A modern lift traffic control system, often known as a dispatcher, can collect passenger calls in several different ways. Conventional dispatching uses up-and-down buttons on the landing with additional buttons for each floor in the car. Destination control dispatching uses destination input devices on the landings so that passengers can select their required floor when the lift is first called. Hybrid dispatching systems use a combination of landing call buttons, car call buttons and destination input devices. Aside from a range of input devices, advanced dispatchers may manage single and double-deck lifts, multiple lifts in the same shaft, and a combination of these lift types within a lift group.

This paper describes how the same dispatching software can manage all input devices and lift types by applying a unified approach to lift dispatching. The core software is built on a software model of a lift controller, which itself can manage all lift and call types. Unknown information, for example, future car calls once a landing call is answered, is predicted. The choice of which lift serves which call is made by applying a simulation model, which assesses the outcome of alternative allocations the dispatcher could make. The Global Dispatcher applies the Global Dispatcher Interface.