Ticket: from service request to close
The complete flow of a repair ticket in one walkthrough – request, intake, estimate, order, invoice or register, and close
This guide follows one repair ticket all the way through: a customer registers her broken e-scooter, you accept it, send an estimate, repair it, bill it and close the ticket. Each phase links to the detailed guide in case you want to go deeper.
A ticket keeps all documents of one case together. The phase bar at the top of the ticket shows where it stands: Request → Estimate → Order → Invoice or Close. The Next step card below the phase bar always suggests the matching action.
At a glance
| Phase | Where in SimpliServ | What happens | Who / permission |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Request | Public service form, Service requests or New Ticket | Ticket with number and tracking link is created, customer gets a confirmation | The customer or Service registrations → Create |
| 2. Intake | Step Request in the ticket | Accept or deny, receive the device, label, assignment, deadline | Service registrations → Accept or Service registrations → Deny |
| 3. Estimate | Step Estimate | Calculate the estimate, send it, customer approves or rejects online | Service registrations → Convert to estimate, Proposals → Edit |
| 4. Order | Step Order | Take over line items, reserve parts, track time, status up to ready for pickup | Service registrations → Convert to order, Orders → Edit |
| 5. Invoice | Step Invoice | Invoice or advance invoice from the order | Invoices → Create from order |
| 6. Close | Close the ticket or register | Take payment or invoice, payment, complete the order, archive the ticket | Cash registers → Operate (sell), Tickets → Archive |
1. The request comes in
Every service request automatically opens a ticket. It gets a sequential ticket number, a location (the default location if none is given) and its own tracking link that can't be guessed.
The customer registers online
Through your public service form the customer enters contact details, device and fault description. SimpliServ creates the service request, the contact and the ticket. If the form requests a shipping label, it's generated as well.
Or you capture the request yourself
If someone calls or is standing at the counter, click New request under Service requests and fill in the same form. With Convert to order immediately the order is created right away when you save. Details: Capture a request manually.
The customer gets the confirmation
After submission a confirmation email (template Service registration confirmation) with the tracking link goes out automatically, for online registrations and for manual capture. Optionally SimpliServ attaches the registration PDF (Attach service registration PDF). Contacts with automatic emails turned off don't get an email.
An appointment request can become a ticket too. How to start a ticket without any request is described under Common special cases.
2. Accept, receive the device, assign
Open the ticket from the list under Tickets. How to review requests and avoid duplicates is described in Triage service requests.
Accept or deny
In the Request step, click Accept or Deny. A prefilled email to the customer opens, which you can adjust or skip with Don't send an email. This only works while the request is Pending.
Receive the device
If the device comes by parcel (shipping label) or via ZIR, the ticket shows Device expected. Once it's there, click Device received in the ticket header. Plain form requests never have this state. At the latest when the order is created, the device counts as received. If the customer should confirm the handover (at intake and later at pickup), have them sign via Capture signature in the ticket header, see Signature templates.
Print the label
Via Print → Print tag you print the label for the device, via Order confirmation the order confirmation with intake data, terms and signature for the customer. The print menu in the ticket header is available in the ticket-only view; otherwise you print the label in the order with Print tag (workshop tag).
Assign and set a deadline
In the ticket header you set Assignee and, with Set deadline, a handling deadline. Tickets close to or past their deadline show up in the Urgent filter. More in Deadline & SLA.
3. Create the estimate and get approval
If the price isn't fixed yet, you calculate an estimate. If everything is clear, you can jump straight to phase 4.
Create the estimate from the request
The Next step card shows Create estimate. Clicking Create creates the estimate with the ticket's customer and addresses.
Line items and estimate fee
Enter labour, spare parts and, if needed, an estimate fee that can be credited when the customer places the order. The details are in Create an estimate.
Send it to the customer
As long as the estimate is a draft, the card shows Send estimate. Send to customer opens the estimate, where you send it via Print / Send → Send via Email. The status changes to Sent.
The customer approves or rejects
The customer decides without logging in, either through a Get customer link that you generate in the estimate's action menu and send her, or on the tracking page. When accepting she can leave a comment, and the acceptance is stored as a signature. When rejecting she has to give a reason. The status becomes Accepted or Rejected, and you're notified. If she agrees by phone, you set the status in the estimate yourself.
As soon as the estimate is no longer a draft, the Next step card already suggests Create order, even if the customer hasn't answered yet or has rejected it. Check the estimate's status before creating the order. What to do on a rejection is described under Customer rejects the estimate.
4. Order: repair and mark as done
Create the order from the estimate
In the Next step card click Create order, or click the empty Order step in the phase bar. The ticket needs a customer for this. SimpliServ takes over the estimate's line items and addresses; a credited estimate fee appears as a credit line item.
The customer is informed
If Send order tracking emails automatically is on, the customer automatically gets an email with the tracking link when the request is converted into the order (template Service registration converted).
Keep line items in sync
If something changes during the repair, adjust the line items in the order. Apply estimate items pulls a changed estimate into the order (and the other way round in the estimate). Stock parts with a selected warehouse are reserved as long as the order has an active status.
Track time
In the ticket you start time tracking for the labour. Depending on your settings, the tracked time is added as a line item with your time product when you stop the timer or when the invoice is created.
Done: set ready for pickup
When the repair is finished, set the order status in the Service order information card to a status with the flag Marks order as ready for pickup. The tracking page then switches to ready for pickup, and the ticket shows up in the Ready for pickup filter.
What the status flags do with stock:
| Order status flag | Effect |
|---|---|
| none (active status) | parts stay reserved |
| Marks order as ready for pickup | the customer sees on the tracking page that they can pick up |
| Marks order as finished | reserved parts are booked out, the tracking page shows completed |
| Cancellation status | open reservations are released, booked-out parts are returned to stock |
You create the statuses themselves in the order settings. More on the stock logic in Create & process an order.
5. Invoice or advance payment
You don't need a delivery note for a repair: the parts sit in the customer's device and are booked out through the completed order status. Orders inside a ticket therefore don't offer a delivery-note conversion. Delivery notes exist for orders without a ticket, see Delivery notes.
Optional: request an advance payment
For expensive repairs, choose Actions → Create advance invoice in the order and enter a percentage or amount. Later the conversion is called Create final invoice and deducts the advance payment.
Create the invoice
If your business doesn't close tickets at the register, the card shows Create invoice. Clicking Create invoice copies all order line items into a draft invoice in the ticket. With closing at the register turned on, you go through Close the ticket instead, see phase 6.
Finalize and send
In the draft you check the line items and send the invoice via Print / Send. Only then does it get its sequential number. Details: Create an invoice.
6. Close: take payment or invoice
If Close tickets at the register is on in the ticket settings, the last step is called Close and the card shows Close the ticket.
Close the ticket
Click Close ticket or the Close step. In the Close the ticket dialog you choose:
- Take payment – the customer pays now in cash, by card or split. A receipt is created, not an A4 invoice.
- Create invoice – for bank transfer, payment terms or business customers. A numbered A4 invoice is created; continue as in phase 5.
Take payment at the register
With Take payment SimpliServ opens the register with the order in the cart. If there are several active registers, you pick one first (Choose register). After payment you're back in the ticket. The Payment & receipt card shows the receipt, payment method and amount; with Print A4 invoice the customer gets an A4 version on request. If they only paid part of it, you collect the rest later via Take payment. More on the register: Operate the register.
Or: record the payment for the invoice
With an invoice, the card shows Record payment until it's paid. Via Open invoice you book the incoming payment with Record payment; online payments are matched automatically. See Record payments.
Complete the order
Set the order to a status with Marks order as finished. This books the parts out. With Complete order automatically when paid in the order settings, SimpliServ does this automatically as soon as all invoices of the order are fully paid.
Archive the ticket
When everything is done, hide the ticket in the list via the action menu with Archive. SimpliServ never archives tickets automatically. Under Archived you find them again and bring them back with Restore.
What the customer sees at the end
- The tracking page shows completed as soon as the order has a completed status.
- If the Google reviews email is set up and enabled under Email templates, an email goes to the customer the first time the order enters a completed status, for example asking for a Google review.
- Depending on how you closed, they have a receipt or an invoice with payment status. They can view invoices online through the Get customer link.
Common special cases
Customer rejects the estimate
Don't create an order. If the estimate was chargeable, bill the estimate fee: the estimate and the phase bar offer Create estimate invoice for this. The resulting invoice hangs off the Estimate step. Return the device and archive the ticket. If the customer changes their mind later, create a new estimate instead of overwriting the rejected one.
Warranty case
The customer doesn't pay for warranty line items. In the order, set the Cost bearer of the affected line items to Warranty. They then don't appear on the customer invoice but in the warranty claim to the manufacturer. If the whole order is warranty or goodwill, close it with Close without invoice without a €0 invoice. See Warranty claims.
Combine several tickets into one invoice
If a customer brings several devices, you bill them together: in the ticket list choose Select row in a row's action menu, mark at least two tickets of the same customer and click Combine invoice → Create invoice. SimpliServ creates a draft invoice with all order line items and attaches it to every ticket. Tickets that already have an invoice can't be combined. You need Invoices → Create for this.
Start a ticket without a service request
Click New Ticket under Tickets. In the Where do you want to start? dialog you choose how the case starts: Service Request, Estimate, Quote or straight to Order. The skipped phases stay empty and the flow continues from the chosen phase as above. With Always start with a service request every new ticket skips this dialog and starts with the request. You can also create tickets directly from a contact or vehicle.
Related topics
- Tickets – ticket list, board, ticket header and settings
- Handle service requests – accept, deny and convert requests
- Create an estimate – estimate fee, sending and crediting
- Create & process an order – line items, stock and status
- Create an invoice – finalize, send, payments
- Shipment & order tracking – what the customer sees on the tracking page
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