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
7. When the report is ready, click Create invoice, review the priced lines and any billing-rule warnings, choose the accounting items used for labor, travel time, and mileage, then confirm

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." Marking a component Changed is also what resets its service clock — see Components: How NORDVEST Decides a Part Is Due for how that clock drives due dates and the pick list; Inspected leaves the clock untouched.

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.

Actual mileage comes from the Miles values on the travel segments and is totaled for the visit. When technicians share a vehicle, enter the mileage on the driver's travel segments only so it is not counted twice. A billing rule can use that actual mileage or ignore it in favor of a saved one-way route distance from the report's branch to the customer's selected service location.

This is billing information only, kept for the office.

Billing Rules and Invoice Creation

Admins configure the company's standard rules under Settings -> Billing. Rules can use the connected accounting item's price or a fixed rate, apply separate weekend labor and travel rates, round or minimum-charge time entries, omit return travel, charge either actual or saved one-way route mileage, and override billing for specific reasons such as internal warranty or customer supplied. Saving publishes a new version; reports already priced or invoiced retain the exact older rules and prices.

Before creating an invoice, the report's customer and every invoiced catalog part must be matched to the selected accounting connection. Labor, travel time, and mileage use the accounting items you choose in the confirmation window. Those choices are remembered per connection.

The confirmation window shows every rule result before export: normal charges, zero-dollar lines, omitted lines, the rule that applied, and the invoice total. By default, Warranty inventory remains visible at $0 so usage still reaches accounting, while No Charge work is omitted. Both treatments can be changed in Billing settings. A missing route distance or accounting-item match blocks creation until it is resolved.

Invoice export is enabled separately on each accounting connection. If more than one enabled connection is available, choose the destination in the confirmation window. QuickBooks Online is the first supported invoice destination, but billing and invoice preparation are provider-neutral so future accounting drivers can use the same approved pricing snapshot.

Creating the invoice is the hand-off point. After the accounting system confirms it, the report is permanently read-only: its header, lines, time, visits, attached Service Requests, and delete action are all locked. This prevents the NORDVEST record from drifting away from the accounting invoice.

If QuickBooks explicitly rejects the invoice, the report returns to Draft so you can fix it. If the connection drops before QuickBooks confirms the result, the report stays temporarily locked and shows Retry invoice. Retrying uses the same request and cannot create a duplicate.

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. A reason such as manufacturer warranty, internal warranty, callback, courtesy, customer supplied, or contract covered can be recorded alongside non-standard work and stays in the pricing audit.

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 a draft 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. An invoiced report cannot be deleted.

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.