Resources: Assigning, Dispatching, & (Un)Availability

We are often asked, "What is the difference between Assigning a Resource and Dispatching a Resource?" Great question! 

Assigning a Resource to a Dispatch or an upcoming Scheduled Event can be thought of as a placeholder. Assigning a Resource generally takes place ahead of when the Dispatch work will be performed and is useful for planning purposes. 

When a Resource is Dispatched to a Dispatch, that person is going to physically perform the task captured in the Dispatch, whether that Dispatch originated from a Scheduled Event, Work Order, or from creating a new Dispatch. 

You may have one or several people Assigned as Resources at various points in your process. The Assigned Resource(s) may change numerous times.ned

Note: if the work to be performed under a Dispatch requires only one associate or technician, you may still have multiple people 'Assigned' at any given time as no work has yet been performed.

Multiple Assigned Resources will NOT impact time assessed to the Dispatch. 

This is a primary distinction between Assigned Resources and Dispatched Resources. Each active Dispatched Resource accrues time which is assessed to the Dispatch. 

Overview -  Things can get crazy sometimes and it's possible that the event time or resource time may not have been captured in real time. If this happens, and you need to adjust either of these times, it can be done in the system. 

Key Point -  Only Site Administrators have access to change Dispatch times.

Key Point - If a Dispatch was closed without a resource being dispatched, you will need to re-open the Dispatch and then assign the resources you wish to add, then change the times to match the actuals via update dispatch steps below.

How it works

1.  From the Main Menu open the Dispatch tab on the left-hand side of the page. 

2.  Click Update Dispatch

3.  Enter Dispatch Number to update and click update

4.  Scroll to the bottom of the edit dispatch screen and click "Resource Time" 

Clicking the 'Resource Time' button will open up the pop-up below.

5.  This will allow you to change the various dispatch and resource times and then save or save and close.

We have had this question many times. You have Technicians who are on site and working. You saw them yourself. But when you try to Dispatch them, he or she does not pull up in your list of Resources Available to Dispatch. 

1. Ask the Technician(s) to check their Home page and see if they are set to AVAILABLE or UNAVAILABLE. Even if they are working, they may have accidentally set themselves to UNAVAILABLE (to Dispatch). If you are an Administrator in L2L, you can check this yourself. 

Available vs. Unavailable 

View Resources: 

If you are an Administrator in L2L, you can also look at multiple Resources at the same time to see who is Available and Unavailable to Dispatch, as well as who has himself/herself set to Available or Unavailable (perhaps unknowingly). 

From DISPATCH, select the Area you wish to view, or just click ALL. 

Hover over More on the right hand side of the dark gray toolbar and click the Resources link. This will take you to the View Resources page. 

In VIEW (mode) within the View Resources pop up page, you can see the current availability status of all Resources in your facility. Note that all Resources who are available to be Dispatched have a green bar next to their name. 

If you change from VIEW to EDIT, you can now change the availability status display. This is helpful when you know a Resource is on site, but has not yet logged into L2L. Perhaps they were in a meeting or attending training and have not updated their availability status. 

2. Another item to check is to look at their account profile. Do this by going to Setup > Users > search for the Resource > click on the account link to view their profile. 

Make sure that Resource Sites is populated with at least one selection.  

By hovering over the Resource Sites dropdown, you will see this helpful reminder: In order for a Resource to be Dispatched, the Resource Site(s) must be selected here. 

Here's a Quick Tip when someone is on vacation or will be off work for some extended period of time. If they know in advance, they can set themself to UNAVAILABLE. 

However, if they forgot to change their status, and you think you are Dispatching them to a Dispatch, only to discover that you are not, use the "RESOURCES" link available from the Main Dispatch View screen. This will take you to the View Resources page.

Click ALL from the Menu to display ALL Resources and ALL Areas.

If the Resource name is in BOLD TYPE, they are available to Dispatch. If someone is not on site or will be out, clicking on that Resource will un-bold their name, showing that they are Unavailable to Dispatch. This will save a lot of time and frustration when folks are off work.