We’re excited to introduce AssignIQ , a new intelligent scheduling and routing tool designed to streamline visit assignments while considering sitter history, availability, location, workload, blocked sitters, and more . Instead of manually assigning visits one sitter at a time, AssignIQ evaluates multiple scheduling factors at once to determine the most efficient assignments and visit sequences . Developed using advanced scheduling logic , AssignIQ creates optimized schedules quickly and efficiently , balancing sitter workloads and minimizing travel time. You still have full control to review, adjust, and finalize assignments, ensuring flexibility while reducing manual effort. Whether you're assigning a single visit or hundreds across multiple days , AssignIQ simplifies the process, making scheduling smarter and more efficient. How to Use AssignIQ You can setup scheduling preferences for sitters (such as if they provide cat or dog-only care, don’t do overnights, or should never be scheduled) under AssignIQ Behavior when you edit accounts on the Staff > Staff Accounts page. Select Visits to Assign – Choose one or more unassigned visits in the scheduler, click the Assign button, and then select AssignIQ . If you don’t want to use AssignIQ for any reason, just select “Direct Assign” (which will be split up into “Groups” or “Individuals” if you use User Groups) to be able to assign manually. Review Assignments – AssignIQ will generate optimized sitter assignments , considering availability, existing schedules, and travel efficiency. Make Adjustments – Choose “No” to remove a sitter from a specific visit and then you can choose from the regular sitter list or “Let AssignIQ Select” to re-run that visit through AssignIQ. If you choose “Yes” for a particular visit you have the option to “Set as Primary/Secondary Sitter”. Click Re-Run AssignIQ to generate new assignments based on changes. Finalize Assignments – Once you’re satisfied with the schedule, click Finalize Assignments to confirm the selections and notify sitters. Each sitter will receive a single email as if you had assigned the visits to them normally. Set Pet Sitter Preferences – Click the Preferences button to open the panel and adjust how much weight AssignIQ gives your Primary , Secondary , Recent and Nearest sitters on a "None → Max" scale. Optimize Routing Only – If you run AssignIQ on visits that are already assigned, you’ll see an option for "Optimize Mode" in the bottom left. Selecting this ensures that sitters remain assigned to their original visits, and AssignIQ will only optimize the visit order for better efficiency. When you then use the "Optimize" button, it will adjust only the routing and sequencing while keeping the same sitters. When you Finalize for Routing Only, sitters will not be notified—only the visit times will be updated to reflect the optimized schedule. This can also be done from Route view, where there is a dedicated "Optimize" button for each sitter.
