Dispatcher daily checklist: a copy-ready template for the night before, the morning board and the close

A dispatcher's day does not start at 7 a.m. It starts the afternoon before, when tomorrow's board is still soft enough to fix. By the time the first tech calls in, most of the day's problems are already baked in: a job with no parts, a tech booked across town twice before lunch, a customer who was never told the window moved.

This checklist is built around the four moments where those problems are cheapest to catch. Copy it, cut what does not apply, and add the checks your shop keeps forgetting.

If you are new to the role, the dispatcher glossary entry covers what the job includes and where it ends.

The checklist

1. The night before (about 30 minutes, mid-afternoon)

1. Every job on tomorrow's board has a tech, a start time and a planned duration. No "TBD" rows.
2. Every job has a complete address, a working phone number and gate or access notes.
3. Parts: any job that needs a special part shows it as in hand, on the truck, or on order with a confirmed arrival. If not, move the job now, not at 9 a.m.
4. Skills: each job is assigned to a tech who is qualified and licensed for it (refrigerant work, gas, backflow testing, high voltage, whatever applies in your trade).
5. Drive order: walk each tech's day on the map. Flag any day where a truck crosses its own path. That is backtracking, and it is almost always cheaper to fix tonight than to absorb tomorrow.
6. First job of the day: confirm it is close to where that tech starts. A long first drive pushes every later window.
7. Time off and appointments: check the calendar for tomorrow's absences, half days and training.
8. Customer confirmations: every customer on tomorrow's board has been told the date and window. Anyone unconfirmed gets a call or text before close.
9. Overflow: list any job that does not fit, and decide tonight whether it goes to a partner, an overtime slot or another day.
10. Leave one gap per tech or per zone if your call volume usually brings same-day work. Write down where the gaps are.

2. The morning board (first 30 minutes of the day)

1. Head count: every scheduled tech has checked in. Anyone missing gets a call by the first start time, not after.
2. Callouts: if a tech is out, follow your sick-call plan before you touch anything else (see what to do when a technician calls in sick).
3. Vehicles: any truck reported down on the pre-trip inspection is reassigned or replaced before it is needed.
4. Overnight messages: voicemails, web requests and after-hours calls are logged, triaged and either booked or answered.
5. Emergencies: any no-heat, no-cool, no-water or active-leak call is placed before routine work is touched.
6. First jobs: each tech has left for, or is on the way to, the first job by the planned time.
7. Weather and traffic: check for anything that changes drive times on the main corridors today.

3. The midday recheck (around 11 a.m. and again around 2 p.m.)

1. Running late: list every tech who is behind plan by more than 15 minutes.
2. For each late tech, decide one of three moves: absorb it (the later jobs still fit), swap a later job to a teammate, or move it to another day.
3. Customers affected by any move are told now, with a new window. Not at the original start time.
4. Jobs that grew: any job that turned into a quote, a second visit or a parts order has a follow-up task with an owner.
5. New same-day calls go into the gaps you left last night, closest truck first.
6. Parts runs: if a tech has to leave for parts, look at what that does to the rest of their day and to the jobs after it.
7. Lunch: confirm each tech gets a break.

4. The close (last 30 minutes)

1. Every job on today's board has a status: done, needs return visit, cancelled, or rescheduled with a new date.
2. Notes, photos and parts used are attached to every finished job, so billing does not have to chase the tech.
3. Return visits are booked or on a call-back list with a date.
4. Invoices: any job that should be billed today is billed or flagged.
5. Unfinished work from today is placed on tomorrow's board before you start tomorrow's night-before check.
6. Complaints and incidents logged with what happened and who owns the follow-up.
7. Tomorrow's first jobs confirmed (back to section 1).

Why the checklist is shaped this way

The order is not cosmetic. Each section sits at the point where a mistake is cheapest to catch.

The night-before check exists because the morning has no slack. At 3 p.m. the day before, moving a job costs one phone call. At 7:45 a.m. it costs a phone call, an unhappy customer and a tech sitting in a driveway. Parts, skills and drive order are the three things you can still fix for free.

The drive-order check matters more than it looks. A day booked in the order the phone rang tends to zigzag. The guide to planning a dispatch day around drive time walks through why. A rough way to see the stakes: if a tech has B backtracking legs a day, each costing M extra minutes, the week costs B × M × 5 minutes per tech. Two legs at 20 minutes is 200 minutes a week, more than three hours, on one truck.

The midday recheck exists because lateness compounds. A tech who is 30 minutes behind at 11 a.m. is rarely 30 minutes behind at 3 p.m. They are usually further behind, because every later job also has spread. Catching it at 11 gives you the most options.

The close exists so tomorrow starts clean. A job with no status at 5 p.m. is a job nobody owns at 8 a.m.

How to adapt it

• Cut it to fit your size. A three-truck shop can merge the night-before and close checks into one 20-minute block. A 30-truck shop may split them across two people.
• Add your trade's hard stops. Gas work, refrigerant handling, confined spaces, backflow certification, roof access. Whatever requires a specific license or certification belongs in item 1.4.
• Time-box each section. If the night-before check regularly takes more than 45 minutes, the board is being built wrong during the day. Fix the booking rules, not the checklist.
• Track the misses. Keep a tally of which items catch something. Items that never catch anything for a month can go. Items that catch something every day point at a process upstream that needs fixing.
• Decide what software does. Some of this list can be done by your scheduling system instead of by a person. In CrewLink, for example, the dispatch board shows each tech's status and ETA to the next job, and the booking page only offers times a qualified tech can reach from the previous job. That covers the skills check in item 1.4 and makes the drive check in item 1.5 a quick review instead of a rebuild. The parts and customer checks stay human. If you are weighing the question, read dispatcher or software.

Common questions

What does a dispatcher do every day?

A field service dispatcher builds and protects the day's schedule. In practice that means confirming tomorrow's jobs, techs, parts and customers, getting every truck out on time in the morning, placing emergencies and same-day calls, handling late techs and cancellations during the day, and closing out every job with a status at the end.

How long should the daily dispatch checklist take?

For a shop of 5 to 15 trucks, plan on 30 minutes for the night-before check, 30 minutes for the morning board, two short midday rechecks and 30 minutes at close. If it takes much longer, the problems are being created during booking, and that is where to fix them.

Should a dispatcher leave open time for emergencies?

If your trade gets regular same-day calls, yes. Leave one gap per zone or per few techs and write down where it is, so a no-heat call can be placed without wrecking a full day. Track how often the gaps get used and size them to your actual call volume.

What is the most common dispatch mistake?

Booking jobs in the order the phone rings, without checking where each tech will be. The result is trucks crossing their own path, long first drives and late afternoon arrivals. The night-before drive-order check is there to catch it.