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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.novala.ai/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

The Scheduling module gives coordinators a centralized view of all technician availability, current assignments, and open jobs. You can manually assign work to any available technician or use dispatch offers to let technicians self-select jobs — with automatic fallback if they don’t respond.

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The Dispatch Board

The Dispatch Board at Scheduling → Dispatch Board is your primary tool for managing field operations. It shows every technician as a column, with their assignments displayed as blocks on a weekly timeline. From the Dispatch Board you can:
  • See every technician’s assignments for the current week at a glance
  • Identify gaps in capacity and over-allocated days
  • Drag and drop to reassign jobs between technicians
  • Open any assignment to view details or change its status
  • Create new assignments directly on the board by clicking an open slot

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Setting technician availability

Before you can dispatch jobs to a technician, their recurring availability needs to be configured.
1

Open the technician's schedule settings

Go to Scheduling → Dispatch Board, click the technician’s name, and select Edit Availability.
2

Set recurring windows per day

For each day of the week, set the start and end times when the technician is available. Mark days they don’t work as unavailable. These windows repeat weekly until changed.
3

Save the schedule

Click Save. The technician’s availability is now used by the dispatch system when checking capacity and recommending dates.
Availability windows are used by the AI work order recommender to suggest the best date and technician for upcoming site visits. Keeping availability accurate improves scheduling recommendations.

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Blocking time

When a technician is unavailable for a specific period — PTO, training, sick leave, or any other reason — add a schedule block so those days aren’t offered for jobs.
1

Create a schedule block

From the Dispatch Board, click the technician’s column on the date you want to block, then click Add Block. Alternatively, go to the technician’s availability settings and click Add Block.
2

Set the block details

Enter the start and end dates, select the block type (PTO, training, sick, or other), and optionally add a note. For all-day blocks, leave the time fields blank.
3

Save

The blocked period appears on the Dispatch Board and the technician will not be included in availability checks for those days.

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Dispatching a job

You can assign a work order or inspection to a technician directly from the Dispatch Board or from the work order detail page.
Click an open slot on a technician’s column for the target date. In the panel that appears, search for and select the work order or inspection you want to assign. Set the estimated duration and click Save Assignment. The assignment appears on the board immediately.

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Dispatch offers

Instead of directly assigning a job, you can send a dispatch offer to a technician. The technician receives a notification and can accept, decline, or propose an alternative time.
1

Send a dispatch offer

From the work order or from the Dispatch Board, click Send Dispatch Offer. Select one or more technicians to send the offer to, along with the proposed date and time window.
2

Technician responds

The technician receives a push notification in the field app. They can:
  • Accept: The job is assigned to them and confirmed on the board
  • Decline: The offer is closed for this technician and auto-cascade kicks in
  • Propose alternative time: The technician suggests a different date or time window, which is surfaced to the coordinator for approval
3

Auto-cascade on decline or no response

If a technician declines or the offer expires without a response, Novala automatically sends the offer to the next available candidate in the list. If all candidates decline or no candidates remain, the assignment is escalated to the coordinator for manual handling.
You can configure the offer expiry window — how long a technician has to respond before the offer cascades. The default is set in Settings → Scheduling.

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Calendar view

The calendar at Scheduling → Calendar provides a weekly or daily overview of all assignments across the entire team — useful for spotting scheduling conflicts or planning coverage.
Use the toggle in the top-right corner of the calendar to switch between weekly and daily views. The daily view shows assignments as time blocks with their estimated durations.
Use the technician filter on the left to show assignments for one or more specific technicians. This is helpful when coordinating coverage or reviewing a single technician’s upcoming workload.

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Capacity planning

The Dispatch Board and Calendar together give you the information needed to plan capacity across your team.

Utilization view

Go to Scheduling → Utilization to see each technician’s booked hours versus available hours for the current and upcoming weeks. Identify who is under-allocated before scheduling new work.

AI work order recommendations

The AI work order recommender surfaces sites that need visits based on overdue inspections, upcoming due dates, and open findings — and suggests a technician and date based on current availability. You can accept recommendations directly from the dashboard.