Automatic Dispatch

Automatic dispatch allows for dispatch to both internal and external response services allowing monitoring stations to operate in an unmanned fashion.

The Automatic Dispatch feature can automatically:

Send dispatch requests via Plink app notification, email or SMS.
Broadcast dispatch requests to one or more Plink app users from the same dispatch company
Complete the associated activation when the dispatch job is completed.

Prerequisites

To dispatch via Plink app the Patrol Response module is required.
To broadcast dispatch requests to a number of plink patrols, the Dispatch Module is required. This enables the Select Patrol Dispatch feature.
To dispatch via Email or SMS the Web Dispatch module is required along with the Email module or an SMS module.
Patriot version 6.9.9.1 or later.
Patriot Internet Client Access (ICA) configured.
Standard Plink setup/configured. See the Smart Phone documentation for initial Plink setup.
Plink app version 9.13.0 or later for automatic broadcast dispatch via Plink app

User Setup

Instructions for configuring a user to receive a web dispatch (i.e. an email or SMS containing an ICA link to the dispatch) can be found in the Web Dispatch documentation. To set up automatic Plink dispatches, look at "General Patrol Setup" section of the Patrol Response Features document.

Using a Select Patrol user type to broadcast to multiple patrols

If you wish to broadcast to a group of patrols, they must be grouped together by being linked to the same "Select Patrol Dispatch" user. Where a Select Patrol Dispatch user is on the automatic dispatch response plan, all linked Plink users will also receive a dispatch request automatically. These linked users must also be on the same Patrol Dispatch grouping as the client to receive the dispatch job.

Response Plan Setup

Assign tasks to your response plans to trigger automatic dispatch. Assign the Smart Phone task for Plink dispatch or an Email and/or SMS task for Web Dispatch.

Beware that a task assignment will only trigger an automatic dispatch to a user if that user supports the task's dispatch method. Ie. if you assign a Smart Phone task to a user that does not have Plink Dispatch enabled then no dispatch will occur. Likewise if you assign an Email or SMS task to a user that does not have Web Dispatch enabled, or if the user's Web Dispatch Notification Task does not match your task assignment, then no dispatch will occur. Make sure to consider this when assigning tasks at the user group or user type level - you may need to assign multiple Web or Plink Dispatch tasks to ensure all users within the group or type receive the dispatch.

Double click the task, for a popup to appear. Choose 'Patrol Response' as the message type so that when an activation is created, a dispatch job is automatically created and sent out to the appropriate users either as a web dispatch (email or SMS) or plink dispatch (smartphone notification).

Response plan for automatic dispatch using the Smartphone task for Plink dispatch

Dispatch Rules

When a response plan contains multiple users with a Patrol Response task assignment, multiple dispatch jobs will be created.
When a response plan contains a user with multiple Patrol Response task assignments, multiple dispatch jobs will be created.
Only one dispatch job, per dispatch type, per user can be pending for a single activation at the same time. This means that duplicate dispatch jobs will not be created automatically if multiple alarms signals are logged against the same activation. But it is possible for a patrol user to have a web dispatch job and a plink dispatch job pending for the same activation at the same time. It is also possible to have multiple patrols with pending dispatch jobs of the same type (ie. Plink) open for the same activation at the same time.
When a response plan contains a user with a Patrol Response task assignment (task type must be SmartPhone) and the user has the "Select Dispatch Patrol" option enabled (ie. they represent a patrol company) then a Plink dispatch notification will be sent to all of their linked and available Patrol users. Once one of the users linked to the "Select Patrol Dispatch" user accepts the job, the other linked patrols who were sent a notification will lose access to the dispatch job.
When a response plan contains a user with a Patrol Response task assignment but the user does not have the "Select Dispatch Patrol" option enabled (ie. they represent an individual patrol) then a Plink or Web dispatch notification will be sent directly to the selected automatic dispatch user only.

Automatic Dispatch With Select Patrol Dispatch

To receive the dispatch request, the patrol user has to:

Be linked to the Selected Patrol User. See the "General Patrol Setup" section of this document for details of how this is configured.
Have Plink Dispatch enabled. Automatic dispatch through Selected Patrol Dispatch only supports sending dispatch request via Plink.
Be available. This means a Patrol Dispatch Client is assigned to the patrol user and the patrol user has marked himself/herself available in the Plink app.

When using Select Patrol Dispatch to broadcast dispatch requests to multiple patrols Patriot will immediately send the request to those patrols which have a dispatch group in common with the client, but if none of these patrols accepts the job within the Automatic Dispatch Delay Time (set in the the system wide settings), then the request will also be sent to patrols without a dispatch group match.

For example, when the client belongs to the group "Key Chain A", the patrol user below will receive the dispatch request as soon as the activation is created. If this user doesn't have "Key Chain A" as one of his/her Patrol Dispatch groupings, he/she will receive the request only after those patrol users who have "Key Chain A" failed to pick up the dispatch job on time.

Internal Patrol Company - Dispatch Groupings

A patrol user with assigned dispatch group.

In the case that no patrol users pick up the dispatch job within the dispatch request Acceptance Warning Time (set in the system wide response settings), then a warning note will be logged against the dispatch job and the operator will be notified (if applicable).

Complete the Activation

To enable the monitoring station run in a unmanned fashion, a dispatch job that created by the Automatic Dispatch feature can complete the activation once all the following conditions are satisfied:

The dispatch job is completed.
No operators or users took ownership of the activation.
No other pending dispatch jobs on this activation.
"Action On Dispatch Completed" is set to "Complete Activation" in System Wide Settings-> Response Settings -> Dispatch Settings.

Using escalated messaging in conjunction with automatic dispatching

You can use escalated messaging to send a patrol response as a last resort. Read through escalated messaging for more info.