Can we take it?
Check whether a booking fits your fleet from the Dispatcher panel or from Telegram, and read the answer.
When a customer asks for a date, check it before you say yes. The Dispatcher tells you which truck can take the booking, how it fits around the rest of that truck's day, and what to offer instead if nothing fits.
Ask the question
Open the panel
Click the Dispatcher tab on the right edge of any portal page (or press Ctrl+Shift+D). On the Dispatcher page, the same form is the Can we take it? card.
Describe the booking
Type the place in Address, venue, ZIP or city, pick the day, the start and the end. Leave Any brand or narrow it to one brand's trucks.
Check
Click Check availability. The answer comes first, the detail underneath.
Read the answer
The headline is one of three words:
| Answer | Means |
|---|---|
| Yes | A truck can take it. The line under it names the truck, for example "Truck 2 can take it". |
| Not as asked | No truck can take it at that time and place. |
| Unclear | The Dispatcher could not check something, such as an address it could not find or a route it could not calculate. It is not a no. Fix the address or check again. |
Fits if you trim
Sometimes a truck can make it only if the crew is a little quicker than your usual setup and pack-up times. The answer then carries the condition: "Truck 2 can take it if the crew trims 5 min of prep". Only your padding (setup, pack-up and parking) is ever trimmed, never the drive. A small trim can still be the best fit; a bigger one is shown as risky and is never picked as best; beyond that the answer is an honest no.
The truck cards
Under the headline, the best truck is marked Best fit, with its drive, its margin and its risk. Other trucks follow under Other trucks:
- Works: also fits, just less well.
- Not feasible: with the reason, for example the drive from its previous event leaves no time to set up.
- Can't tell: with what was missing.
When the closest truck just misses and a farther one fits, or nothing fits, Other times that work lists nearby start times and the truck for each, so you can offer the customer an alternative on the spot.
When could it go?
On the Dispatcher page, the Heatmap view scores every truck hour by hour for the day, with words on each cell such as Already booked, Works and Tight. Click a workable cell to check that slot. Best openings lists the strongest slots as a short ranked list, comfortable slots before risky ones, because it is a list for selling.
Booking opportunities
The timeline sometimes shows a Booking opportunities card: a truck that is already working that day has a real gap you could sell, for example "Truck 1 is open 1:00 to 3:30, up to 90 sellable min, near Oak Elementary". It only appears for trucks with work that day, for gaps of at least 90 minutes, and at most three of them, so most days it stays quiet.
Find past customers lists people who booked around this time of year in that area, with what they spent before, so you know who to call. CurbsideOps never contacts them; you decide.
Explore truck swaps
When the answer is Not as asked, the Dispatcher page offers Explore truck swaps: would moving one existing event to another truck free up room? Each proposal shows what moves, that the customer's time does not change, and the extra driving. Click Preview to see both trucks' days on the timeline.
Nothing changes until you click Apply plan. A risky plan shows Apply anyway... instead and asks you to say why first. A proposal the Dispatcher cannot apply for you is marked Manual move, with the reason. Applying moves the event's truck assignment and updates the event's Equipment line in Google Calendar, then rechecks your original booking. Swaps are offered only when no truck can take the booking directly; the Dispatcher never reshuffles a working day to save a few minutes.
Related: The planning board, Intelligent Dispatcher.
Still stuck? Email support@curbsideops.com or use Report an Issue in the portal. Checked against CurbsideOps 1.105.4.