Assigning interpreters

What you'll learn

• How to pick the interpreter for an appointment yourself, or have Fluent offer it to several.

Choose a method

Owners, Admins, Managers, and Schedulers at your agency see the Assignment step, after Details, when they create or edit an appointment. Organization workspaces skip this step.

Pick the method with the 3 icons next to the Assignment heading. They have no text: from left to right, they are Assign, Auto-assign, and Broadcast.

• Pick one interpreter yourself: Assign offers the appointment to the interpreter you pick. Use it when you know who should go.
• Let Fluent offer it in turn: Auto-assign offers it to your picks one at a time, in your order, with 2 hours each. Use it when you have a first choice and backups.
• Offer it to several at once: Broadcast offers it to all your picks, and the first to accept is assigned. Use it when the appointment is soon, or any of them would do.

Important: Switching methods clears your picks.

Assign one interpreter

Pick the interpreter, then save the appointment to send them the offer.

1. Go to Appointments.
2. Click + for a new appointment, or open an existing one and click Edit.
3. Fill in Details and click Next.
4. Click the first icon next to the heading, Assign.
5. Click the interpreter's row. The footer reads "Assigning to:" with their name.
6. If you picked an Invited interpreter, a dialog says "{name} will not receive a notification." Click Assign interpreter.
7. Click Next.
8. On Summary, click Save, or Update for an existing appointment.

• Active interpreter: The appointment shows Pending, and the interpreter gets the offer in the app, by push, and by email.
• Invited interpreter: They have no Fluent account, so they get no offer and the appointment saves as Assigned. Confirm with them yourself.

Auto-assign: offer it in turn

Line up your picks, and Fluent works down the list until someone accepts.

1. On the Assignment step, click the second icon next to the heading, Auto-assign. The heading reads Auto-Assign.
2. Click each interpreter in the order Fluent should ask them. Each row you pick shows its place in line: 1, 2, 3.
3. Click Next.
4. On Summary, click Save, or Update for an existing appointment.

• Each pick: Has 2 hours to answer.
• Decline or no answer: Fluent offers it to the next in line.
• Nobody left: The appointment returns to Unassigned.

Broadcast: offer it to several at once

Send the offer to everyone you pick, and the first to accept gets the appointment.

1. On the Assignment step, click the third icon next to the heading, Broadcast. The heading reads Broadcast.
2. Click each interpreter you want to offer it to. Order doesn't matter.
3. Click Next.
4. On Summary, click Save, or Update for an existing appointment.

• First to accept: Is assigned, and Fluent closes the other offers.
• Nobody accepts yet: The broadcast stays open until someone accepts or you cancel it.

While Auto-assign or a Broadcast is running, the other 2 icons are locked and the footer shows Cancel method. To follow the offers, record an answer an interpreter gave you outside Fluent, or cancel, see Auto-assign and Broadcast.

When the interpreter answers

The interpreter answers in the Fluent mobile app, the web app, or the offer email. See Accept or decline interpreter requests.

• They accept: The appointment moves to Assigned, and Fluent tells the appointment's team in the app and by email.
• They decline: With Assign, the appointment moves to Unassigned, and Fluent tells the same people. Pick someone else. Auto-assign moves to the next pick, and a Broadcast keeps the other offers open.
• No answer: An offer from Assign doesn't expire. After 2 hours, Fluent reminds the interpreter once. Only Auto-assign offers expire.

Compare interpreters

Compare the rows before you pick. The list puts the best Fluent score first, and each row shows whether the interpreter is free and how well they fit.

Search the list, or filter it by tags with the filter icon at the end of the search field. View More loads 10 more, up to 100.

The badge at the start of each row and the row's last line show the interpreter's time that day:

• Green, "Available 9:00AM - 5:00PM": Their hours cover the appointment.
• Orange, "Scheduled 10:00AM - 11:00AM": Another appointment of theirs overlaps it.
• Grey, "Outside working hours": Their hours miss the appointment.
• Grey, "Does not cover full appointment": Their hours cover only part of it.
• Grey, "No availability": They have no open hours that day.

A dimmed row means they're booked or off then, or their hours don't cover it. You can still pick it.

Each row can also show:

• Distance: In-person rows show how far away the interpreter lives. Video and Phone rows show how many appointments they've done for this customer instead.
• New: The interpreter is in their first 90 days and has fewer than 25 completed appointments, and ranks higher for it.
• Margin: On a saved appointment, the row shows "{N}% margin", in pink below your margin floor. Only Owners, Admins, and Managers see it, and it doesn't change the order.
• Fluent score: Hover the info icon to see the score out of 10 and what it's built from. See How interpreter ranking works.

Availability and Map views

Switch views to see each candidate's day or where they live. The menu at the right end of the bar above the list switches views.

• Availability: Each candidate gets a row of bars for the appointment's date. Their other appointments show grey, or orange where they overlap this one. Video and Phone appointments show this view only.
• Map: Each loaded interpreter with a home address gets a numbered pin. Click a pin to select that interpreter. In-person appointments open on this view.

Assign a partner agency's interpreter

When nobody on your interpreter team can take the appointment, assign a partner agency's interpreter.

Important: Partner agencies and Invited interpreters appear only with Assign. Auto-assign and Broadcast list your active interpreters.

1. With Assign selected, click the partner agency's row, marked "Partner agency".
2. In Select interpreter, select the partner's interpreter, or select Add New Interpreter to record someone new.
3. In the dialog "{name} won't receive notifications through Fluent.", click Assign interpreter.
4. Click Next, then Save or Update on Summary.

Rules and limits

• Fluent lists an interpreter when they have a language pair in the appointment's language that covers its service type. On a saved appointment, the pair must also cover its Interpretation mode.
• Switching methods clears your picks.
• You can comment to the interpreter only after they accept the offer.

Troubleshooting

An interpreter I expect isn't in the list

Check their language pairs against the first rule above. Deactivated interpreters and revoked invites never show, and Invited interpreters show in Assign only.

Clear the search and tag chips, or click View More.

"This interpreter is already booked then (appointment {number})."

The interpreter holds an Assigned appointment that overlaps this one, so Fluent won't save it. Back-to-back appointments are allowed.

Pick someone else, or change the time on Details.

Related articles

• Auto-assign and Broadcast
• How interpreter ranking works
• Create an appointment
• Partner agencies
• Manage interpreter availability and time off