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Getting started

Set up DispatchD

DispatchD is the technician side of DispatchR. Your office runs the business in DispatchR Base Ops; DispatchD puts your jobs, customers, and payments on your own iPhone or iPad. Four steps and you’re ready for your first call.

  • 4 required steps
  • About 5 minutes
  • iPhone or iPad

En español

Before you start

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Three things to have on hand

Your own iPhone or iPad

Signed in to your own Apple ID and iCloud. You don’t need the business’s account; the office shares the business with you. A device the business bought can instead sign in to the office’s Apple ID: then it doesn’t need to join, and the business downloads by itself.

Your name in Base Ops

The office adds you in Base Ops under Settings → Technicians. That’s where your profile, and your jobs, come from.

The office’s Mac or iPad, nearby

You join the business in person, next to the office’s Mac or iPad running Base Ops. Nothing is texted or emailed.

The layout

↑ Contents

Four tabs along the bottom

Everything you do in the field starts from one of these.

Jobs 01

Your jobs, filtered to Today, This Week, or Documents. Each job has its estimate or invoice, its payments, and Take Payment. This is where most of the day happens.

Customers 02

Customers you have an open job for, with contact details, directions, their jobs, files, and equipment.

Create 03

Write a new estimate or invoice on site, with line items from inventory.

Settings 04

Location sharing, Appearance (System, Light or Dark), Square credentials, the card reader, sync status, and Log Out.

Part one

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First-time setup

Steps 1 through 4 get you working. The rest depend on whether you take payments.

1

Install DispatchD

1 min
App Store → DispatchD

Install DispatchD on the iPhone or iPad you’ll carry, and check that the device is signed in to iCloud. You’ll join the business from inside the app, next to the office’s Mac or iPad.

2

Join in person

1 min
DispatchD → Join a Business in Person

Stand next to the office’s Mac or iPad while they click Settings → Technicians → Add Technician Device in Base Ops and choose your name. Tap Join a Business in Person on the profile screen: DispatchD shows a 6-digit code. Read it to the office; once they type it in, DispatchD joins your business and downloads the team, which can take a minute the first time. It always uses the Apple ID signed in on this device.

Code didn’t match? Nothing was shared; start again on both devices. Signed in to the office’s Apple ID? Skip this step. Your team appears on the profile screen once the business has downloaded.

3

Pick your profile and set a PIN

1 min
Select your profile to continue

Tap your name, then create a 4-digit PIN and enter it again to confirm. From then on you open DispatchD with that PIN.

Your first sign-in links your profile to this device. After that, only this device can sign in as you, it can’t be used to sign in as someone else, and only your name is listed here. A device the office added in person is linked already, so it lists only your name from the start. Devices signed in to the office’s own Apple ID aren’t linked.

  • Don’t see your name? Tap Refresh and give the download another moment
  • Three wrong PINs lock the app until the office resets it
  • Sharing a company device signed in to the office’s Apple ID? Log Out is at the bottom of Settings
4

Turn on location sharing

1 min
Settings → Location Sharing

With Share Location on, your position goes to the office map every 5 minutes, so dispatch can send the closest tech and give customers an accurate arrival time.

  • Set location permission to Always. Open Settings takes you there
  • Only Share During Set Hours limits sharing to the days and times you pick, so you’re off the map after work
5

Receive Square credentials

If you take cards
Settings → Square Payments → Receive Square Credentials

To run cards, your device needs the business’s Square credentials. They’re handed over in person from the office Mac or iPad, encrypted end to end.

  • Stand next to the office device with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on
  • The office clicks Start Provisioning in Base Ops; you tap Receive. Allow access to devices on the local network if asked
  • Your screen shows a 6-digit code. Read it out so the office can type it into Base Ops
  • A wrong code cancels the transfer and nothing is sent. Just start again

After that, DispatchD renews its own Square access, so there’s nothing to redo.

6

Pair a card reader

If you take cards
Settings → Card Reader → Search for Readers

Put the reader in pairing mode, tap Search for Readers, then tap your reader when it appears in the list. The status at the top shows the connected reader and its battery level.

  • The Card Reader line appears in Settings once your device has received Square credentials (step 5)
  • You can also open it with Connect Card Reader while taking a payment
  • Works with Square Reader, Square Reader for contactless and chip, and Square Terminal
  • Allow Bluetooth when DispatchD asks
7

Practice with sample data

Optional
Settings → Demo Data → Load Demo Data

Loads sample customers and jobs so you can try every screen before a real call. An orange Demo Mode banner shows while it’s on; tap Exit to remove the samples.

Part two

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Working a job

The everyday loop, from the job list to a finished invoice.

  • Open the job
  • Navigate
  • In Progress
  • Notes & photos
  • Send invoice
  • Completed

  1. Find the job

    The Jobs tab lists the open jobs assigned to you. Switch between Today and This Week, or search by customer, description, or document number. Both keep jobs that are finished or paid, with a Paid badge once the balance is paid in full, and cancelled jobs drop off. Documents lists your estimates and invoices, newest first, including ones you created, sent, or got paid for. Finished jobs leave DispatchD after 7 days, or whatever the office chooses in Base Ops; the office still has them.

  2. Get there

    Open the job for the customer, address, problem description, and line items. Get Directions opens Maps; Call Customer dials them. To set or change the day and time, tap the date (or Schedule) or Edit at the top; the office sees it on the Calendar in Base Ops. Edit Estimate or Edit Invoice changes the line items.

  3. Keep the status current

    Tap Update Status: Scheduled, In Progress, Waiting for Parts, Completed, or Cancelled. The office sees each change in Base Ops. A second badge next to the status follows the paperwork: Estimate Created, Estimate Sent once you email, text, or share it, Invoice Accepted, Invoice Sent, and Paid.

  4. Record what you found

    Add notes, and attach a Photo or File to the job. Everything syncs back to the office on its own. Touch and hold a photo to share it or save it to your Photos.

  5. Turn the estimate into an invoice

    When the customer approves an estimate, tap Accept (or Get Approval): the customer types their name and signs on your screen, and the estimate becomes an invoice with the same line items and totals.

  6. Send it

    View Estimate or View Invoice shows the PDF exactly as the customer gets it. To get an estimate approved on the spot, tap Get Approval: the customer types their name and signs on your screen, the estimate becomes an invoice, and the signature prints on it. View Signed Estimate shows the estimate as they signed it, to print or send. Send via Email, Send via Text, or Share sends the estimate or invoice as a PDF with your company’s details on it. When your device has Square credentials (step 5), an invoice with a balance gets a Square payment link: the PDF has a Pay Now button and a QR code, and the email and text include the link, so the customer can pay online. If the office already made a link in Base Ops, that one is used. When the office sent the invoice to Square, the customer pays on that Square invoice’s own page instead, so there’s one way to pay. Once the invoice is paid in full another way (cash, check or card), the link is turned off so the customer can’t pay twice.

Part three

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Customers, equipment, and new work

What you can add from the field, without calling the office.

  1. Look up a customer

    The Customers tab lists customers you have an open job for, and any you added on this device in the last day. Search by name, phone, or email. A customer’s page shows contact details, Directions, their jobs, and their files. You can add customers and fix their details, but not delete them.

  2. Add a new customer

    Tap +, fill in the name, phone, email, and address, and tap Save. They appear in Base Ops too.

  3. Log equipment

    For HVAC shops, customers have an Equipment section tied to the service address: model and serial numbers, tonnage, filter size, refrigerant, and electrical data.

  4. Scan a nameplate

    On a job (or a customer), tap + next to Equipment, then Scan Nameplate. It photographs the unit’s data plate and fills in the model, serial, and specs. Check the values before you save. Equipment appears when the office has an HVAC work type and the job has a street address.

  5. Write an estimate on site

    In the Create tab, choose Estimate or Invoice, select the customer (or tap New Customer to add one), and describe the problem. To put it on the schedule, turn on Scheduled and pick the day and time. Line items come from inventory, which shows what’s in stock, or add a service by hand. An item with variations, such as filter sizes, lists each one with its own price: tap the one you’re using. Changed your mind? Tap Cancel at the top, then Discard, to clear the form and go back to Jobs.

  6. Check the totals

    Subtotal, tax, and total update as you add items. Tax uses the rate the office set in Base Ops. Tap Create, and the new document goes to the office and into your jobs.

  7. Turn a measureQuick test into a report

    In measureQuick, export the test as a PDF and tap Share, then DispatchD. Pick the job, write your notes, and tap Create Report. You get a report with your company’s branding, the readings you took, your notes, and the equipment on file.

  8. Send it to the customer

    Tap Send to Customer to email or text the report. It’s also saved, with the original measureQuick PDF, in the job’s files and the customer’s files, and your notes are saved to the job, so the office sees everything.

Part four

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Getting paid

Each job lists its payments and balance due. Take Payment appears on it once the office allows technicians to accept payments.

Take a card

On the job, tap Take Payment. That invoice is already chosen, and the amount starts at its balance due; change it for a partial payment. To pick a different invoice, tap Change: Only jobs assigned to you are listed, each with its number and balance due, the ones still owed first. Then choose Card. With a reader connected, tap Process Card Payment and have the customer tap, insert, or swipe.

Record cash or a check

Choose Cash instead, or Check if your office takes checks, add a note such as the check number, and tap Record Payment. If your device has Square credentials, the payment is recorded in Square too.

Know Square has it

Square confirms every card, cash, and check payment it saves, and DispatchD checks Square’s record once more. Open a payment to see Recorded in Square. If it says Not in Square, the payment is saved but Square didn’t get it: tap Send to Square. It can’t be recorded twice, even if the office sends it too.

Refunds

Refunds go through the office unless the office turns on technician refunds in Base Ops. If it has, open a payment on one of your jobs: Refund to Card sends all or part of a card payment back to the card through Square, and Reverse Payment is for cash or a check you handed back. The card doesn’t need to be there.

No reader with you?

The office can still email or text the customer an invoice with a Square payment link from Base Ops.

Troubleshooting

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If something looks off

These cover most questions.

My name isn’t on the profile screen

DispatchD only sees your business after you join in person. If you have, tap Refresh and wait a minute on a good connection. If you still aren’t listed, ask the office to check that you’re added in Base Ops under Settings → Technicians and to add your device again with Add Technician Device.

It says “This Is the Office’s Apple ID”

This device is signed in to the same Apple ID as the office’s Mac or iPad. An Apple ID can’t join a business it already owns, so adding it again won’t help. There’s nothing to join: the business downloads to this device on its own, and your team appears once it has. Technicians with their own device should sign in with their own Apple ID and join in person there.

I don’t see any jobs

The Jobs tab only shows jobs assigned to you, and finished ones only for the office’s history window (7 days unless they change it). Try This Week or Documents, then pull down on the list to refresh, or use Settings → Sync Now. If a job is still missing, ask the office whether it’s assigned to you.

It says “Can’t Sign In Here”

Your profile is linked to another device, or this device is linked to another technician. If you’ve moved to a new device, ask the office to unlink your old one in Base Ops: Settings → Technicians → Edit → Unlink Device. Then sign in again.

My PIN is locked

Three wrong PINs lock the app. Ask the office to click Reset PIN on your name in Base Ops under Settings → Technicians. Once your device syncs, you choose a new PIN.

A job isn’t in the list when I take a payment

You can only take payments on jobs assigned to you, so the list shows just those. If you’re at a job that’s assigned to someone else, or to no one, ask the office to assign it to you in Base Ops. It appears once your device syncs.

A payment says Not in Square

The payment is saved on your device, but Square didn’t get it, usually because there was no signal. Open the payment and tap Send to Square. A card payment marked Check Square means the reader finished but Square didn’t confirm it: look for it in the Square app or Dashboard before charging the card again. It doesn’t count toward the job until Square confirms it.

I can’t refund a payment

Unless the office allows technicians to give refunds, refunds go through the office: ask them to refund it in Base Ops. If they do allow it, you can refund only payments on jobs assigned to you. A refund marked as not confirmed by Square needs a Retry: open it and tap Retry. It won’t be refunded twice.

There’s no Take Payment button

The office controls it. In Base Ops, Settings → Square Payments → Allow iOS app to accept payments turns it on for the whole team. It also doesn’t show on a job that’s paid in full, or one assigned to someone else.

The office can’t see me on the map

Check that Share Location is on in Settings, that location permission is set to Always, and, if you use Only Share During Set Hours, that it’s within your hours. The office also has to turn on location sharing for you in Base Ops.

The Square credential transfer failed

Stay next to the office device, with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on on both, and allow access to devices on the local network. If the code was typed wrong, the transfer is cancelled on purpose: start again from Receive Square Credentials.

My card reader won’t connect

Make sure Bluetooth is on and DispatchD is allowed to use it, the reader is charged, and you’re close to it. If it still won’t pair, restart the reader and search again.

Still stuck? Get in touch

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