For: Dispatchers and service managers · Permission: Manage appointments · Time: about 3 minutes
Quick summary
- Go to Service › Appointment Requests and click + Create Appointment.
- Choose when the work happens: Now, Scheduled or Unscheduled.
- Pick what's included: PM Service, Inspection, or both.
- Add the customer, an on-site contact and the vehicles, then the work for each vehicle.
- Set the location, date and time, and payment, then click Book Appointment.
Before you start
- You'll need: a customer company with at least one vehicle. For PM work, the service programs should already exist (see Building Service Tasks & PM Programs).
- An on-site contact: every booking needs at least one member of the customer's company to be the contact for the visit. You can add one while booking.
Open Appointment Requests
Go to Service › Appointment Requests. This is your scheduling hub: a Calendar of booked visits, plus Needs Confirmation, List and Enrollment Opportunities views.
Click + Create Appointment to book a PM or inspection visit. To book a repair instead, click the arrow next to it and choose Repair, or click an empty slot on the calendar and pick the type.
Appointment Requests: booked visits on the calendar, with + Create Appointment at the top right.
Choose when, and what the visit includes
Under Time of the service, pick one:
- Now: an emergency, roadside or walk-in job. Service starts today, so there's no date to set and the on-site contact is optional.
- Scheduled: book an exact date and time.
- Unscheduled: add the work now and pick the date and time later. It waits in the Unscheduled list on the calendar.
Then answer What's included in this visit? Pick PM Service, Inspection, or both. One visit can cover a PM and an inspection in the same trip. The line underneath confirms your choice and applies it to every vehicle on the visit.
Add the customer, contact and vehicles
- Customer: search for the company and select it. If they're new, click + Create a new company.
- Members (on-site contacts): pick the person the technician should deal with on site. Frequently used contacts are listed first. To add someone new, click + Add a new member to this company and enter their name, email and phone. The phone number has to be in the format
+1 5555551234. - Invoice / email identity (optional): if you run more than one brand, pick the one that should appear on this visit's invoice and customer emails.
- Vehicles: search by VIN, unit number, make or model, or click one of the frequently used trucks. The Frequently used list comes back after each truck you add. Add as many as the visit covers. If the customer has vehicle groups, a Vehicle Group card lets you add a whole group at once.
Pick the work for each vehicle
Under Service Programs, switch on the program for the visit, for example PM-A – Lube, Oil and Filter. With Same work on every vehicle switched on (the default), your choice applies to every truck on the visit.
Switch it off to choose per truck. You get one row per vehicle, so different trucks can carry different programs, and a truck can carry more than one. If the visit includes an inspection, choose the inspection form the same way.
Set the location and technician
Service Location: click one of the customer's saved locations, or type an address and pick it from the suggestions (you can also drop the pin on the map). If your service area is marked as a shop, your shop appears at the top of the suggestions: pick it for work done in your shop. Tick Save this address for this customer to reuse a new address next time.
Technician (optional): click + Assign technician. MetaFleet ranks your technicians for that location and time, and marks the best fit as Suggested. Each row shows their current shift, service area, distance and status. Technicians who are off shift or unavailable are listed in grey. You can also leave the visit unassigned and assign someone later.
Set the time and payment, then book
- Date & time: set the day and the start and end times. Times are in the job site's time zone.
- Payment: the customer's usual method is selected for you. Choose Manual Collection (you collect payment yourself) or Credit/Debit Card & ACH. Click + Add payment method to save a card.
- Notes (optional): anything the technician should know, such as a gate code.
The ring at the top of the page counts the required sections you've finished. When it's complete, click Book Appointment. The visit appears on the Appointment Requests calendar. Once it's Confirmed, you can add parts on the visit's Parts tab before Begin Service. See Confirm, Decline, Reschedule & Cancel Appointments.
Drafts save themselves. If you leave a booking half-done, it's kept under Unsubmitted in the Alerts panel as Pending Submission. Open it to finish, or click Cancel on its row in the Alerts panel to throw it away. On the booking page, Cancel on a draft you reopened just leaves it in Unsubmitted. On a new booking, clicking Cancel after you've picked a customer asks Discard this draft?: Discard draft deletes it, and Cancel keeps you on the form.
Looking for work to book? The Enrollment Opportunities view lists vehicles that aren't on a program yet. See Enrolling Vehicles in a PM Program.
Schedule a booking from the Unscheduled list
A booking saved as Unscheduled has no date yet. It waits in the Unscheduled list next to the calendar until you give it a time.
- Open the list: on Service › Appointment Requests. If the Unscheduled list isn't showing next to the calendar, click Unscheduled above the calendar. The number next to the list's title is how many bookings are waiting.
- Find the booking: each card shows the reference, the type (PM, Inspection, Repair or Towing), the customer, the number of vehicles, a short note and how long ago it was added. Use All, PM, Inspection, Repair or Towing to filter the list.
- Open the schedule window: click the three dots on the card and choose Schedule. The window lists the reference, company, number of vehicles and estimated duration. Everything else is kept as you saved it.
- Pick the date and time: the window opens on a suggested day and time. Change both if needed: choose a day under Date and a start time under Time. The line next to When shows what you picked.
- Decide on the customer notice: Notify the customer of the scheduled time is ticked. Clear it if you don't want the customer told yet. The customer then gets no confirmation and no reminders until you click Send confirmation on the visit.
- Confirm: click Confirm & schedule. The booking moves onto the calendar at that time.
Need to change something else first? Click Edit details to reopen the booking. Cancel closes the window and leaves the booking in the list.
Dragging a card onto the calendar asks Schedule it here? Also notify the customer is ticked. Untick it to schedule without telling the customer. Click Yes, schedule it to go ahead, or No, put it back to leave the booking in the list.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Book Appointment stays greyed out | A required section isn't finished. The ring shows how many are done. | Look for cards still marked Required: customer, members, vehicles, service programs, location, date and time. |
| Members says "Select a customer first" | No customer is selected yet | Pick the customer, then add the on-site contact. |
| Service Programs says "Pick the vehicles first" | No vehicles on the visit yet | Add at least one vehicle. The work is chosen per vehicle. |
| The program I want isn't listed | It hasn't been set up as a service program | Create it under Settings › PM & Inspections. See Building Service Tasks & PM Programs. |
| A new contact won't save | The email or phone number isn't in a format MetaFleet accepts | Use a full email address and a phone number like +1 5555551234. |
| A technician is greyed out | They're off shift, not clocked in, on time off, or not qualified for the work | Pick someone else, or leave the visit unassigned and assign later. |
| "This address has no map coordinates yet" | The typed address didn't resolve to a point on the map | Pick the spot on the map so the technician can navigate to it. |
| I booked it as Unscheduled and can't find it on the calendar | It has no date yet, so it isn't on the calendar. | If the list isn't showing, click Unscheduled above the calendar, then schedule it from the list. See Schedule a booking from the Unscheduled list above. |
| "That time has already passed. Pick a time from now on." | The start you picked is earlier than the current minute. Confirming or rescheduling a visit that hasn't started refuses a past start. | Pick a start time from now on, then confirm again. |
| "Bay is already booked for …" | The visit has a bay, and another booking overlaps the time you picked. The message names the clashing times on the shop's clock. | Pick a time outside the times shown, or assign a different bay. See Set Up Bays for PM Scheduling. |
| "This appointment is cancelled (or declined, or completed), so it can't be rescheduled." | Closed visits can't be moved. | Book a new appointment instead. See Confirm, Decline, Reschedule & Cancel Appointments. |
| Confirm & schedule shows "More info needed to schedule" and opens the booking page | The booking is missing a required detail. A PM booking saved without a payment method is one example. | Fill in the missing detail on the page that opens, then book it. |
FAQs
Can one appointment cover several vehicles?
Yes. Add every truck the visit covers. They can all get the same work, or different work per truck.
Can a visit be both a PM and an inspection?
Yes. Select both under What's included in this visit? and they're handled together on one visit.
How do I book a repair?
Click the arrow next to + Create Appointment and choose Repair, or click an empty slot on the calendar and pick Repair. A repair is booked on its own; it can't be combined with a PM or inspection on the same visit.
What's the difference between Now, Scheduled and Unscheduled?
Now is for walk-ins and roadside jobs that start today. Scheduled books an exact date and time. Unscheduled saves the work without a time, and it waits in the Unscheduled list until you schedule it. Open the list, choose Schedule on its card and pick a date and time.
What if I get interrupted while booking?
Nothing is lost. The booking saves itself as a draft under Unsubmitted in the Alerts panel, and you can finish it later.
Where does the appointment show up after I book it?
On the Appointment Requests calendar. Confirm, reschedule or cancel it from there. See Confirm, Decline, Reschedule & Cancel Appointments.