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OpsAI: Smart Dispatch

This article explains how Smart Dispatch works, how to set it up, and tips to get the most out of it

Written by Angelene Rosario

OpsAI: Smart Dispatch

Smart Dispatch is an AI-powered scheduling tool in the BuildOps Dispatch Board that helps you put the right technician on the right job while reducing drive time. It analyzes technician skills, certifications, locations, and availability, then proposes an optimized schedule for your team.

Smart Dispatch includes two main capabilities:

  • Optimizer: runs from the Dispatch Board to generate an AI-suggested schedule for a group of technicians.

  • Schedule Assistant: helps you quickly find an available, qualified technician and time slot while you are creating a new visit.

Who Smart Dispatch is for

Smart Dispatch is designed for teams that schedule multiple technicians each day, especially commercial MEP contractors running service work across a metro area.

Typical users include:

  • Dispatchers and coordinators who build and adjust the daily schedule.

  • Service or operations managers who monitor route efficiency and technician utilization.

Enablement

Smart Dispatch must be enabled on your BuildOps account. You will know Smart Dispatch is active if, on the Dispatch Board, you see:

  • A green banner that reads: "Save travel time for technicians with Smart Dispatch".

  • A "Review Suggested Scheduled" button in the upper right.

If you do not see these, BuildOps Support or your CSM/IM can have Smart Dispatch enabled for your company.

Where to find Smart Dispatch

  • Go to Dispatch → Dispatch Board.

  • Smart Dispatch runs from the Schedule view in Day view.

The Schedule Assistant is available on the Add Visit screen when you create a new visit from a job.

Data that makes Smart Dispatch work best

Smart Dispatch will run even if you have not set up skills and certifications yet, but results improve significantly when:

  • Technician profiles include their skills, certifications, and skill levels.

  • Visits have Required Skills and Required Certifications filled out where applicable.

  • Dispatch Settings are configured to match your real working hours, buffers, and travel expectations.

Configure Smart Dispatch settings

Before running your first optimization, set up Dispatch Settings so Smart Dispatch builds a realistic schedule for your team.

  1. Hover over Settings in the top navigation and select Dispatch Settings.

  2. Under Smart Dispatch Configuration, confirm you can see that section along with Week View and Visit Creation. If you only see Week View, Smart Dispatch has not been enabled yet.

  3. Set Working Hours to match your field team’s actual day (for example, 7:00 AM to 3:30 PM).

  4. Set Buffer Time Between Events to the minimum gap you want between visits (for example, 15 minutes to allow wrap-up and travel).

  5. Set Default Travel Time Between Events to a realistic baseline for your area (for example, 30 minutes across a large metro).

  6. Under Technician Assignment, configure the toggles:

    • Lock Technician Assignments: turn on when visits should stay with the same technician and only timing should adjust (helpful when customers are already expecting a specific technician).

    • Consider Job Continuity: turn on when you prefer the same technician who has already worked on that job to go back for follow-up work.

    • Consider Property Familiarity: turn on when you prefer technicians who have been to that property before, especially for complex sites.

    • Consider Skill Levels: turn on when you want higher-skill-level technicians prioritized among the qualified options.

  7. Click Save.

These settings apply globally to every optimization run going forward.

Set up skills and certifications

Skills and certifications are what make Smart Dispatch truly intelligent. Without them, optimization is based mainly on location and availability. With them, you can ensure, for example, that chiller work goes only to chiller-certified technicians.

On visits

  1. When creating or editing a visit, locate the Required Skills and Required Certifications fields.

  2. Add any skills or certifications the job demands (for example, HVAC – Rooftop Units, Chiller Certification, Low Voltage License, OSHA 30).

  3. If these fields are left blank, Smart Dispatch will consider all available technicians for that visit.

On technician profiles

  1. Go to Settings → Personnel and open the employee’s profile.

  2. Add the technician’s skills (with proficiency levels) and any certifications they hold.

  3. Smart Dispatch will cross-reference these against visit requirements during optimization.

Keeping technician profiles and visit requirements up to date gives you more precise, qualified routing.

Using the Optimizer on the Dispatch Board (full-day optimization)

Use the Optimizer when you want Smart Dispatch to propose an improved schedule for a group of technicians for a specific day.

Example scenario

You are preparing tomorrow’s schedule for your service team. You have 8 technicians with visits spread across the city, including preventive maintenance, a chiller inspection, and a couple of emergency calls. You want to reduce windshield time while keeping key commitments in place.

1. Open the Dispatch Board in Day view

  1. Go to Dispatch → Dispatch Board.

  2. Make sure you are in Schedule view and Day view.

  3. Confirm that you see the green Smart Dispatch banner and the Optimize button.

2. Filter to the technicians you want to include

Smart Dispatch only runs against technicians who are currently visible on the board.

  1. Click the Filter Techs By dropdown.

  2. Filter to the group you want to optimize (for example, your Service department).

  3. Leave out technicians whose schedules should not be touched (for example, a construction crew with fixed project work).

Tip: Start by optimizing one team (such as Service) at a time so you can clearly see the impact.

3. Run Smart Dispatch

  1. Click the Optimize button in the upper right, or click Review Suggested Schedule in the green banner if you see it.

  2. A loading message appears while Smart Dispatch analyzes skills, certifications, locations, and visit requirements across the filtered technicians and visits.

4. Review the optimized draft schedule

When the analysis finishes, the Dispatch Board switches into a draft state.

  1. Look at the top of the screen for the toggles Original Schedule and Optimized Schedule. You start on Optimized Schedule.

  2. Review the metrics bar summarizing the impact of the optimization:

    • Utilization: percentage of the workday filled with visits.

    • Work: total scheduled work hours across all technicians.

    • Travel: total combined travel time across all technicians.

    • Errors: any visits Smart Dispatch could not optimize.

    • Changes: number of visits moved or reassigned.

  3. Scan the board:

    • Visit cards shown in green were moved or reassigned by Smart Dispatch.

    • Visit cards remaining in gray were not changed.

  4. Toggle between Original Schedule and Optimized Schedule as many times as you like to compare before and after.

5. Make manual adjustments (stay in control)

The optimized schedule is a draft only. Nothing changes on your live schedule until you save.

  1. Identify any visits that should stay at a specific time (for example, a hospital that requested an 8:00 AM arrival).

  2. To move a visit, click and drag it to a different time on the same technician, or drag it to a different technician’s row to reassign it.

  3. When you manually move a visit, it changes from green to gray, indicating that you have taken manual control of that visit.

  4. Watch the metrics bar as you adjust visits. It updates in real time so you can see how your changes affect travel time and utilization.

6. Exclude technicians or visits

Use exclusions when there are technicians or visits that Smart Dispatch should not move during optimization.

  • Excluding a technician: use this when a technician’s schedule should stay fixed, such as a foreman running a construction project all day or someone in training. Smart Dispatch will skip that technician entirely and leave their visits in place.

  • Excluding a visit: use this when a specific appointment time is already confirmed with your customer. Smart Dispatch treats that visit as fixed and builds the rest of the day around it.

Apply exclusions before finalizing the draft so the optimizer respects those constraints.

7. Handle errors

If Smart Dispatch cannot resolve certain visits, they appear in the Errors count in the metrics bar.

  1. Click or hover over an error visit card to see a message about what went wrong.

  2. Common reasons include:

    • The visit requires a skill or certification that none of the filtered technicians hold.

    • The required skills on the visit are too specific for the technicians currently visible on the board.

  3. To fix this, either:

    • Expand your technician filter to include more technicians who might have the needed qualifications, or

    • Review and adjust the Required Skills and Required Certifications on the visit.

  4. Run the optimization again if needed.

8. Save or cancel the draft

Once you are satisfied with the optimized schedule:

  • Click Save Changes in the upper right to apply the draft to your live schedule. All green (AI) visits and any manual changes you made are now live.

  • Click Cancel to discard the draft and return to the original schedule with no changes.

There is no automatic undo after you click Save Changes. If you need to revert something, move the visit manually on the Dispatch Board.

Using the Schedule Assistant when creating a new visit (real-time scheduling)

The Schedule Assistant helps you quickly find the best technician and time slot while you are on the phone with a customer.

Example scenario

A property manager calls because a rooftop unit is down and they need someone on-site by noon. Instead of putting them on hold while you scan the board, you can use the Schedule Assistant directly from the visit.

Steps

  1. Open the job and click Add Visit.

  2. On the right side of the Add Visit screen, the Schedule Assistant panel appears.

  3. Select the Department for the visit. The Schedule Assistant shows technicians in that department, their next available time windows, and the distance (in miles) from the job location.

  4. Add Required Skills and Required Certifications to the visit. As you add requirements, the Schedule Assistant automatically filters the list to technicians who meet those criteria.

  5. Review the suggested options and choose the combination that works best for your customer (for example, earliest arrival or shortest travel distance).

  6. Click the suggested time slot in the Schedule Assistant.

  7. The technician, date, and time fields on the visit automatically fill in.

  8. Confirm the appointment details with your customer and save the visit.

You can use the Schedule Assistant on its own even if you are not running full-day optimizations with the Optimizer.

Mobile behavior

Smart Dispatch is a web-based feature.

  • The Optimizer runs from the web Dispatch Board only and is not available in the mobile app.

  • The Schedule Assistant is available on the Add Visit screen on web and is not shown in the mobile app.

  • Once you save an optimized schedule, all resulting visit assignments and updated times appear in the technician’s mobile app like any other scheduled visit.

  • Technicians do not manage their own skills or certifications on mobile; these are configured by office staff in the Personnel module on web.

Frequently asked questions

Does Smart Dispatch make changes automatically?

No. Smart Dispatch always works in a draft state first. Nothing is applied to your live schedule until you click Save Changes. Clicking Cancel discards the draft.

I do not see the green banner or Optimize button. What should I do?

If you do not see the Smart Dispatch banner or Optimize button on the Dispatch Board, Smart Dispatch has not been enabled yet. Please contact your BuildOps Implementation Manager, Customer Success Manager, or support team.

Do I have to use skills and certifications for Smart Dispatch to work?

No. If Required Skills and Required Certifications are left blank on a visit, Smart Dispatch will consider all available technicians when optimizing. However, the more accurately you maintain skills and certifications on visits and technician profiles, the more precise and qualified the results will be.

Can I undo an optimization after saving?

There is no automatic undo after saving an optimized schedule. If you need to change something, move the visit manually on the Dispatch Board.

Why are some visits showing as errors after optimizing?

Most often, this means the visit requires a skill or certification that none of the filtered technicians hold, or the requirements are too specific for the current filter group. Expand your technician filter or adjust the Required Skills and Required Certifications on the visit, then run the optimization again.

What is the difference between excluding a technician and excluding a visit?

Excluding a technician tells Smart Dispatch to skip that person completely and leave all of their visits as-is. Excluding a visit tells Smart Dispatch to treat that single appointment as fixed; it will not move that visit, but it can still optimize around it.

How is the Schedule Assistant different from running the full optimizer?

  • The Schedule Assistant works in real time for a single new visit. It shows you available, qualified technicians and time slots based on department, skills, certifications, and distance, and fills in the visit fields with one click.

  • The Optimizer runs a batch analysis across all visible technicians and visits for the entire day and proposes a full-day schedule draft.

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