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Dispatch board

A dispatch board that shows what's in the shop right now.

The dispatch board (internally the shop floor view) is the one screen the service writer keeps open all day. It shows every job currently on the shop floor, grouped by status — working, waiting on parts, waiting on customer approval, ready for pickup — with the tech assigned to each. A quick drag reassigns. A quick tap updates status. No spreadsheets, no whiteboards, no guessing where a job stands.

Every job, every tech, at a glance.

Jobs are cards. Techs are columns. The status a job is in is the column it sits in. At 10 AM the service writer can look at the dispatch board and see that Mike has three jobs in progress, Jen is waiting on a fuel pump, and two cars are ready for customer pickup. That's the whole picture in one screen.

Drag a job from one tech to another and it's reassigned. Drop a job into "Ready for pickup" and the customer notification fires automatically.

Status changes trigger customer messages.

When a job moves into "Waiting on approval," the customer gets a text with the inspection link if one exists. When it moves into "Ready for pickup," they get a pickup notification with a Stripe pay-by-text link. No one on your team has to remember to text the customer. The status change is the message.

Every message respects TCPA opt-outs and is logged on the service record.

Built for walk-ins, not just appointments.

Most shop management systems assume every job starts with an appointment. Pitlane assumes half your jobs don't. Walk-ins get a quick-add that creates the service record and drops it straight onto the board — no calendar dance. If you do use appointments, they flow onto the board automatically on the morning they're scheduled.

The dispatch board and the customer side are one system.

This is the thing the generic shop management systems don't do. On the same screen where the service writer sees the job status, they can see the customer's last visit, their vehicle's overdue intervals, the declined items on the vehicle, and the reviews they've left you. The dispatch board isn't a silo — it's the front door to the whole customer relationship.

How it works.

01

Create a job

Walk-in or appointment. Either flows into the dispatch board in under 10 seconds.

02

Assign a tech and drag to status

Drag the card to the right tech column. Update status as the job moves.

03

Customer updates fire automatically

Approvals requested, pickup notifications, payment links — triggered by the status column the card sits in. No manual messaging.

This runs for your shop on a 30-day free trial.

Every feature on this page is included in the trial. No credit card. Live in under 10 minutes.

Questions about dispatch board.

Is the dispatch board available on all plans?

The full dispatch board with tech assignments is included on the Pro plan. Starter and Growth include a simpler service-record list view.

Does it replace Mitchell1 / Tekmetric / Shopware's dispatch?

It can. Some shops drop their SMS entirely and run on Pitlane. Others keep their SMS for ROs and parts, and use Pitlane's dispatch board specifically because it ties the customer side (reviews, messages, follow-up) into the same screen.

Can I see which tech is most productive?

Yes. The reports view shows jobs completed per tech, average ticket, and billable hours per tech, with trend over time.

More features.