For: Dispatchers and service managers · Permission: Manage appointments · Time: about 4 minutes to read
Quick summary
- Go to Service › Appointment Requests. The Calendar view opens first.
- Read the week: each block is a visit, colored by its status.
- Click an empty slot to book a visit, or click a block to open one.
- Drag jobs from the Unscheduled panel onto the calendar to give them a date.
- Switch to Needs Confirmation, List or Enrollment Opportunities when you're working a queue rather than a week.
Before you start
- What's on this page: repair, PM, inspection and towing appointments, all together.
- Related jobs have their own articles: to book a visit, see Book a PM, Inspection or Repair Appointment. To confirm, decline, move or cancel one, see Confirm, Decline, Reschedule & Cancel Appointments.
Open Appointment Requests
Go to Service › Appointment Requests. This page used to be called the Service Workspace. Along the top are the four views (Calendar, Needs Confirmation, List and Enrollment Opportunities) and + Create Appointment. The arrow next to + Create Appointment lets you choose PM And Inspection, Repair or Towing.
Under them is the calendar toolbar: a search box, the technician filter, Parts List, Unscheduled, Refresh and Full screen. The line above it, such as Updated just now, tells you when the calendar last refreshed.
Read the calendar
The calendar shows one week, Monday to Sunday. Use the arrows to move a week at a time and Today to come back. Each day's header shows how many appointments it has.
Each block shows the time, a type tag (PM, INSP, REPAIR or TOWING), the unit number (or how many vehicles the visit covers) and the company. The color shows the status: Requested, Confirmed, Completed, Cancelled or Declined. Repairs always show in their own color, whatever their status. A tow shows its status color with the TOWING tag. The key under the calendar explains the colors and tags.
A visit that runs past midnight shows as one continuous block across the days it covers. The first day's time ends with an arrow (8:00 AM →) and the last day's starts with one (→ 12:00 PM). A visit that began in an earlier week and is still running shows on this week's days too, for visits that began up to 14 days back.
The calendar keeps itself up to date. When anyone books, confirms, reschedules or assigns a visit, it updates within a few seconds. Click Refresh to reload it yourself.
Find and open a visit
- Search unit # or company: type a unit number, a company name or a request number to show only the visits that match.
- All technicians: pick a technician to see only their visits. Visits with no technician are hidden while a technician is picked, so switch back to All technicians to see everything.
Click a block to open the visit. PM and inspection visits open on the visit's Details tab. A repair opens its service order once work has started, or its appointment page before that.
Book from an empty slot
Click an empty slot on the calendar. An outline shows the default length of the visit, and a small menu offers PM / Inspection (one or more trucks), Repair (one truck, on its own) or Towing (move a truck, booked ahead). Pick one and the booking page opens with that date and start time filled in. If the slot is in the past, the booking page opens without a time.
To move a visit that's already booked, drag its block to a new slot. MetaFleet asks before it saves and lets you choose whether to tell the customer. If you don't tell them, their reminders pause until someone does. A move to a time that has passed, or into a bay that is already booked, is refused with a Could not reschedule message that says why. See Confirm, Decline, Reschedule & Cancel Appointments.
Give unscheduled jobs a date
The Unscheduled panel holds jobs that don't have a date yet, such as visits booked as Unscheduled and bookings made from an approved estimate. It opens beside the calendar by itself whenever there's unscheduled work, and the Unscheduled button shows how many jobs are waiting. Click the button to show or hide the panel.
Each card shows the job number, the type, the company, the number of vehicles, the notes and when it was added. Filter the cards with All, PM, Inspection, Repair or Towing. Towing shows the waiting jobs that include a tow. Click the job number to open the job and edit it.
To give a job a date:
- Drag the card onto a slot on the calendar.
- MetaFleet asks Schedule it here? Also notify the customer is ticked. Untick it to schedule without telling the customer. The window then says Make sure you update the customer manually.
- Click Yes, schedule it, or No, put it back to leave the job unscheduled.
A job scheduled without notifying the customer sends them no confirmation and no reminders. Its page shows Booked without a message to the customer. When you're ready, click Send confirmation there.
Or click ⋮ on the card and choose Schedule. In the Schedule appointment window, pick the date and time, choose whether to Notify the customer of the scheduled time, and click Confirm & schedule. Click Edit details instead to change the booking first.
Scheduling a job confirms it. If something the booking needs is missing, such as a payment method on a PM, MetaFleet opens the booking so you can finish it.
To drop a job you no longer need, click ⋮ › Remove the job and confirm with Yes, remove. The customer isn't notified, and the job shows as Declined in the List view. If the job came from an approved estimate, removing it also cancels that estimate, and MetaFleet warns you before it does. The panel shows up to 500 jobs, oldest first.
Print parts lists for upcoming jobs
Click Parts List. Pick the service days (up to 31) or click Today, Tomorrow, This weekend or Next week. The window counts the jobs, days, technicians, part lines and pieces in that range, and tells you how many lines aren't in stock so you can start sourcing them. Click the download button (for example Download 5 tickets) to get a PDF with one page per job, grouped by day and then by technician.
Printing doesn't reserve any parts or move stock.
Use the whole screen
Click Full screen to give the week grid the whole screen. The Unscheduled panel comes with it, so you can still drag jobs onto the calendar. Click Exit full screen or press Esc to go back.
Schedule PMs that are due
Under the calendar, Due Soon & Overdue lists vehicles on a PM program whose service is due soon or overdue, with the current and next-due mileage. Click a row or Schedule → to open the booking page with that vehicle and program already filled in.
Work a queue in the other views
- Needs Confirmation: requests waiting for you to confirm or decline. See Confirm, Decline, Reschedule & Cancel Appointments.
- List: every appointment in one table, newest scheduled first. The tabs filter by status: All, Requested, Pending Arrival (confirmed and waiting for the truck), Service In Progress, Declined, Cancelled and Completed. Search by request number or description, and click a row to open it. Jobs without a date carry an Unscheduled tag.
- Enrollment Opportunities: vehicles that aren't on any PM program yet, grouped by customer. See Enrolling Vehicles in a PM Program.
Finish a booking you started
The booking page saves as you go. If you leave a booking before you submit it, it waits under Unsubmitted at the bottom of the Alerts panel, marked Pending Submission. Click it to pick up where you left off, or click Cancel to throw it away. Service orders you started but didn't submit are listed here too.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| A visit isn't on the calendar | It has no date yet, it's in another week (a visit still running from an earlier week shows in this one), or a filter is on | Check the Unscheduled panel, use the arrows or Today, and clear the search and technician filter. |
| A technician's visits are missing | The technician filter is set to someone else | Switch it back to All technicians. |
| An unscheduled job has disappeared | Someone scheduled it or removed it | Find it on the List view. Removed jobs are under Declined. |
| Clicking an empty slot opened the booking page with no time | The slot is in the past | Pick the date and time on the booking page. |
| Dropping a job on the calendar opened the booking page | The booking is missing something it needs, such as a payment method | Finish the details and save, then schedule it again. |
| Dropping a job on a time that has passed opened the booking page | The start has already passed. The message reads That time has already passed. Pick a time from now on. | Drop it on a time from now on. |
| A row says En route and isn't under any status tab | The technician has set off for the job | You'll find it under All. |
| The List search can't find a unit number or company | The List searches request numbers and descriptions only | Use the calendar search, which covers unit numbers and company names. |
FAQs
Which view should I start in?
Start the day in Needs Confirmation to clear new requests. Use the Calendar to plan the week, the List to find a visit by number or status, and Enrollment Opportunities to find vehicles for your PM programs.
Can I create an appointment from here?
Yes. Click + Create Appointment (or the arrow next to it for a repair or a tow), or click an empty slot on the calendar. See Book a PM, Inspection or Repair Appointment.
What time zone does the calendar use?
Yours. Each visit's Date & time card names the time zone its own times are in.
Do I need to refresh to see a colleague's changes?
No. The calendar and list update within a few seconds when anyone books, confirms, reschedules or assigns a visit.
What are Enrollment Opportunities?
Vehicles that aren't on a PM program yet, grouped by customer. They're good candidates to enroll, which fills your schedule with regular work.