Service Reports

A Service Report is the record that says "here's what we did, here's the time and parts it took, bill from this." It's not an invoice: no prices, no tax, no totals. It's what you raise the invoice from in your accounting system.

Every report gets an automatic reference number, R-100001, R-100002, and so on.

A reference number is never reused. If you delete a report, its number retires with it — the next report you create carries on from the highest number ever issued, so you'll see a gap rather than a repeat. That's on purpose: once you've read a number out over the phone, two reports answering to it would be far more confusing than a missing one.

Why a Separate Document?

The work you record on a Service Request — components changed, hours logged, notes for next time — is operational. It's meant to change as you go: re-open a visit, fix a typo, add a part you forgot. A Service Report is different. Its lines are copies of that work, taken when you're ready to bill, and they stay as they were even if the underlying Service Request changes afterwards.

One report can cover several Service Requests — handy when a customer wants one document for a multi-stop visit. One Service Request's work can also be split across more than one report, if that's how a customer prefers to be billed.

Creating a Report

1. From a Service Request, click Create Service Report — this starts a new draft report already linked to that visit
2. Or go to Service Reports in the sidebar and click Add Report, then attach the Service Requests it covers
3. Fill in the report date and a customer-facing description of the work performed
4. Parts and materials recorded on those visits are pulled in automatically as you attach each Service Request — once pulled, the lines belong to the report; editing them here doesn't touch the original Service Request
5. Add or adjust lines and time entries as needed
6. Save as you go

Pulling is always additive — it never duplicates a line or overwrites an edit you've made.

Lines are a copy taken at the moment you attach. If a technician records more work afterwards, detaching and re-attaching the Service Request brings the new parts in; anything already on the report stays as it is. For a correction to something already pulled, it's quicker to edit the line directly.

What Each Line Records

A pulled line remembers which machine and component it came from, and whether that component was changed or inspected. So a report covering four compressors gives you four separate filter lines — one per machine — rather than a single anonymous "4 × air filter."

If a customer supplied a part themselves, that's recorded too: the line still shows the component was changed, but it's marked No Charge so you don't bill for a part you didn't provide. A machine that takes two filters, where the customer supplied one of them, gives you one billable line and one no-charge line.

Time & Travel

Log each technician's work and travel time — clock in/out for each segment, plus travel mileage (enter it directly or from an odometer reading). Travel segments also record which leg they are, to site or back, since that can't be worked out afterwards from a single round-trip entry.

This is billing information only, kept for the office.

Reports Stay Editable

There's no "send", no "finalize", and no lock. A report stays fully editable for as long as it exists, so a wrong quantity or a missed time entry is a straightforward fix rather than something you have to work around.

That's on purpose. Locking a report would only make sense once it's been handed off to your accounting system — and that hand-off doesn't exist yet, so freezing one would protect nothing while costing you the ability to correct it. When the QuickBooks connection lands, a proper locked state comes with it. Until then, a report that shouldn't exist just gets deleted.

Charge To

Each line and time entry is marked Billable, No Charge, or Warranty — office-only classification that sorts out who's paying for what when you sit down to invoice.

Where It Shows Up

Open any Service Request and you'll see the reports that cover it listed right there, with a link to open each one.

Deleting a Report

Deleting removes the report completely, along with its lines and time entries. It's there for clerical tidying — a duplicate, or one started against the wrong customer.

Admins can delete any report. Service Managers can delete reports they created.

Requirements

Creating and managing Service Reports requires the Service Manager or Admin role — the same permission that governs Service Requests. Technicians have no access.