Add Services to a New Order and Your Schedule

Modified on Wed, 28 May at 4:08 PM

Services that you add to a clients' service order are simultaneously added to the admin schedule, the staff schedule and the client schedule. The clients' service order is then used to create the client invoice which saves time.

Tip: Service orders are typically organised into billing periods, so if you invoice monthly, you enter all services for each month onto one service order. If you are creating an order for a two week vacation that requires a single invoice, then put all services relating to the two weeks vacation onto a single service order.

How Do I Create a New Service Order?

To schedule services for a client, first create a new service order (or use an existing order), then add services to the order.

Navigation: Clients > access a client account > Orders & Invoices

Step 1

Tip: The first and last service dates are listed below each Service Order Name to differentiate between orders. Orders appear in date order, newest to oldest, not in the order of creation.

Add an order "Label," such as "December Vacation" and the year or leave it blank titles it "Service Order."
Click "Create New Order."
The new order opens ready to add services to the order.

Add a new order in your pet sitting software

How Do I Add Services to an Order?

Step 1

Click the button "Add."

Add a new order in your pet sitter software

Step 2

A pop-up appears, enter details for the services. (See full explanations below).
Click "Add."

Add a new order in your dog walking software

Step 3

Added services are visible in the order.
The status is "Quote" meaning the services are scheduled, but not invoiced.

Tip: Services that have been added to a service order will:
Appear in service orders, quotes and invoices
Appear in the company/administrator's schedule
Appear in the staff schedules
Appear in the client schedule and in the portal
Appear in staff pay reports
Appear in reports

Note that certain services may have settings that prevent them appearing as above, for example. if "Show in Portal" is deselected, or if the service is an "internal" service.

"Add Services" Fields Explained

From and To Dates

Select the "From" date as the first date of the services you are entering.
Select the "To" date as the last date of the services you are entering.

Tip: If you are entering one service only (i.e. on one day only), the "From" and "To" dates will be the same. If you enter a range of dates, one service is created on each date.

Service Item

Select the service item, eg: "Group Walk, 1 Dog", from the dropdown.

Time (for services that take place at a specific time of day)

Select the service time. ALL services in your date range will be scheduled at this time. If set in your service item setup, you will have the option to display the time or not by default. Eg. if your "time" is 10:00am and you choose to switch off "Display Time" then the service will show in the schedule as "Morning" rather than 10:00am.

Note: The service time governs which schedule column the service is displayed within. See What are the Schedule Columns and Column View Headings?

Time Block (for services that can be carried out within a time period)

Time Block "edit" allows you to enter a custom time-block (a time block not preset in the drop-down). For example, a client requests a dog walk from 11:00am-12:00pm, but your preset time blocks include 11:00am-1:00pm. Change the time block for these services, by clicking "edit" by the Time Block, entering the custom time block, click "done."

(Optional) Timeframe (for services that can be carried out with a more flexible start time)

This option will only be visible if switched ON in the service item settings. The timeframe defines the window of time the service should be started. For example, if a service should be started no earlier than 15 minutes before the service Time and no later than 15 minutes after the service Time, set the timeframe to 15 minutes. See Service Item Timeframe. If you have associated a timeframe for a service AND you set "Display Time" (see below) to "Yes," the timeframe will be displayed in the schedule.

Display Time

Sometimes it is not necessary to display a specific service time. For example, if you walk 4 dogs together over lunchtime, it doesn't usually matter if you start at 12:00 or 1:00pm as long as the dogs are walked during lunchtime. It is important, however, to group the dogs by schedule period to easily see services that can be done together to plan the work day.

Some clients request a specific time, such as a visit at exactly 5pm, so the time needs to display on the schedule. "Show Time" will initially display the service default time, but you can change it.

In the service item settings, "Display Time" could be set to "Always" or "Never". In this case, the time can only be edited if "Always" was selected.

It can also be set to "Admins can choose" whether to display the time or not, depending on the particular client or service situation.

When "No" is selected, the exact service time is NOT shown in the schedule. Instead the time is only used to govern which schedule column the service is displayed in. Note: If a timeblock is used for that service, that will still be shown.
When "Yes" is selected, the exact service time shows in the schedule and the time also governs which schedule column the service is displayed in. Note: If a timeblock is used for that service, that will still be shown AS WELL AS the particular time entered in red underneath it in the Schedule.

Days

To schedule services for a range of dates, but only on certain days of the week, uncheck the boxes for days you do not want the service scheduled. For example, to schedule dog walks for a month, Monday through Friday, enter the "From" date as the first of the month and the "To" date as the last day of the month, uncheck "Saturday" and "Sunday." A dog walk will be scheduled for all weekdays in the month.

Staff

The sitter assigned the service.

Quantity

Change the quantity if there is more than one item. For example, if you charge mileage at $0.50 per mile, select the "Mileage" service item and enter the number of miles travelled in quantity.

Unit Charge

Each service item has a standard charge, calculated according to charge conditions you set. The unit charge can be changed manually when adding a service.

Staff Pay

Each service may have a standard amount entered that you pay your staff. Staff Pay rates are calculated according to the staff pay rules you set. This figure can be changed manually when adding a service.

Schedule Ref Override

Replaces "Schedule Ref" on the schedule. For example, if your client has two dogs and their Schedule Ref is "Poppy and Penny" but their repeat service is for Penny only; enter "Penny" in "Schedule Ref Override" to have only "Penny" appear in the Schedule for the service.

(Optional) Client Request Notes

If a client has added a note when requesting services through the portal, this option will be displayed. Client notes are automatically added to the Staff Notes but if you edited these or removed them at the time you scheduled the service, then this ensures you can still see the original client note.

Invoice Notes

Invoice Notes appear on the invoice beside the service description and will be seen by clients. These are different from "Admin Notes" which can be added to an invoice and will appear in the Unpaid Invoice report.

Staff Notes

Staff Notes appear (in red) in the admin and staff schedules, and provide a reminder of special instructions. They do not appear on invoices and are not seen by clients.

Note: If you are adding a range of services, Invoice or Staff notes added here will be added to ALL services in the range. If you want your note to appear on one service, enter services without notes and use "Edit Services" to add notes to the appropriate service. The process is the same for any view of the Schedule Views (Calendar, List, Column or Compact). You can also add to or overwrite existing staff/invoice notes to other services.