How to Schedule a Field Visit

Two jobs land in the same hour

A board on the wall does not know that the technician is on leave, or that the previous job still includes the drive.

A category that needs a gas ticket is given to someone who does not have that skill, and the gap shows up on site.

Two dispatchers move the same visit. The second save wins on paper and the first technician still drives to the old time.

Why this happens

• The travel buffer is ignored, so back-to-back jobs overlap on the road.
• Leave is kept in a chat instead of an approved leave request.
• Working hours are empty, which Biznsbook treats as a conflict.
• The second save does not check that the visit changed since it was opened.

Biznsbook addresses this through Dispatch board, conflict checks, forced bookings when Field Service is licensed. Customers are parties you already keep. The van is a warehouse. The invoice is one sale invoice for the job.

A second dispatcher, a van, and a deposit are where a private list drifts. Making Biznsbook the place that books the visit, issues the part, and raises the one invoice keeps those three on the same job.

Step-by-step: Schedule a Field Visit

Built for owners and dispatchers who send technicians to a customer site in Biznsbook Field Service.

1. Open the dispatch board. The day view shows each technician against a time grid, with their working hours shaded and the arrival window behind each visit. Drag a job from the queue onto a technician and a time to book it, drag a visit to move it, drag its right edge to change the length, or drop it on the queue to unschedule it. The week view shows each technician’s days; dropping there keeps the time of day. You can also schedule from the job card, with more than one technician; the first is the lead.
2. Let the conflict check run. A booking is refused, unless a dispatcher forces it, when the technician already has a visit in that window, including the travel buffer, when the linked employee has approved or partly approved leave that day, when the time is outside working hours, or when the category skill tags are not all on the technician.
3. Read working hours the right way. If Labour Scheduling is licensed, a published shift that day is the window. No published shift that day means the technician is unavailable. If Labour Scheduling is not licensed, the hours stored on the technician are used. Weekdays 08:00–17:00 are the default. Empty hours are a conflict. Sunday in that default has no window.
4. Book anyway only when you mean it. When a drop conflicts, the board lists the reasons and asks whether to book anyway. On the job card, tick Schedule anyway. Technicians do not force the board. Forcing does not remove the other visit. A visit already on the way, on site, or finished cannot be moved; add a new visit instead.
5. Replace technicians when you move the visit. Moving the visit replaces the assigned technicians. Check each person. The lead is the first technician on the visit.
6. Refresh if the visit is stale. If someone else saved the visit first, the move is rejected. Refresh the board and schedule again. The job and the visit keep a row version for that check.
7. Confirm the job status. A booked visit makes the job scheduled, unless it is already in progress, on hold, invoiced, paid, or cancelled. Those later states do not move backwards.

Review results after the first full weekly cycle. Adjust roles, mappings, or approvals where the same exception repeats.

Screen names in this guide match Field Service in the product: Home, Jobs, Dispatch, My day, Quotes, Agreements, and Settings.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Mistake 1: The travel buffer is ignored, so back-to-back jobs overlap on the road. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
• Mistake 2: Leave is kept in a chat instead of an approved leave request. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
• Mistake 3: Working hours are empty, which Biznsbook treats as a conflict. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.
• Mistake 4: The second save does not check that the visit changed since it was opened. Repeating this each month usually shows up first in double-booked visits, van counts, or a second invoice.

Note each recurring gap in the weekly review. Each one should map to a step in this guide.

Best practices that hold up as you scale

• Open the dispatch board — The day view shows each technician against a time grid, with their working hours shaded and the arrival window behind each visit.
• Let the conflict check run — A booking is refused, unless a dispatcher forces it, when the technician already has a visit in that window, including the travel buffer, when the linked employee has approved or partly approved leave that day, when the time is outside working hours, or when the category skill tags are not all on the technician.
• Read working hours the right way — If Labour Scheduling is licensed, a published shift that day is the window.
• Book anyway only when you mean it — When a drop conflicts, the board lists the reasons and asks whether to book anyway.
• Replace technicians when you move the visit — Moving the visit replaces the assigned technicians.

Teams that schedule on the board, issue parts from the van before they invoice, and refuse a second invoice keep the visit and the ledger on the same job.

How Biznsbook supports this workflow

Dispatch board is part of Biznsbook Field Service for companies that send a person to a customer site. The customer is a party you already keep, the address you visit is a site, and the visit sits on a job. Parts move through a van warehouse. The bill is one sale invoice, and a deposit taken first is an advance on that same job. Technicians quote, invoice, or collect only when settings allow it.

conflict checks is part of Biznsbook Field Service for companies that send a person to a customer site. The customer is a party you already keep, the address you visit is a site, and the visit sits on a job. Parts move through a van warehouse. The bill is one sale invoice, and a deposit taken first is an advance on that same job. Technicians quote, invoice, or collect only when settings allow it.

forced bookings is part of Biznsbook Field Service for companies that send a person to a customer site. The customer is a party you already keep, the address you visit is a site, and the visit sits on a job. Parts move through a van warehouse. The bill is one sale invoice, and a deposit taken first is an advance on that same job. Technicians quote, invoice, or collect only when settings allow it.

Technicians do not quote, invoice, or collect unless those settings are on. Labour cost is for job costing and does not post a wage journal. Email sends through the company’s outbound email and SMS through the company’s own Twilio connection.

Suggested implementation timeline

1. Week 1: License Field Service, add sites on the parties you already keep, and try Dispatch board on one real job.
2. Week 2: Create a van warehouse, transfer the stock that is in the van, and issue one part on a visit.
3. Week 3: Schedule on the board, including one forced conflict, and complete a visit with the checklist rules you actually want.
4. Week 4: Create the one sale invoice, apply a deposit if you took one, and turn the public page on if customers should request visits.
5. Ongoing: Weekly review of unscheduled jobs, overdue complete-by times, and van items under minimum, using what the board does not plan.

Related guides

Start with create a field service job, then schedule a field visit and invoice a field job.

Product page: Field Service. Trades: field service trades. Decision: field service software vs spreadsheets.

Travel buffer, leave, and skills

The travel buffer from settings is added when the board looks for an overlap. Two visits that look separate on a clock can still conflict once that buffer is included.

Leave counts when the linked employee has a request that is approved or partly approved that day. Skill tags are compared without regard to case. Every tag required by the category must be on the technician. A missing tag is a conflict, not a warning you can click past, unless a dispatcher forces it.

Who can schedule

The dispatcher can manage jobs and the board, including quotes, invoices, payments, and assets. Costing and settings stay with the manager. A technician sees My day, not the board, unless they also hold an office role.

Company admins and owners can do everything in the module. A technician-only user lands on My day after login.

Metrics to track monthly

• Jobs still unscheduled past the attention window
• Jobs past their complete-by time
• Van items below the minimum you set
• Visits forced past a conflict
• Jobs completed and not yet invoiced

Start with three metrics; trend direction matters more than a single point-in-time snapshot.

Spreadsheet or paper day sheet vs Biznsbook Field Service

Compare a typical list of jobs with Biznsbook Dispatch board and the rest of the field job.

What the board does not plan

The board does not optimise a route. It checks the window you chose against other visits, leave, hours, and skills. Drive time beyond the travel buffer in settings is not calculated from a map.

Write this into the way the office hands work to technicians, and revisit it when you add a van or a second dispatcher.

Frequently asked questions

How this differs by industry