Online field service scheduling software is the first thing a growing field service company shops for, because the whiteboard stops working at about the fourth van. What the small company actually needs from a field service scheduling app is narrower than the enterprise category: which tech is on which job, when, at what rate, with what parts on the van, and what happened, kept against the customer so the invoice and the report are written from the same record. This page says what field service schedulinging software has to do for a company of one to a dozen techs, what the enterprise dispatching platforms add that it does not need, and where the free tools on this site work the figures the schedule feeds. It publishes no vendor ranking.
The field service schedule is a list with a status, not a map
For a dozen techs the schedule is a list: customer, address, job, tech, window, rate, parts, status. A field scheduler that shows that list by day and by tech, and lets the office move a job when a call runs long, is the whole requirement. GPS fleet tracking, route optimisation and dispatch boards for two hundred techs are the enterprise buyer's tools and the charter of this site names them out; the small company's dispatch is a phone call and a status change.
Field service dispatch and the invoice from one record
Field service dispatching software earns its place when the job the office dispatched is the job the tech invoices from: the same customer, the same rate, the parts the van left with. On the worked example a dispatched call of 1.5 hours at $90 with $60 of parts marked up 40%, taxed at 8% on the parts, and a $49 trip charge invoices at $274.72, and the invoice is right because the schedule and the invoice share the record. Re-keying the job into a separate invoicing tool is where small companies lose an hour a day.
A free field service scheduling app, and what it leaves out
A field service scheduling app free of charge usually caps the users or the jobs. The free tools on this site work the figures the schedule feeds, the rate, the invoice and the report, with no account; the schedule itself, kept against the customer with every job's status, is what FlatRateBook Pro adds at one flat price. A company that keeps its schedule on a shared calendar and works its invoices here has spent nothing and is not wrong.
Choosing among the best field service scheduling software
This site publishes no ranking. Ask two questions of any candidate: does the dispatched job carry the rate, the parts and the trip charge through to the invoice without re-keying, and is the visit report written against the same job? If yes, the schedule is a record and the software has understood a small company. If the pitch is the map, it is built for a buyer with a fleet.
Questions people ask about online field service scheduling software
What does scheduling software for field service need to do for a small company?
Show which tech is on which job, when, at what rate and with what parts, keep the job's status against the customer, and carry the job through to the invoice and the report without re-keying. The map and the route optimiser are the enterprise buyer's.
Is field service scheduling software free here?
The free tools work the figures the schedule feeds: the pricing calculator, the field service invoice and the field service report, with no account. The schedule kept against the customer is the paid record.
What is field service dispatching software?
The part of the schedule that assigns a job to a tech and changes its status as the day moves. For a dozen techs it is a list and a phone; for two hundred it is a platform, and that platform is not this site's subject.
What should a field scheduler show for a dozen techs?
A list by day and by tech: customer, address, job, tech, window, rate, parts and status, with the office able to move a job when a call runs long. GPS fleet tracking and dispatch boards for two hundred techs are the enterprise buyer's tools.