Why booking rules, holds, and FSM confirmation matter more than a natural-sounding voice.
The failure that costs trust
The worst outcome is not a clumsy sentence; it is telling a customer they are booked when nothing exists in the schedule. Dispatch automation must treat the FSM as the source of truth.
Rules the system must apply
Service area by ZIP, arrival windows, minimum lead time, same-day cutoffs with emergency exceptions, technician skills, jobs per technician per day, membership priority, and demand modes for heat waves. These are deterministic rules, not model judgment.
Holds, confirmation and races
Two callers can want the same window. A slot hold prevents double-offers, and the booking is confirmed only when the FSM returns success. If the slot disappears, the customer hears the truth and gets the next options.