The problem it solves
Most dispatch boards are built one call at a time. Each job goes on the next open slot, and by the end of the day the routes zigzag across town. Fixing that by hand means comparing every tech's day against every other, which nobody has time for at 5pm. Plan the day does that comparison for you.
What it never trades away
Saving minutes is worthless if it breaks a promise. These are hard rules, never traded for drive time:
- The right skill for the job.
- Inside each tech's hours, never on time off.
- Inside every promised arrival window.
- A visit with a crew stays with its lead.
- Pinned visits, visits already under way and a tech already on the road stay put.
- A customer's preferred tech is kept.
How it works
It gathers tomorrow's visits and each tech's start and end point, hours and skills. It estimates drive minutes between every pair of stops, builds a plan, then keeps improving it: reversing a stretch of a day, moving a few visits to another tech, or swapping two visits between techs, until nothing saves another minute. It checks the final legs against real traffic, and fixes any window that would now break. All of this is plain arithmetic in code, not AI guesswork, so the same board gives the same plan.
A reason for every change
Each change comes with one plain line: this visit moved to Sam because he is already two streets away, saving 18 minutes. Switch, the assistant, can answer "why" from the same numbers. Moving a visit off the tech who was already told about it counts as a cost, so the plan does not shuffle people around for a one-minute saving.
Who's free, for the urgent call
When an emergency comes in mid-day, Who's free ranks the nearest tech with the time and the skills, so the dispatcher can slot it in without breaking the rest of the board. The live map and near-job nudges help in between. More on running the board in how to dispatch techs efficiently and how to schedule service calls.
What it means for capacity
Less driving means more time on jobs. To see what a few extra jobs a week means for your shop, try the tech capacity calculator. The glossary has more on route optimization.
Questions people ask
Will it move jobs without asking?
No. It suggests a plan; nothing changes on the board and no customer is told until a person presses Apply.
Does it respect arrival windows I promised?
Yes. Promised windows, tech skills and hours, pinned visits and crews are hard rules it never breaks to save time.
Is the route plan made by AI?
No. The plan is worked out by code from drive times, windows and skills. Switch only explains it in plain words.
Can it handle an emergency added mid-day?
Who's free ranks the nearest tech with the time and skills, so you can slot the emergency in without rebuilding the day.