The work order feature in Retail POS lets you offer services like tune-ups, cleaning, or repairs. You can create and track services, inventory, and staff assigned to work orders without leaving Retail POS.

To access work orders on iPad, navigate to the Manager tab from the Profile page and follow the steps below.

Enabling the Service module

You must enable the Service module on your account to create work orders:

1. Navigate to Settings > Optional Modules under Advanced Setup.

   

2. Toggle on the Service module.

   

3. Click Save Changes.
4. Have all employees currently logged in log out and back in.

Creating a new work order

Work orders must be associated with a customer. You can link an existing customer or create a new customer when you create the order.

1. From the main menu, click Service > New Work Order.
2. Search for or create a new customer. Search for your customer by entering their details and choosing their name from the Possible Matches menu. To create a new customer, fill out their details and click Create New Customer.
3. After adding a customer, you’ll be directed to the Work order page. Add information about the work order and the item being serviced. If needed, you can add images to the work order.
4. Add items and charges to the work order.
5. If the item is still under warranty, check off Warranty to zero out the cost of services.
6. Optionally, click Save Parts to tell your team to keep old parts after a repair.

   

7. In the Date In and Due fields, select the appropriate dates and times.

   

8. You can leave a receipt note or internal note to add extra information for your staff. Click Add time to add the date and time to an internal note.

   

To assign employees to the work order:

• To assign a specific employee to the service, choose their name from the Employee dropdown. You can also select Assign Employee To All Lines.

  

• To assign individual line items to different employees:
  
  1. Click the item name in the Description column.
  2. Choose an employee from the Employee dropdown menu.
  3. Click Save.

Changing the customer attached to a work order

To change which customer is attached to a work order:

1. Navigate to Services > Workorders.
2. Locate the work order and click its ID.
3. In the Customer field, click Remove. If you remove the customer, the sales line will also be removed.
4. Review the information in the warning pop-up to confirm that you want to remove the customer. Special orders will be deleted, and reserved units will be returned to your inventory. Click OK to confirm.

You’ll be directed to add a customer. Once a customer is added to the work order, you’ll be redirected back to the Work order page.

If work order items have been put on special order, the special order will be removed when the customer is removed from the work order. If you still want to special order items for the work order, toggle the Special Order status beside the item once you’ve re-added a customer.

Duplicating a work order

If a work order hasn’t been completed, it can be duplicated. The duplicate includes all items and information on the original order, except order-specific features like item serial numbers. To duplicate a work order:

1. Navigate to Service > Work Orders.
2. Locate the order and click the ID or Customer.
3. Click Duplicate. This will automatically open a new tab with the duplicate order.

On iPad, the duplicate order isn’t visible until you navigate back to the Workorders page.

Adding items and charges to a work order

You can add inventory items, labor charges, or miscellaneous charges to a work order.

Adding inventory items

1. Locate the item in the Item field.

   

   If only one item meets your search criteria, it will be added to the order automatically. Otherwise, click Select beside an item on the search results page to add it to the order.

   

2. Once the item is added, you can add details to the item and click Save.
3. To remove an item, click the delete (trash can) icon.

   

Items can be edited once they’ve been added to a work order to add individual item notes, tax information, and discounts. To edit an item in a work order:

1. Click the item name in the Description column.
2. Edit the item. You can click the item name again to edit the product information.
3. Click Save.

Adding a serialized item to a work order

If both your customer and the serialized item they'd like serviced already exist in your Retail account, you can attach both to a new work order automatically.

1. From the main menu, click Customers > Customers.
2. Click your customer's name.
3. Click Items.

   

4. Click the Edit Serial icon beside the serialized item to be serviced.

   

5. Click the Workorders section.
6. Click + New Work Order.

   

Reserving inventory for work orders

Adding items to a work order automatically marks inventory as reserved. This helps you track inventory and avoid selling items you need to complete work orders. You’ll receive notifications at checkout letting you know that an item is reserved.

To view the quantity of an item that has been reserved:

1. Navigate to Inventory > Item Search.
2. Locate the item.
3. Find the quantity reserved under Reservations.

   

This section also offers reservations broken down by Layaway and Special Order. Different work orders reserve items separately, even when they’re attached to the same customer.

If you’re making a sale that includes reserved inventory and selling the item would result in negative inventory, you’ll receive a warning on the Sales screen.

A warning will also display on the Workorder page if you're about to add inventory that might be reserved.

Creating special orders for work order items

When adding items to a work order, you can place a special order by toggling Special Order next to the item in the Status column.

This automatically creates a special order for the items and moves them from your Workorder reservations to your Special Order reservations.

You can view the total inventory on special order from the item details.

1. Navigate to Inventory > Item Search.
2. Locate the item.
3. Find the Special Order quantity reserved under Reservations.

   

To remove the items from special order, uncheck Special Order in the Status column. This will return the items to being reserved.

If you delete a work order item on special order, it will be removed from any sent purchase orders or inventory transfers.

Adding labor charges

The Labor tab lets you charge customers for the work associated with their order. From the Workorder page:

1. Click Labor.

   

2. Fill in the fields under Add Labor Charge. If you've set a labor rate for your store location, you can input the time for the order and the price will be calculated automatically.
3. Click Save.

Override lets you set a flat charge for the entire service if needed.

Adding miscellaneous charges

If you need to add charges in addition to items and labor, you can use the Miscellaneous charge section. From the Workorder page:

1. Click Misc.
2. Fill in the Add Miscellaneous charge section.
3. Click Save.

Adding images to a work order

You can upload images to a work order. For example, you can upload before and after images for liability purposes.

You can add up to 12 images per work order. Image files must meet the following requirements:

• Image size: 650 x 650 pixels. Larger images will be cropped to fit.
• File type: JPEG or JPG
• File size: 8 MB
• File name: Only use letters and numbers, no special characters.

Your default account upload limits are a maximum of either 100 GB of image data or 25,000 images. Once you've reached 75% of either limit, you'll be notified in the Image upload section of your work order.

To upgrade your image upload limit, contact our Retail Support team.

From the Workorder page:

1. Click the + Add Images button.

   

2. To upload your images, you can either:
   1. Drag and drop the files.
   2. Click the Browse button to find the files on your computer.

Once you’ve uploaded your image, the featured image will show as the thumbnail. To view and manage images:

1. Click the featured image thumbnail.

   

2. Click on Grid or Slideshow to toggle how images are displayed.
   1. Grid view displays the thumbnails of all your items. You can browse or drag and drop more image files, or click on a specific image to enter its Slideshow view. Click and drag images to change their order.

      

   2. Slideshow allows you to navigate left and right between images using the arrows. You can also click the Delete Image button to remove an image or Mark as Featured to make it the featured image. Right-click or drag and drop images to save them to your computer.

      

   3. Click Close to return to your work order.

Changing work order status

Work orders have four default statuses: Open, Estimate, Waiting, and Finished. As work progresses, you can use Open, Waiting, and Finished to track the progress of work orders.

Creating a custom work order status

You can create custom statuses that are relevant to your work orders. For example, you could use custom statuses like Sent to manufacturer and Received back from manufacturer for repairs done outside of your store.

1. In Retail POS, navigate to Settings > Custom Statuses under the Service heading.
2. Click the + New Status button.

   

3. In the Status field, enter the status name.
4. In the Order field, enter the order number. This will control where the custom status is displayed in the work order's Status dropdown list. The lower the order number, the higher the status is displayed.
5. In the Color dropdown, select a background color for easy recognition.
6. Click Save Changes.

Completing work orders

Once a work order is done, it can be closed from the work order itself or through a sale.

Closing through the order form

1. From the main menu, click Service > Work Orders.
2. Locate the work order. You can search by any combination of Customer, Line Item, or Serial Number.
3. Click the work order ID to open it.
4. From the Status dropdown, select Finished.

   

5. If needed, add, remove, or update the items or charges on the work order.
6. Click Checkout to go to the payment screen.

   

7. Complete the payment.

Closing a work order during a sale

1. From the main menu, click Sales > New Sale.
2. In the Search Customers field, enter a customer with an open work order.
3. Click Attach To Sale beside the customer.
4. Click the Work Orders tab.

   

5. Click Complete to the left of the work order to transfer it to the Sale tab.

   

6. In the Sale tab, add additional items or charges to the sale if needed.
7. Complete the sale.

Removing a work order from a sale

To remove a work order from a sale, click Remove beside the order description.

This moves the work order back to the Work orders tab.

Bulk completing work orders

If a customer has multiple open work orders, they can be completed with a single click. From the open sale:

1. Click the Work orders tab.
2. Click Complete All.

   

This moves all work orders to the Sale tab. Depending on how many work orders you’re completing and how many lines are contained in each work order, this action can take a moment to process.

Communicating with your customer

Your customers may request quotes, estimates, and printed information. You can provide this without leaving the work order.

• To print a tag: Click Print Tag to print a paper reference linking the item to the work order.
• To print an estimate: Select Estimate from the Status dropdown and click Print Tag.
• To print a quote: Click Print Quote.
• To email a quote: Click Send As Email, enter the customer's email address and a custom message, then click Send Email Work Order.

Creating a work order estimate

The Estimate status lets you make and print estimates for customers without placing a work order or reserving inventory.

To change a work order to an estimate from the Work order page:

1. Click the Status dropdown.
2. Select Estimate.

   

3. Review the information in the warning pop-up to confirm that you want to change the work order to an estimate. Click OK.

Items in an estimate won’t create a special order even if the Special Order option has been toggled on. Estimate will display under Status on the Workorders page. Reserved units will be returned to your inventory.

Moving work orders between shop locations

If needed, you can move work orders between shop locations. From the Work order page:

1. Click the Shop dropdown.

   

2. Select the location where you’re moving the work order.
3. Click OK to confirm the change.

When you move a work order, any items reserved at the current location will be returned to the current location's inventory, and then be reserved in the new shop’s inventory.

Archiving work orders

Archiving a work order returns reserved units to your inventory and deletes any special orders. These will be removed from the Work orders page and won’t be available when checking out.

1. Navigate to Service > Work Orders.
2. Locate the work order and click the ID or Customer name.
3. Click Archive.

Viewing archived work orders

1. Navigate to Service > Work Orders.
2. Click Advanced.

   

3. Check off Show Archived and click Search to refresh the page.

   

   This will make archived sales visible.

You can access an archived work order by clicking the ID or Customer Name. To un-archive an order, click Un-Archive from an archived work order page.

If you duplicate an archived work order, the copy won’t be archived.

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