The planning board
Assign trucks to the day's events by drag and drop or let auto-assign plan the day, then watch for trucks running late.
The planning board is where you decide who drives what. It sits under the timeline on the Dispatcher page (the panel on other pages is for answering questions, not for rearranging the fleet). Pick the day with the date control at the top.
Assign by drag and drop
The board starts with the events that have no truck: "3 events without a truck", or Every event has a truck when the day is covered.
- Drag an unassigned event onto a truck's lane to give it that truck.
- Drag an event that is already on a lane to another lane to move it.
The drop is the approval: the assignment saves as you let go. If it overlaps something on that lane, you get a warning and the collision shows in red on the timeline, but you are never blocked. You know your day better than any rule.
An event with several trucks appears on every one of its trucks' lanes. Dragging it swaps only the truck you dragged it from; see Events with several trucks.
Let auto-assign plan the day
Ask for a plan
Click Auto-assign the day.
Review the proposed plan
The Proposed plan card lists each change (which event goes to which truck, or moves from one truck to another), how many minutes of driving it saves or adds, and how disruptive it is. On the timeline, planned events show as previews on their new lanes, and events that would move are dimmed with a "Moves to" note. Anything no truck can make is listed with the reason.
Apply or discard
Click Apply plan and confirm to save it, or Discard to throw it away. Nothing is written until you apply.
Auto-assign keeps your current assignments first. It places the unassigned events around them, then only moves an event you already placed when the move saves a meaningful amount of driving. On a day that is already sensible, it proposes nothing: "The current arrangement is already the best one the engine can find."
It uses the same ranking as Can we take it?: the nearest truck, a crew already out rather than a second shift, only the extra miles each booking adds, and your trucks' Dispatch priority to break ties.
What applying changes
Every assignment, whether dragged, auto-assigned or from a truck swap, does two things:
- It reserves the truck for that event's job, so the truck picker, booking checks and the rest of the Dispatcher see it straight away.
- It updates the event's Equipment line in Google Calendar, so the calendar your crew reads names the right truck. If the event is on a calendar you can only view, the assignment still saves in CurbsideOps and you are told the calendar could not be updated.
Nothing on the board changes your schedule by itself. Every change is a drop or a button you press.
Crew for the day
Auto-staff day in the toolbar drafts staff for every event on the day. You review the draft and apply it; nothing is written before that. See Your crew.
Arrival-risk alerts
The Dispatch Risk Monitor automation watches trucks that are on the road toward an event. It compares each truck's live drive time with when it has to arrive to park and set up, and sends you a Telegram message when the start is at risk:
- a warning when the truck will arrive with less cushion than you like;
- a critical alert when it will be late even if the crew sets up as fast as possible.
You get one alert per event per level, and a second one only if things get worse. Drivers are never messaged; the alert goes to you. If a drive time cannot be calculated, nothing is sent rather than a guessed time.
It needs Bouncie GPS on the trucks and is off until you switch it on in Automations.
Still stuck? Email support@curbsideops.com or use Report an Issue in the portal. Checked against CurbsideOps 1.105.4.