AssignIQ + RouteIQ
in progress
Adam Smith
What’s new as of 5/18/26
We’ve updated
AssignIQ
and RouteIQ
to make intelligent scheduling and route optimization easier to review, adjust, and trust. AssignIQ
helps decide who should be assigned to visits. RouteIQ
helps decide the best order and timing when visits are already assigned.AssignIQ and RouteIQ are now clearer
- AssignIQ assigns sitters.
- RouteIQ optimizes already-assigned routes.
Admins have more control
- Change sitter inline.
- Change arrival time inline.
- Locked values are respected.
AssignIQ is more transparent
- Reasons explain why sitters are suggested.
- Notes and sitter schedules are accessible without leaving the workflow.
Routing is more configurable
- Consolidation preference.
- Arrival increment.
- Staff segment filtering.
Staff restrictions are more precise
- Animal-specific exclusions are now supported.
How to Use AssignIQ
Set Staff Scheduling Preferences
You can configure sitter-specific scheduling rules under
AssignIQ Behavior
when editing staff accounts on Staff > Staff Accounts
.These preferences help AssignIQ understand which sitters should or should not be considered for certain work. This includes availability-related rules, service restrictions, overnight preferences, and animal-specific restrictions.
Animal restrictions are more flexible than simple “Dogs Only” or “Cats Only” rules, allowing more precise exclusions for allergies, fears, or other sitter-specific limitations.
Select Visits to Assign
In the scheduler, select one or more unassigned visits, click
Assign
, then choose AssignIQ
.If you prefer to assign manually, use
Direct Assign
instead.Review Suggested Assignments
AssignIQ generates optimized sitter assignments and suggested arrival times based on the selected visits and your configuration.
Suggestions may include a short explanation showing why a sitter was recommended, such as:
- Primary or secondary sitter
- Recent sitter
- Closest sitter
- Has key
- Route fit
- Best available fit
A more detailed popover is also available when you want additional context behind the recommendation.
Review Notes and Sitter Schedules
When relevant notes exist, AssignIQ shows a notes icon on the visit row so managers can review important scheduling context without leaving the workflow.
A schedule icon may also appear near the suggested sitter, allowing you to quickly review that sitter’s day before accepting or changing the assignment.
Make Adjustments
You can edit directly in the AssignIQ results table.
- Change the suggested sitter
- Change or customize the arrival time
- Reset locked values when needed
When you manually change a sitter or arrival time, that value becomes locked.
Changing a sitter does not require AssignIQ to run again. Changing an arrival time can affect routing, so AssignIQ will prompt you to run it again before finalizing.
Adjust AssignIQ / RouteIQ Preferences
Use the
Preferences
button to adjust how AssignIQ and RouteIQ handle scheduling and routing.The preferences panel lets you control how much weight is given to factors like sitter relationship, distance, and route consolidation. You can also adjust timing behavior, such as arrival time increments, and limit AssignIQ to a specific staff segment when needed.
These settings allow each business to tune AssignIQ to better match how they schedule in practice.
Run AssignIQ and Finalize
Click
Run AssignIQ
to generate or refresh suggestions.Once the assignments look correct, click
Finalize Assignments
to confirm the selected sitters and times. Sitters are notified the same way they are when visits are assigned normally.How to Use RouteIQ
RouteIQ is used when visits already have sitters and you only want to improve the route order and timing.
You can use RouteIQ in two places:
- From Route View, using the magic icon next to a sitter with enough visits
- From AssignIQ, when all selected visits are already assigned, by selecting the RouteIQ option in the bottom left
RouteIQ keeps the current sitter assignments in place and optimizes the route order and arrival timing.
It shows useful route context such as:
- Visit count
- Total drive time
- Total service time
- Time span
- Order changes
- Optimized arrival times
When you finalize RouteIQ, sitter assignments remain unchanged. The visit timing/order is updated based on the optimized route.
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Melissa Hall
When I go to Staff, Staff Acounts, I am not seeing where to edit staff scheduling preferences. Please advise. TY
Adam Smith
Melissa Hall: It's AssignIQ Behavior in the Scheduling Preferences section. It's collapsed by default.
Melissa Hall
Is this currently available for all users or is it still in beta mode? I cannot find this feature and am eager to use it.
Adam Smith
Melissa Hall: You can opt in through
Admin > Business Settings > PPC Labs
J
Julie Gonzalez
I am going to attach a photo here and would like to ask for a change in the assignIQ feature. I have two hour time blocks and it’s always trying to schedule services earlier. There are times where clients prefer a certain time within that time block. For example if medication needs to be given at a certain time. It would be nice if assignIQ could take a look at the schedule, see sitters availability and schedule those visits if possible to go back to back instead of assigning an array of sitters to only do one visit each. In this example it’s not even showing Christina as available.
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Adam Smith
Julie Gonzalez: It's looking at the schedule as a whole, and where those sitters are at those times (either their home or if they have other visits). That being said, if you find that it's suggesting obviously non-ideal sitters (in the context of the entire day's schedule, not just the visits being assigned), submit a ticket with the details so we can investigate.
Also note that using the Preferences you can fine tune how it weighs different factors based on what you find most important.
J
Julie Gonzalez
Adam Smith thank you I will submit a ticket. I think AssignIQ has some promise and could ultimately save us so much time when it comes to scheduling, but should look at the whole time frame that client requested and place it accordingly and look to stack visits instead of one offs that cost us more money to perform. It would be nice if there could be some video training on the preferences because I switched the preferences and still had the same result.
Adam Smith
Merged in a post:
Display Manager-Only Sitter Tags when assigning Individual Sitters
H
Heather Jaeger
Could manager-only tags added to a pet sitter profile also display when assigning Individual Sitters? Update: Also on Assign IQ suggestions as well?
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Dana Mulkey
Once again this is a feature that I have no clue about!?
Angela Kearney
This would be great...we usually have notes on every sitter. We have been using the flags but they don't help much if you can't read them real-time when assigning sitters...there is no way for new admin or old sometimes to remember special notes on sitters as they are trying to figure out who to assign to the pet visit. Thanks!
J
Jakob Senneville
Adam Smith
Is there a way for it to stay on a time schedule, like every 15 minutes? So if a visit ends at 10:45, it would schedule it to the nearest 15 mins.
Also, use the nearest address that the sitter is at?
Adam Smith
Jakob Senneville: AssignIQ is designed to group visits together as efficiently as possible. To do that, it does not rely only on the expected visit length that is entered in the system. It also considers the
average amount of time a specific sitter typically takes to complete those particular visits
.It then combines that information with the
travel time calculation
, which is based on the sitter’s current location at that moment
and the distance to the next home. In addition, the system includes a buffer of up to five minutes
.Using a
15-minute buffer
would likely create too many unnecessary gaps in the schedule and would reduce overall efficiency. Since the main goal of AssignIQ is to build the most efficient schedule possible based on the available information, a smaller buffer is the better fit for how the system is intended to work.J
Jakob Senneville
Adam Smith
Thank you for explaining this. However, that is not how we schedule at the moment. We schedule every 15 mins. Having an 11:05 arrival and not an 11 or 11:15 does not give the correct buffer for our workflow. Maybe we can put one more into the schedule, but it also does not give enough buffer time.
When using the sitter, the current location is great for last min visit. Although some of our sitters travel, using their location is not realistic. Using a visit to visit to visit especially for "bulk" scheduling would be more efficient for us.
J
Julie Gonzalez
Adam Smith where would we put this buffer. Is there a setting within PPC that we can change to a smaller buffer to allow more back to back visits to be scheduled without assigning visits to one sitter and then another sitter to a visit that could technically go to the first sitter to make a back to back visit.
Adam Smith
Julie Gonzalez: AssignIQ puts visits at the next 5 minute mark so the largest buffer you should see would be 4 minutes per visit. Jakob was asking for a larger buffer than that. If you prefer a smaller buffer, it already works the way you want.
J
Julie Gonzalez
I have been messing around with this feature and it’s setting all the appointments either right at the beginning of the time block or way after. I am also noticing with AssignIQ behavior for the sitters it’s assigning one of my sitters who strictly does overnights only to drop in visits. Could we add another category to sitters profiles saying overnights ONLY!
Adam Smith
Julie Gonzalez: We're adding a "Overnights ONLY" preference setting next system update.
For the appointment timing, can you submit a ticket with a specific example and what you would expect to see instead?
J
Julie Gonzalez
Adam Smith Yes I will be happy to submit a ticket. Thank you for adding the overnight only option.
J
Julie Gonzalez
Adam Smith could we also add specific zip codes in order to schedule the sitters appropriately? Meaning when assignIQ looks at the available sitters for the day it will take into an account their zip codes. I have territories set up, but would like to know if there’s a way schedule sitters based on how close they are to clients.
Adam Smith
Julie Gonzalez: AssignIQ is zip code agnostic, meaning it keeps track of where sitters are throughout the day (by exact lat/lon, not broad zip code) in order to know how far they would need to drive for each appointment at that moment.
Kaitlyn Argiro
I am noticing that is it not scheduling sitters in a block, rather it is scheduling the team a few different visits that cannot be completed together. is there a way to fix this?
Adam Smith
Kaitlyn Argiro: Can you submit a ticket with a specific example and what you would expect to see instead? That will allow us to test what you're seeing.
Kaitlyn Argiro
Adam Smith yes sorry! I don't know if its a me problem or a software problem so like to ask here first haha
Adam Smith
Kaitlyn Argiro: I'd definitely like to take a look. This is still the early stages of being introduced by a wider userbase and it could be an edge case we haven't accounted for, a preference that we can make part of the settings, or a bug.
J
Julie Gonzalez
Kaitlyn Argiro it’s not a you problem. I am having that same issue.
L
Lisa Myers
Is there a way to have it not choose the end of a time bracket? Such as I have 11-1 and there's only one visit for that sitter; it's setting it for closer to 1pm vs 11am
Adam Smith
Lisa Myers: Can you submit a ticket with a specific example and what you would expect to see instead? That will allow us to test what you're seeing.
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