HCSS Dispatcher is designed to give your schedulers more useful time in a day to handle all the tasks that come across their desk. Most Dispatchers that I meet have phones permanently attached to each ear, as calls pour in from the field. The struggle to find a third arm to write down all the information, and an extra brain to organize and execute thoughtful changes that could make or break a job occurs round the clock. If you implement HCSS Dispatcher to your advantage, it is like you’ve hired 5 assistants with photographic memories that will listen to everything that you tell them, follow every command you give, show you where everything is when you can’t find it, and be able to break down and distribute reports on the conversations you’ve had.
These assistants will help your Dispatcher get more done in a single day while using up less time and effort. Here are three practical tips using HCSS Dispatcher that will give your Dispatchers more time to handle the multiple tasks coming at them.
1. Copy Schedules
Copy Schedules – Your Dispatcher’s journey must begin every day with a written plan for each resource. Your jobs depend on you to send the right employees and equipment to the right job. If you do not plan it, it will cost you time and money to fix it later. Start by getting in the habit of creating a schedule every day by using the easy Copy Schedules function. If your jobs will use similar resources from day-to-day, you can use this feature to bring over the schedules from a specific date in the past. If you are marking your resources as “available” throughout the day when they are no longer needed on a job, the Copy Schedules can be set to ignore these available resources when copying, so they can be used elsewhere.
2. Filter Resources Panel using “Not Scheduled On” Checkbox
While the magnet board allows you to focus on a specific set of locations, the Resource Panel provides a master list of resources across all locations. This will show you all equipment and employees, and where they are currently located, along with their status. This list can be filtered with the “Not Scheduled On” checkbox at the top to quickly find and use any resources that are “not scheduled” on any specific day. This will help you find equipment not being used, and keep you from forgetting to schedule an employee.
3. Track Small Tools
Tracking Small Tools– If you have small, portable items like saws, or drills Dispatcher has its own board to track these small tools. Instead of tracking these tools by location, they are assigned to employees on a board specifically used to track small tools. The system works like a library where each small tool can be checked out to one employee at a time and checked back in when it is not being used. The first thing you should do to get started tracking small tools in Dispatcher is to get an accurate inventory of who has what and set up your small tools in the system. Setting this up properly from the start will begin the pattern of checking in on small tool recipients on a regular basis. Regularly (Monthly/Quarterly) send emails to them of the items they have checked out, and keep the system updated when they return their small tools.
If you need any help with these three items, or if you have questions that you’d like to speak with us about, our fleet-specific support is here to help all the time. Call us any time at 855-231-7877.
