Work order lifecycle and system statuses

Work orders use system statuses, work order substatuses, and booking statuses to track the status of a work order in the lifecycle. Updating one of the statuses can update the others automatically.

Work Order System Statuses are noted on the work order entity, indicating the current point of a work order in its life cycle. Work order system statuses are:

  • Unscheduled
  • Scheduled
  • In Progress
  • Completed
  • Posted
  • Canceled

Note

Don't add, remove, or edit the option set values for Work Order System Status. Instead, administrators can edit the option set labels to change how statuses show in the user interface. For more information, see Don't edit option set (choice) values.

Work Order Substatuses are noted on the work order entity and relate to and provide more detail for work order system statuses. Work order substatuses are created custom for each organization.

Booking Statuses are noted on the bookable resource booking entity and are updated by field technicians on the Field Service mobile app to track their progress for a specific work order requirement. Additionally, booking statuses are visualized on the schedule board with a distinct color and icon, and a few booking statuses are part of the product by default, though more custom ones can be added. Out of the box, the booking statuses are:

  • Scheduled
  • Traveling
  • In Progress
  • On Break
  • Completed
  • Canceled

Work order lifecycle

  • Work order creation: A work order is created, usually from a case or opportunity.

  • Schedule: The work order is scheduled.

  • Dispatch: The work order is dispatched.

  • Service: The work order is performed and details are updated.

  • Review/Approval: A supervisor reviews and approves the work order.

  • Invoice and inventory adjustment: Inventory adjustments are made, and an invoice is generated for the corresponding account.

Work order lifecycle in Dynamics 365 Field Service.

Create Schedule Dispatch Service Review Invoice
What happens New work order is created.

Assigned incident, product, services, skills, territory, etc.
Work order schedule is created.

Resources assigned to the work order.

Date and time specified.
Field agent notified of work order.

Field agent may review and accept/decline the work order.
Work order is carried out.

Information about what is performed in the field is entered through the mobile app.
Supervisor verifies that all the work was done properly, and that all information regarding the work order is correct. Invoice is created based on products and services used.

Inventory adjustments are made.

Products converted into equipment (if applicable)
Who performs the task Agreement is automatically generated on a recurring basis.

Case: By customer support.

Opportunity: By sales/scheduling.

Unplanned: By field agent or centralized scheduling.
Dispatcher

Field Agent

Dispatcher with help of scheduling assistant

Routing engine
Notification, if set up, sent by system automatically to field agent, customer, and other parties. Field agent Field supervisor/manager,

back-office accounting
Automatically sent by system
Work order status Open - unscheduled Open - scheduled Open - scheduled Open - scheduled, then open-completed Open - completed then closed-posted Closed-posted
Work order schedule status N/A Scheduled Scheduled Scheduled

Accepted/Declined

Custom Status
Completed Completed

Statuses in the work order lifecycle

Field Service uses standard work order system statuses and booking statuses that map to a default work order lifecycle without any customizations. Many processes are triggered based on those statuses. A status change can automatically fill in data on the work order and trigger the next step in the work order process.

For example, when the Booking Status is changed to In Progress to indicate, the technician indicates that they have arrived at the work site. The arrival time field automatically populates on the bookable resource booking.

The default work order and booking statuses map to the following stages of the work order lifecycle.

  1. When a work order is created, it has a status of Unscheduled by default.

  2. Once the work order is scheduled, the system creates a booking with a booking status of Scheduled. The creation of a booking automatically changes the work order system status to Scheduled.

  3. Technicians can see scheduled work orders it on the Field Service mobile app. When they're on the way to the work site, they change the booking status to Traveling. Changing the booking status to Traveling automatically changes the work order system status to In Progress.

    Note

    If there are multiple bookings for a single work order and one booking is in progress, the related work order status gets updated.

  4. When the technician arrives on site and starts the work, they change the booking status to In Progress. The work order status remains In Progress.

  5. Technicians indicate break time by changing the booking status to On Break to ensure accurate billing.

  6. When the work is complete, the technician changes the booking status to Completed. The duration is updated to the actual duration of the booking, and the end time is updated to reflect the time the status was changed to completed. The related work order system status changes to Completed when all related bookings are completed or canceled. If another user updates the booking status to Completed on behalf of a technician, the booking’s end time preserves the previous end time value.

  7. Finally, a back-office worker reviews the completed work order and starts the billing process. They change the work order system status to Posted.

Beyond work order system statuses updating booking statuses and vice versa, status changes can also trigger processes and data updates.

Work order system status processes

Completed (work order)

Posted

  • Generates invoice for used work order products and services for the billing account of the work order.
  • Creates Actuals records for time and costs related to work orders and bookings. Creates sales actuals for billed products and services after confirming the generated invoice.
  • Updates Closed By and Closed On fields.

Booking status processes

Every booking status change creates a booking timestamp to keep track of the updates.

Scheduled

  • Updates Miles Traveled, calculated as the driving distance from the previous location to the booking location.

Traveling

  • When a booking is updated to a Traveling booking status from the mobile app, the Start time will be updated to the current time. When updated from web, the start time isn't automatically updated.

In Progress

  • Updates Actual Arrival Time with the date and time when a technician changes booking status to In Progess on the mobile app. When updated from web, the arrival time isn't automatically updated.
  • Updates First Arrived On (Work Order) field on the related work order with the Actual Arrival Time of the booking. Editing Actual Arrival Time also updates the First Arrived On value.
  • Updates Actual Travel Duration, calculated as the total time during which the booking status is Traveling.

Completed (booking)

  • Updates End Time.
  • Creates Booking Journals with booking timestamps to calculate the working duration, travel time, and break time.
  • Calculates Total Duration in Progress based on time the booking status is In progress.
  • Calculates Total Break Duration based on time the booking status is On Break.
  • Updates Total Cost, calculated as the sum total of actual travel duration, total duration in progress, and the total break duration, multiplied by the resource's hourly rate.
  • Updates Total Billable Duration, calculated as the sum total of total duration in progress and total break duration.
  • Updates Completed On (Work Order) field on the related work order with the end time of the booking. Editing the booking end time updates the Completed On value.

Complete your booking without completing your work order for follow-up activity

Save time on work orders that require follow-up by returning them to an unscheduled state after completing a booking.

By default, work orders are set to completed when the associated booking gets completed. To change the default logic, create or edit a booking status, go to the Field Service tab and set the Status completes work order toggle accordingly. On existing booking statuses, the setting only impacts future bookings. No changes are made to existing bookings.

  • On marks a work order Completed when the booking changes to that status.
  • Off applies the work order system status according to status mapping table when the booking changes to that status.

For work orders that have multiple bookings associated, the work order status depends on the status of all related bookings.

Regardless of status settings, the booking status has no impact on the status of Resource Requirements.

Status mapping table

Review the following table to understand how the booking status maps to the work order system status. Work order statuses in bold indicate a change from the default behavior.

Booking Status Work order system status
none Unscheduled
Scheduled Scheduled
In Progress In Progress
Completed Completed
Partially Completed Unscheduled
Canceled Unscheduled
Booking1: Scheduled
Booking2: Scheduled
Scheduled
Booking1: Scheduled
Booking2: In Progress
In Progress
Booking1: Scheduled
Booking2: Completed
In Progress
Booking1: Scheduled
Booking2: Partially Completed
Scheduled
Booking1: Completed
Booking2: Completed
Completed
Booking1: Partially Completed
Booking2: Partially Completed
Unscheduled
Booking1: In Progress
Booking2: Partially Completed
In Progress
Booking1: Completed
Booking2: Partially Completed
Completed
Booking1: Canceled
Booking2: Partially Completed
Unscheduled

Next steps