How jobs and work orders work¶

What it is¶

A job is one visit or one piece of work at a customer's service location, done by one technician. A work order is a bigger project made of several jobs, called sub-jobs, that you plan, track and bill as one. Use a job for a furnace repair; use a work order for a four-week commercial install with a permit, an inspection and three field visits.

Where it fits¶

flowchart LR
    L[Service location] --> J[Job]
    Q[Accepted quote] --> J
    R[Approved service request] --> J
    Q --> W[Work order]
    W --> S[Sub-jobs]
    G[Service agreement visit] --> J
    J --> D[Schedule and dispatch]
    J --> I[Invoice]
    W --> I

Jobs come from many places: you create them by hand, convert an accepted quote, approve a service request, or let a service agreement or recurring schedule create them. A work order holds its sub-jobs, and its invoice is created from the work order itself, not from each sub-job.

Statuses¶

Jobs

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    state "In Transit" as InTransit
    state "In Progress" as InProgress
    state "On Hold" as OnHold
    [*] --> Pending : Job created
    Pending --> Assigned
    Assigned --> Pending
    Assigned --> InTransit
    InTransit --> Arrived
    Arrived --> InProgress
    InProgress --> Completed
    Assigned --> OnHold
    OnHold --> Assigned
    Assigned --> Declined
    Assigned --> Cancelled

A job starts as Pending. It becomes Assigned when a technician is set, then moves through In Transit, Arrived and In Progress to Completed. On Hold pauses the job and its SLA timer, and asks you for a reason. Completed, Declined and Cancelled are final, though the office team can reopen a job. The diagram shows the main path; Job statuses lists every allowed move.

Work orders (Enterprise)

stateDiagram-v2
    direction LR
    state "In Progress" as InProgress
    state "On Hold" as OnHold
    [*] --> Draft : Work order created
    Draft --> Active
    Active --> InProgress
    InProgress --> OnHold
    OnHold --> InProgress
    InProgress --> Completed
    Completed --> Closed
    Draft --> Cancelled
    Active --> Cancelled

A work order is Draft while you plan it, Active once it's approved to go, In Progress while the sub-jobs are being done, then Completed and Closed. You can put it On Hold or cancel it before it's completed. Cancelling a work order also cancels its open sub-jobs.

Step by step¶

A single job

1. Open Jobs from the side menu. The Active Jobs tab lists everything still open; switch between List, Kanban and Calendar views.
2. Create a job: pick the customer's service location, describe the work and set the priority.
3. Assign a technician, or let auto-assignment do it on Pro. The job moves to Assigned.
4. The technician works the job from the mobile app. You'll see the status change as they go.
5. When the work is done, the technician completes the job with a final comment and fills in any required forms.
6. Finished jobs move to the History tab, ready to invoice.

A work order (Enterprise)

1. Open Work Orders and create a work order for the customer. Start from a template if you have one.
2. Add sub-jobs. Each has a type (Field, Office, Remote, Permit, Procurement, Inspection or Approval), can be optional, and can depend on another sub-job finishing first.
3. If the work order needs estimate approval, send the estimate. The work order can't go from Draft to Active until the estimate is Approved.
4. Track progress on the Work Orders list or the Gantt View.
5. Mark it Completed when its completion rule is met, then Closed. If customer approval is required, the customer approves before you can close it.

What happens next¶

• Previous stage: Quotes and estimates
• Next stage: Scheduling and dispatch

For the full detail, see Creating jobs, Job statuses, Kanban and calendar views, Job forms, Recurring jobs, SLA timers, Job history, Work orders, Creating work orders, Sub-jobs and dependencies, Templates, Gantt view and Budget tracking. New here? Try Create your first job.

Who can do this¶

Tips and common questions¶

Why can't my technician start a second job? A technician can have one active job (In Transit, Arrived or In Progress) at a time. They finish the current one before heading to the next.

Why won't a job complete? Completing needs a final comment, then any required forms and required custom fields. Fill in what's missing and try again.

What happens when a job is Declined? The customer gets an email offering to rebook.

Learn more about work orders and job forms and signatures.