Is anyone familiar with any routing or dispatch software for a service based company? I am interested in routing employees based on job type and location.

A large wall map, and pins? Easy, cheap....

I second that e57.

Starting to waste 10's of 1000's of dollars in tracking devices in vehicles is a waste of time and money.

The wall map just won't cut it. Trust me I would be happy if it did. We get our work orders from another company that provides the work and then it is up to us to route the technicians. On an average day 200-300 work orders need to be processed before 7:30 a.m. Routing manually doesn't take long but you have to focus or some of the techs will end up driving all day or get an impossible work load.

Don't need to track the vehicles. All jobs are coded in and then coded out. I would like to simplify my mornings and make the techs happy with less driving and a smoother work day.

[This message has been edited by kinetic (edited 08-15-2006).]

Wall map won't work? Sure it can....with a few modifications. Let me describe my system.

First of all, I "prooved" my system with a local cab company, while they were having some problems with their new software.

Take a good street map. Get it plastic coated. Glue it to a piece of sheet steel.

The hardware store has rolls of magnet material, that you can write on, and can cut to length. Or, just buy a bunch of magnets.

Write names on magnets. Place on board to show current location (or, if en route, destination) of each man.

If you are talking maps on your computer, I've used Mapquest on a net-less computer. In the office I use Google Earth (although there may be commercial limitations). Both allow me to tag locations.

How did you grow to 50-60 trucks without a system in place?

check electrical contractor magazine or plumbing and mechanical magazine. there are several systems advertised in both.

quote"How did you grow to 50-60 trucks without a system in place?"

Maybe door to door cold sales? Before we all start laughing I know of a solar system contractor in Fort Lauderdale that did just that and grew to about the size mentioned.

macmike,

not laughing at all. actually quite impressed. just wondering how they grew to that size by the seat of their pants.

They had a highly compensated and motivated sales force (including my older brother). I don't remember the name of the outfit, but he worked for them for around 10 years. They used to send 5 or 6 of the best sales guys on trips and cuises every year, plus lots of bonuses and so forth. Those guys were out there cold selling solar systems, pool heater systems, and later on and this is where it got quite funky - electrical repair work. And in my opinion, not one person in that outfit was qualified in any way, shape. or form to sell or do any electrical repairs But they had a mountain of tricks for getting a sale out of Joe the Homeowner, including the old "We are providing "free" fire extinguishers to all those who use our services this month.

We signed a contract with a large communications company to work as one of there contractors. We supply the labor and they supply the work. We have a system in place but am looking to simplify it to put the supervisor out in the field earlier.