Scheduling and dispatch
The Schedule gives every job a date and a person. Dispatch shows today, live: who's where, which jobs still need someone, and who may be late. Both check your work as you go, so a double booking gets caught before the customer does.
The intro, in words
One job, from the first ring to done
This is scheduling and dispatch in CrewBarn, followed one job at a time, from the first ring to done.
At Harlow and Finch, Kim books the calls, and Sam and Jo are out in the trucks.
The call: A call becomes a job
Tuesday, just after eight. Mrs. Rivera calls: her water heater is leaking in the garage.
The call lands in Kim's inbox with its recording, and CBI has already written down what she needs.
Kim presses Create job from this call, checks the draft, and presses Quick create job.
The call: Or price it first
If she'd asked for a price first, CBI would have drafted an estimate instead, and Kim would press Create estimate from this call.
The estimate goes out with its options, and once Mrs. Rivera approves it, it becomes the job, ready for To Schedule.
Booking: Waiting for a day and a person
With no date yet, the job waits in To Schedule. Kim filters it to emergencies, and Mrs. Rivera's leak is at the top.
She opens Thursday in day view. Every tech has a lane, with how many jobs and hours they have.
Booking: Drag it into Sam's lane
Kim drags the card into Sam's lane at ten fifteen. Before it books, CrewBarn checks for clashes, approved time off and tight drives between jobs.
All clear, so it books. The job is Scheduled, with Sam on it.
Mrs. Rivera will get a reminder text before the visit, from the reminders Dana set up once for every job.
Booking: Caught before she lets go
Now say Kim had dragged it over Sam's one o'clock instead.
The lane shows the clash while she's still holding the card, so she drops it at ten fifteen. And if she drops one in the wrong place, Ctrl Z puts it back.
Booking: Who should go?
Or say nobody can take it yet. Kim books the time and leaves it in the Unassigned lane.
On the dispatch map, unassigned jobs wait on the left. Kim clicks this one, and Suggest a tech ranks who's free and who's closest. Looking doesn't assign anyone.
Jo is free after eleven and six minutes away, so Kim drags the card into Jo's lane, and it's Scheduled.
Booking: Moved, without phone tag
And if Thursday stops working for Mrs. Rivera, she asks to move it in her portal. It only offers times when Sam is free.
Kim gets the request and presses Approve, and the job moves to Friday. Or Kim drags the card back to To Schedule herself.
Booking: Booked once, right
So by eight fifteen the job has a day, a time and a tech, and nobody had to call anyone back to fix a double booking.
On the day: On the way
Thursday. Sam finishes the Patel garage door and taps Start travel. The job turns On the way.
Mrs. Rivera gets a text: Sam from Harlow and Finch is on the way, about fourteen minutes out. She never sees where he is, just when he'll be there.
In the office, Kim watches Sam's photo move across the dispatch map.
Running late: When the first job runs long
Now the other way Thursday can go. Sam's first job runs long, and at nine past ten he's still checked in at the Patels'.
Every minute, CrewBarn checks the jobs about to start. Still on another job, and too far to make ten fifteen: the Rivera job is at risk.
Sam hears it first: a push on his phone, and then an automated call.
Running late: Press 1, and he tells her himself
The call says: Hi Sam. This is Harlow and Finch. You are running late for your ten fifteen job at Rivera residence.
Press 1 to call Rivera residence now. Sam presses 1, and CrewBarn connects him to Mrs. Rivera from the company line.
He tells her he'll be there by ten thirty-five. Because he called her himself, there's nothing for the office to chase.
Running late: Then the office hears
If Sam had hung up without calling her, a few minutes later the job shows on the Schedule page, and the Schedule button flashes for Kim.
Kim calls Mrs. Rivera, and Got it stops the flashing for everyone.
Whether CBI ever calls a customer itself is Dana's choice: never, only when the office presses Call customer, or automatically.
On site: Checked in
Ten thirty-five. Sam pulls up at the Riveras' and taps Check in. The job is On site.
The tank has rusted through, and he has a new one on the truck. If he hadn't, he'd set the job to Needs parts, and Kim would book a return visit once they're in.
On site: Complete, with proof
He installs the new tank and adds photos to the job. Mrs. Rivera signs on his phone, and he taps Check out.
The job is Complete. In the office, Kim sees it finish on the board, and the invoice is made from the job, ready to send.
The whole job: The call to Complete
That's one job, start to finish: the call, the draft, To Schedule, Sam's lane, on the way, on site, and complete.
And every branch had an answer: a price first, a clash caught, nobody free, a new time, a late tech, a missing part.
Nothing waits in a notebook, nothing gets double-booked, and no customer is left wondering when you're coming.
Scheduling & dispatch: Every job, a day and a person
That's scheduling and dispatch in CrewBarn.
CrewBarn is in beta, and free for life for trades that help test it.
Drag work onto the calendar
Every job and estimate visit that doesn't have a date yet sits in the To Schedule list. Filter it to emergencies, today's work, estimates, jobs with no tech, or ones waiting on approval. Drag one onto the calendar to book it, or drag a booked card to move it. Before it books, CrewBarn checks for clashes, approved time off and tight drives between jobs, and flags a clash before you let go.
Switch between month, week and day. In day view every tech gets a column of their own, called a lane, with how many jobs and hours they have. Drag a card into another lane to hand it over. Jobs with nobody on them sit in their own lane, ready to hand out, and work you've sent to another company gets a sub lane that only moves in time. Right-click a card to change the time, the status or the tech. Plans changed? Drag a card back to To Schedule, and Ctrl Z undoes the last move.
On a phone you get a one-day list. The calendar refreshes itself, so a job someone else books just shows up.
Dispatch: today, live
The dispatch map shows your techs by photo and your jobs as dots in their stage colour, moving as phones report in. GPS tracker feeds can go on the map too. Show today, the week or the month, turn on each tech's route and live traffic, and right-click a name to ask that phone for a fresh location. Split the area by territory if you run more than one.
Jobs that still have nobody going are listed on the left. Click one and Suggest a tech ranks your people by who's free and who's closest. Looking doesn't assign anyone. Draw a box around several jobs on the map to hand them all to one person at once. Requests from your customer portal and the marketplace wait here too, to accept or decline.
Customers know when you're coming
When the tech heads out, the customer gets an on-the-way text with an arrival time worked out from the truck. They never see where your tech actually is. Appointment reminders to customers and to your crew are laid out on a timeline of the job day, so you can see exactly what goes out and when.
Late-tech watch
Every minute, CrewBarn looks at the jobs about to start where the tech hasn't arrived. A job is at risk when the start time plus your grace period has passed, when the tech is still checked in on another job, when a fresh GPS fix is too far away to make it, or when the tech gave a later arrival time on a call. The tech hears it first, in the app and by an automated call. A few minutes later the job is listed on the Schedule page and the Schedule button flashes for the office, unless the tech already called the customer. Got it stops the flashing for everybody.
Whether a customer is ever called about it is up to you: never, only when the office presses Call customer, or automatically. Customers marked do not call are never called.
The shop TV
Open crewbarn.tv on any TV, type the code, and the board shows the day: what's scheduled, who's on the way and what's done.
How it works
- New work without a time lands in To Schedule.
- Drag it onto the calendar. CrewBarn checks clashes, time off and drive time first.
- Use day view lanes to share out work, including a lane for subs.
- Watch the day on the dispatch map, and use Suggest a tech for open jobs.
- The customer gets an on-the-way text with an arrival time.
- If a tech may be late, they hear it first, then the office.