Handling Emergency and Unscheduled Jobs

Handling Emergency and Unscheduled Jobs

Great question! Emergency jobs are a fact of life in field service, and FieldPulse gives you several tools to handle them without throwing your whole day into chaos. Here's how to stay flexible when the unexpected happens.

Step 1: Create the Emergency Work Order

1. From the Dashboard, click New Work Order or use the quick-add button in the top navigation.
2. Enter the customer details and job description. Be sure to select Priority: Emergency or Priority: High — this flags the job visually on the Dispatch Board.
3. Save the work order. It will appear with a red indicator or priority badge.

Step 2: Find Available Technicians

Use the Technician Availability panel to see who's free right now:

1. Open the Dispatch Board and switch to Day View or Technician View.
2. Look for white space in technician columns — this indicates unscheduled time.
3. Hover over a technician's name to see their current location and estimated completion time for any in-progress jobs.

Happy to help! If you don't see anyone obviously free, check the Team Calendar (see this guide) for a broader view of the week.

Step 3: Insert the Emergency Job

You have two options here:

Option A: Drag-and-Drop Scheduling

1. Grab the emergency work order from the unassigned pool.
2. Drag it onto an available technician's column at the desired time slot.
3. The system will alert you if this creates a scheduling conflict.

Option B: Smart Assignment

1. Click Assign on the work order detail page.
2. Toggle Show only available technicians to filter your list.
3. Select the best match based on skills, location, and current workload.

Step 4: Notify Affected Parties

Communication is key when shuffling schedules:

• The emergency customer: Use the Send ETA button to automatically notify them of arrival time. See Technician Arrival Notifications for setup.
• The assigned technician: They'll receive a push notification if enabled. Enable Push Notifications on Mobile to make sure they see it.
• Customers with bumped appointments: Call or message them directly — FieldPulse does not auto-notify for reschedules, so this step is on you.

Step 5: Document the Change

Add a note to any work orders you reschedule:

1. Open the affected work order.
2. Scroll to Internal Notes and add: "Rescheduled due to emergency job — customer notified at [time]."
3. This protects your team if questions come up later.

Pro Tips from the Support Team

• Set up escalation rules: For true emergencies, configure Automated Escalation Rules to alert supervisors if no one assigns the job within 15 minutes.
• Use buffer time: When creating technician schedules, leave 30-minute gaps when possible — they absorb emergencies without cascading delays.
• Track emergency frequency: Run a Work Order Summary Report filtered by priority to see if you're getting more emergencies than expected. This data helps with staffing decisions.

Common Questions

Q: Can I assign an emergency job to a technician who's already on another job?
A: Yes, but the system will warn you. Use your judgment — if the current job is nearly complete, it may be fine. If it's a 3-hour install, consider reassigning the current job instead.

Q: What if no technicians are available?
A: You can still create and save the work order. Flag it as unassigned and use the Request Backup feature (if enabled for your account) to broadcast to on-call staff.

Q: Do emergency jobs affect my SLA reporting?
A: Only if you miss the response time you committed to. SLA Compliance Reporting tracks this — make sure your SLAs define what "emergency response time" means for your business.

Need help setting up priority levels or escalation rules? Reach out — we're here to make sure you're equipped for whatever the day throws at you.