Documentation

Work Orders

Requires.

  • Work Orders with View to see the list.
  • Work Orders with Create to create new work orders.
  • Work Orders with Modify to edit existing ones, link appointments, and use bulk edit.
  • Work Orders with Delete to delete work orders.
  • Scheduler with View and Create to use Bulk Schedule.
  • Messages with Create for the Send button and appointment-sheet PDF preview.
  • Equipment PO with Create for the Generate PO button.

A work order is the formal record of a job done (or to be done) for a customer — a service call, an install, a repair, a troubleshooting visit, a re-key. It documents what needs doing, who's responsible, what it'll cost in labor and parts, and (if applicable) what it generates in invoicing.

Work orders are different from Appointments:

  • An appointment is a scheduled visit (time + tech + location).
  • A work order is the job itself — the specification and the result.

A single work order can have one, several, or zero appointments tied to it. A one-shot service call has one appointment; a multi-day install has several; a "stock this tech with X items" internal work order has zero.

Getting here

  • Click Work Orders in the customer's header tab bar. The tab shows a count of open work orders.
  • Or navigate directly to https://portal.securitytrax.com/{your-company}/customers/{id}/customer-work-orders.

The list

Every work order on this customer. For each row:

  • ID badge — the work order number.
  • Subject — the clickable title that opens the work order for editing.
  • Type badges — the task type and, if present, the ADT work-order type.
  • Status badges — open / closed ticket status and any priority badge.
  • Note body — the text entered on the work order.
  • Created — timestamp and author.
  • Assigned tech — the person responsible, if one is set.
  • Work to perform — a compact summary of the equipment-action counts.
  • Appointments — the linked appointments shown below the card.

Click any row to open the work order for editing.

Creating a new work order

Click + New Work Order (quick-action or from the list toolbar).

Form fields

Field Required? Type Validation Notes
Template No Cards / radio select One of your company's Work Order Templates Appears above the form when templates exist. Picking one pre-fills the fields below.
Task Type Yes Select One of the active Customer Note Types The note-type category for the work order. New work orders only show active types; editing an existing work order keeps its saved type selected even if the catalog entry was later inactivated.
Work Order Type Yes Select One of the active Work Order Types The higher-level work-order category.
Assigned tech No Select An active tech on the customer's location Can be left blank if dispatch will assign it later.
Due Date No Date + time Date and time must be valid together When the next action is expected.
Subject Yes Text 1–255 characters Short summary.
Note No Rich text Min 1 character if entered; max 2040 characters Free-form details for the work order.

Work to perform

Below the fields, the Work to perform grid lists every piece of active customer equipment. For each row you can check one or more actions:

Action Meaning Available when
Install This equipment needs to be installed. Equipment status is not installed.
Service This equipment needs servicing. Equipment status is installed.
Remove This equipment needs to be removed. Equipment status is installed.

Install and Service can be selected at the same time on the same row (e.g., install a replacement panel and service the existing wiring). Remove is mutually exclusive — checking Remove unchecks Install and Service for that row, and vice versa.

The header checkboxes (above each column) toggle that action for all eligible equipment at once. Service All and Remove All are mutually exclusive at the header level — clicking one unchecks the other. Install All is independent.

The counts on each work order card summarize those actions (e.g., "Install: 2, Service: 1").

Click Save. The work order appears in the list with status Open.

Editing a work order

Open any work order to edit. Most fields stay editable until the work order is marked Complete or Invoiced, at which point some fields lock to preserve the audit record.

Status lifecycle

A typical progression:

  1. Open — created, not yet scheduled.
  2. Scheduled — at least one appointment tied to it.
  3. In progress — the tech has started (via the appointment Work screen).
  4. Complete — the work is done. Labor and parts are finalized.
  5. Invoiced — a customer invoice has been generated from the work order's billable items.
  6. Cancelled — the customer backed out or the work is no longer needed.

Cancellation freezes the work order but doesn't delete it — the history stays for reporting.

Appointment sheet preview

A work order can include a printable appointment sheet — a PDF that techs take to the job site showing customer info, address, scope, equipment list, and blank sections for notes, signatures, and time stamps. SecurityTrax generates the sheet on demand.

How to get one

  1. Open the work order.
  2. Find the appointment you want the sheet for (work orders can have multiple).
  3. Click the Appointment Sheet link / button.
  4. SecurityTrax renders the sheet as a PDF in a new browser tab (preview).
  5. From there you can print, save, or email it.

Under the hood, this triggers a PDF generation from the default Appointment Sheet PDF template. The URL pattern is …/customer-work-orders/appointment-sheet/{appointmentId}/{calendarCategory} — you typically don't need to type this; the button does it.

Heads up. If PDF generation fails, you'll see a 500 error page with the message "pdf generation failed". Usually this means the document-generator service is down — tell your admin.

Linking work orders to appointments

Work orders and appointments connect in both directions:

  • From the Appointments tab, you can pick an existing work order to attach when scheduling.
  • From a work order card, click Link Appointment to attach an existing future appointment that isn't already linked to another work order. (Requires Work Orders Modify.)
  • From a work order card, click + New Appointment to create a new appointment that is automatically pre-linked to this work order.

The tech's Work screen on an appointment with a linked work order shows the work order's scope and checklist automatically, so there's nothing extra to open.

Scheduling multiple appointments

Use Bulk Schedule when one work order needs the same kind of tech appointment more than once. Common examples include a multi-day install, a phased service job, or the same visit pattern for several technicians.

The tool creates appointments directly on the work order. It is not a reminder or placeholder list — after you click Create Appointments, the appointments appear on the tech schedule and stay linked to the work order.

When the button appears

The Bulk Schedule action appears on a work order when all of these are true:

  • The customer is a customer, not a lead.
  • Your user has Scheduler with View and Create at the customer's location.

If the button is missing, check whether the record is still a lead and whether your user has both scheduler permissions at the customer's location.

What the date range and weekdays mean

Bulk scheduling uses two separate ideas:

  • Date Range sets the first and last calendar dates SecurityTrax is allowed to create appointments inside.
  • Repeat On chooses which weekdays inside that date range should receive appointments.

Both are required. SecurityTrax creates appointments only where the two overlap.

Example: if Start Date is May 27, End Date is May 30, and Repeat On has Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday selected, SecurityTrax creates appointments on May 27, May 28, and May 29. It does not create one on Saturday, May 30 because Saturday was not selected.

The summary at the bottom of the window previews the count before anything is saved, such as "3 appointments will be created for each selected technician (6 total)."

Form fields

Field Required? Type Validation Notes
Service Type Yes Select Must be an active appointment type Controls the main appointment category, such as install or service.
Sub Type No Select Must belong to the selected Service Type if chosen Changing Service Type refreshes this list. If the subtype has a default duration, it can update Duration.
Start Date Yes Date Must be today or later The first date SecurityTrax may create an appointment on.
End Date Yes Date Must be after today and on or after Start Date The last date SecurityTrax may create an appointment on.
Start Time Yes Select Must be a valid 30-minute time option Defaults to 8:00 AM. This same start time is used for every appointment created.
Duration Yes Select Must be greater than 0 Defaults to the customer's location tech-schedule default duration when configured; otherwise 2 Hrs.
Repeat On Yes Checkboxes At least one weekday must be selected, and at least one selected weekday must fall inside the date range Select the weekdays that should receive appointments.
Show List Yes Select Must be one of the available list modes Controls which technicians are shown in Technician(s). A scheduling profile can narrow this list, but one is not required.
Technician(s) Yes Checkboxes At least one technician must be selected Each selected technician gets the full set of appointments from the date/weekday pattern.
Appointment Notes No Text area None beyond normal appointment notes handling The same notes are copied to every appointment created by this run.

Technician list modes

The Show List field changes which technicians are available to choose. If the company has a scheduling profile configured, that profile can narrow which list modes are available. If no scheduling profile is configured, SecurityTrax still shows the standard list modes:

Option What it shows
In Office Location Eligible technicians assigned to the same office location as the customer. No geo-point or radius calculation is used.
In Coverage Area Eligible technicians whose configured starting point and coverage radius include the customer, when the customer has valid geocoding.
In Max Coverage Area Eligible technicians within the company's maximum out-of-coverage radius, when the customer has valid geocoding.

If the customer does not have valid geocoding, radius-based modes fall back to a location-based technician list. If no technicians match the selected list mode, the window shows "No technicians are available for this customer and list mode."

Changing Show List clears the selected technicians so you do not accidentally schedule someone who is no longer in the visible list.

What happens when you create appointments

  1. Click Bulk Schedule on the work order.
  2. Fill in the appointment details, date range, weekdays, technician list, and notes.
  3. Review the count summary at the bottom of the window.
  4. Click Create Appointments.

SecurityTrax creates the first appointment for each selected technician, then creates the remaining recurring appointments from that first appointment. Every appointment is:

  • A tech schedule appointment.
  • Linked to the same customer.
  • Linked to the same work order.
  • Assigned to one selected technician.
  • Created with the same service type, subtype, start time, duration, and notes.

If any appointment in the run fails to save, SecurityTrax attempts to roll back the appointments already created by that run and shows "Unable to create the bulk appointments."

Reviewing bulk-created appointments

When a work order has more than one linked appointment, the card shows the first appointment with a stacked count badge instead of listing every appointment inline. Click the stack to review all linked appointments in a dialog. The dialog groups by Date by default, and you can switch it to User.

Use Date grouping when you want to see the calendar sequence. Use User grouping when you want to verify each technician's assigned appointments.

Sending a work order

Each work order card with linked appointments shows a Send button. (Requires Messages Create.)

  1. Click Send on the work order card.
  2. Select the appointment to send.
  3. Optionally check "Send to technician" (uses the assigned tech's email) and/or enter additional email addresses.
  4. Optionally customize the subject line and message body.
  5. Click Send. SecurityTrax generates the appointment sheet PDF and emails it as an attachment.

Use the Preview button in the send dialog to view the appointment sheet PDF before sending.

Generating a purchase order

If a work order has equipment marked for Install with a configured default vendor, you can generate a purchase order directly. (Requires Equipment PO Create.)

  1. Click Generate PO on the work order card.
  2. Select the inventory recipient (technician).
  3. Click Generate. SecurityTrax groups equipment by vendor and shows quantities, costs, and current inventory levels.
  4. Review each vendor group and click Save to create the purchase order, or Delete to skip it.

Equipment without a default vendor is listed separately with a warning.

From work order to invoice

If a work order has billable labor and parts, your admin can generate a customer invoice from it. Generated invoices land on the Invoices list and show a back-reference to the original work order.

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