Field service¶
Field Service allows on-site interventions to be scheduled directly in the Planning app. Work performed can be recorded using custom worksheets, while materials used and time spent can be tracked on the shift and billed to the customer. A customer report can be generated at the end of the intervention for signature. Itineraries can also be planned for field employees.
To activate Field Service, go to , enable Field Service, and click Save.
Intervention planning¶
Interventions are planned as shifts and can be created:
directly from the Planning app, in the same way as standard shifts;
Depending on the use case, field service-relevant information is added manually or automatically using the following fields on the shift form:
Customer: Select or create the relevant customer.
Sales Order: If the intervention must be billed, select the relevant sales order. Only the sales orders linked to the specified customer and containing service products are available in the dropdown menu. If the shift was created from a sales order, this field is filled automatically.
Worksheet: If worksheets are enabled, the default one is automatically selected in this field. Choose a different one from the dropdown menu or create one if needed.
Under warranty: Enable the checkbox to automatically set the price of any material or service added to the sales order from the shift to zero, preventing them from being invoiced. The price of any material or service added directly on the sales order remains unchanged.
Once the shift has been created, publish it.
Tip
Ensure the customer has a valid address if itinerary planning is required.
Intervention logging¶
Note
In order to start working on an intervention:
The shift must be published.
A Customer must be defined for the shift.
To sign in and log intervention details, follow these steps:
Go to or access any schedule.
Click the relevant intervention in the calendar or schedule, then click Sign In.
Add Photos or Products, if any, using the buttons above the form.
Use the Note and Worksheet tabs to add internal notes and Worksheet details, respectively.
Click Complete. The customer report is automatically generated, if applicable.
Note
The intervention’s start and end date and time are updated upon signing in to and completing it, respectively, and the Allocated Time is adjusted accordingly.
Tip
To add items or information to ongoing or completed shifts at a later point, edit the shift.
Geolocation¶
To track the technician’s location at the start and end of an intervention, go to and enable Geolocation in the Field Service section.
Once enabled, users are geolocalized upon clicking Sign In and Complete on a shift; the GPS coordinates are logged in the shift’s chatter. Click View on Map to view the location in Google Maps.
Note
Geolocation requires the browser to be granted access to the user’s location. A pop-up requesting location permission is usually displayed the first time a user signs in to an intervention after the feature is enabled. If the pop-up does not appear, users must enable location access manually in the browser’s site settings.
Worksheets¶
Worksheets are used to document and report on work performed during on-site interventions. They can include various types of content, such as instructions, checklists, text fields, etc.
Configuration¶
To use worksheets for field service interventions, go to , enable Worksheets in the Field Service section, and click Save.
Note
Enabling worksheets also enables the Customer Report feature by default.
Then, create worksheet templates:
Go to .
Click New.
Enter a Name.
Under Worksheet properties, click Add Property, then configure the property field.
Repeat the previous step for each additional property field.
Note
By default, the first template in the list is applied to field service shifts unless one is manually selected. To reorder worksheet templates, use the (drag handle) icon.
Tip
Worksheet templates can also be created and/or edited from the shift form.
A default worksheet template can also be assigned to a specific service. To do so, configure the service product to automatically create a shift from sales orders that contain it, then select the relevant Worksheet in the General Information tab of the product form.
Worksheets in shifts¶
The default worksheet template is automatically selected in the Worksheet field on the shift form upon creation. Select a different template from the dropdown menu or create one if needed.
Tip
To edit a worksheet template from the shift, hover over the Worksheet dropdown menu, click the (internal link) icon, then edit the template. Changes apply to all shifts using that template.
The worksheet can then be completed in the Worksheet tab on the shift form during the intervention.
Map¶
Technicians can access a map with the location of their field service interventions planned for the day by going to .
Important
For an intervention’s location to appear on the map, a valid address must be provided for the customer.
Interventions are sorted by their planned date and time in the left pane. Click one to display its location and details. From there, click Open to open the shift form, or Navigate to to get directions from the current location to the intervention’s location in Google Maps.
Tip
By default, the map displays today’s planned interventions. To display all shifts, remove the Start Date: Today filter in the search bar.
Administrators can view all resources and their respective intervention locations on the map by going to .
You can also display an intervention’s location by clicking the shift in the calendar or schedule, then clicking (View itinerary).
Itinerary planning¶
To display an itinerary on the map in the Planning app, enable MapBox:
Create or sign in to a MapBox account.
Go to the Access tokens page on MapBox and copy the token.
In Odoo, open the Settings app and scroll down to the Integrations section.
Paste the MapBox access token in the Token field under Map Routes, then click Save.
Once enabled, the technician’s map displays a complete itinerary for the day, which can be opened on the Google Maps website or app by clicking Maps. Google Maps uses the current location as the starting point.
Invoicing¶
To invoice customers for services performed and materials used during interventions, go to and enable Billing in the Field Service section.
Note
Enabling the Billing feature automatically installs the Sales app.
The Products and Customer Report settings are enabled by default when Billing is activated.
Once the feature is enabled, an intervention is billed whenever it is linked to a sales order. This occurs when:
The intervention was planned from a sales order.
A sales order was selected on the shift.
Products were added from the shift form, provided the shift is not marked as Under Warranty.
A Service to Bill is defined on the form of the employee(s) assigned as the shift’s Resources.
Time-based invoicing¶
To invoice the actual time spent on an intervention, the Project and Timesheets apps must be installed, and the following must be defined on the shift form:
Resources: Assign at least one employee to the shift.
Project: The project linked to the shift must be configured as Billable, and Timesheets must be enabled in the project’s settings.
The sales order’s service is then invoiced based on the shift’s Allocated Time, which is updated upon shift start and completion.
If an employee’s work is billed at a specific rate or with extra fees, define a dedicated product on the employee’s form. To do so, go to , select the relevant employee, go to the Settings tab, and select the relevant Service to Bill in the Planning section.
The service defined for the employee is added to the sales order linked to the intervention, if applicable. Otherwise, a sales order is created with the employee’s service when the shift is marked as completed, and invoiced based on the time spent on the intervention.
Products¶
Materials used during interventions can be recorded directly from field service shifts and billed to customers.
To add products to a shift, go to and ensure the Billing and Products features are enabled. Then, follow these steps:
Sign in to the shift or edit an ongoing shift.
Click the 0 Products button.
Click Add on a product card.
Adjust the product quantity, if needed, using the - and + buttons.
Click Back to return to the shift.
The Products button displays the number of products added to the shift. Click it to add more.
Tip
To locate a product more easily in the catalog, use the search bar and filter by Product Category or Attributes.
To create or edit products from the Planning app, go to .
Note
Adding products from a shift requires the User: All Documents (or Administrator) Sales access right.
Any products added to the shift are added to the related sales order. If no sales order is linked to the shift, a new one is created automatically. To access it, click the Sales Order smart button on the shift form.
Products added to shifts marked as Under Warranty are not invoiced; their price is automatically set to
0on the sales order.
Quotations¶
Quotations can be created directly from field service shifts, for example, when additional work or materials are identified during an intervention. To activate this feature, go to , ensure the Billing setting is activated in the Field Service section, then enable Quotations, and click Save.
To create a quotation from a shift, click the Quotations smart button on the shift form, then click New and fill in the fields.
Customer report¶
When interventions are billed and/or when worksheets are used, a customer report is generated automatically upon shift completion. It details the materials and services provided, the time spent, and the completed worksheet (if applicable).
Note
The Customer Report feature is activated by default when the Billing or Worksheets feature is enabled in the Field Service section of the Planning settings .
Click the Customer Preview smart button on the shift form to access the report, then click Sign Report to collect the customer’s signature and send the report to the customer.
Tip
To exclude prices from the customer report for billed interventions, go to , ensure the Billing and Products features are activated, enable Hide prices on customer report, and Save.