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Scheduling a Technician to a Work Order

You can assign a Work Order without scheduling it by using an unscheduled queue and status labels.

When creating a new Work Order, ServiceBox forces me to assign an employee/user to be responsible for the Work Order, but does not force me to schedule a technician/user. Can I not have work orders in a queue, when I don’t know when I want to schedule it, or who will be going, but it’s ready to be scheduled?

Yes, you can. What we recommend in this case is that you first assign the Work Order to the person who will handle the scheduling—or a user who would never be in the field physically working on a Work Order. That way, they show up on the Scheduler as a visual reference, and you know that these people may not or will not be working on the Work Order/job in the field. Also, it’s clear that it hasn’t been given to anyone in particular yet.

The second idea is to use your Work Order Status area to indicate if the Work Order has been scheduled. You could leave it as “Unscheduled” to place it in a queue/workflow. This way, when you look in your Work Order section—either in your ServiceBox site or your Scheduler—you can call up a list of Work Orders that are not scheduled to any users/technicians. Once you do schedule a Work Order, remember to change the status from “Unscheduled” to “Scheduled” to keep your workflow organized.

The key here is understanding the difference between an Assigned User and a Scheduled User in ServiceBox. Assigning a Work Order does not schedule it. In some organizations, the Assigned User represents the person with overall responsibility for the Work Order—ensuring that it is closed and generating revenue. This may be a Project Manager, Dispatcher, or Office Manager.

To schedule a User to a Work Order, you may:

  1. When creating the Work Order from scratch, use the Timeslot button at the bottom of the Work Order to schedule a user. This allows you to choose the day and time.

  2. Create the Work Order directly from the Scheduler in either Calendar or Dispatcher view. Click on the time you want to start the Work Order, or on the “All Day” section. The timeslot area will auto-fill with a default duration (e.g., one hour) which you can edit.

  3. Once a Work Order is created, if not scheduled, use the Scheduler icon in the upper-right of the Work Order to add an employee and book the day and time.

  4. Alternatively, go directly to the Scheduler, search for the Work Order number, and drag and drop the Work Order onto the desired date and time. Be sure to confirm the assigned user is correct after placing it. Each user should be color-coded to help visually manage the schedule and avoid overbooking.

Need Help?
Contact support by clicking the Help button in the bottom-right corner of your screen when logged in or email us at support@jobboxsoft.com.