Workflows & examples
Common workflows
1. Ticket to resolution
- A ticket arrives in Tickets (portal, email, or manual) and inherits its SLA policy.
- An agent is assigned; the Support Concierge drafts a response.
- The agent works the ticket, logging Timesheets for billable time.
- On resolution, the ticket closes and its billable time flows to Billing.
2. One-off order to invoice
- A quotation for the work is accepted and converts into a Service Order.
- The team delivers the work, optionally dispatching on-site parts to Field Service.
- The order (or a partial amount) is invoiced directly from the Service Order.
3. Fixed-price project by milestone
- Set up a Service Contract and a Project, and break the Service Order into priced milestones.
- As each milestone is delivered, it’s staged for billing individually.
- Generate an invoice per milestone as work progresses.
4. Contract to T&M invoice
- Set up a Service Contract with a T&M rate card.
- Raise Service Orders under the contract; agents deliver and log time.
- Approve billable Timesheets and review unbilled time in Billing.
- Generate a consolidated customer invoice in Finance with hours and rates pre-filled.
5. Retainer billing cycle
- Set up a Service Contract as a retainer with a billing cycle, and enable Recurring Retainer Billing.
- Each cycle, a billing event is staged automatically.
- A reviewer confirms and generates the recurring invoice.
6. Keep SLAs green
- Define SLA Policies with response/resolution targets by priority.
- Tickets inherit deadlines and show time remaining.
- Watch the SLA Report; escalate at-risk items before they breach.
A worked example, end to end
A retainer customer reports a fault; the work is delivered, approved and billed.
The ticket arrives
A customer emails about a failed pump controller. It lands as a ticket, gets priority high, and the SLA policy attached to their contract starts two clocks: 4 hours to first response, 24 hours to resolution.
Triage and assignment
A coordinator assigns it — that needs tickets:assign. Because the contract is active and covers this asset, the ticket inherits the contract’s SLA policy rather than the company default.
It needs on-site work
The ticket converts into a service order. The order inherits the account, the contract, the site address and the rate card — the contract’s effective rate card, meaning base lines plus any annex whose status is effective, not the raw catalog price. A guard prevents a second active order for the same ticket.
Delivery
A technician is dispatched as a field service job. Two hours of labour are logged against the order at the contracted hourly rate. Parts consumed are stock-backed: they leave the warehouse in base units and post COGS.
Approval
The technician submits their timesheet. A manager with service_management:approve_timesheets approves 2.0 billable hours. Approval is what makes the hours eligible — unapproved hours never reach billing.
Billing
The approved hours stage into the billing queue as a pending event. Nothing auto-invoices. An accountant reviews the queue and generates the invoice, which creates a real draft AR invoice in Finance, stamps the source rows as billed, and links the contract to the invoice in the document chain.
Contract consumption
The 2 hours count against the retainer’s included hours. When consumption approaches the ceiling, the renewal conversation starts from data rather than from memory.
One engagement, one billing path. Four routes can produce an invoice — direct from a service order, from the billing queue, from a field-service job’s auto-invoice, and the timesheet shortcut. The same work may use only one. Jobs dispatched from a service order never auto-invoice. Hour-lines on an order plus timesheets for the same contract and month are blocked (one_engagement_one_billing_path). Full map: Service Management landscape.
Data in and out
Comes from
| Source | What arrives | Where it is used |
|---|---|---|
| CRM | Account, contact, contract source | Ticket and order header |
| Field Service | Job completion, parts consumed, on-site time | Order completion and cost |
| Inventory | Parts and stock | Material consumption |
| Asset Management | The asset under service, warranty entitlement | Whether the work is chargeable |
Goes to
| Destination | What leaves | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Finance | Draft AR invoices from billing events | Receivables |
| Field Service | Dispatched jobs | On-site execution |
| Projects | Delivery projects for larger engagements | Milestones and effort |
| Accounting | Revenue and COGS via the invoice | The ledger |