Service Management

XBuddy Service Management covers the full lifecycle of post-sale service delivery — service contracts, ticket management, field technician dispatch, time and materials tracking, and automatic billing. It integrates tightly with Finance (invoicing), Inventory (parts), and HR (technician scheduling).

Core Flow

SM Contract → Ticket → [Assign / Dispatch] → Work → Log Time & Parts → Invoice

Service Contract

A Service Contract defines the commercial terms under which you provide support or maintenance to a customer. It is the parent record for all service activity.

Types: Fixed-fee, Time & Material, Retainer, Milestone-based
SLA policies: Response time, resolution time per severity level
Status: draft → active → expired / cancelled
Contract value tracked against revenue recognised from linked invoices

Ticket (Service Request)

Customers or agents open tickets against a service contract. Each ticket inherits the SLA policy from its contract.

Status: open → assigned → in_progress → resolved → closed
SLA clock starts on ticket creation; escalates automatically if breached
Priority levels: Low / Medium / High / Critical
Internal notes vs. customer-visible comments (separate threads)
Customer satisfaction (CSAT) survey sent on close

Dispatch (Field Service — optional)

For on-site work, a technician is dispatched from the ticket. The dispatch engine considers skill, availability, and location.

Job card created for the technician: customer address, required parts, checklist
Technician accepts job via mobile app
Status: scheduled → en_route → on_site → completed
GPS check-in recorded at site arrival and departure

Work & Logging

The technician (or support agent) logs work against the ticket:

Log type	What is captured
Time logs	Start time, end time, work description, billable/non-billable flag
Parts used	Item SKU, quantity, from which warehouse — triggers Inventory Goods Issue
Checklist	Step-by-step task completion recorded on job card
Photos / attachments	Evidence of work done, customer signatures

Invoice Generation

When work is complete, billing is triggered based on contract type:

Contract type	Billing trigger	What is invoiced
Time & Material	Ticket resolved	All logged hours + parts at contract rates
Fixed Fee	Monthly / on milestone	Fixed amount per period
Retainer	Monthly	Retainer fee; surplus hours billed extra
Milestone	On milestone approval	Milestone value

One click from the ticket or contract generates a pre-filled invoice in Finance. All line items carry over — no re-entry.

SLA Management

SLA policies define your response and resolution commitments. They attach to contracts and drive escalation.

SLA Policy structure

SLA Policy: "Enterprise Support — 24/7"
  Critical tickets: respond in 1h, resolve in 4h
  High tickets:     respond in 2h, resolve in 8h
  Medium tickets:   respond in 4h, resolve in 24h
  Low tickets:      respond in 8h, resolve in 72h

Escalation rules

Near breach: notification to assigned agent at 75% of SLA time elapsed
Breached: auto-escalate to team lead; update ticket priority
Overdue: second escalation to service manager; flag on contract health score

SLA reporting

SLA compliance rate (% tickets resolved within SLA)
Average first response time by priority
Breach root cause analysis (agent, time-of-day, complexity)

Billing Models in Detail

Time & Materials

The most flexible model. You bill exactly what was logged.

Ticket resolved
  → Review logged hours (engineer reviews for accuracy)
  → Review parts used (reconciled with Inventory)
  → Generate invoice: hours × labour rate + parts × unit cost

Discount rules, minimum billing increments (e.g. 30-min minimum), and non-billable categories are configurable per contract.

Retainer

Customer pays a monthly fee for a block of hours. Overages are billed extra.

Month end:
  → Invoice retainer fee
  → If hours used > retainer block: invoice surplus at overage rate
  → If hours used < retainer block: carry-over rules (configurable: use-it-or-lose-it / rollover cap)

Milestones

Break a project into stages; invoice each stage independently on approval.

Milestone 1: Installation complete      → Invoice £5,000
Milestone 2: User acceptance testing    → Invoice £3,000
Milestone 3: Go-live + handover         → Invoice £2,000

Parts & Inventory Integration

Technicians consume parts from the warehouse. Every part used is recorded and deducted from stock automatically.

Job card: "Replace compressor unit × 1"
  → Part SKU looked up in Inventory
  → Reserved for this job (holds stock)
  → On job completion: Goods Issue confirmed → stock deducted
  → Part cost added to invoice line (T&M contracts)

Technicians can request parts not in stock → triggers Purchase Request in Procurement.

Status Reference

SM Contract:  draft → active → expired / cancelled
Ticket:       open → assigned → in_progress → resolved → closed
              (any stage → on_hold, then back)
Dispatch Job: scheduled → en_route → on_site → completed / cancelled

Integration Points

Module	What happens
Finance	Invoice generated from ticket/contract; payment updates AR
Inventory	Parts used → Goods Issue; stock deducted on job completion
CRM	Ticket linked to account; open tickets visible in Customer 360
HR / Scheduling	Technician availability from HR attendance; dispatch considers leave
Customer Success	CSAT scores feed health score; repeat tickets flag at-risk accounts

AI Agents

Agent	What it does	Cadence
SLA Breach Predictor	Identifies tickets likely to breach before they do; suggests re-prioritisation	Hourly
Contract Renewal Predictor	Flags contracts approaching expiry with renewal probability score	Weekly
Revenue Leakage Detector	Finds unbilled time logs and parts to prevent missed billing	Daily
Technician Utilisation Optimizer	Reports under/over-utilised technicians for capacity planning	Weekly
Smart Dispatch Recommender	Scores technician fit per job (skill + location + availability)	Event-driven
Customer Satisfaction Monitor	Analyses CSAT trends per account; flags deteriorating relationships	Weekly

CRM · Sales · Customer Success HR · Payroll · Performance · OKR · L&D