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Scheduling extends Auto-assign so it doesn’t just pick who owns a thread, it also books time on that person’s Planner to work the service request. Work schedules define each tech’s working hours and time zone, giving Auto-assign the availability signal it needs. Together they let Thread route and schedule work automatically.
Auto-assign scheduling and Work schedules are rolling out to workspaces. Contact your Thread representative to enable them.

Scheduling in Auto-assign

When scheduling is turned on inside an Auto-dispatch profile, Auto-assign checks three things before routing a thread:
  • The tech is marked available in Inbox.
  • The tech has capacity, meaning they’re below the max number of active threads set on the profile.
  • The tech has an open slot in Planner inside the profile’s scheduling window.
All three have to be true for Auto-assign to route and schedule the thread. Auto-assign ranks eligible techs first by the day of their earliest open slot, then by fewest active threads. A tech who is free today wins over a tech whose first open slot is tomorrow, even if the second tech has fewer active threads.

Scheduling window

The Scheduling window dropdown sits at the top of the Enable scheduling block. It limits how far ahead Auto-assign can book a thread. Use it to keep threads with techs who can start soon, instead of booking them days out. Choose one of these options:
  • Today only
  • Today and tomorrow
  • Next 3 days
  • Next 7 days
  • Until max active threads, which sets no window and books as far out as the tech has capacity
The window counts working days, not calendar days. Today always counts. Days the tech doesn’t work on their work schedule are skipped. For example, on a Friday, Today and tomorrow reaches Monday for a tech who works Monday through Friday. A tech with no open Planner slot inside the window is skipped. New profiles that turn scheduling on start at Today only. Existing profiles keep Until max active threads, which matches how they behaved before the setting existed. If scheduling is turned off, Auto-assign still assigns threads based on availability and capacity, it just won’t book a Planner time.

Preview scheduling with Test run

With Enable scheduling on, the profile’s Test run panel applies the same Planner check and ranking as live dispatch. It uses the unsaved form’s scheduling window, minimum notice, and booking duration, so you can check a new window before you save. Each tech’s workload line shows their scheduling status:
  • Free today 2:00 PM, Free tomorrow 9:00 AM, or a weekday or date for later slots, showing the tech’s first open Planner slot.
  • No work schedule when the tech has no work schedule, so Auto-assign can’t book them.
  • No free time in window when the tech has no open Planner slot inside the scheduling window.
Techs without open time appear under Not eligible for dispatch instead of being ranked. With scheduling off, Test run doesn’t check Planner.
Connect Outlook to Thread to let Auto-dispatch see each member’s true availability. See Planner and Outlook calendar integration.

Managing availability

Once Auto-assign is set up and turned on, availability can be managed by the tech themselves or by an admin, through the Team Home page. See Team Home.

Set availability from work schedules

Turn on Automatically set technician availability based on their work schedule in an Auto-assign profile to stop techs from toggling availability by hand at the start and end of each shift. The setting sits above the Enable scheduling block and is off by default. When it’s on, Thread turns each tech’s availability on when their work schedule starts and off when it ends, for every team on the profile. Thread checks the schedule every minute, so a missed change is corrected within a minute. Techs and admins can still toggle availability manually at any time. A manual change that disagrees with the schedule holds until the tech’s schedule next starts. Workspace holidays and custom closure dates count as days off. On those days, Thread doesn’t turn anyone’s availability on. If a tech turns availability on manually during a closure, it stays on until their schedule starts on the next open day. To set up closures, see Business hours, holidays, and custom closures. With the setting on, Team Home and the availability menu show a hint under Available for dispatch:
  • Available until 5:00 PM when the tech is available and their schedule ends later.
  • Available from 9:00 AM when the tech is unavailable and their schedule starts later. After a holiday or closure, the hint points to the next open day.
  • Set manually, no work schedule added when the tech has no work schedule, so Thread can’t set their availability.
The member’s Activity tab shows schedule-driven changes as Turned on by work schedule or Turned off by work schedule.
Work schedules can’t cover overnight shifts yet, such as 4:30 PM to 8:00 AM. Teams that work after hours still need to set availability manually.

Work schedules

Work schedules let you set each tech’s working hours and time zone. This is the foundation for scheduling in Auto-assign, it tells Thread when a tech is actually available to take on work. For setup steps, see Create and manage work schedules.

Getting started

Auto-assign setup

Configure an Auto-assign profile end to end.

Next thread setup

Set up Next thread dispatch as an alternative to Auto-assign.

Inbox Teams

Organize members into teams that Auto-dispatch can route to.

Outlook integration

Connect Outlook so Planner reflects real availability.

FAQ

With scheduling on, Auto-assign ranks eligible techs first by the day of their earliest open Planner slot, then by the number of active threads each tech is working (active threads are defined in the Auto-dispatch profile). The tech with the earliest open slot and the fewest active threads is scheduled first.
As soon as Auto-dispatch runs, it assigns the thread and adds a plan to it. If you don’t see it happen in real time, refresh the page and check the ticket for an internal note confirming that Auto-assign ran.
Yes, within the profile’s Scheduling window. Auto-assign only books a thread into an open Planner slot inside that window, counted in the tech’s working days. To book as far out as the tech has capacity, set the window to Until max active threads.
No. A work schedule has to be set up for a tech before Auto-dispatch can assign and schedule threads to them.
No. Scheduling is optional. With it off, Auto-assign just assigns threads to the tech with the most capacity.
If scheduling fails, Thread still assigns the thread to the tech with the most capacity and adds an internal note flagging that scheduling didn’t go through:
Auto-dispatch assigned this thread to [name] but could not schedule it: the Planner booking failed. Add time on their planner manually.