Dispatching

Dispatching is how you send work to the field. You can send a record with some of the information prefilled to give field users what they need to start their work. This topic describes dispatching at a high level and lists the different ways you can send a record to your workforce.

Available on all tiers, with more options on the Advanced and Enterprise tiers:

Essentials

Advanced

Enterprise

Video demo

Learn from an expert! This video shows you the different ways you can send work to the field.

Key Concepts

Send jobs to your workforce by dispatching the work. You can:

Prefill and send forms manually using the Web Portal.
Integrate with your existing third-party systems to automate dispatching using the TrueContext API (Advanced and Enterprise tier).
Include important job details like due date, location, and special instructions.
(Enterprise tier only) With any of the dispatching methods, you can send the record to a user, a group of users, or all groups in a FormSpace FormSpaces are where forms are stored and organized in the TrueContext Web Portal. A TrueContext Team may have multiple FormSpaces, depending on their needs. Admins can set FormSpace permissions to control which users have access to the forms in that FormSpace.. (Enterprise tier only).
Change the job assignment if a technician is unavailable (Enterprise tier only).
Send follow-up work when the initial work is completed using a Dispatch Data Destination A Data Destination specifies where to send data from a submitted form. You can use Data Destinations to automate data sharing and storage, routing data to a specific service (such as email or cloud storage) in several different formats.. Create a new record with its own identifier that follows a separate workflow from the initial work (Advanced and Enterprise tier).
Create a record with its own identifier each time you dispatch a record.

Configuration

To send records:

Make sure your form can be dispatched. Open the form in edit mode and go to Settings > Workflow Settings > Form Initiation Methods. Select either Inbox or Inbox and Forms Box. By default, forms have Inbox and Forms Box selected.

Tip:If you’re on the Enterprise tier, these options also switch on group dispatching.

If your team is on the Enterprise tier, to open records from the Group Inbox, the form must have Search enabled.
Make sure mobile users can access their Inbox. Go to Your username > Team Settings The Team Settings page is the page where an admin can manage their team's account and edit certain information, such as assigning a Problem Contact Email Address, toggling push notifications, and viewing the account's billing information. > Mobile Device > Device Configuration > Actions > Update Custom Configuration. Select the option to display the Inbox.
Make sure mobile users can access the Group Inbox (Enterprise tier only). Go to Your username > Team Settings > Mobile Device > Device Configuration > Actions > Update Custom Configuration. Select the option to display the Group Inbox.

Recipients

(Enterprise tier only) With any of the dispatching methods, you can send the record to a user, a group of users, or all groups in a FormSpace.

If...	Then send the record to a...	The system...
You know which technician is available and has the skills to do the work You want a specific technician to pick up the work, regardless of their availability.	User	Assigns the record to the user. The user can open the record from their Inbox.
Enterprise tier only
You have a group of technicians with the right skills for the job You want the next available technician to work on the record	Group	Makes the record available for any user in the group to claim. The user can claim the record from their Group Inbox.
Teams with different specialties or skills need access to the record to determine if they should claim it You have different groups with similar skill sets that could pick up the work	FormSpace	Makes the record available for users in a FormSpace to claim. Users must be in a group that has Can Submit FormSpace permissions FormSpace Permissions control the permissions that a user group has in a particular FormSpace. These are primarily used to control the forms (and the state of form) users can access on their mobile devices. Less commonly, FormSpace permissions give non-admin Users some administrative access to a particular FormSpace without giving them full Admin access to all FormSpaces.. Users can claim the record from their Group Inbox.

Dispatching Methods

The way you choose to send work depends on your business objectives or process. You can set up automated dispatches or manually dispatch forms from the Web Portal.

Tip:(Enterprise tier only) With any of the dispatching methods, you can send the record to a user, a group of users, or all groups in a FormSpace.

Automated Dispatching

Automated Dispatching enables you to trigger dispatches under certain conditions that you set up in your third-party system or within TrueContext.

If you need to...	Use...
Trigger automatic dispatches from your third-party system Prefill contents using data from your third-party system Automate sending multiple records at the same time	One of the following TrueContext API endpoints (Advanced and Enterprise tiers): POST /api/1.1/data/dispatch Dispatches a form to a user or a group POST /api/1.1/data/dispatch/bytag Dispatches forms that have the same tag to a user or group
Automatically trigger a follow-up job when initial work is completed. This creates a new record with its own identifier that follows a separate workflow from the initial work	A Dispatch Data Destination (Advanced and Enterprise tiers).

Manual Dispatching

Manual Dispatching gives you more control and granularity over when to send a record, who to send it to, and the information to prefill.

If you need to...	Use...
Control when to prefill and send a single record Choose when to send a record to specific people Make a single record available to groups Send a record to test a new form Manage work using the TrueContext platform rather than a third-party system	The Web Portal for a single-record dispatch.
Send multiple records at once Prefill multiple records using data already organized in a spreadsheet format Prepare multiple records in advance for simultaneous dispatch Send each record to either a user, a group, or the groups in a FormSpace (Enterprise tier only).	A CSV file for a bulk dispatch.