Playbook: Field service check-in app
Field technicians report time and materials on paper
The problem
A technician finishes a job, writes hours and parts on a sheet, and it reaches the office days later — smudged, incomplete, and impossible to invoice accurately. Nobody knows where anybody is until they call.
What you end up with
A phone app the technician opens on site. They pick their job, check in, record the time spent and the materials used, photograph the result, and check out. The office sees it immediately and can invoice from it.
What it needs
- Access level: App Builder access.
- Instance: connected — jobs, customers and materials come from there, and reported work goes back.
- Pro app: yes, if you want photos and offline-ish drafts stored with the app — that uses file storage and table storage.
- Sharing: the app shared with the field team.
Build it step by step
In the App Builder:
Build a Pro app called "Field Service", phone first. It opens on today's jobs assigned to the signed-in technician, nearest first, each showing the customer, address, contact phone and what needs doing.
Add the on-site flow:
From a job the technician taps Check in, which records the time. They can then add hours, add materials from our product list with quantities, and write a short work description. Check out records the end time.
Add evidence:
Allow up to three photos per job, stored with the job.
Send the result home:
When the technician checks out, write the reported hours and materials back to the job in ERP and notify dispatch.
Handle the practicalities:
Make the address tappable so it opens the map, and the phone number tappable to call.
Share it with the team; they install it to the home screen.
Try it
Give it to one technician for one day before rolling it out. Then ask them a single question: what did you still write on paper? Whatever they answer is the next thing to build.
Variations
- Signature — capture the customer's signature on the phone at check-out.
- Checklists — a required list of steps per job type, so nothing is skipped.
- Parts from van stock — deduct materials from the technician's own stock location.
- Dispatch view — a second, desk-sized app showing where everyone is.
Where it can go wrong
- Poor coverage. Basements and plant rooms have no signal. Keep each step small and saveable so a lost connection costs one field, not the visit.
- Material search. Technicians will not scroll a catalogue. Give them recent items and a fast search, or a scan.
- Photo size. Full-resolution photos are large; ask for them to be resized before storing, and watch the app's storage limits.
- Double reporting. If the office also keys the sheet in, you get both. Switch the paper off on the same day.