Dispatch Call Intake Checklist

Intake is the only part of the call where the information can still be fixed. Once a driver hangs up, dispatch is working from whatever got written down, not what actually happened. Skipping a question, or asking it differently from one call to the next, means a breakdown call can look no more urgent than a check-in, and the details a dispatcher needs to act are missing when the call gets logged or transferred.

The fix is not more note-taking. It is asking a fixed set of questions in a fixed order for a given call type, every time, no matter who is calling or what time it is. That consistency is what makes a call record usable by a dispatcher who was not on the call.

A breakdown needs the caller, callback number, unit, exact location, direction of travel, and the hazard, so on-call can act even if the call drops before it finishes. A check-call needs the unit, current status, and next milestone or ETA, enough to update the board without a callback. A freight inquiry needs the lane, dates, equipment, and rate the caller mentions, so it reaches the sales or brokerage desk with the details a broker will not repeat twice.

Calls that do not fit a defined category still need an answer. Capture what the caller says in plain language, note that it fell outside the standard fields, and route it to dispatch to sort rather than force it into the wrong bucket.

An AI dispatch agent opens the call by telling the caller it is an AI assistant, then asks the same required questions for that call type in the same order a trained dispatcher would. It applies the same escalation and logging rules to every caller, so intake does not depend on who happens to pick up or how busy the board is that hour.

Anything the agent cannot resolve with its rules, such as an unclear location or a call that spans two categories, is captured in full and handed to a person instead of forced through the wrong path. The goal is not answering everything; it is that nothing gets lost between the phone ringing and the record dispatch sees.