First lesson in the dispatcher series. By the end you'll be in the dispatch panel, oriented to its main pages, and able to find help when you get stuck. This is the bare-minimum setup before you can do any actual dispatcher work.
Problem: It's your first day in the dispatcher seat. Something doesn't behave the way you expect, and you don't know if it's a feature, a misconfiguration, or a bug.
Horizon's answer: Two channels. Search the Knowledge Base for self-serve answers, or open a support ticket if it's something we need to look at directly.
Search the Knowledge Base
If you find the answer, you're done. If not, open a support ticket.
Open a support ticket
Where the response shows up: Replies come to the email address you used to open the ticket. You can also check ticket status by creating an account in the help system.
Tip: Dispatcher tickets are often ambiguous between "the system is doing the wrong thing" and "the admin configured the wrong policy." Be specific about what you saw vs. what you expected — "Ticket #4521 was assigned to Bob, but Bob is marked Out and was supposed to be excluded; expected dispatch to skip him" gets a faster, more useful response than "dispatch is broken."
Problem: You spent your last role in the agent panel, working your own tickets. Now your job is to manage the team's work — but Horizon doesn't drop you into the dispatcher view automatically. You have to know how to get there.
Horizon's answer: A separate panel at /dispatch, plus a panel switcher that lives in every panel's top bar so you can move between them without typing URLs.
Three ways in. Pick whichever fits how you work.
Option 1 — Direct URL
Open https://app.giantrocketship.net and choosing the Dispatch panel.
Option 2 — Inside your helpdesk (widget)
Just like agents, dispatchers can use Horizon embedded inside their helpdesk's UI — no separate browser tab needed. The widget loads the agent panel by default, but you can use the panel switcher (Option 3) to jump from there into dispatch without leaving the helpdesk. See the Agent Training Guide → Accessing Horizon for the per-helpdesk widget setup (ConnectWise, Autotask, etc.); it's the same widget for both roles.
Option 3 — Panel switcher (from any panel)
If you're already in another panel and want to jump to dispatch:
The waffle grid works inside the helpdesk widget too — so you can land in agent (default), waffle to dispatch, and stay inside your helpdesk the whole time.
What you'll see when you land
The dispatch panel uses top navigation (tabs across the top, not a sidebar). The default landing page is the Dispatch Calendar — a multi-resource timeline showing your team's schedules side by side.
If you don't see a "Dispatcher" option in the waffle
The panel switcher only shows panels you have permission to access. If Dispatcher isn't there, your account doesn't have you set up as a dispatcher yet — talk to your admin or open a support ticket.
Tip: If you'll spend most of your day in the dispatch panel, set it as your default landing page (see next section). Saves you the click every login.
Problem: Every time you log in, Horizon drops you into the agent panel. You're a dispatcher — that's an extra click on every session, and a small but constant signal that the system thinks you're an agent.
Horizon's answer: A profile setting that controls which panel you land on after login. Set it once and forget it.
Set the default
What changes
The next time you log in, Horizon drops you straight into the dispatch panel instead of the agent panel. No more clicking through.
What doesn't change
The dropdown only shows panels you can access
If "Dispatch Panel" isn't an option in the dropdown, you don't have dispatcher access yet. Talk to your admin.
Tip: If you split your time between dispatch and admin work, pick the one you open first in the morning as your default.
Problem: Day 1 covered the four pages you'll use constantly. The dispatch panel has more than that — analytics, capacity views, AI recommendations — and you'll waste time re-discovering them every time you need one if you don't have a map.
Horizon's answer: A single overview of every page in the dispatch panel. You don't need to learn each in detail right now — just know what's there and when you'd open it.
The full page map
The dispatch panel's top navigation has two groups: main pages (the things you'll use every day) and the Insights group (collapsed by default — analytics and reports for periodic review and planning).
Main pages
| Page | What it shows | When you'll use it |
|---|---|---|
| Dashboard (default landing) | Multi-resource calendar — every agent's schedule side by side, with a resource summary sidebar. | Continuously throughout your shift. This is your home base. |
| In/Out Board | Currently Out, Scheduled (future absences), History, Available Now — all per-agent, grouped by team. | When you need to mark someone out, schedule a future absence, or check team availability. |
| Ticket Board | List-based view of unassigned and queued tickets, with bulk-action capability and admin-defined scope tabs. | Morning triage; whenever you need to act on many tickets at once. |
| Project Board | View-only list of projects with phases, tasks, and team assignments. | Background reference for project-related work. Not an action-driven page yet — more features coming. |
Insights group (collapsed by default in the nav)
| Page | What it shows | When you'll use it |
|---|---|---|
| AI Recommendations | System-suggested actions Horizon thinks you should take based on current state. Badge shows count of actionable items. | Quick scan when you have a minute. Skim, accept what makes sense, ignore the rest. |
| Coverage Board | Upcoming coverage gaps, on-call schedule, periods where the team will be thin. | Forward planning — "is anyone covering Thursday afternoon?" |
| Agent Utilization | Per-agent workload metrics — hours booked, utilization percentage, efficiency. | End-of-week review; performance conversations; spotting overloaded or underused agents. |
| Assignment Insights | Analytics on how the assignment system is performing — accuracy heatmaps, decision patterns. | When you suspect the routing rules are wrong; periodic review with admins to refine policies. |
| Capacity Forecast | Supply vs. demand projections for the team — predicted workload vs. predicted capacity over time. | Planning hires, shift schedules, PTO blackout windows. Strategic, not tactical. |
| Team Capacity | Current team capacity vs. demand summary. | Quick "are we drowning or fine?" check. |
| To-Do Health | Overdue todos, predicted vs. actual variance per agent, tech leaderboard for variance. | Spotting consistent over-runners or under-estimators on the team. |
| Workload Heatmap | Demand patterns by time of day and day of week. | Spotting peak hours, shift planning, identifying when to schedule what type of work. |
The pattern
Things this guide doesn't cover in depth
The Insights pages each deserve their own deep dive that this guide doesn't get into. They're listed here so you know they exist. As you settle into the role, browse them; you'll figure out which ones match how you think.
Tip: The Insights group is collapsed by default for a reason — you don't need it during your day-to-day work. Don't feel like you need to check every page every shift. Pick one or two that match how you think (capacity-forecast people, utilization-tracker people, heatmap people) and live in those. Ignore the rest unless you have a specific question to answer.