Question

How to create a site-check appointment for quotation without opening a service order?


We are in the process of implementing Acumatica.

Our workflow requires us, in many cases, to do a site-check for measurements etc. before we can generate a quote.

We would like to keep things simple for our field technicians so that all they need to deal with in the app is the appointments section.

The problem is that when an appointment is created from an opportunity, a service order is created automatically, which basically shifts the processes a step forward before a quote was created. Once the quote is created in the opportunity level (post measurement appointment), the quote details will not copy to the service order (since it is already open).

In our case, if we use opportunities then we’re required to go back and fourth between services orders and opportunities, coping and pasting information from quotes to create invoices, and extend all companies to customers (while they might not be in the end).

How can Acumatica be used correctly in this scenario without creating any awkward workflows?

Thanks you!


16 replies

Userlevel 6
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Hi @yuval 
 

As you indicate, at the moment on the Opportunities form, you can only create one Service Order from the opportunity,  which means there is no option of creating one measuring service order/appointment and one agreed service order. In addition, from the created service order, there is no visibility or synchronization between the lines on the service order and the opportunity and the other way around.

To better understand the scenario, could you please explain the followings:

  • What typically is added on the measurement appointment? Will the technician only take notes and images so that a manager prepares the opportunity by adding the lines based on these; or will the technician directly add the services and inventory lines to be quoted with quantities, on the measurement appointment?
  • Is there a billing fee for the measurement appointment?

One way to accomplish your scenario would be to create the measurement work by manually creating the appointment and linking it to the opportunities using user defined fields. Then you can create a sidepanel on the opportunities form showing the appointment so that you can fill in the opportunity based on the appointment. After the quote has been accepted you would then create the service order using the Create Service Order action on the opportunities form. For visibility of the notes and attachments on the agreed work you could also create a sidepanel.

 

I have created the following idea on the community to gather votes and comments from other customers and partners, to handle the scenario on an easier way 

 

Hi @Anacarina Calvo

 

Thank you for the detailed reply, and thank you for adding this as an idea to gather votes.
It seems crucial to me and I’m shocked that this hasn’t been raised before. 🤔

To answer your questions:

  • In our case we want to keep things simple for our technicians so they will only need to add notes and images. However, we need to have all notes and images in the job appointment, so we would like to use one appointment from start to finish of the job, so after the measurement is done they would only need to pause the appointment, rather than complete it.
  • There is sometimes a billing fee for the site-check, depending on what the job is.

How would I go about linking the appointment to the opportunity using the user defined fields? Simply adding an opportunity ID field and coping/pasting the opportunity ID into the field?

Are you able to give me the steps to create the side-panel on the opportunities form?

To my understanding it’s possible to add quoting functionality to service orders. If that is true, and if we could also add a won/lost field, could you tell me why we shouldn’t just use service orders, skipping the opportunities stage altogether?

Thank you for your help!

Yuval

P.S. - our sandbox uses Acumatica 2021 R2.

Userlevel 6
Badge +4

Thanks for sharing your scenarios. 

Here are my answers to your questions 

How would I go about linking the appointment to the opportunity using the user defined fields? Simply adding an opportunity ID field and coping/pasting the opportunity ID into the field?

Yes, I created an Attribute of control type Selector with lookup PX.Objects.CR.CROpportunity, Field ID OpportunityID. Then on the appointment form you would search for the Opportunity or coping and pasting the opportunity ID into the field 

Are you able to give me the steps to create the side-panel on the opportunities form?

Sure! I am attaching a customization with the GI and the changes on the Opportunities to show the side panel. For the customization to work you need to create the Attribute named OPPORT and add the User Defined Field to the Appt form. (Customization is compatible with 2022R1)

This is how the customization was build: 

  • I created the Generic Inquiry with tables PX.Objects.CR.CROpportunity and PX.Objects.FS.FSAppointment, on Parameters the SchemaField CROpportunity.OpportunityID and the condition of FSAppointment.AttributeOPPORT Equals [Opportunity]. Set Attach Note to FSAppointmentm so that you see the Notes and Attachments on the GI
  • Created a customization and on Screens, add Customize Existing Screen and select Opportunities CR304000. On Actions add a new entry to show the sidepanel as follows

     

To my understanding it’s possible to add quoting functionality to service orders. If that is true, and if we could also add a won/lost field, could you tell me why we shouldn’t just use service orders, skipping the opportunities stage altogether?

Yes, Service Order allows creating a Quote document if the service order type is set with behavior Quote. Quote service orders are not billable and allows converting the quote into a regular service order maintaining the links between the quote and the converted doc. The problem with this and your requirement is that Quote service orders do not allow creating appointments. 
If you want to use service orders as quotes i would instead do as follows: 

  • Use a regular type service order type 
  • Use Field Service’s Workflow Stages or Acumatica’s Workflow automation to indicate the status of the Service order. 
    • If using Field Service’s Workflow Stages you would go to the Service Management Preferences from and set Enable Workflow Stages to true, then on the Workflow Stages screen, create stages like, Quote, Pending Approval, Approved. Now on the Service Order and Appointment forms you could change the field to indicate the status of the document
    • If using Acumatica’s Workflow automation you could create custom Service Order/Appointment status that would automatically be changed based on actions 
  • Start by creating the service order and indicate that it is still in Quote stage/status. You will be able to create the appt so that the technician adds the pictures and notes. At that point, the tech may complete the appt or pause it. Send Quote email either from the Service Order or Appointment and change the stage/status after it has been approve. Resume the appt or create a new one so that it is visible on the calendar. 

The advantage of using opportunity's quote is that it allows to keep quote history, which is not an option on the service order, although the sent reports could be used as history.  

 

Hi @Anacarina Calvo

Thank you for all the details and information.

Are you suggesting that that we’ll use the regular service order, prepare quotes outside Acumatica, and email them through the service order? I wouldn’t rule that out but, it seems so odd that such a complex system can’t handle something so trivial.
Is this the best solution for our workflow?

Many thanks,
Yuval

Userlevel 6
Badge +4

@yuval, the suggestion is to use the same service order as both quote and regular service order and distinguish the stage it is (quote or regular) by using the workflow stages field or custom status using Acumatica’s workflows 

@Anacarina Calvo thank you for the clarification.
If I understand correctly, it’s only possible to generate quotes from a “Quote service order”, but from this type of service order it’s not possible to create appointments. But from a regular service order it’s not possible to create quotes.

What am I missing?

Thank you for all your help.

Userlevel 6
Badge +4

@yuval you can use the report generated from the regular service order so that it behaves as a quote. 
That way, your regular service order will allow to send a quotes 

Hope that clarifies your question

@Anacarina Calvo thanks for the clarification!
This form is needed as a service report, especially when it’s an appointment for assessment and estimation purposes. The client needs to sign so that all parties involved has a record of what had been done.
Are there any other options?

Thanks!

Userlevel 6
Badge +4

@yuval 

To sign the report, you can use a 3rd party like DocuSign.

Another option to accomplish your workflow would be to start from a Service Order of behavior Quote. These types of service orders does not allow to create appointments but you could copy the quote document into multiple service orders.

  1. Create the quote behavior service order
  2. Create the first service order/appointment which will be used for inspection 
  3. After the inspection has been completed, on the Quote service order you can create a sidepanel to see notes and images from the appointment and based on that, add lines to the quote
  4. After the quote has been approved, copy the quote into a second service order/appointment which will be the regular work. The system will copy the lines added on the quote

For this workflow to work you only need to modify the current Quote Workflow automation so that the Copied status allows modifying the document. Attached is a customization that does this, compatible with 2021R2 

If you have further questions we can coordinate a call

@Anacarina Calvo 

Does this mean we won’t be able to pause and resume the first appointment?
When you say copy the quote, is that the copy button? Or looking at a quote to recreate it again.

That this also mean we’ll have two types of service orders in the system?

Thanks!

Yuval

Userlevel 6
Badge +4

@yuval 

Does this mean we won’t be able to pause and resume the first appointment?

AC> you could also use the first appointment and pause and resume it. The only thing to consider is that new lines added to the quote after the service order/appointment is created, will not be visible on  the service order/appointment. You will need to add them manually although you can use the actio nof export/import excel file. 

When you say copy the quote, is that the copy button? Or looking at a quote to recreate it again.

AC> I mean the Copy action. This actions allows to create a service order linked to the quote

That this also mean we’ll have two types of service orders in the system?

AC> Depending on the approach you want to follow. Of you want to use only one appointment for both measurement and regular work and pause/resume the work between each visit, then you will only need one service order. If you want to create one service order/Appointment for the measurement and another for the regular work then you could differentiate these with different service order types.  

@Anacarina Calvo thank you as always.

If we start from a ‘quote service order’ then we can’t create an appointment from this type of service order, can we?

We definitely don’t want multiple service order types, it’s a perfect way to confuse users and make mistakes.

You’ve given me quote a few option, and without seeing them libe they sound a bit confusing and and awkward.

To sum up our needs, we need to:

  1. Input a call in the system (service order)
  2. Create an appointment for measurements
  3. Have all the photos and notes in the appointment/service order
  4. Create a service report document for the customer and us to see
  5. Pause the appointment
  6. Create a quote and have it approved
  7. Reschedule the same appointment, resume & complete it
  8. Create an invoice from the quote and send it to the customer
  9. Billing as usual

What do you think would be the best setup to handle this flow in a straight forward manner?

Thank you

P.S. - we can coordinate a call if that would be easier.

Userlevel 6
Badge +4

@yuval Lets coordinate a call. We will contact you through email. 

Userlevel 1
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Will you be able to share more insight into this solution. Our customer has the same workflow requirements

@rethavanalphen11 we finally didn’t achieve any workable solution, at least not one that is compatible with how we should work in 2023. We finally had to cut our losses and find software that is actually well designed. The people working at Acumatica are great, however the resellers are greedy, and the software itself is in beta stage at best, especially the UX/UI aspect but also the backend.

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