is view-only, some options are not available.

All Dispatch Board options are available through 11-2 Work Orders/Invoices/Credits by clicking Dispatch Board in the Options menu, including setting preferences, adding email addresses to technicians in the Employee List, and configuring the Email Setup information.

If you enter work orders in the 11-2 Work Orders/Invoices/Credits window without assigning technicians, the Dispatch Board displays those work orders in the Unassigned column. You can then assign the appointments to technicians by moving them to the appropriate times and technicians, and Sage 100 Contractor adds that information to the records for you.

Zoom In or Out

The zoom slider is by default set at 100%. If you have a lot of technicians scheduled for the day, you can zoom out by using the slider and going to the left, or by clicking the [Ctrl] button and clicking the [-] button. The white area in the grid is the regular working hours (start and finish times) set by selecting Preferences in the Settings menu.

Note: Grid lines will draw in the grid beyond midnight, but that time is not available to schedule.

Viewing appointments in the schedule

You can view appointments in a 1 Day view or a 5 Days view.

1 Day view. In the 1 Day view, the time is shown in hour blocks. The amount of information displayed in the hour block, as well as column size and width, are set by selecting Preferences in the Settings menu.
5 Days view. At a quick glance, you can see the availability of a technician for today and the next four days by clicking [5 Days]. To see one technician's schedule in an expanded view in the 5 Days view, click the double arrow icon centered under the technician’s name. Clicking on it when the arrows point to the right expands the column and clicking on it when the arrows point to the left collapses the column.

Filtering unassigned work orders

If you have a large number of unassigned work orders, excluding old orders and orders that are too far in the future enables the program to display and process work orders more efficiently, and it makes the Unassigned Column easier for you to work with.

Making invoiced work orders less obtrusive

You can set a preference for the Dispatch Board that makes invoiced orders appear transparent so they are less prominent than other work orders.

To make invoiced work orders transparent:

From the Settings menu, click Preferences.
In the Dispatch Board Preferences window, on the General tab, select Show invoiced work orders as transparent.

With this option selected, work orders that are not yet invoiced stand out clearly. You can hover over an invoiced order to see its details.