Breaks, tasks and time off on the board

Breaks, tasks and time off

What this is for — blocking time on a driver's column for something that isn't a trip: lunch, an off-duty gap in a split shift, or a job like an oil change.

Where to find it

Left menu → Dispatch Board → the Break / task button at the top right. Click an existing block on the board to edit it.

Steps — adding a break or a task

1. Click Break / task.
2. Pick the Driver.
3. Pick the Type:
   • Lunch — a meal break.
   • Split — off duty — the unpaid gap in a split shift. Defaults to 3 hours.
   • Task — type what below — anything the office needs doing.
4. Set the length:
   • Lunch offers 30 minutes, 45 minutes, or 1 hour.
   • Everything else uses a Duration (min) box.
5. For a task, pick from the list — Wash Vehicle, Oil Change, Tire Rotation, Take Vehicle to Shop, Get Wheelchair from Office, Get Gurney from Office — or choose Something else — type it below and fill in What is it?
6. Set Starts at. Lunch and split blocks have an optional Note.
7. Click Add block.

Steps — changing or removing a block

1. Click the block on the board.
2. Change whatever you need and click Save changes.
3. Or click Delete to take it off.

What a block looks like

Blocks are deliberately un-trip-like: a striped grey fill with a dashed outline, so nobody mistakes one for a job. Each shows its name and its start and end times. They also appear on the driver's My schedule and on the printed run sheet.

The lunch check

The right-hand panel shows a Lunch check nudge when a driver's scheduled day runs past roughly five working hours with no lunch booked, and again past ten working hours with only one.

• The nudge names the driver, their scheduled span, and a suggested time.
• Add a lunch block → opens the dialog with the driver and a suggested slot already filled in.
• Off-duty split gaps are subtracted first, so it counts hours worked, not the length of the day.

It is a scheduling aid. You pick the real slot, and anything to do with waivers or premiums is handled in payroll, not here.

Driver time off

Time off is set on the driver's record, not on the board — left menu → Drivers → click the driver → Requested time off. See 10 — Drivers for the full steps.

There are two kinds, and they look completely different on the board:

• All day (the tick box left on) — the driver has no column at all that day. They cannot be given trips.
• A window (the tick box unticked, with Off from and Back at) — the driver stays on the board, and that stretch shows as a block reading Time off. Booking a trip across it is blocked.

Use a window for a dentist appointment, the DMV, or a school pickup.

Good to know

• Booking a trip over a break, a task, or a time-off window warns dispatch.
• A wait and return trip also puts a block on the board reading Waiting with for the length of the wait, so the driver reads as busy. That one is created by the booking and cannot be edited here.
• Rest breaks were dropped from the menu — drivers take those between rides. Old rest-break blocks can still be edited if any remain.
• Blocks belong to one driver on one day. There is no repeating break.

If something looks wrong

• Clicking a block does nothing — blocks the system draws for you are not edited on the board itself. A Time off stripe is the exception: clicking it opens that driver's record at Requested time off, where you change it. A Waiting with … block belongs to its trip — change the wait there.
• The Add block button is greyed out — a task needs a name. Pick a preset or type one in What is it?
• A driver has no column at all — they have an all-day time off, a weekly day off, are marked inactive, or are scheduled at the other location.
• The lunch nudge keeps coming back — it clears once a Lunch block exists on that driver's day. A task or split block doesn't count.