Taskrol feature
Appliance repair scheduling software for technician scheduling and dispatch on a map
A column per technician, the day's visits numbered on a map, a work schedule and ZIP service area for each technician, and a queue for the jobs whose parts have arrived.
The short answer
Taskrol is appliance repair scheduling software with a dispatch board: every technician has a column, the day's visits are numbered on a map in schedule order, and each technician has a work schedule and a ZIP service area. Jobs whose parts have arrived wait in Ready to install until you drag them onto whoever is free nearby. Online booking and the AI Agent land on the same calendar.
In a shop running 150 jobs a month where almost every job needs a part, a large share of the schedule is not the visit the customer called about. It is the return trip once the part is in. Taskrol runs every day at Cactus Appliance, an appliance repair company in Orange County, California.
A calendar answers when a technician is free. It does not answer whether he is anywhere near the address, whether that ZIP is even his, or which of the jobs waiting on parts can go on the same street tomorrow. Without one board, those answers get worked out by hand every morning, calendar on one screen, map on another.
Taskrol puts those questions on one board. The dispatch view is the calendar, the job list and the map together, so the day reads as places and people as much as hours, and the dispatcher builds it with coverage and availability in view.
Appliance repair scheduling software, explained in a minute of animation
Your whole repair day on one board and one map. Book a job in a single screen, see the day hour by hour and colored by technician, drag a job when a repair runs long, check the map before you promise a window, and let the customer get the appointment and an ETA by text.
How to schedule a day of appliance repair calls in Taskrol
- Book the call on one screen. A phone call becomes a job with Quick Job: customer, phone, address, appliance and complaint on one screen, geocoded so the map can use it. A request from your online booking page, or a call the AI Agent answers, arrives as a job on the same calendar with the technician already picked from the ones who cover that ZIP.
- Pick the technician by schedule and area. Each technician has a weekly work schedule and a service area made of ZIP codes. On the board you see who is working that day, who already has jobs in that part of town, and whose hours are blocked off. The dispatcher matches the repair to the person: a sealed-system job goes to the technician who does sealed systems.
- Set the arrival window and let the customer know. A job carries a start and an end, so the customer hears a window, not a minute. Three hours is what most companies promise. With Voice & SMS, switch on Notify client when you book and the customer gets the appointment by text from your business number.
- Check the map before you promise one more window. The visits for the day you pick sit on the map as numbered pins, in the order of the schedule, colored by status or by technician. When a customer asks for Thursday afternoon, you answer from the map: who is already on that side of the county that day.
- Run the day from the phone. The technician opens the app and sees his own jobs for the day with the map under them. His phone gets a reminder push before each visit. When he leaves for the next one he taps On My Way and the customer gets a text from your business number (Voice & SMS); the Automatic ETA & tax rate add-on puts the drive time in it.
- Schedule the return visit from Ready to install. When the part comes in, switch on Parts received on the job and it moves into Ready to install. Drag it onto whoever is closest that day, and with Notify client on the customer gets the new window by text.
Generic scheduling tool vs. appliance repair scheduling software
Most scheduling tools are built for one visit per job and any trade. Appliance repair runs on second visits and a fixed crew covering fixed areas, so the useful comparison is what happens at each moment of a real day.
| Workflow | A generic scheduler or shared calendar | Appliance repair scheduling in Taskrol |
|---|---|---|
| Who can take this address? | A calendar knows who is free. Whether that person covers the ZIP is something the dispatcher has to know. | Each technician has a ZIP service area and a weekly work schedule, and online booking offers only the windows of technicians who cover the customer's ZIP. |
| The part came in | Someone finds the job and calls the customer and the technician to line up a day. | Switch on Parts received and the job appears in Ready to install. Drag it onto a technician who is nearby that day. |
| Where is the day happening? | Addresses in a list; the map is a separate app. | Every visit is a pin on the map with its number in the day, so a new request is answered from where the crew already is. |
| Telling the customer | A manual text or call at booking, another when the technician is on the way. | Notify client and On My Way send the text from the technician's phone; with Voice & SMS they go out from your business number, and the Automatic ETA & tax rate add-on adds the drive time. |
| Booking from your website | A form that becomes an email; the office types the job in later. | Real windows from technician schedules and ZIP areas; the booking creates the customer, the job and the assignment. The AI Agent books the same way. |
A column for every technician
The dispatch board puts each technician in a column with the job list beside the calendar, so who is free and who is overloaded is one glance. Move a job between technicians or hours by dragging it.
Technician scheduling by work schedule and ZIP service area
Each technician has weekly hours and a list of ZIP codes he serves. Time off is blocked straight on the board, with a note if you want, and the block shows in his column so nobody books into it.
The day on a map, numbered in schedule order
Every visit for the day is a numbered pin, so the day reads as places and not only as times. Color the pins by technician and you see whose day is bunched and whose is spread out.
Ready to install: the queue for jobs whose parts arrived
Parts received moves the job into Ready to install, a filter on the job list that shows everything waiting for nothing but a technician. This queue is where the return visit gets its slot.
Arrival windows and appointment texts
What the customer hears is a window with a start and an end. With Voice & SMS, Notify client texts the appointment when you book or reschedule, On My Way texts when the technician taps it, and the Automatic ETA & tax rate add-on adds the drive time.
Online booking and the AI Agent feed the same calendar
The booking page shows customers real windows from the schedules of the technicians who cover their ZIP, and a booking becomes a customer, a job and an assignment. The AI Agent, answering a missed call, books against the same availability. Both land on the board like any job you typed yourself.
The technician's day on his phone
A technician sees the jobs assigned to him, with the map under the list, and gets a reminder push before each visit. The office sees every column on the web and on the phone.
Dispatch software for appliance repair, from one technician up
Solo runs the same calendar, map and Ready to install queue for one technician, free. Assigning jobs to other technicians, with their work schedules and ZIP areas, starts on Basic.
Frequently asked questions
What does the dispatch board show?
A column per technician with the job list beside the calendar, time-off blocks in each column, and a map of the day's visits, each pin numbered. Jobs move between technicians and hours by dragging.
How does the map help plan the day?
Every visit for the day you pick is a pin, numbered in the order you scheduled it and colored by status or by technician. When a customer asks for a time, you see who is already working on that side of the area and set the order the crew runs.
How do I schedule the return visit when the part arrives?
Open the job and switch on Parts received; it appears in Ready to install, the queue of jobs waiting for nothing but a technician. Drag it onto the technician who is closest that day, and with Notify client on the customer is texted the new window.
Is technician scheduling on the free plan?
Solo is one technician, so it has the calendar, the map and Ready to install for one person, free. Assigning jobs to other technicians, their work schedules and their ZIP areas come with Basic and Pro. Basic includes one user and bills extra users monthly; Pro includes three.
Can customers book appliance repair appointments online into the same calendar?
Yes. Your booking page offers windows from the schedules of technicians who cover the customer's ZIP, and a booking creates the customer, the job and the assignment on the board. If no technician covers the ZIP, the page says so.
Does the AI Agent book real appointments?
Yes, with Voice & SMS (or the one-time AI Agent trial) and an AI Agent pack. When the AI Agent answers a missed call, it books against the same availability as your online booking page, so the window it promises is one a technician actually has.
Can I text the customer an arrival window or an ETA?
Yes. Without Voice & SMS the text is sent from the technician's own phone; with Voice & SMS it goes from your business number. Notify client sends the appointment window when you book or reschedule, and On My Way sends a text when the technician taps it on the job. With Voice & SMS, the Automatic ETA & tax rate add-on ($10 per user per month) puts the drive time into the On My Way text.
Can technicians see only their own jobs?
Yes. A technician's phone shows only the jobs assigned to him. Owners, managers and office staff see every column.
Can I block time off for a technician?
Yes. Select the hours in a technician's column and save them as time off. The block shows in his column, and online booking skips it.