Views and Navigation
Use dispatch board, timeline, map, and forecast modes to plan work from the right angle, and navigate with filters, pipeline stages, and URL state.
Before you start
- You can access the scheduler and understand the basic layout from the quickstart.
Expected outcome
You can switch between modes, use geographic and operational filters, and navigate efficiently using pipeline stages, search, and URL state.
Choosing the right view
| View | Best for | Switch to it when you need to… |
|---|---|---|
| Board | Dispatch assignment | Drag queued work into engineer/day slots and rebalance scheduled work |
| Day timeline | Intra-day scheduling | Plan exact timing, spot overlaps and double-bookings |
| Week timeline | Capacity planning | Balance workload across a 7-day window |
| Map | Geographic planning | Cluster nearby jobs, plan routes, filter by region |
| Forecast | Future workload | Review 12 months across every site you can access |
Use the Board / Timeline / Map / Forecast switcher in the filter control row, next to search and date controls, to change modes. The planner date controls include previous-week, Today, and next-week buttons beside the exact Start and End inputs. Your last-used mode persists across sessions via localStorage.
Board view
The board is a weekly dispatch surface organised by field resource and day. The persistent work queue on the left collects jobs that do not yet have an exact scheduled slot.
Board rows use compact resource headers and short empty drop zones, so the full week stays visible while still highlighting valid drag targets.
Key interactions:
- Drag a card from the work queue into a day slot to assign and schedule it.
- Drag a scheduled card between day slots to reassign or reschedule it.
- Click a card to open the Quick View for detailed editing.
- Scan resource rows to spot overloaded or underutilised engineers.
The drag system validates moves before accepting them. Invalid drops (e.g. incompatible status) show a red indicator and are rejected.
Typical board workflow:
- Open the scheduler in Board view.
- Start from the Work queue — it holds work with no date yet, with overdue and due-soon demand first.
- Drag each job into the engineer/day slot best suited for it.
- Click cards to adjust dates, duration, or equipment as you go.
- When a batch is ready, switch to deploying.
Day timeline view
The day timeline shows a single day from 06:00 to 22:00 with hourly gridlines. Engineers appear as rows. Jobs are positioned at their scheduled time with width proportional to estimated duration.
Key interactions:
- Navigate days using the arrows or click Today to jump back.
- Drag a job horizontally to reschedule within the day.
- Spot conflicts — overlapping jobs are visually stacked, making double-bookings obvious.
When to use the day timeline:
- Final-checking tomorrow's schedule before deploying
- Fitting a last-minute job into an engineer's day without overlapping existing work
- Verifying jobs fit within site access windows (e.g. "between 09:00 and 14:00")
Week timeline view
The week timeline shows 7 day columns with engineer grouping. Each column lists the jobs scheduled for that day.
Key interactions:
- Drag jobs across days to reschedule within the week.
- Navigate weeks using the arrows or the date picker.
- Spot gaps — empty day columns show available capacity.
When to use the week timeline:
- Weekly planning sessions where you balance load across the week
- Identifying which days are light and can absorb additional work
- Reviewing the upcoming week before a Monday planning call
Map view
The map shows job locations as clustered markers on a Leaflet map. A sidebar lists the sites in the current filtered view.
Key interactions:
- Click a marker to see a popup with site details, job count, assigned engineers, and acknowledgement summary (e.g. "2 acknowledged / 1 awaiting").
- Click a cluster to zoom in and expand to individual site markers.
- Click "Centre" in the sidebar to pan the map to a specific site.
- Click "Filter [AREA]" in a marker popup to apply a postcode area filter instantly.
Map pin colours:
Map pins use a four-tone colour scheme based on job state:
| Tone | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Default | Draft or undeployed jobs |
| Success | Deployed and fully acknowledged |
| Awaiting (amber) | Deployed but at least one job at the site is awaiting engineer acknowledgement |
| Warning | At least one urgent or in-progress job at the site (shown as LIVE in popup status) |
Geographic auto-zoom: When you apply a region or postcode area filter, the map automatically zooms to fit all matching sites. When you clear the filter, the map resets to the full UK view.
When to use the map:
- Grouping nearby jobs into efficient day routes
- Identifying site clusters for batch scheduling
- Filtering to a postcode area before switching to board or timeline to assign
Forecast view
Forecast shows 12 months of inspections, work orders, and planner tasks across every site you can access. It is a deliberately broad capacity view: the current planner filters do not narrow it. Use Forecast to see future demand, then switch to Board or Timeline to assign and schedule exact work. Legacy PPM Forecast links redirect to this Scheduling view.
Filter system
Board, Timeline, and Map apply the supported filter dimensions to the scheduler overview request and reflect them in the URL. Forecast ignores start, end, field resource, site, job type, status, search, geography, equipment, and out-of-hours filters so its 12-month scope remains complete.
Geographic filters
| Filter | Param | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Region | region | Multi-select from 12 UK regions. Expands to constituent postcode areas. |
| Postcode area | postcodeArea | Multi-select from Royal Mail postcode areas (e.g. SW, E, M). Searchable dropdown. |
Region and postcode area are mutually clearing — selecting a region clears any postcode selection, and vice versa.
Assignment and type filters
| Filter | Param | Values |
|---|---|---|
| Engineer | engineerId | Any workspace engineer with field-work eligibility |
| Site | siteId | Any workspace site |
| Job type | jobType | inspection, work_order, task |
| Status | status | pending, in_progress, on_hold, completed, cancelled |
Operational filters
| Filter | Param | Values |
|---|---|---|
| Equipment | equipment | Any combination of: mewp, scaffold, tower_scaffold, ladder, cherry_picker, rope_access, harness |
| Out of hours | ooh | true or false |
Equipment uses OR semantics — a job matches if it requires any of the selected equipment types.
Date and search
| Filter | Param | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Date range | start, end | ISO dates. Limits Board, Timeline, and Map to jobs within the window; Week and Today update the same range. Forecast ignores it. |
| Search | q | Free text. Searches title, site, system, engineer names, postcode. |
Clearing filters
Click Reset filters in the filter bar to return to the default view (current week, no filters). Individual filters can be cleared independently.
Pipeline stages
The pipeline header includes stage filters that slice the job set by deployment state:
| Tab | Shows |
|---|---|
| Draft | Jobs not yet deployed |
| Ready | Jobs passing all deployment checks |
| Deployed | Jobs already pushed to the field |
Pipeline stages combine with filters — filtering to a region and then clicking Ready shows deploy-ready jobs in that region.
URL state and bookmarks
Filters, pipeline stage, view, timeline date, timeline mode, date range, slot-proposal state, and up to 25 selected job keys are stored in the URL. Week and Today navigation preserves the current selection while it updates start and end. This means:
- Bookmark Board, Timeline, or Map to return to the same filtered slice later. A Forecast bookmark restores Forecast mode, but stored planner dates and filters do not narrow the forecast.
- Share a URL with a colleague to show the same supported planning context, subject to the 25-key selection cap and Forecast's deliberately broad scope.
- Use browser back/forward to navigate between scheduler states.
Layout preferences such as active view, timeline mode, density, and navigation width persist to localStorage so the scheduler opens with the same planning chrome when the URL does not specify the view. Retired guidance/list panel state is no longer stored in the URL.
Work queue groups
The persistent Work queue is the home for work with no scheduled date yet. Dated work that only needs a field resource appears on the board in the Dated work lane, subtitled Needs an engineer, instead.
| Group | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Overdue - no date yet | No-date work whose target or schedule-window end has already passed |
| Due soon - no date yet | No-date work whose target or schedule-window end falls within seven days |
| No date yet | No-date work without a target date, or outside the due-soon window |
Troubleshooting
| Problem | What to check |
|---|---|
| A field user is missing from the assignee picker | Confirm field-work eligibility is enabled for that user |
| The wrong slice keeps reopening | Check the URL hash for saved view, focus, and date params |
| Map markers are not showing | Verify the site records have latitude and longitude populated |
| Filters seem to have no effect | Check if mutually-clearing filters (region vs postcode) are conflicting |
| Work queue is empty | Check that the date range covers the period you expect; clear all filters and retry |
Scheduler Dispatch Desk Walkthrough
A complete how-to guide for using the Scheduler Dispatch Desk to triage demand, assign engineers, manage capacity, shift dates, deploy work, and hand jobs to the mobile app.
Planning and Operations
Run the scheduler as a daily operations surface — manage the work queue, build day runs, import recurring work, and monitor deployment readiness.