How to leverage Dispatch Board’s Driver Scheduler

“Get to know Dispatch Board” is a series of articles that will span several weeks. Throughout this series, we’ll be taking an in-depth look at every feature that Dispatch Board has to offer.

Welcome to the fourth installment of “Get to Know Dispatch Board,” where we’ll be taking a deeper look at the “Scheduling” section of the software.

Last week, we covered the “Customers” and “Emails” sections, which you can read here.

The first thing you’ll notice about the scheduling tab is that it's the first page you see when you enter Dispatch Board, specifically the Driver Scheduler subsection. This is because its main purpose is to plan and operate dispatch activities, as well as communicate with brokers & drivers.

Once you’ve entered the main screen, however, you can begin to tailor your searches based on truck, driver, or trailer. You can then also enter the number attached to any of the aforementioned options, as well as search by date and location. 

Additionally, you can click the “Search Trucks” or “Search Trailers” buttons, which will take you to a map where you’ll get a live look at where your vehicles and trailers are currently located. Within this map, you can click the location symbols, which will allow you to see the driver’s name, truck number, and trailer number.

Overall the Driver Scheduler is meant for you to easily search and keep track of your drivers and assets so that you can better plan the loads that you book. 

Drivers can also be easily added to the Driver Scheduler. By clicking the “Add” button, users can enter the driver’s particular schedule (including where they were located on any specific day), as well as their time off. Then, users just need to add who the driver is, if they have a co-driver, and finally their truck & trailer number. 

However, if you choose not to highlight locations when adding a driver, you can also enter any information that’s pertinent to you such as if the driver was on the way somewhere, in a yard, in an accident, or anything that you may need to know. 

In addition, once you've entered their information, you can post them on the trucks page using the button located on the far-left of the column. Users will then be able to see what they have left in hours of service and their truck post history. If you also have a GPSTab ELD installed in the truck, you'll be able to see their current speed and location. 

Using the Driver Scheduler, dispatchers also have the ability to quickly get in contact with drivers. Once drivers are scheduled and added to the system, they, along with all of their information, will begin to show up in the main menu.

Not only can you see where they are, where they’re going, and their available HOS, but you can also contact them directly from the application. To the right of the columns, you’ll find their phone numbers, which you can click to call them directly. 

However, you can also use the in-app chat to send them a quick message as well by using the message icon on the ride side of the column. Either way, the system allows for multiple ways to quickly communicate with your drivers if necessary.

Updating and editing driver information are also simple. If you ever need to edit any information, share locations, move drivers, copy information, or add additional truck details, you can click the gear on the far right of the screen to do so.

Overall, the Driver Scheduler is a comprehensive place to plan and schedule loads for your entire fleet. Because it allows you to see where your fleet has been, is currently, and where they’re going, you’re able to make better freight decisions going forward.

The Scheduling section also has a second subsection, which is Open Trucks. Using this, users can post trucks that have not yet been covered and still need loads and allow others to step in to offer loads. Once a load has been found, they can easily be removed.