Automating admin in a service business means data is captured once and then flows on automatically: from request to work order, from work order to invoice and from invoice to the accounting package. Double entry disappears. Field service software such as OutSmart does this, with a 14-day free trial.
By day you are with customers, by night you are at the laptop. Typing up work orders, chasing hours, raising invoices, updating the books. And the faster you grow, the further behind you fall. Invoices go out weeks late, and you are not sure all the hours and materials are on them.
This article covers where admin takes the most time in a service business, which tasks to automate first and how to go from backlog to control in three steps.
Where does the time in your admin go?
In almost every installation, maintenance or service business the time goes to the same thing: entering the same data several times. The customer calls, someone writes it down. The planner puts it in the schedule. The technician notes hours and materials on paper. The office types the work order into the invoicing system. And then again into the accounts.
Five steps, four rounds of retyping. Every step takes time, every step is a chance for an error, and every day the paper work order sits in the office is a day later you get paid.
5 admin tasks you can automate
1. Turning requests into work orders
If requests come in by email, Mail to WorkOrder turns them into work orders automatically. Customers can also submit requests through the Customer Portal and follow the status.
2. Processing hours and materials
On the digital work order the technician records hours with a timer and materials used straight away. Once the job is done, the data goes back to the office. Nobody has to decipher a handwritten note, and hours can be reviewed in Timesheets.
3. From work order to invoice
The completed work order is the basis of the invoice. Hours and materials are already on it, so you raise the invoice without retyping, on the day the work is finished rather than weeks later.
4. Invoices into the accounts
Through integrations with accounting and ERP packages, invoices and customer data flow into your bookkeeping. Your accountant gets complete data on time.
5. Scheduling planned maintenance
Tracking maintenance contracts in a spreadsheet means an installation always gets missed. With contracts in OutSmart, the work orders for planned maintenance are created automatically, and workflow automations take care of recurring steps around invoices, quotes and contracts.
Worked example: 25 work orders a week that each take 8 minutes to retype into invoicing and accounts add up to more than 3 hours a week. Add chasing hours, hunting for missing delivery notes and fixing errors, and you quickly lose a full working day a week to admin.
Admin without vs. with OutSmart
The same job, from request to the accounts.
| Process step | Manual | With OutSmart |
|---|---|---|
| Request | Retyped from an email or phone note | Email becomes a work order, or the customer reports via the Customer Portal |
| Hours and materials | Paper note, typed up later | Recorded directly on the digital work order |
| Invoice | Weeks later, with items forgotten | From the completed work order, the same day |
| Accounts | Invoice entered again | Through the integration with your accounting package |
From backlog to control in 3 steps
Step 1: Count where the time goes. For one week, record how many hours go on work orders, hours, invoices and bookkeeping, and how often data is retyped. That is your baseline.
Step 2: Automate the biggest time drain first. Usually that is the step from paper work order to invoice. Make it digital and connect your accounting package, even if everything else stays as it is for now.
Step 3: Expand step by step. Then move on to email requests, planned maintenance and automations. Every step you automate removes a moment of retyping.
Also read how to replace an Excel schedule with scheduling software.
Try OutSmart free for 14 days →