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When the AI Dispatcher Can't Find a Technician

Updated today

Why the AI Can't Assign a Job

Sometimes the AI Dispatcher will tell you it can't find anyone to assign a job to. This happens for a few specific reasons — and they're all fixable.

The Most Common Reasons

1. No One Has the Right Skills

You created a job that requires an HVAC certification, but none of your technicians have that skill marked in their profile.

What you'll see: A message saying "No technician available with required skills: HVAC Certification"

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Team in the left sidebar

  2. Click on the technician who should handle HVAC jobs

  3. Scroll to Skills & Certifications

  4. Add HVAC Certification to their profile

  5. Go back to the job and click Get AI Suggestions again

Tip: If you're a small team and everyone does everything, you can assign the job manually. Just click Assign Manually and pick someone from the list.

2. Everyone Is Already Fully Booked

All your technicians are already at their daily job limit. For example, you set a technician's max capacity to 6 jobs per day, and they already have 6 jobs scheduled.

What you'll see: "All technicians at maximum capacity for this date"

How to fix it:

  • Reschedule the job to a different day when someone has availability

  • If it's urgent, go to the technician's profile and temporarily increase their max jobs per day

  • Consider hiring additional help if you're consistently hitting capacity limits

3. The Job Location Is Too Far

A plumbing emergency comes in from 80 miles away, but all your plumbers are based in the city and already have full schedules.

What you'll see: "No technicians available within service area"

How to fix it:

  • Check if the customer address is correct — sometimes a typo puts the job in the wrong location

  • Adjust the job's time window to allow for longer travel time

  • If this happens regularly for certain areas, consider expanding your team's service zones

4. The Time Window Already Passed

Someone created a job with a 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM time window, but it's already 1:00 PM.

What you'll see: "Job time window has expired"

How to fix it:

  1. Call the customer and get a new time window

  2. Edit the job and update the Start Time and End Time

  3. Click Get AI Suggestions again

5. All Technicians Are Marked Unavailable

You're trying to schedule a job for Saturday, but all your electricians have Saturday marked as a day off in their weekly schedule.

What you'll see: "No active technicians available for this date"

How to fix it:

  • Check if the job date falls on a weekend or holiday when your team doesn't work

  • Go to Team, click the technician, and check their Weekly Schedule

  • If someone is willing to work that day, update their availability

  • For one-time schedule changes (like Thanksgiving week), use Time Off & Exceptions in their profile

When the AI Assigns Someone But Warns You

Sometimes the AI will assign a technician but give you a low confidence score (below 60%). This means it found someone for the job, but there are concerns.

Common Warnings and What They Mean

"Skills mismatch — technician not certified for this work"

You have an electrical panel upgrade job, and the AI assigned it to someone without an electrician's license because no one else was available. You'll want to either train that person, assign it manually to someone qualified, or subcontract it out.

"Long travel time — 70 minutes from previous job"

The AI is routing your HVAC tech across town because that's the only way to fit the job in today. Consider if the customer can wait until tomorrow for a better route.

"Outside preferred time window — customer requested morning"

The customer wanted a morning appointment, but the AI could only fit them in at 3:00 PM. Call the customer and confirm they're okay with the new time before accepting the assignment.

Important: Low confidence doesn't mean the AI made a mistake — it means you should double-check the assignment before sending your tech out. Click View Details to see exactly what the concern is.

Jobs Not Showing Up in the Dashboard

If jobs you created in FieldCamp aren't appearing in the AI Dispatcher, here's why:

The Job Is Already Assigned

The AI Dispatcher only shows unassigned jobs. If you (or someone on your team) already assigned a job to a technician in FieldCamp, it won't appear here.

How to fix it:

  1. Go back to FieldCamp

  2. Find the job in your calendar or job list

  3. Click Unassign to remove the technician

  4. Refresh the AI Dispatcher — the job should now appear

The Job Address Isn't Valid

Someone typed "123 Main" without a city or zip code, and the system couldn't figure out where it is.

How to fix it:

  • Open the job in FieldCamp

  • Enter the complete address with city, state, and zip code

  • Make sure the address shows up correctly on the map

  • Save the job and check the AI Dispatcher again

Wrong Travel Times Showing Up

If the AI Dispatcher shows your technician can drive across town in 15 minutes when you know it takes 45, here's what's happening.

First Job of the Day

For the first job of the day, the AI calculates travel time from the technician's home address. If their home address in FieldCamp is outdated or wrong, the travel time estimate will be off.

How to fix it:

  1. Go to Team

  2. Click the technician

  3. Update their Home Address to where they actually start their day (could be their house, the shop, or a storage yard)

Between Jobs During the Day

The AI uses real routing data between stops. If times still seem wrong, make sure your technicians are using vehicles that match their profile settings — a big HVAC van can't take the same shortcuts as a small plumbing truck.

When to Just Assign It Manually

The AI Dispatcher is built to save you time, but sometimes the fastest move is to just assign the job yourself:

  • You have a VIP customer who only wants one specific technician

  • It's an emergency and you don't have time to wait for AI suggestions

  • You know your team's personalities better than any system (e.g., "Dave is great with difficult customers, send him")

  • The job has weird requirements the AI doesn't know about

To assign manually, just click Assign Manually on any job card and pick someone from the list.

Tip: Use AI suggestions for your routine jobs and manual assignment for special cases. That's the fastest workflow for most teams.

Still Stuck?

If none of these fixes work, check your browser console for error messages (press F12, then click the Console tab). Screenshot any errors you see and send them to support along with:

  • The job number

  • The technician's name

  • What time you tried to assign it

We'll help you figure it out.

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