Appliance Repair Dispatch Built Around Parts and Authorisations
Dispatching appliance repair looks like a proximity problem and is not. The nearest engineer may not be approved for that manufacturer, may not carry that component, and may already be committed to an appointment window the customer arranged their day around. Assigning on distance alone reliably produces a second visit.
Running this manually today?
See how Fieldproxy handles it — a walkthrough on your own workflow, not a canned demo.
Book demoWhat the assignment decision uses
- Brand and manufacturer authorisation for the appliance in question
- What is physically on the van, which decides fix or return
- Existing appointment windows that have already been promised
- Skill with the specific appliance category, which varies more than it appears
- Travel on real roads at the real time of day
- Whether the job is warranty, insurer or customer-paid, which can carry its own timescales
Why dispatch and parts cannot be separate decisions
When dispatch and parts live in different systems, the schedule is built on an assumption about stock that is usually a few days out of date. The engineer discovers the truth on the doorstep. Holding van stock in the same model as the assignment turns that into a constraint rather than a surprise.
Dispatch shaped like the trade
Fieldproxy holds authorisations, van stock and appointment commitments as real constraints on assignment, so the engineer sent is one who can actually complete the job.
Two approaches to the same problem
| Proximity dispatch | Constraint-aware dispatch | |
|---|---|---|
| Brand authorisation | Not considered | A hard constraint |
| Van stock | Discovered on site | A constraint on assignment |
| Appointment windows | A calendar entry | A commitment that is protected |
| Result | Frequent return visits | Higher first-time fix |
What you can run on it
- Assignment on authorisation, stock, skill and travel
- Live board showing the day as it stands
- Van stock visible at the point of dispatch
- Appointment window protection and customer notification
- Engineer mobile app with offline working
- Reporting on first-time fix, travel and utilisation
Common questions
What is appliance repair dispatch software?
It is the system that decides which engineer attends which repair. In this trade it has to account for manufacturer authorisation and van stock as well as location, because either one getting it wrong produces a return visit.
Can it see what is on the van?
Yes, and it should, because van stock is usually the difference between a completed repair and a second appointment.
How does it protect appointment windows?
They are treated as commitments rather than calendar entries, so reassignments that would break one are surfaced rather than made silently.
Does it handle warranty jobs differently?
Yes, where your manufacturer or insurer agreements carry their own response timescales those can be modelled and tracked alongside customer-paid work.
See dispatch that accounts for parts
Bring a job that needed a second visit and we will show where the assignment went wrong.
Book a walkthrough