There are two ways to create a work order

**1. Standalone (most common):** Go to Service > Work Orders and click + New Work Order. Pick the customer and vehicle, then fill in the work order details below. Use this when a customer is dropping off for service and you have not built an invoice yet.

**2. From an invoice:** Open an existing invoice and click "Create Work Order". The customer and vehicle are pulled from the invoice, and the new WO is linked to it. Use this when you have already started a sale and now need a work order to track the install or service work.

By default, the "Create Work Order" button only appears on an invoice that has at least one labor line item, since a work order usually tracks install or service labor. If you want to create work orders from any invoice (for example, a parts drop-off or a diagnostic check-in where labor is added later), turn on "Allow work orders without a labor line" in Settings > Work Orders.

Either way, fill in

  • Bay number (which bay the vehicle will be in)
  • Technician (primary installer/tech)
  • Secondary Tech (optional second installer assigned to the same job)
  • Mileage In (odometer reading)
  • Customer Notes (visible on customer-facing print/email)
  • Tech Notes (internal-only, for the bay team)

Customer Notes on a work order is the check-in field: the condition of the vehicle and anything the customer reported. It prints on the work order under the heading Customer Concern. It is not where the job description goes.

The job description comes from the invoice instead. When a work order is linked to an invoice, whatever is in that invoice's "Notes Shown on Invoice" box prints on the work order as Job Description, so the technician can see what the job is without opening the invoice. Write the job on the invoice once and the work order picks it up, including any later edits. See "What Prints on a Work Order".

**Changing the technician after the work order exists**

Assignments are not locked in at creation. Open the work order and click Edit Details to change the bay, primary technician, secondary technician, mileage in and out, and notes, then click Save Details. This is how you add a second installer to a job that started with one.

A work order carries two technician slots, primary and secondary. There is no third slot, so a job worked by more than two people is tracked by whoever is named in those two.

Edit Details is available while the job is open and disappears once the work order is closed or cancelled, so make assignment changes before you close it. A user whose Work Orders permission is view-only will not see the panel.

The work order lifecycle depends on your Mobile Bay Mode setting (Settings > Work Orders):

  • Basic mode: Check-In then Check-Out (vehicle in, vehicle out + time tracking).
  • Advanced mode: Check-In, In Progress, QC, Closed.

Whichever mode you use, a work order can also be cancelled at any point before it closes, for a job the customer calls off. A cancelled work order comes off the Job Board and does not count as completed work. See How to Cancel a Work Order.

Only the Check-In and Check-Out stages have checklists today; there is no in-product editor for the built-in checklist items. Custom checklist items can be added via Settings > Custom Fields under Work Order Check-In / Work Order Check-Out (up to 4 each).

You can write up a work order well before the vehicle arrives. A new work order starts in Check-In, and if the job is booked on the calendar the Job Board holds it back until its day comes around, so next week's install does not clutter today's board. A work order with no appointment shows on the board right away, which is what you want for a walk-in.