Workforce - Automatically assigning technicians

Overview

gaiia’s Auto-Assign logic automatically assigns technicians to new work orders based on calendar availability, travel time, and technician qualifications. In this article, we’ll walk through how the assignment works, how technicians are selected, and how to configure your setup for the best results.

Understanding how technicians are assigned

Once a customer selects their preferred time window during the checkout, Auto-Assign starts checking for a valid technician at 15-minute increments within that window.

• If a valid technician is found, they are assigned immediately.
• If multiple technicians qualify, the one with the lowest total travel time (to and from the appointment) is chosen.
• If no technician is valid for that increment, the system checks the next 15-minute slot.
• If no valid technician is found across the full window, Auto-Assign fails, and the order goes into the Order Queue on the Schedule page marked with a “Failed to Auto Assign” icon.

For example: A customer selects 8:00–12:00. John is available at 8:00 and gets the assignment, even though another technician becomes available at 8:15 with a shorter drive. Currently, Auto-Assign does not wait for better options further into the time window.

Determining the validity of a technician

To be considered valid, a technician must pass all of the following checks:

• Availability: Technician must have open calendar space to accommodate the work order and surrounding travel time.
• Travel Time:
  • To Work Order: Uses the previous work order’s address, or the technician’s base location if it’s the first job of the day.
  • From Work Order: Uses the next work order’s address. Base location is not considered here.
• Maximum Travel Time: Either the trip to or from the job must fall within the allowed max travel time. This is a tenant-level setting (default: 40 minutes).
• Qualifications: Technician must have the required Work Type assigned on their profile.

If any of these checks fail, the work order will still be created—but it will appear in the Order Queue with a Failed to Auto Assign status.

Configuring your instance for Auto-Assign

To enable Auto-Assign, go to Admin > Checkout Settings and make sure the feature is turned on.

If you’ve enabled “Only display time slots with technician availability,” customers will only see time options that pass the calendar and Work Type qualification checks. Travel time is still evaluated only after submission.

Improving assignment accuracy

One of the best ways to help Auto-Assign succeed is by configuring technician Base Locations. These are used to calculate travel time for the first appointment of a technician’s day.

• If a technician has no base location set, Auto-Assign assumes 0 minutes of travel time to the first work order.
• This can lead to inaccurate scheduling, especially for early-morning appointments.

Following best practices

• Set technician Base Locations for accurate first-job assignments.
• Keep technician shift calendars and locations up to date.
• Make sure Work Types are correctly assigned to technician profiles.
• Test different scenarios to better understand how your configuration affects assignments.

When technician data is missing or incomplete (like no Work Type or invalid location), Auto-Assign may silently fail, pushing the work order to the queue instead.