Technicians are your Tech App users. Each technician/lead technician in your company will need a technician account for appointments to be assigned to them and for them to access the Tech App.
Some companies will use an additional technician on their board to "hold" appointments. These "technicians" would not be actually Tech App users, and as long as no one logs into the Tech App using this technician profile, you would not be charged for them.
Creating a Technician
Select Technicians from the Department drop-down menu or from the Dispatch menu.
Click the + Add Technician button in the top right of your screen.
The following box will appear. See notes below regarding required and optional fields. Once all information has been entered. Click Create.
The following fields are REQUIRED for setup:
First Name
Technicians will appear on the schedule board in alphabetical order by first name within their respective departments.
Last Name
Email Address
The email address entered here MUST be an active email address. Entering an email address that is not active will prevent the technician from getting password updates in the future. No two technicians can use the same email address, and a customer and technician can not use the same email address. If you get an error message, "Email has already been taken.", you will want to search for that email address in Customer Service. Be sure to include ALL customers by clicking the Active/All toggle switch. You will also want to be sure that email address has not been used on any other technician profile. When checking technicians, you will want to click the Active Technicians/All Technicians toggle switch. Re-using an email address from an archived technician will stop this new account from being able to access the Tech App.
Phone Number
When a technician selects Start Trip/Notify Customer in the Tech App, the customer receives an email and text message letting them know the technician is on their way. The customer is able to log in to their customer portal and see the technician en route. The customer also has the ability to contact the technician via the phone number that is on their technician profile. If you do not want customers to be able to contact the technician via this number, you should set the phone number to the office number or another number.
Address
The address used on a technician profile can be either their home address or the office address. The auto-scheduler will use this address to help determine which technicians are selected for jobs based on location and your dispatch strategies
Department
Primary Department
The Technician will need to belong to a department for labeling on the Dispatch Board. This is where the bulk of his skills are going to be used. You can select Services outside of his primary department and the scheduler will evaluate those services for appointment assignment.
Services
Services are your appointment types. Clicking the checkbox for services tells the auto-scheduler which types of calls a technician can run. The scheduler will only auto-schedule to technicians with those capabilities. Any technician can be manually assigned to any appointment type.
The remaining fields are OPTIONAL and are only visible to admin portal users. They have no impact on a technician's capabilities.
Installer Checkbox Note: This checkbox puts a wrench beside the technician's name on the schedule board, making installers easier to identify on the schedule board. Checking this box DOES NOT give them any special capabilities or permissions.
After creating the technician profile, you will be taken to the following screen.
If your technicians need to have their passwords reset, click on the technician's name from your dispatch board, select the Edit button on the technician's profile, scroll down, and click on Reset Password. This will send a password reset to the technician's email on file. They can use the link emailed to them to reset their password.
Setting Regular Work Hours
Entering the technician's Regular Work Hours tells the auto-scheduler what hours the technician is available. Appointments will not be auto-scheduled before the beginning of the regular work hours and will end before their regular work hours are scheduled to end.
For example, if a technician's regular work hours are Monday - Friday, 8 am - 4 pm, and you want to schedule a service that is set to take 3 hours, the scheduler will only show availability for that service to begin at 1:00 pm.
To set Regular Work Hours, click on the blue + sign under any day of the week.
Select the appropriate checkboxes and set the start time and end time. Then click Save. If Regular Work Hours are different each day, then select only that box to set the Regular Work Hours.
Editing Regular Work Hours
Regular Work Hours can be edited by clicking on the hours for that particular day, editing the Start Time or End Time, and then clicking Save. Regular Work Hours can also be deleted from this screen.
Managing a Technician's Daily Schedule
A technician's daily schedule can be managed by clicking the blue + sign on any given date. The New Schedule screen will appear. Enter the Name (PTO, Vacation, Sick, Meeting, etc), Start Time, and End Time. Click Save.
This will block time on the technician's schedule and make them unavailable for appointments to be auto-scheduled to them. The time off that has been added will then appear in the box for that date and will also display as a gray pill on the schedule board for that period of time.
An admin user does have the ability to override the auto-scheduler and pin an appointment to a technician even if they do not show availability for a particular time block.
Clicking the Available checkbox makes a technician available during a certain time. This can be used to make an on-call technician available during evening or weekend hours. It is important to note that by checking this box, it also allows customers to schedule any ACTIVE service during those available hours.
Editing/Archiving/Unarchiving a Technician Profile
Technician profiles can be edited or archived by navigating to the appropriate Department, clicking on Technicians, and then clicking on the appropriate technician name, or by selecting their hyperlinked name from anywhere in your Admin Portal, such as the Dispatch Board or reports. In order to see archived technicians, you will need to click the Active Techs/All Techs toggle switch.