DSM Instructional – Assigning & Dispatching the Order

These instructions cover assigning jobs and basic dispatching functions in DSM.

 

Before dispatching we’ll discuss briefly how to customize your schedule as it can be a powerful tool in your business.

Note the green highlighted area.  The headers on the schedule can be clicked to sort ascending or descending and you may also slide them around to accommodate your view to your liking.

Go to the Schedule via the Menu, or the main button on the main screen that says “job schedule.”  When the schedule is open, click the OPTIONS button as shown below.

On the options area, you can choose what you’d like to see.  To move something around, you can drag them up or down to your liking, plus you may add other columns to your view.  To save it, click SAVE AS MY DEFAULTS and it will carry with your user ID wherever you log in.

 

Assigning workers:  Highlight the job on the screen.  Below you will choose the “Assign Worker” button.  You may also “Right Click” the job to get the same options shown at the bottom of the screen.   It will bring up the screen seen below.

In the list under Available Workers at the top you will see your available crew.  If you check the box highlighted it will show everyone in your system.  These options may be changed in your user preferences if you need to.

For now, click on a worker and they will show up on the left.  The first worker to be assigned will always be considered the primary (or foreman) on the job.

To add more, click the ADD ANOTHER WORKER BUTTON and repeat the steps.  Each additional worker will be deemed a helper by default.  Many other details are shown for each worker when you highlight them in the lower right side of the screen.  Helpful items like current job they’re on and other information is useful when scheduling workers.

When you’ve assigned your workers, click OK.

 

Now back at the schedule, let’s see what we have.

Now on our schedule we have a job showing many details.  At a glance, we can tell what’s going on and what they’re going to do.  Remember, you can customize your display so don’t forget to take advantage of that feature.

 

Now let’s right click that job.  A menu will appear and it contains most of the options shown at the bottom for easy entry.

Dispatching is simple. 

These status buttons are used to update the job status in the far left column and are for the “at a glance” update often needed by dispatching.  It’s your WHITE BOARD.

 

Clicking a status button (CONFIRM in this case) will place a status icon next to the job as shown here.

 

Clicking In Route 2, in progress, job complete, JT received or Job Closed will place the appropriate icon next to it and change the time of the job to the current time.

 

 

Clicking the JOB COMPLETE BUTTON will mark the job as closed and replace the DESC (your quick job description in the order) to the timestamp of the time you completed the job.  NOTE:  It is necessary to mark any job as COMPLETED in order to bill it.

 

Typically you’ll mark the job as closed when the workers come back from the job or you hear they’re done.  This allows you to mark an option on the schedule that will NOT SHOW completed jobs allowing you to focus on more important items.

 

Clicking the SEND button will actually TEXT the information to the worker.  This format is defined in the configuration under FILE > MAINTAIN TABLES > GENERAL >CUSTOM TEXT FORMATS.    It can also be overridden in the user configuration.

 

 

Clicking the PRINT button either inside of the order or outside on the schedule will print it.  You can print, email or send to a file if you wish.

Below is a sample of a printed order.  You may customize them if you wish.  For help customizing, please contact support.

 

WORKER SCHEDULE TAB (F3)

The worker schedule tab shows a nice graphical view of your workers and where they are.  As with the JOB SCHEDULE TAB, you can right click on any worker/job to show menu options.  You can also drag and drop jobs onto other workers as well as adjust the start & end times visually by dragging the sides of the graph.

 

WORKER JOB LIST (F4)

The worker job list tab is a helpful way of showing all workers & their jobs at a glance.  Simply highlight a worker on the left and their jobs are shown on the right.  You can also print the list for a worker with the print button.

 

Finally, let’s go look at some dispatcher reports to see what we have.

 

Go to reports > dispatcher reports > and choose “Print job orders for the day”

This option will give you the following screen:

This report isn’t really a report.  When you print job orders for the day it is designed to print all of the work orders for you to hand out for the next day.  You have many options here to accommodate what you need.

 

Go to Reports > dispatcher reports > daily job list by worker.

You will see the following screen:

This prints a report shown below.   You have many options.  You can also customize this report by choosing the format at the bottom.  Choose custom and you can add your own report with any field you like.

 

Go to Reports > Dispatcher reports > Job Scheduling worksheet.

You will see the following screen:

As with the other reports, pick your options and run the report. 

 

 

 

 

End of document.