---
title: How Auto-Assignment Picks the Best Tech
description: See how MetaFleet offers a job to the best technician by skills, availability, distance and workload, and what happens when no one accepts.
---
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2. [Dispatch & Scheduling](https://support.metafleet.ai/dispatch-scheduling?hsLang=en)
3. [Technician Assignment](https://support.metafleet.ai/dispatch-scheduling?hsLang=en#technician-assignment)
# How Auto-Assignment Picks the Best Tech
## When a service order is ready for a technician, MetaFleet ranks your crew and offers the job to the best fit automatically, then escalates to you if no one takes it.
**For:** Dispatchers and shop managers · **Permission:** none to read, Manage users to edit a tech's skills · **Time:** ~5 minutes
### The short version
1. When an order needs a tech, MetaFleet builds a **ranked shortlist** of eligible techs.
2. It offers the job to the **top candidate** with a **Job Available** alert, and a text if they turned on [job alerts by text](https://support.metafleet.ai/job-alerts-by-text?hsLang=en).
3. If they don't accept within the escalation interval, it offers the **next-best** tech, and so on.
4. If no one accepts, it **escalates to the lead dispatcher** with an **Assign Tech Now** alert.
5. Separately, a job nobody claims alerts the dispatcher at **10 minutes** and raises an alarm at **15 minutes**, counted from the first offer.
6. Shops can turn on **AI-assisted ranking** for a smarter shortlist. If the AI result is unusable, MetaFleet falls back to the standard ranking.
### Who gets an automatic offer
Before ranking, MetaFleet filters to technicians who can take the job. For an **automatic offer**, a tech must be:
- **Clocked in:** only on-shift techs are auto-offered a job.
- **Locatable:** the tech must have a recent location on record. It is used for distance.
- **Within range:** within your max assignment distance (**75 miles** by default).
- **In the order's service area:** the tech's primary or secondary area must match the order.
> Off-shift, out-of-range or out-of-area techs are not auto-offered a job. You can still pick them yourself in the **Assign Technician** window. See [Manually Assign a Technician](https://support.metafleet.ai/manually-assign-a-technician?hsLang=en).
### How the ranked list is ordered
Eligible techs are sorted by these rules, in order of importance:
1. **A tech who can't do this kind of job goes last.** On a repair, a tech who only does towing is listed at the bottom with a **No Skill Match** chip, at any distance.
2. **A tech beyond your max assignment distance** ranks below every tech in range. A tech with no location on record isn't treated as out of range.
3. **Off shift or unavailable techs come next to last.** A tech who is off shift, on time off, or already booked for the slot stays in the list with the reason shown (for example **Off shift**, **PTO** or **Already booked**). They are never hidden.
4. **Skill match.** Techs whose service types cover the job rank above techs whose service types don't.
5. **Availability.** **Available** first, then **Wrapping Up**, then **On Site**, then **En Route** to another job.
6. **Distance.** Closer to the vehicle ranks higher. Distance decides proximity, not service area.
7. **Workload.** Among otherwise-equal techs, the one with fewer hours logged this week ranks higher, so jobs spread evenly across the crew.
A tech with the right skills therefore ranks above an idle tech without them, even if the idle tech is closer.
### Where skills are set
A tech's service types live on their profile, on the **Services Provided** card. Open **Settings › Users**, click the tech, then click **Edit** on the card. Click **Done** when you finish. Tick the **Service Types** they can take (**Repair**, **PM / Inspection**, **Towing**) and pick the repair types they handle.
*The Services Provided card in edit mode: service types on top, repair type tiles below.*
> **Manage users permission.** Only users with the Manage users permission see **Edit** on this card. Everyone else sees the read-only view.
### What you see in the Assign Technician window
Open **Assign Technician** on an unassigned order to see the same ranked shortlist the automatic offer works from. Each row shows the tech's billable hours, jobs done, service area, **Distance**, **ETA** and **Status**. Off-shift techs, and techs in another area far from the job, are listed dimmed with no drive time. You can still pick them.
- **Skill Match** marks techs whose skills cover the job.
- **No Skill Match** marks a tech who can't do this kind of job, such as a towing-only tech on a repair. They stay in the list, last.
- **Awaiting Response** marks the tech who has been offered the job and hasn't answered yet.
- **Off shift**, a time-off reason such as **PTO**, and **Already booked** (a tech with a scheduled order in that slot) mark techs who can't take the slot. Click **Clock in** on an off-shift row to put the tech on shift, if you have permission to manage technician clocks.
- Click the **ⓘ** icon next to the top-ranked tech to open **Why this tech?**. It gives a one-line reason (drive time, distance, skill match, hours this week) and lists the next ranked techs. It explains the order. It never changes it.
### How the offer and escalation flow works
1. **The job is offered to the top tech.** They get a **Job Available** alert in MetaFleet, and a text with a link to claim it if they turned on job alerts by text. In the Assign Technician window their row shows **Awaiting Response**.
2. **If they don't respond, it moves on.** After the escalation interval (**5 minutes** by default), MetaFleet offers the job to the next-best tech and keeps going down the list. A tech who was already offered the job is not offered it again. A tech you remove from the order is never offered it again.
3. **If no one takes it, it comes to you.** When the list is used up, the lead dispatcher gets an **Assign Tech Now** alert to assign someone manually.
4. **If the job still sits unclaimed, you hear about it.** This clock starts at the first offer and runs on its own. At **10 minutes** the order's dispatcher gets a **Not picked up** alert on the order card and a "Nobody has picked up SO #" email. At **15 minutes** an alarm, **Not picked up (15m)**, appears in **ALARMS** on every dispatcher's rail, even for an order on their own rows, and counts in the ALARMS number. Every admin also gets a "still has no technician" email. Both clear when a tech claims the job, someone assigns one, or the order is canceled.
### AI-assisted ranking (optional)
Shops can have an AI-assisted layer on top of the standard ranking. It reads the job and each tech's signals and adds a short plain-language reason per tech. You read it in the **Why this tech?** panel. If the AI result is unavailable or unusable, MetaFleet falls back to the standard ranking above, so a job is never stranded. Ask MetaFleet if you'd like it enabled for your shop.
### What you can configure
Open **Settings › Workflow › Dispatch**. Change a value, then click **Save**.
- **Max tech assignment distance (miles):** auto-offers skip techs farther than this from the job. Default 75 miles.
- **Auto-offer escalation interval (minutes):** how long to wait for a tech to respond before offering the next one. Default 5 minutes.
- **Escalate jobs nobody picks up:** on by default. Turn it off to stop the 10-minute alert and the 15-minute alarm. The 10 and 15 minutes can't be changed.
### Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
| --- | --- | --- |
| No tech is offered a new order | No clocked-in tech with a recent location is within range and in the order's service area | Assign manually. You can pick off-shift or other-area techs in the Assign Technician window. |
| A tech never got offered a nearby job | They were clocked out, had no recent location, or were out of area | Confirm they're clocked in. Auto-offers only go to on-shift, in-area techs. |
| Jobs keep escalating to the dispatcher | The escalation interval is too short, or coverage is thin in that area | Lengthen the interval in **Settings › Workflow › Dispatch**, or assign manually. |
| A row shows no distance and "—" for ETA | The tech has no location on record | You can still assign the tech from the window. Distance and ETA appear once the tech's location reports. |
| A tech who is close is listed below others | They can't do this kind of job, or they are beyond your max assignment distance | Look for the **No Skill Match** chip, and check **Max tech assignment distance** in **Settings › Workflow › Dispatch**. |
| A closer tech is listed below a farther one | The farther tech has a skill match, and skill ranks above distance | Check the **Skill Match** badge, or add the missing service type on the closer tech's profile. |
### FAQs
**Does service area decide the ranking?**
No. Service area decides who's eligible for an automatic offer. Skills, availability, distance and workload decide the order. An out-of-area tech can still be assigned manually.
**Will a tech without the right skills ever be offered the job?**
Skill-matched techs in range are always offered first. If none is available, MetaFleet offers the next-best tech in the area instead of escalating at once.
**How do a tech's skills affect the ranking?**
Skill match is the first ranking rule. A tech who can't do the job at all goes last, and a tech beyond your max distance goes below techs in range. Set each tech's service types and repair types on their profile, under **Services Provided**.
**Why is a tech marked Off shift, PTO or Already booked?**
For the booked slot, the tech is outside their shift, on time off, or has a scheduled order. The row stays in the list, lower down, so you can still find them.
**Can I change how the factors are balanced?**
The default uses strict priority, as listed above. Some shops opt into a weighted mode that blends the factors. Ask MetaFleet if you'd like it enabled.
**How fast does it escalate?**
About 5 minutes per step by default. Change it in **Settings › Workflow › Dispatch**. A job nobody picks up also alerts the dispatcher at 10 minutes and raises an alarm at 15 minutes.
### Related articles
- [Manually Assign a Technician](https://support.metafleet.ai/manually-assign-a-technician?hsLang=en)
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