Frequently Asked Questions
Everything about plans, getting started, dispatch, the mobile app, security, and integrations — answered in one place. Pick a topic below or read straight through.
About FSM Navigator
What is FSM Navigator?
FSM Navigator is field service management software that handles scheduling, dispatching, and invoicing in one platform. A customer request comes in, the job is scheduled and assigned to the right technician, the technician works it from a mobile app in the field, and it becomes an invoice the customer can pay online. It's available on the web and as native iOS and Android apps, and it's developed by CJD Technologies LLC.
Who is FSM Navigator for?
It's built for field service businesses in the trades — HVAC, plumbing, electrical, solar, fire protection, landscaping, pest control, and managed print among them. It scales from a five-person crew on the Free plan to large multi-crew operations on Enterprise.
How is this different from running dispatch on spreadsheets or a whiteboard?
Spreadsheets and whiteboards can't react. When a job is cancelled or a technician calls in sick, someone has to notice and manually rebuild the day. FSM Navigator keeps the whole job lifecycle in one place and — on Pro and above — reassigns work automatically as conditions change, so the schedule stays current without anyone rebuilding it.
Do I need to install anything?
No. The dispatcher and office side runs in any modern web browser with nothing to install. Technicians use the free iOS or Android app from the App Store or Google Play.
How does FSM Navigator compare to traditional field service platforms?
Three practical differences. First, you can run a real operation on the Free plan permanently — 5 users, job scheduling, dispatch, the mobile app and invoicing, with no credit card and no expiry. Second, there is no seat cap on paid plans and no minimum team size. Third, signup is self-serve: no sales call, no demo requirement, no setup fee and no contract, so you can evaluate the product on your own jobs before you spend anything.
What does FSM Navigator not do?
A few things, stated plainly. There is no SMS or text messaging — customer and technician notifications go out by email, push notification and Telegram. There is no Zapier or third-party automation connector; automation runs through our REST API on Enterprise. We do not process payroll, though Pro includes technician time tracking and timesheets you can export. And we do not do accounting — we sync to QuickBooks Online instead of replacing it.
Do I have to talk to sales or sign a contract to get started?
No. You create an account, add your team and start dispatching the same day. There is no sales call, no demo gate, no setup fee, no onboarding fee and no contract — monthly plans are month-to-month and you can cancel yourself at any time.
Is FSM Navigator only for small teams, or can it handle 100+ technicians?
Both. The Free plan is capped at 5 users, but that is a starting point, not the product's ceiling — Pro and Enterprise have no seat limit at all, and teams of 100, 200 or more technicians run on the same platform with no plan change, migration or renegotiation. The features that only matter at scale are built in rather than bolted on. Intelligent dispatch is designed for large technician pools — the more technicians you have, the more assignment decisions it makes for you, which is where it saves the most dispatcher time. Enterprise adds multi-stage work orders with dependencies, templates for repeatable projects, inventory across multiple warehouses and technician vans, asset management for the equipment you service, custom skill categories so certifications route correctly across a large team, and REST API access for integrating your own systems. The architecture is multi-tenant and built for concurrent load from the start, with per-company data isolation, so a large operation is not running on infrastructure designed for a five-person shop.
Plans & Pricing
Is FSM Navigator really free?
Yes. The Free plan is $0 per month for up to 5 users, with no credit card required and no time limit. It isn't a trial that expires — it's a permanently free tier.
What's included in the Free plan?
Jobs and scheduling, the dispatch board, manual technician assignment, invoicing with PDF invoices (up to 100 invoices per month), basic reporting, and the iOS and Android mobile apps. Intelligent auto-assignment, the customer portal, integrations, offline mobile sync, and advanced reporting are on Pro and above.
How much do Pro and Enterprise cost?
Pro is $34.99 per user per month and Enterprise is $59.99 per user per month. Annual billing saves 20% — $27.99 and $47.99 per user per month respectively. Neither paid plan caps your team size — add as many users as you need. Billing is per active user, so your monthly total scales with headcount rather than being limited by a seat allowance.
What's the difference between Pro and Enterprise?
Pro adds intelligent auto-assignment, the customer portal with online payments, QuickBooks Online sync, offline sync on mobile, recurring jobs, time and mileage tracking, the KPI dashboard and advanced reporting, customer bulk import, Telegram notifications, in-app team chat, and branding. Enterprise adds everything in Pro plus inventory and warehouse management, asset management, the full work order system with sub-jobs and dependencies, custom skill categories, and REST API access.
Can I try a paid plan before committing?
Yes. Pro and Enterprise include a 14-day free trial. A payment method is collected at signup and isn't charged until the trial ends, and you can cancel anytime during the trial.
Are there setup fees or contracts?
No setup fees and no hidden fees — you pay the per-user price shown on the pricing page. Plans are month-to-month or annual, and you can cancel anytime.
Is pricing per user or a flat monthly fee?
Per user. Pro is $34.99 per user per month, Enterprise is $59.99 per user per month, and there is no cap on how many users you add. The Free plan is a flat $0 for up to 5 users. Only active users are billed — deactivate someone who leaves and they stop counting.
What happens if I add a user in the middle of a billing cycle?
You can add users at any time and they get access immediately. Your subscription updates to the new team size and the charge is prorated for the days remaining in the current cycle, so you do not pay a full month for a partial one.
How do I cancel, and what happens to my subscription?
You can cancel from your billing settings at any time — no contract, no cancellation fee, no phone call. Your subscription stays active until the end of the billing cycle you have already paid for, then the account moves to the Free plan instead of being locked out, so you keep access to your data.
Is there a limit on how many technicians I can manage?
No. Both Pro and Enterprise support unlimited users, so you can grow from five technicians to five hundred without changing plans or renegotiating. The Free plan is limited to 5 users total.
Getting Started
How long does setup take?
Most teams are dispatching the same day. Create an account, add your technicians, set their skills and working hours, and you're ready to schedule your first job.
Can I bring my existing customer list over?
Yes. Customers can be imported from a CSV file on Pro (up to 50 per day) and without a daily limit on Enterprise. On the Free plan, customers are added individually.
What happens if I outgrow the Free plan?
Upgrade at any time and everything you've already created carries over — nothing is re-entered and nothing is lost. The upgrade takes effect immediately.
What happens to my data if I downgrade?
Your data is not deleted. Records from higher-plan features — jobs, invoices, inventory, assets — remain and become read-only, so you can still review and reference historical data. Creating and editing in those areas resumes if you upgrade again.
Do you help with onboarding or migrating my existing data?
Pro and Enterprise include customer bulk import, so you can bring your existing customer list over from a spreadsheet yourself — most teams are dispatching within an hour. If you run into anything, contact support and we will help you through it.
Which trades and industries is this built for?
Field service teams that dispatch technicians to customer sites — HVAC, plumbing, electrical, fire protection and inspection, solar, landscaping, pest control and managed print among them. The core workflow is the same across trades: schedule the job, match the right technician, capture the work on mobile, invoice it. Trade-specific pages are linked from our Industries section.
Dispatch & Scheduling
How does intelligent auto-assignment work?
When a job needs a technician, the dispatch engine evaluates who's genuinely available — skills and certifications, working hours and current availability, existing workload, proximity to the job, and how urgent the deadline is — and assigns the best match. It's rule-based and explainable, so it works from day one with no training period, and it keeps rebalancing through the day as conditions change. Auto-assignment is available on Pro and Enterprise.
What happens when a technician calls in sick or becomes unavailable?
It's handled automatically. Technicians are set to off duty at the end of each shift and mark themselves available when they start work, so a technician who's out simply stays off duty. The dispatch engine excludes them from new assignments and reassigns their active jobs to other available technicians — no manual dispatch-board cleanup. You can still reassign anything by hand at any time.
Can dispatchers still assign jobs manually?
Always. Manual assignment is available on every plan, including Free, and dispatchers can override or reassign any job at any time. Auto-assignment handles the default; your team keeps full control.
Can I see why a particular technician was chosen?
Yes. Each job's activity log records when auto-assignment ran and which technician was selected, and assignment patterns are available in your reports.
Can I set up recurring or preventive-maintenance jobs?
Yes, on Pro and Enterprise. Recurring jobs let you define a schedule once — weekly, monthly, quarterly or a custom interval — and each occurrence is created automatically and fed through intelligent dispatch like any other job, so recurring maintenance competes fairly for the right technician instead of being pinned to whoever did it last time.
Does FSM Navigator handle work orders with multiple visits or sub-jobs?
Yes, on Enterprise. A work order is a parent container holding multiple sub-jobs, each schedulable and assignable on its own, with dependencies so a sub-job can be blocked until its prerequisite finishes. Work orders also carry templates for repeatable multi-visit projects, attached documents, and budget tracking against the estimate.
Can I send estimates or quotes before the work starts?
Yes, on Enterprise. You build a line-item estimate on the work order, send it to the customer for approval, and the work order can be blocked from starting until that approval comes back. Approved estimates then track against actual spend through budget tracking.
Mobile App
Is there a mobile app for technicians?
Yes — native iOS and Android apps, included on every plan including Free. Technicians see their assigned jobs, update status from the field, capture photos and notes, log the parts they used, and track their time.
Does the mobile app work without a signal?
Yes, on Pro and Enterprise. Offline sync lets technicians keep working with no connectivity — job updates, notes, and photos are saved on the device and sync automatically once they reconnect.
What devices does the app support?
Current iPhones, iPads, and Android phones and tablets. The dispatcher and office side runs in any modern web browser.
Can technicians track their time and hours in the app?
Yes, on Pro and Enterprise. Technicians clock in and out against jobs from the mobile app, and the hours roll up into timesheets you can review and export. Booking time tracking separately records how long each job was scheduled to take versus what it actually took.
Does FSM Navigator track mileage for tax purposes?
Yes, on Pro and Enterprise. Mileage is captured automatically as technicians travel between jobs and stored as IRS-ready records, so you are not reconstructing a log from memory at tax time.
Security & Your Data
Is my data secure?
Yes. Data is encrypted both in transit and at rest, and personal information is encrypted at the field level. Each company's data is isolated from every other company on the platform, and access is controlled by role so people only see what their job requires.
Does FSM Navigator support multi-factor authentication?
Yes. Multi-factor authentication is available using any standard authenticator app, and administrators can require it for their team.
How are card payments protected?
Card payments are processed by Stripe, which is PCI compliant. Card details never touch FSM Navigator's servers.
Who on my team can see what?
Access is role-based — owners, dispatchers, technicians, and other roles each see the areas their job requires. Every significant action is recorded in an audit log that can't be edited from within the application.
Can I export my data if I leave?
Yes. Your data remains yours, and account owners can request a full export of their company's data.
Where is my data stored, and are you GDPR-compliant?
Your data is hosted in the United States and encrypted at rest and in transit on every plan, including the Free tier. We publish a Data Processing Agreement covering how data is handled, what we process it for, and your rights as the data controller; our Privacy Policy sets out retention and deletion. You can export your data at any time and request deletion.
What is your uptime commitment?
Our Service Level Agreement commits to 99.9% monthly uptime and defines service credits if we fall short of that. On support, we aim to respond to all inquiries within one business day, and often within a few hours — response times are measured during business hours, 9 AM to 6 PM ET, Monday to Friday.
What reporting and analytics do I get?
Every plan includes basic reporting. Pro and Enterprise add a performance dashboard covering dispatch, technician, customer and financial metrics, plus a weekly intelligence report emailed to you summarising how the week went and what changed.
Integrations & API
Does FSM Navigator integrate with QuickBooks?
Yes. QuickBooks Online sync is available on Pro and Enterprise and keeps customers, invoices, and payments aligned between the two systems.
How do online payments work?
Online payments run through Stripe. Your business connects its own Stripe account, customers pay their invoices through the customer portal, and the money settles into your account. FSM Navigator applies a small platform fee on portal payments in addition to Stripe's standard processing fees. Available on Pro and Enterprise.
Is there an API?
Yes — a REST API is available on the Enterprise plan, with published daily limits for reads and writes. Full authentication and endpoint details are in the documentation.
Do you support Zapier or other automation tools?
There's no native Zapier app today. Enterprise customers can build integrations against the REST API.
Can I manage inventory, parts and equipment?
Yes, on Enterprise. Inventory management tracks stock across warehouses and on technician vans, with parts consumption recorded against the job that used them. Enterprise asset management separately tracks customer equipment you service — its history, documents and maintenance schedule.
Your Customers
Can my customers see and pay their invoices online?
Yes, on Pro and Enterprise. The customer portal lets your customers view invoices, pay by card, and submit new service requests — without needing to call the office.
Do my customers need an account?
Customers reach the portal through a secure link — there's no separate signup or app to install.
What's a “service request”?
A service request is what your customer submits through the portal when they need work done. Once your team accepts it, it becomes a job on the dispatch board — the customer just tracks it as their service request.
Can I put my own branding on what customers see?
Yes, on Pro and Enterprise. Your company name and logo appear on invoices, the customer portal and customer-facing notifications, so the experience reads as yours rather than ours.
Can customers approve work before we proceed?
Yes, on Enterprise. You send the estimate through the customer portal, the customer approves or rejects it there, and the work order can be held until approval arrives — so there is a recorded decision rather than a verbal go-ahead.
Notifications & Support
What notifications does FSM Navigator send?
Notifications go out by email, Telegram, and mobile push. Users choose which notifications they receive, and quiet hours are supported so alerts don't arrive at unwanted times. Telegram notifications are available on Pro and above.
Does FSM Navigator send SMS or text messages?
No. There's no SMS channel — notifications are delivered by email, Telegram, and mobile push.
How do I get help?
Email [email protected] or use the contact form. Inquiries received outside business hours are answered the next business day. Full product documentation is also available online.
Can I define my own technician skills and certifications?
Yes, on Enterprise. Custom skill categories let you define the qualifications that matter in your trade, and intelligent dispatch factors them in when matching a technician to a job — so a job needing a specific certification only goes to someone who holds it.
Still have questions?
Tell us what you need and a real person will get back to you. Inquiries received outside business hours are answered the next business day.