Run a work order

A work order is one job on one aircraft: who is billed, when it came in and when you promised it back, what the owner asked for, and where the job stands. Only owners, admins and technicians see work orders. Dispatchers see customer aircraft on the schedule and the hangar bookings, but not the jobs, and pilots never do, not even on your own aircraft, because a job carries the owner's details and prices.

Open a work order#

Move the job along#

On the job's page, the Stage menu at the top moves it: Requested, Scheduled, Aircraft received, In progress, Waiting for owner, Waiting for parts, Ready for pickup, Completed, or Cancelled. The dates follow the stage: the first stage that means the aircraft is here records when it was received, Completed records when the work finished, and Completed or Cancelled moves the job to Finished jobs with that day. Moving a finished job back to an open stage puts it back on the board. Moving a job back to Requested or Scheduled clears the received date and the Hobbs and tach in and out, so the day the aircraft really arrives, and its meters then, are the ones recorded.

When a job moves to Aircraft received (or straight to a later stage in the hangar) with no Hobbs or tach in recorded, the meters open under Details with them filled in from the aircraft. Check them against the meters and click Save, or Cancel to leave them empty.

There is no Edit button: each detail is changed where it is shown. Click a value under Details to change it: Billed to, Promised back, Technicians, the Hobbs and tach in and out, and the Hangar slot, which is the maintenance booking holding the aircraft and the hangar on the schedule (choose None when the job has no booking). Click the pencil on a notes card to write in it, then Save (or Cmd+Enter); Esc puts it back. What the owner asked for is the request in their words, Notes for the owner are what you would tell them, and Shop notes are for the shop only.

The work on the job#

The job's page keeps the work and what it charges in one list, Work and charges. What the owner asked for and what you found are separate groups, because they are different conversations with the owner, and each item has the labor and parts done for it listed underneath, with its total. Click Add and choose Owner's request or Finding, or type to search the menu. Hover a group's header and click its + to add straight into that group: an owner's request, a finding, or a charge not for any item.

• Each item's ring says where it stands: a green tick when it is done, a blue dot when the owner approved it, a dashed ring when nobody has asked the owner yet, a half-filled ring while its inspection or squawk is open.

• Fold a group or an item by clicking it. With the keyboard, the arrow keys move down the list, Enter opens a line, and Left and Right fold an item.

• Attach an inspection or a squawk that is open on this aircraft, and the item is done when it is signed off or resolved, whether that happens here or on the phone. Its Sign off or Resolve button opens the same form as everywhere else, so the next due date is worked out as it always is.

• A plain item (a brake adjustment, a wash) you tick done yourself.

• A found item nobody has asked the owner about says Owner not asked yet. Click that tag to record the answer straight from the list: Approved, Declined or Deferred, or Record a call with notes… for the full record below.

• An item's ⋯ menu adds labor or a part for it, marks it done, renames it or removes it.

Record the owner's answer#

When you have spoken to the owner, click Record owner's answer, beside the count of findings waiting at the top of Work and charges. Put who you spoke to, when, the most they said you can spend without calling again, and notes. Then choose Approve, Decline or Defer for each item you discussed. Only the items you answer are changed, and an item answered again on a later call shows the later answer.

Labor and parts#

The lines are everything the job will charge. Anyone in the shop adds lines as the work is done: a technician enters their own hours and the parts they fitted. Click Add and choose the kind under Charges, or use an item's menu, Add labor or a part for it, to add a line already under that item. Click a line to change it.

The form asks only for what the line is: what was done, and its hours and rate or its quantity and price. Everything else is a row of buttons under it, each showing its value, and a line that keeps the usual values never needs them: the kind, the item it is for, the technician and day (labor), the part's status and expected date, a discount, sales tax, and whether it is billed. Click one to change it.

• Labor is hours at a rate. Type clock time: 1.5 is an hour and a half, 0.25 a quarter. Rate per hour fills in from the shop's labor rate; an admin can change it on the entry. Until the shop has a labor rate, only an admin can enter labor. Pick the Technician and the Day the work was done.
• Part and Outside work are what the shop paid (Cost each) plus the shop's markup for that kind. Price each shows the result, greyed, and says the markup under it. An admin can type a price there to charge that instead; empty the field to go back to cost plus the markup. A part also takes its part number, serial number and vendor, and a status (ordered, received, installed, returned, unused) with the day it is expected.
• Shop supplies, Freight and shipping, Fee and Other are a quantity at a price.
• Discount takes a percentage off a whole line: 10 takes 10% off. Only an admin gives one. The card and the invoice show the line at its discounted price, with "(10% off)" in its name, and a line 100% off stays on the invoice at $0.00 so the owner sees the work you gave them.

Each line can point at one of the job's items with For item, and the list shows it under that item, so you can check the charges against the work the owner approved. A line for no item, or for an item since removed, is listed under Not for a specific item.

• Billed is the default. Choose No charge for warranty work or shop time you are not billing: the line stays on the job as a record of the work, and never reaches the invoice.
• Sales tax follows your organization's rule for that kind of line. Choose Taxable or Not taxable on a line to decide it yourself. See Charge sales tax for the rules.

Raise the invoice#

When the work is done, click Raise invoice at the bottom of Work and charges, beside the total. The dialog prices the bill exactly as it will be raised: each line with its tax, your service fee, and the total. Under Also on the invoice it shows what the bill carries besides the lines: the work order number, the aircraft (tail, make and model), the Hobbs and tach in and out, and a description listing the work completed (the items marked done that the owner did not decline) followed by your Notes for the owner. Your notes always keep their room: a long list of finished work ends "and 3 more", and the dialog says when anything was shortened. Pick when it is Due: on receipt, in 15 or 30 days, or On a date… to pick the day on a calendar (up to a year out; it is due at the end of that day). Then click the button that names the total. The person billed gets it by email with a link to pay online: an owner who is not a member of your organization gets Stripe's email at the address on the aircraft's Owners panel, and a member gets it by email and in the app. Or you record cash or a check the usual way.

• Billed to must name somebody. A job billed to Nobody cannot be invoiced: choose who pays under Details.
• An owner who is not a member is reached only at the email on the aircraft's Owners panel. With no address there, the invoice is refused until you add one.
• If a line or a rate changed while the dialog was open, the invoice is not raised. The dialog shows the new total to check, and you raise it again. The same goes for the notes for the owner and the finished work: the owner is never sent text you did not see. The same happens if somebody added a line in the moment the invoice was being made: that invoice is voided at once, so the bill always matches the job.
• An invoice can be at most $999,999.99, and so can a line.

Once the invoice is raised, the job's lines are frozen, the job cannot be cancelled, and who pays cannot change. To correct anything, void the invoice in WebBilling, change the lines, and raise a new one. The job's Billing card links to its invoice, and the invoice links back to the job.

Shop rates#

WebSettings → Shop rates sets the Labor rate per hour, the Markup on parts, and the Markup on outside work (a propeller overhaul, a radio repair sent out). Markups are percentages: 15 adds 15% to what the shop paid.

These price NEW lines only. Each line keeps the rate and markup it was entered with, so changing the shop's rates never changes a job already in progress. Only owners and admins see this page; a technician sees the rate filled in on each labor line, and only an admin changes it there.

Find a job#

• WebMaintenance → Open jobs groups the open jobs by where the aircraft is: In the hangar, Waiting (on the owner or a part), Ready for pickup, Scheduled and Requested, oldest first in each, with who pays, the technicians, the promised day (amber once it has passed) and what the job has charged so far. Click a column's name to sort by it, inside each group; click again to reverse it, and a third time to go back. Click a job to see it beside the list, or double-click it to open its page. Finished jobs lists completed and cancelled ones, newest first.
• The filter button beside the search narrows either list by Aircraft, Location (where the aircraft is based), Owner (anybody on the aircraft's Owners panel, billed or not), Billed to, and Technician. Each takes several at once.
• On an aircraft, WebWork orders shows its open jobs and its past ones.
• On a person in WebPeople, Work orders lists the jobs billed to them, open first. It is always there for an aircraft owner who is not a member, and on a member once they have been billed for a job. Past the five most recent finished jobs, a link opens the rest on Finished jobs.
• Search with ⌘K for the job number (1042 or WO-1042), the tail, or the owner's name. Type jobs: first to search work orders only.

On the Aircraft page's Customer aircraft tab, each aircraft says In the shop while it has an open job and is here, Expected in when its job is requested or scheduled, and Not in the shop otherwise.

Delete a job opened by mistake#

An admin can delete a job from the menu on its page, as long as it has never been invoiced. A job that has been invoiced stays on the record: set its stage to Cancelled instead. Deleting leaves a line in the audit log saying the job existed and who deleted it.

Every change is recorded#

Opening a job, changing its stage, editing it, adding or changing a line, recording the owner's answer, and raising the invoice each leave a line in the audit log, naming the job, the aircraft and the person billed. Admins can find them under WebAudit log → Work orders. Changing the shop's rates is recorded too, under WebAudit log → Settings.

Common questions

Who can see work orders?

Owners, admins and technicians. Dispatchers see customer aircraft on the schedule and the hangar bookings, but not the jobs. Instructors, students and renters never see them, even on your own aircraft, because a job carries the owner's details and prices.

Can a work order bill two co-owners?

No. One person pays for each job. It starts as the aircraft's owner marked Billed, and you can change it until the job is invoiced.

Does the Hobbs I enter on a work order change the aircraft's meter?

No. Hobbs and tach in and out are what the job recorded. The aircraft's own meters are changed where they always are, so nothing is grounded or rescheduled by typing a reading on a job.

Can I delete a work order?

An admin can delete a job opened by mistake, as long as it has never been invoiced. A job that has been invoiced stays on the record, even after its invoice is voided; set its stage to Cancelled instead.

Can I change a line after the invoice is raised?

Not on that invoice. Raising it freezes the job's lines. Void the invoice in Billing, change the lines, and raise a new one.

Can I give a customer a discount?

Yes. An admin puts a percentage in Discount on any line. It comes off the whole line before tax, and the invoice shows the line at its discounted price with the percentage in its name, at $0.00 if it is 100% off.

Does the owner see my cost and markup on parts?

No. The invoice shows each line's price and total. The cost and the markup stay on the work order, which only the shop sees.

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