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Running the day

The daily workflow

Servtide walks you through five connected phases each workday: scheduling jobs, dispatching them to your crew, capturing work details in the field, proposing costs via estimates, and billing through invoices. This guide shows a non-technical business owner exactly where each step lives in the app and what fields you'll fill.

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Before you start: You have a Servtide account set up with at least one customer, one property, and one active team member in Memberships.

1

1. Schedule — Create and organize jobs for the week

Top nav → Jobs, or Customers → [Customer name]
  1. Click top nav 'Jobs' to see all work, or open a customer's page and click 'New job'
  2. Fill in: Customer (already set if from customer page), Property (select their address), Title (what's the issue?), Job type (optional — pick from your templates), Priority (Low / Normal / High / Emergency)

What to enter

  • Title: describe the work (e.g., 'No cooling — diagnostic', 'AC compressor replacement')
  • Job type: optional; used to load inspection checklists on the job detail
  • Priority: Emergency shows a red dot on dispatch board; High shows orange
  • Description: notes on the issue or scope of work

Tips

  • Jobs start as 'Unscheduled' — visible in the Dispatch backlog until you assign them
  • You can create a customer's property (address, equipment) right on the customer page before making the job

Watch out

  • Each customer must have at least one property before you can create a job
2

2. Dispatch — Assign jobs to technicians and time slots

Top nav → Dispatch
  1. Go to Dispatch; the date picker shows today by default (use ← / Today / → buttons to navigate)
  2. In the left column 'Unscheduled', you'll see all jobs not yet assigned
  3. Drag a job card onto a technician column at a time slot (e.g., 'John' at 9:00), or tap a job, then tap the slot
  4. To unassign: drag the job back to 'Unscheduled' or tap it and click the section heading
  5. Check for double-bookings: if a tech has 2+ jobs in the same hour, you'll see a yellow ⚠ warning

What to enter

  • Technician columns: your active team members (from Memberships → [name])
  • Hour grid: 7am–6pm by default, auto-expands for off-hours jobs
  • Job card shows: number, customer name, priority indicator (red/orange dot), status badge

Tips

  • The board is drag-friendly on desktop; on mobile or with keyboard, use the tap-then-slot method
  • Time is always based on the job's scheduled start time; you can change it by re-dragging
  • Once a job is scheduled, its status moves from 'Unscheduled' → 'Scheduled'

Watch out

  • You must have at least one active team member before you can assign jobs (add them under Memberships)
  • Only jobs with status 'Scheduled', 'Dispatched', or 'Working' appear on the board
3

3. Technician does the work (mobile app)

Mobile app (Expo) — not in web app
  1. Tech launches the Expo app on their phone and sees jobs assigned to them for today
  2. They mark the job as 'Dispatched' when they leave, 'Working' when they arrive on-site
  3. They fill in checklist items (Pass/Fail/N/A), take before/after photos, add notes in the app
  4. When done, they transition the job to 'Complete' in the mobile app

What to enter

  • Checklist: comes from the Job type → template you selected when creating the job
  • Photos: tech captures them in-app; appear on the job's web page under Photos section
  • Notes: tech can add notes from the mobile app; show on job detail as 'System note' entries

Tips

  • The web app shows all photos and notes in real-time — check the job's web detail page (Jobs → [number]) to see updates
  • If a job type has a template with checklists, those load automatically on job creation

Watch out

  • Photos upload in the background; in the web app, you might see 'Uploading…' briefly
  • The mobile app is separate; technicians do NOT use the web app for field work
4

4. Update the job and add line items (optional prep for invoicing)

Jobs → [number]
  1. Click the job number to open its detail page
  2. Review status: the Status card shows allowed transitions. Click a button to move the job forward (e.g., 'Working' → 'Complete')
  3. Under Line items, either add items from your Pricebook (if you have one) or add custom line items manually
  4. Fill in: Description, Quantity, Unit price; click Add
  5. Optional: add notes, review photos from the tech, mark checklist items from the web if needed

What to enter

  • Status transitions: each status has buttons showing where you can move next (e.g., from Complete → Invoiced)
  • Line items: Description (e.g., 'AC condenser replacement'), Qty, Unit price (auto-calculates total)
  • Notes: add internal notes or see tech notes from the field

Tips

  • You can add items BEFORE the job is complete, but usually you'd do this after the tech finishes and reports back
  • If you set up a Pricebook in Settings → Pricebook, you can pick items from it rather than typing all prices manually

Watch out

  • Once a job is 'Invoiced' or 'Paid', you can't move it backward (except to the immediately prior status)
  • Line items are required before you can create an invoice
5

5. Create an estimate (if the customer approved the price first)

Estimates page or Customers → [name] → 'New estimate' button
  1. Go to top nav 'Estimates' or click 'New estimate' from a customer page
  2. Select the customer, property, add a title (optional, e.g., 'System replacement proposal'), and notes (optional)
  3. Once created, you'll see an 'Add option' form. Create Good / Better / Best tiers by entering a name and description
  4. For each option, add line items: either from your Pricebook or manually (Description, Qty, Unit price)
  5. When ready, click 'Send to customer' — they get a link to review and approve
  6. Once approved, the status changes to 'Approved' and you can convert it to an invoice

What to enter

  • Title: proposal subject (e.g., 'AC replacement estimate')
  • Options: name (Good/Better/Best), description (what's included)
  • Line items per option: description, qty, unit price; totals auto-calculate
  • Approval link: auto-generated and shown on the estimate once it's sent; customer clicks it to approve/decline

Tips

  • Estimates are 'draft' until sent; you can edit them freely while draft
  • You can link an estimate to a job (pick the job on the create form) so costs feed into that job later
  • Each option can have different line items — use this for Good/Better/Best or multiple proposals

Watch out

  • You must add at least one option with at least one line item before sending
  • Once sent, customers see a unique approval link; you can resend to a sent estimate without resetting the customer's response
6

6. Invoice — Create from a job or approved estimate

Invoices page, or from a job/estimate detail
  1. Option A: Go to Invoices → open a job/estimate → click 'Create invoice'
  2. Option B: Go to Jobs → [number] → if job has line items, click 'Create invoice' button top-right
  3. Option C: Go to Estimates → [number] → if approved, click 'Convert to invoice'
  4. Invoice starts as 'Draft'; add any additional line items if needed
  5. Click 'Send' to push it to the customer and change status to 'Sent'
  6. Customer receives a pay link; record payments manually or customer pays online

What to enter

  • Line items: copied from job or estimate; you can add more while draft
  • Due date: set on creation (defaults to X days from now; configurable on create form)
  • Tax rate: configurable per invoice (in basis points, e.g., 1300 for 13%)
  • Payment method: Cash, Cheque, e-Transfer, Card (when recording a payment manually)

Tips

  • If a job has line items, invoicing is one click: Jobs → [number] → 'Create invoice'
  • You can record payments directly in the invoice (Cash, Cheque, e-Transfer, Card) or let customers pay via the pay link
  • Payment plans: split the balance into installments (e.g., 3 payments, every 30 days); mark each as paid when received
  • Optional: offer 'Pay over time' financing (if enabled in Labs); customer can apply for Wisetack or similar

Watch out

  • Invoice must be 'Sent' (not draft) before customers can pay via the pay link
  • Once you record a payment, the invoice status auto-updates: 'Sent' → 'Partial' (if not fully paid) or 'Paid' (if fully paid)
  • Balance due is calculated as: Total – Paid; it updates whenever you record a payment
7

7. Optional: Set up Forms and Checklists (for later jobs)

Settings → Forms, and Settings → Templates
  1. Under Settings → Templates, create or edit a Job Type (e.g., 'AC Service', 'Plumbing Emergency')
  2. Each job type can reference a Checklist Template, which loads onto every job of that type
  3. Under Settings → Forms, create custom inspection/service forms (e.g., 'HVAC 13-point inspection')
  4. When a technician opens a job with that type in the mobile app, the checklist appears and they fill it in

What to enter

  • Job type name: e.g., 'AC Maintenance'
  • Checklist: select a template; it auto-loads on every job of this type
  • Form fields: text, textarea, number, select, checkbox, date
  • Each field can be marked required or optional

Tips

  • Checklists help ensure consistent quality and documentation; they're optional but highly recommended
  • Forms are flexible: use them for inspections, compliance checks, or any structured data you want from the field

Watch out

  • Checklists only appear on jobs created AFTER you set up the job type; existing jobs won't get them
8

Status lifecycle reference

Any Job detail page (top section shows allowed transitions)
  1. Read the status legend to understand where jobs flow: Unscheduled → Scheduled → Dispatched → Working → Complete → Invoiced → Paid
  2. At any step, you can move back one status (to correct a mistake) or jump to Canceled from most states
  3. Once Paid or Canceled, the job is terminal and can't move forward

What to enter

  • Unscheduled: job created but not assigned to a tech or time
  • Scheduled: assigned to a tech and time slot on dispatch board
  • Dispatched: tech has left to the job (typically set in mobile app)
  • Working: tech is on-site actively doing the work
  • Complete: tech finished; you've reviewed notes/photos and added line items
  • Invoiced: invoice created and sent to customer
  • Paid: invoice fully paid
  • Canceled: job was canceled (can happen at any stage except Paid)

Tips

  • Status names map to visual badges on job lists and dispatch board
  • You control status transitions from the web app; the tech controls some transitions from the mobile app

Watch out

  • You cannot transition a job forward if it's in a terminal state (Paid, Canceled)
  • Some transitions require data (e.g., can't invoice a job with no line items)

Done when

  • Understand that the daily workflow is: Create job → Schedule/Dispatch → Tech works (mobile) → Update & add items → Estimate (if needed) → Invoice
  • Know how to navigate to each phase: Jobs / Dispatch / Customers / Estimates / Invoices all in top nav
  • Be able to create a job from a customer page and assign it on the dispatch board
  • Know that techs use the mobile app (Expo) to mark status, take photos, and fill checklists; you review in the web app
  • Understand job statuses (Unscheduled → Scheduled → Dispatched → Working → Complete → Invoiced → Paid) and allowed transitions
  • Know how to add line items to a job and convert it to an invoice
  • Understand that estimates are optional (for proposals) but invoices are required to bill a completed job
  • Be familiar with the payment methods you can record (Cash, Cheque, e-Transfer, Card) and optional payment plans

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