Service Orders
A service order is one repair job for one customer, from the moment a device is brought in until it is handed back. It records who brought it, what is wrong, which service objects the job is about, and what is charged: labour, parts, expenses and fees.
Before you take the first order, make sure these exist:
- the initial stage of the workflow, under Service stages (the stage with no parent; every new order starts in it),
- at least one customer (use one customer account for walk-in customers),
- the service objects the job will be about, if you register them in advance,
- the order number sequence, under Service management > Setup > Parameters (see below).
Set up the order number
- Go to Service management > Setup > Parameters, tab Number sequences.
- For the reference Service order numbers, choose a number sequence. The setup installs one named Service-Order with the format
SVC-ORD-######. - Save.
Until this is done, creating an order fails because there is no number to give it.
Set up posting
Posting turns a signed-off order into an invoice, so it needs a few choices. Go to Service management > Setup > Parameters, tab Posting, select Edit, choose the values and Save.
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Default location | The stock location parts are taken from when an order is posted. Required. |
| Labour item | The inventory item that labour lines are invoiced as, unless the line names its own item. |
| Fee item | The same, for fee lines. |
| Expense item | The same, for expense lines. |
| Allow posting without agreement | Repair orders belong to no agreement, so leave this on for a repair shop. When it is off, such orders cannot be posted. |
Labour, fee and expense are services, so create them in Inventory as items that are not kept in stock. A part line always names its own item.
The tab Sign-off has one setting, Sign-off needs finished repairs: when on (the default), an order can be signed off only when every repair on it is in a finished repair stage.
Opening the page
Go to Service management > Service orders.
You need the privilege read service orders to see the orders, and create service orders to create, change or delete them and their lines. Post service orders is needed to sign an order off and to post it. Changing the settings needs update service parameters.
The order list
The list shows the newest orders first.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Order | The order number. |
| Customer | The customer, a link to the customer's page. |
| Description | What the job is about. |
| Service stage | Where the order is in the workflow. |
| Received | When the device was brought in. |
| Promised | The day you promised it back. |
| Lines | How many charge lines the order has. |
| Total | What the lines add up to. Canceled lines are not counted. |
| Currency | The currency the order is charged in. |
| Progress | In process while any line is still open, Posted when the lines were invoiced, Canceled when all were canceled. |
The row above the grid filters the list:
- Search matches the order number, the description, the contact name or the contact phone.
- Service stage shows only the orders in one service stage.
- Received from and Received to show the orders received between two days, both included.
The page header shows Total, the number of orders that match the filters. The list is paged; change the page size at the bottom of the grid.
Select a row and use Open (or click the row) to open the order, or Delete to remove it.
The toolbar of the list has the same tabs as the order page, Workflow, Order and Accounting, working on the selected order: move it between stages, sign it off, post it, cancel it, or open its accounting, without opening it first. The buttons stay disabled until a single order is selected.
Take a service object in
- Select New order. A panel opens on the right.
- Choose the Customer. The Currency is filled in with the customer's currency; change it if this job is charged in another currency. If the customer has no currency set, you must choose one.
- Describe the problem in Description (up to 200 characters).
- Optionally enter the Contact name and Contact phone of the person who brought the device in, the Promised date, and the Service object if it is already registered.
- Select Create order.
The order is created in the initial stage with the next order number, and it opens.
The order page
The page has four tabs: General, Lines, Repair lines and Service objects.
General
The order number, customer, stage and received time are shown and cannot be changed. You can change the Currency, the Description, the Contact name, the Contact phone and the Promised date. The currency applies to every line of the order, which shows it in its Currency column. Select Save in the toolbar when the Save button becomes available.
If the order's stage does not allow changes, the page says so and every field is read-only.
Lines
The lines are the charges of the job. Each line has a Type:
| Type | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Labour | Hours of work. |
| Part | A part from your inventory. A part line needs an Item. |
| Expense | Something you paid for on the customer's behalf. |
| Fee | A fixed charge, for example a diagnosis fee. |
To add a line, select Add line, fill the row at the top of the grid and select Apply. To change a line, double-click it or select it and choose Edit.
| Column | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Service task | Optional. The kind of work the line is for, from your service tasks, for example Replace capacitor. A service task that lines are for cannot be deleted. |
| Description | The text printed for the line, up to 200 characters. |
| Item | The inventory item the line is invoiced as. Click the cell and type a number or a name. |
| Quantity | Hours, pieces or one for a fee. Greater than zero. |
| Unit price | The price of one unit. Zero is allowed, for a free line. |
| Service object | Which service object the line is about, or Whole order. The list shows the service objects already on the order first (under On this order), then all your others. Choosing one of the others attaches it to the order. |
| Amount | Quantity times unit price. |
| Invoice | The number of the invoice the line was posted to; empty until the order is posted. |
A line that was invoiced cannot be changed, canceled or removed. A line that is not yet invoiced can be:
- Canceled with Cancel line: it stays on the order but is not charged. Restore line brings it back.
- Removed with Remove: it disappears. Line numbers are never reused.
Repair lines
A repair line is the technical record of one repair of one service object on the order. It says what the customer reported, what was found and how it ended. It has no price: what you charge goes on the charge lines.
The repairs are edited like the lines of an invoice, without leaving the page:
- In the grid. The main fields are edited in the row itself: the Service object, the Title, the Service repair symptom code, the Service repair condition, the Service repair diagnosis code, the Service repair resolution and the Service repair stage. The codes are listed under their area; choosing one also sets its area. Double-click a row, or select it and choose Edit, change the cells and choose Apply (or Discard). Add repair adds a row at the top of the grid. Only the service object and the title are required.
- In the details view. Select a repair and its record opens under the grid. The General tab has the fields above plus the Note, and the Symptom and diagnosis tab has the areas with their codes, where you can also choose an area before its code. Your changes are saved when you leave the details view, so click elsewhere on the page when you are done.
A new repair opens in the details view as soon as it is saved, so you can add the rest.
| Field | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Service object | Required. The service object being repaired. When the order has only one, it is chosen for you. The list shows the service objects already on the order first, then all your others; choosing one of the others attaches it to the order. |
| Title | Required. A short description, up to 200 characters, for example 200 A charger, no output. |
| Note | Free text, up to 2000 characters. |
| Service repair symptom area and Service repair symptom code | What the customer reported. Choose the symptom area first, then one of its codes. |
| Service repair condition | The state the service object arrived in, from your repair conditions. |
| Service repair diagnosis area and Service repair diagnosis code | What the technician found. Choose the diagnosis area first, then one of its codes. |
| Service repair resolution | How the repair ended, from your repair resolutions. |
| Service repair stage | How far the repair has got, from your repair stages. |
The fields carry the same names as the setup pages they come from, and each has a tooltip (the small i beside the name, or the column header in the grid) that explains it.
Choosing another area clears the code, because a code belongs to its area. When the order's service stage does not allow changes, the grid and the details view are read-only.
A repair stage that is marked finished (for example Finished or Unrepairable) marks the repair finished and stamps the date it finished. Moving the repair back to a stage that is not finished clears the date. A repair that stays in a finished stage keeps its original date.
An order can have several repairs, for one service object or for several (a customer's charger and inverter). Remove deletes the selected repair; its number is never reused, and its service object stays on the order.
The setup lists you choose from cannot be deleted while repairs use them, and a service object cannot be detached from the order while a repair is about it.
Service objects
The service objects the order is about. Choose one and select Attach; a line that names a service object attaches it too. A service object can be attached once to an order. Select a row and Detach to remove it, unless a line is still about it: change or remove those lines first. The Lines column shows how many lines are about each one.
Move an order between stages
An order moves through the workflow you set up under Service stages. On the order page open the Workflow tab of the toolbar. The Service stage group has three commands:
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| Next stage | Moves the order to one of the stages that follow its stage (the children of its stage). When there are several, you choose which; when there is one, it is chosen for you. |
| Previous stage | Moves the order back to the stage it came from (the parent of its stage). The first stage has no previous stage. |
| Stage reasons | Opens the order's history: every move with its date, the stages, the direction, the reason given and who made it. |
In the dialog you can always give a Service stage reason code, picked from your service stage reason codes. When the stage you are moving to requires a reason, choosing one is mandatory.
A move is refused when:
- the order's current stage does not allow it to be transferred,
- the stage you ask for is not next to the current one,
- the target stage requires a reason and none was chosen.
Moving changes what you can do with the order: the rules of the new stage (change, cancel lines, delete) apply from then on. A stage, or a reason code, that appears in the history of an order cannot be deleted.
Sign off an order
When the work is done and the customer agrees with the charges, sign the order off. Open the Order tab of the toolbar and select Sign off. You need the privilege post service orders.
A signed-off order is read-only: its details, lines, repairs and service objects cannot be changed, it cannot be canceled or deleted, and the page shows when it was signed off. It can still move between stages, so you can hand the device back.
Sign-off is refused when:
- the order has no open line (every line is canceled or invoiced), because there is nothing to agree,
- a repair of the order is not in a finished repair stage and the setting Sign-off needs finished repairs is on. Finish the repairs first, or turn the setting off under Set up posting.
To change a signed-off order, select Revoke sign-off. This is refused once a line was invoiced.
Post an order
Posting invoices what the order charges. Open the Order tab of the toolbar and select Post. You need the privilege post service orders, the order must be signed off, and its stage must allow posting.
Every open line becomes one line of a single invoice to the customer, in the order's currency: a part as its own item, labour, fee and expense lines as the items you chose under Set up posting. Lines for the same item at the same price are added together (three labour lines at the same rate become one invoice line); the same item at different prices is refused, so give those lines one price. Canceled lines are left out. The prices on the order are the prices invoiced: the price lists and trade agreements of Accounts receivable are not applied. The customer's payment terms, payment method and tax group are used; a customer without a tax group is invoiced without tax. The stock of the parts is issued when the invoice is posted.
Afterwards each line shows its Invoice number and the order stays read-only. The invoice may still be completing its posting in the ledger, so look at its status in Accounts receivable. A posted order cannot be reopened: its sign-off cannot be revoked. If posting is refused, nothing is changed and you can try again.
If the invoice was created but the order could not be saved afterwards (a rare failure), the order still shows its lines as open. Check Accounts receivable for the invoice before posting again, or the customer is invoiced twice.
Posting is refused when the order is not signed off, when no line is open, when the default location or an item you need is not chosen, or when the invoice cannot be created (the message says why, for example that the customer is on hold).
Cancel an order
Open the Order tab and select Cancel order when the customer will not go ahead, for example because the parts are not available or the cost is too high. Every line that is not invoiced is canceled, so nothing is charged. The lines stay on the order as a record of what was offered, and you can restore them one by one with Restore line.
Canceling the order does not move it to a stage. To record why, move the order to your canceled stage with a stage reason.
Canceling is refused when the order's stage does not allow canceling, when the order is signed off, when any line was already invoiced, or when no line is open.
See the accounting of a posted order
Once an order is posted, its Accounting tab (on the order page and on the list) opens the accounting of the invoice it was posted to. You need access to Accounts receivable to see them.
| Button | What it opens | Available when |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting distributions | The accounting distributions of the invoice: the entries the posting generated, before they reach the ledger. | The invoice has started posting. |
| Voucher transactions | The ledger entries of the invoice, found through the ledger voucher of the invoice. | The invoice is posted to the ledger and has its voucher. |
The invoice is created first and posted to the ledger a little later, so Voucher transactions becomes available a few seconds after the order is posted. The page checks again by itself until the voucher exists; there is nothing to refresh.
The customer's page
Every order has a customer page: a private link where the customer can see where their repair is, without logging in. Give the customer the link (the printed ticket will carry it as a QR code).
On the order page, open the Order tab and use the Customer page group:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Copy customer link | Copies the link, to paste into a message. |
| Open customer page | Opens the page as the customer sees it, in a new tab. |
| New customer link | Replaces the link. The link on the printed ticket, and in any message already sent, stops working. Use it when a link was shared with someone who should not have it. |
The customer sees:
- the order number, what was brought in, the day it was received and the day it is promised;
- where it is now: the name of the current stage and what it means (the part of the stage's description before the colon is the name, the rest is the explanation, so write stage descriptions as a short name, a colon, and a sentence);
- the progress: every stage the order has been through, with the date and time;
- the quote: the lines and the total, with canceled lines struck through and left out of the total; once the order is posted, the same lines are shown as the invoice, with its number.
The page is in the customer's language (English, French or Arabic) and can be switched on the page. It refreshes itself every 30 seconds while it is open.
The customer does not see their name, any employee, the items and tasks behind the lines, or the internal reasons recorded on stage changes. Anyone who holds the link can see the page, so treat it like the ticket itself. The link is long and random and cannot be guessed, and a visitor who asks too often (more than 30 times a minute) is told to wait.
Print the intake ticket and the pickup receipt
Two printed documents come from the Print group of the Order tab (on the order page and on the list). Both are plain black on white, A5, and open in a new tab, where you print or save them with the browser. They are written in the language you are using the application in (English, French or Arabic), under your company's name and contact details.
| Button | When to use it | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Intake ticket | When the customer hands the items in. Give it to them. | The order number, the customer and contact, the day received and promised, the service objects, the reported problem, and a QR code that opens the customer page of the order. |
| Pickup receipt | When the customer collects the items. | The same details, the charges and their total (canceled lines left out), the invoice number once posted, and boxes for the customer's and the shop's signatures. |
Printing the ticket again after New customer link gives the new QR code; the QR code on the old ticket no longer works.
Delete an order
Select Delete on the order page (or in the list) and confirm. Deleting removes the order with its lines and service objects (the service objects themselves stay in your setup). It is refused when the stage does not allow deleting, when the order is signed off, or when any line was already invoiced.
If something goes wrong
| You see | What to do |
|---|---|
| The workflow has no initial stage yet… | Create the initial stage under Service stages, then try again. |
| Select the customer. / Describe the problem. | Fill the missing field. |
| The selected customer no longer exists. | Choose another customer and try again. |
| An order in stage … cannot move … to stage …. | Someone moved the order meanwhile. Refresh the page and choose again. |
| Stage … needs a reason. Choose one. | Pick a reason in the move dialog. |
| The order's stage (…) does not allow this. | The stage forbids that change. Ask for the order to be moved to a stage that allows it. |
| The code you chose does not belong to the chosen area. | Choose the area again, then its code. |
| Choose the area of the reported fault. / Choose the area of what was found. | A code needs its area. Choose the area first. |
| A part line needs an inventory item. | Choose the item in the Item cell, or change the type. |
| The selected item does not exist in Inventory. | Search again and pick another item. |
| This service object cannot be detached while … line(s) are about it. | Change those lines to another service object, or remove them, then detach. |
| Order … is signed off. Revoke the sign-off to change it. | Use Revoke sign-off on the Order tab, make the change, then sign off again. |
| Order … has … repair(s) that are not finished. | Move those repairs to a finished repair stage, then sign off. |
| Posting needs a default location / A … line has no item, and no … item is set. | Choose it under Setup > Parameters, tab Posting. |
| The invoice could not be created: … | Nothing was posted. Fix what the message says, then post again. |
| Order … has no open line to sign off / cancel. | Restore a canceled line, or add one. |
| Line … is already invoiced or canceled and cannot be changed. | Invoiced lines are final. Restore a canceled line first if you need to change it. |
If creating an order reports that no number could be found, set the order number sequence as described above.
Good practice
- Describe the fault in the customer's own words in Description, and fill the Service object of the lines, so each charge can be traced to the unit it was for.
- Put a Promised date on every order. The list shows it, and a customer who calls can be answered at once.
- Cancel a line instead of removing it when the customer declined the work: the order keeps a record of what was offered.