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The Dispatch CAD dashboard is your real-time dispatch surface. It organizes active calls, available units, operational broadcasts, and reference resources into a set of tabbed boards that update live as units change status and new calls come in. Understanding what each section shows — and when to use it — lets you work faster and miss nothing during a busy shift.

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Live Board Status Banners

Cadmus displays a status banner when the dashboard cannot show current live board data. Treat these banners as an operational prompt to verify the board before relying on it:
A board marked as showing previous data may not include the latest calls or unit changes. Do not treat it as current until a reload succeeds and the banner clears.

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Call Board Tabs

The call boards occupy the center of the dashboard. Each tab filters the active call list to a specific discipline or view, so you see exactly what is relevant to your role at any moment.
Use the Fire and EMS tabs to reduce noise when you dispatch by discipline. Patrol-focused dispatchers can stay on Patrol or Dispatched and only switch to other tabs when needed.

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Pending Board

The Pending tab is typically your highest-priority view — it holds calls that have not yet been assigned to a unit. The board is divided into two sections:
  • Priority Pending — higher-priority calls placed in a separate queue when your agency has priority routing configured. These require immediate attention.
  • Regular Pending — standard incoming calls waiting for assignment.
  • Show return calls — toggle this control to include or exclude return calls from the pending view when that feature is available for your agency.
When the queue is clear, the board shows No pending calls.

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Search open calls (Pending and Dispatched)

Use the side-rail Search control on Pending or Dispatched to find open calls by person or vehicle identifiers. Filters are applied on the server across your organization. All filled person fields must match the same person record. Vehicle fields apply to the call. Click Clear to restore the full open-call boards. If many matches exist, Cadmus may show only a limited set and display a truncation notice — refine the search or use Find a Call for a full paginated list.
If Priority Pending is not visible for your agency, your administrator may not have priority routing enabled. Check with your supervisor if you expect to see a priority queue.

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Sorting and Density

You can adjust how call cards appear on any board tab:
  • Sort calls — change the sort order (for example, by time received, priority, or incident type) to match your workflow. Sort settings apply per tab.
  • Call list density — toggle between compact and comfortable card layouts. Compact fits more calls on screen; comfortable gives more detail per card without opening the call.
  • Call preview — use Preview on / Preview off on the side rail to show or hide the reading pane under the call list. Drag the horizontal handle to resize the pane; Cadmus remembers your height preference across sessions.

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Call Preview Pane

Every call board tab (Pending, Patrol, Dispatched, Fire, EMS, Recent, and Status Timers) includes an Outlook-style preview pane below the call list. BOLOs and Resources do not use this pane. The preview is optimized for a quick dispatcher glance and common actions:
  • Quick note bar at the top — add a dispatcher note without leaving the board
  • Header (CFS, priority, status, type, address, reporting party)
  • Quick stats chips (on scene / en route / dispatched / safety flags / unit count)
  • Needs-attention banner when status checks are overdue or safety notes exist
  • Units with status buttons — change a unit to Available, Dispatched, En Route, or On Scene from the preview
  • Officer safety, access, contacts, and EMS cards (editable when the call is open)
  • Recent activity / latest note and agency status timers (snooze / complete)
Use the preview to triage and add notes while keeping the board visible. Open full Call Detail when you need persons, vehicles, citations, or other full-page tools.

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Assigning Units from the Board

There are two ways to assign a unit to a call directly from the dashboard:
Locate the unit in the Active Units sidebar, then drag it onto the target call card on any board. The call moves to the Dispatched tab and the unit’s status updates automatically.
Drag-and-drop must be enabled in your agency configuration. If dragging does not work, use the call detail method below.

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Status Timer Alerts

The Status Timers tab lists open calls where an agency status timer is active and that agency currently has a unit on scene. Calls that are only dispatched or en route (with nobody on scene yet) do not appear on this tab, even if a timer row exists in the system. When a status timer reaches its threshold, a Status Timer Alerts overlay appears globally — it is not limited to the Status Timers tab. The overlay identifies which calls have timers that are due or overdue so you can act immediately without navigating away from your current board. Quick calls such as Paper Service and Follow-up create the call with the unit Dispatched. The call is not marked On Scene, and status timers do not start, until a unit is placed on scene.
Do not dismiss a Status Timer Alert without taking action or confirming with the unit. Unanswered timer alerts can indicate a unit that needs a welfare check.
The Recent tab shows calls that have been closed but remain on the board within your agency’s retention window. Use it for quick lookups of calls from the current shift.
Type in the search field at the top of the Recent tab to filter visible closed calls by address, incident type, unit, or call number. Results update as you type.
Apply the agency filter before comparing boards across departments. If you dispatch for multiple agencies, the boards reflect all agencies in your filter simultaneously, which can make call counts look higher than expected for any single department.

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Common Mistakes

Searching only Recent for closed calls

The Recent tab only shows calls within a short retention window. For anything older than the current shift, use Find a Call to search the full archive.

Forgetting an active agency filter

If your boards look unexpectedly empty, an agency filter may be excluding your primary agency — or Clear may have left 0 agencies selected. Open Select Agencies in the header and verify your selection, or click All to show every agency in the organization.

Missing WebSocket updates

If live updates appear to have stopped — units not moving, new calls not appearing — open Settings & tools (gear icon) and select Reload Data to force a fresh connection.

Drag-and-drop not working

If dragging a unit to a call has no effect, drag-and-drop may be disabled for your agency. Use the Assign Unit button inside the call detail panel instead.