SmartStart Dispatch Video Guide
Crew Roles & Compensation
In this section, you'll learn: How to enable important settings that allow you assign roles to your crew members and set their compensation rates.
Enabling roles for different crew members allows you to do the following:
Assign default roles (like driver, crew, and foreman) to specific crew members that will be automatically assigned when they're added to a scheduled job.
Set custom rates for different crew members performing different roles.
Note: This feature is available only for opportunities created using SmartMoving 2.0.
How to Enable Roles
Go to Settings > Dispatch > Common (or click here to go directly to the page).
Enable to toggle switch next to the option Assign Crew to Different Roles. The toggle is green if it is enabled.
Select to enable the roles. If desired, you can rename the roles by entering a new name in the field.
How to Assign Roles
Complete the following steps per crew member.
Go to Settings > Dispatch > Crew Members (or click here to go directly to the page).
Click the name of a crew member you will assign a role to.
Scroll down to the Employment Info section, click the Role dropdown, and select a role. Note: This will be their default role, but their role can be <manually adjusted on any slot on the Dispatch Schedule>.
Scroll up to the top of the page and click Save.
How to Update Role Compensation Rates Per Crew Member
After completing the steps above, click the Compensation tab.
Adjust the crew member's rates per role (as desired).
Click Save.
Setting Your Crew Member's Default Availability and Time Off
In this section, you'll learn: How to block crew members off for certain days of the week or for time off.
Scheduling crew members off for specific days of the week or scheduling time off can be done easily in your SmartMoving settings. Crew schedules can be adjusted in a few different ways.
How to Schedule Default Working Days
To set default days of the week you'll need to head over to your crew settings. This can be found in Settings -> Dispatch-> Crews Members.
Step 1: Navigate to the crew member that you want to adjust their default availability.
Step 2: From the menu icon select Calendar.
Step 3: Checkmark the box next to each day of the week that crew member is available to work.
Note: Any day of the week does not check marked, will result in that crew member not being available from the Dispatch module on that day of the week.
Time off Requests: How to Block a Crew Member's Availability
If a crew member has requested a block of consecutive days off for vacation or other time off requests, you can add that event here to remove them from the Dispatch calendar during that period of time.
Step 1: From the calendar slide out enter a Reason in the Add Event section.
Step 2: Enter the Start Date of the event. Note: The end date is optional.
Step 3: Select + Add Event.
The event will now be listed in the Employee Calendar section.
Step 4: Click Save.
Blocking Crew Members Off for a Single Day
If a crew member calls in sick or you need to block them off for a single day, there is a shortcut for doing this in Dispatch.
Simply click the "three dots" menu next to the crew member for a specific day in your dispatch calendar and mark them unavailable. Crew members that have been marked unavailable will still show up in your list, however, they will not be eligible to be assigned to a job.
Any crew member that is marked unavailable can easily be marked available by repeating this process.
Unavailable Crew Members Assigned to a Job
If a crew member is assigned to a job and they are subsequently scheduled for time off, their color will change to red to indicate this member is no longer available and needs to be removed from the schedule and replaced by someone who is available.
Enable Crew Job Notifications & Update the Default Time to Arrive Before First Job
In this section, you'll learn: How to notify your crew about jobs and update the default time to arrive to the office before their first job.
To help your crew arrive to their jobs on time and prepared, they can receive job dispatch notifications via email and SMS text messages.
You can also modify your default office arrival time to ensure they reach the office early enough to promptly arrive to their first scheduled job.
How to Enable or Disable Crew Job Notifications
Navigate to Settings -> Communication -> Email & SMS Templates (or click here to go directly to the page). Then scroll down to the Operations section.
Click the toggle to enable Crew Job Notifications. If enabled, job notifications will be sent to the assigned crew members when the dispatch schedule for a day is published. The toggle is green if it is enabled.
How to Set the Default Time to Arrive Before First Job
The default time to arrive before the first job is the time the crew should arrive at the office before their first scheduled job.
You can notify your crew of their arrival time right in their crew job notification by adding a token to it. But first, follow the steps below to add calculated arrival time on the crew job notification.
Click the Crew Job Notification title.
Click the text field where the arrival time should appear.
Click Add Token.
Scroll down to Dispatch and select Calculated Arrival Time.
Click Save Changes.
Here's an example SMS message with the Calculated Arrival Time token added:
For more details on updating templates, learn how to customize email & SMS message templates.
How to Update the Default Time to Arrive
The default setting for the time to arrive before first job determines how the arrival time is calculated. To change your default time, do the following:
Navigate to Settings -> Dispatch -> Common (or click here to go directly to the page).
Select whether you want to enable or disable multiple truck and crew assignments each day.
If enabled, trucks and crew members can be assigned to multiple slots as needed.
If disabled, each truck and crew member can only be assigned to a single slot each day.
Click the default time and select the desired time.
How to Update the Time to Arrive for an Individual Job
The default time to arrive before first job can be changed for any individual job from the Dispatch Schedule.
Go to Dispatch -> Scheduling and click a job to open it.
Click the Custom Arrival Time to modify it.
Note: The time to arrive can only be seen by your crew—not by customers. Customers can only see the arrival window. Changing the default time to arrive will not change the arrival window.
Customize Arrival Windows
In this section, you'll learn: How to customize the arrival window selections available for your estimates.
Arrival windows are the time frames that your customers can expect you to arrive to complete a service. SmartMoving comes preset with four arrival windows:
TBD
8 a.m. - 9 a.m.
10 a.m. - 12 p.m.
1 p.m. - 3 p.m.
Having preset arrival windows makes providing estimates faster and more accurate, so it is important to customize your arrival windows so you have the most accurate times for your business.
To customize your arrival windows, you can add new arrival windows, edit the preset windows, and set new defaults.
How to Add a New Arrival Window
Navigate to Settings -> Dispatch -> Arrival Windows or click here to go directly to the page.
Click Add Row.
Next, select a start and end hour.
(Optional) Then, update the window description. A default description is added automatically, but it is important that you select a description that is clear for both your team and your customers, as these descriptions will appear on
The service date section of all jobs (visible by you and your team)
Customer estimates (visible by customers)
Here are a few popular examples of arrival window descriptions that you might consider:
Morning (for 7 a.m. - 11 a.m.)
Afternoon (for 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.)
Lunch (for 11:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.)
Then, click Create to save the new arrival window or click Create and Add another to add additional arrival windows.
Edit an arrival window
First, click the menu icon next to the arrival window you wish to modify, and then click Edit.
Then, edit the start hour, end hour, and description as desired, and click Update.
Set a default arrival window
Note: TBD is the preset default. The default arrival window is added to all jobs automatically unless changed. For this reason, it is recommended that you set either TBD or your company's most used arrival window as the default.
Click the menu icon next to the arrival window you wish to make the default, and then click Make Default.
Create a Dispatch Template
In this section, you'll learn: How to use dispatch templates to speed up your dispatching.
A dispatch template will allow you to save your slot setups and eliminate the need for dispatching the same trucks and crew members to the same slots each day.
Step 1: Navigate to the Dispatch module -> Scheduling.
Step 2: Assign a truck to each of your dispatch slots.
Step 3: Assign a foreman to each slot.
Note: You can assign crew members to each slot, as well if desired.
Step 4: Once all trucks and desired crew members have been assigned to their correct slow, click on Templates.
Note: Click on the trash can icon to delete any unused slots.
Step 5: Enter the name of the new template.
Step 6: Click ADD.
Step 7: Select the Days of the week that you want this template to be used for.
Step 8: Select Apply Changes.
Going forward, your template will now apply for the days that you have selected for the template to be used. See the example below.
