Edit

Post a work order and generate an invoice

When a technician completes a work order in the field and a dispatcher or back-office service manager reviews and approves it, they close and post the work order to finalize it for billing. Posting the work order transitions it into a financial state where you can no longer edit it. This process finalizes the work order and triggers the configured invoice and financial processing. Use these transactions to create the customer invoice based on the work order's price list, billing type, and recorded usage.

Note

System configurations in Field Service Settings affect both invoice and actuals creation. Review these settings before you post your first work order.

Post a work order

You need the Field Service - Administrator or Field Service - Dispatcher security role to post a work order.

  1. In Field Service, change to the Service area.

  2. In the Scheduling section, select Work Orders.

  3. Open the completed work order you want to post. You can only post work orders that have a system status of Completed.

  4. Confirm that all related bookings are in a Completed or Canceled booking status.

  5. Review the used products and services in the Products and services section. Confirm the quantities, durations, and billing values are accurate, including Quantity to Bill for products and Duration to Bill for services. Only lines with a Line Status of Used are billed. Review the Estimate Subtotal and Subtotal values.

  6. Confirm the work order has the correct price list and billing information so the system can calculate costs.

  7. Change the System Status to Posted, and then select Save.

The system processes the work order and performs the following actions automatically.

What posting triggers

When you change a work order's system status to Posted, several processes run:

  • Invoice generation: The system creates an invoice record linked to the work order's billing account. The system generates the invoice from the information on the work order, including products, services, and service tasks.
  • Actuals creation: The system generates Actuals records that capture time and cost data related to work order bookings. The system creates sales actuals for billed products and services after you confirm the generated invoice.
  • Closed By and Closed On: The system populates the Closed By and Closed On fields on the work order.

Note

Posting doesn't adjust inventory. For inventory-type products, the system deducts the used quantity from the specified warehouse earlier, when the technician sets a work order product's Line Status to Used. Learn more in Overview of inventory, purchasing, and returns.

How invoice lines map to work order products and services

The invoice that the system generates reflects the products and services used from the work order. The following table shows how work order line items map to invoice line items.

Work order line item Invoice line detail Billing basis
Work order product (Line Status = Used) Invoice product line Quantity to Bill × unit price from the price list
Work order service (Line Status = Used) Invoice service line Duration to Bill × hourly rate from the price list
Travel charge (if configured) Invoice product line Travel charge amount based on travel charge settings

Only items with a Line Status of Used appear on the invoice. Items with a status of Estimated aren't included.

The invoice uses the price list assigned to the work order. If an entitlement applies, the system calculates any discount or coverage before generating the invoice line amounts.

Review and confirm an invoice

After posting a work order, review the generated invoice.

  1. Open the posted work order.

  2. In the Related tab, select Invoices to find the generated invoice.

  3. Open the invoice and review the line items. Verify the products, services, quantities, and amounts are correct.

  4. When you're satisfied with the invoice, confirm it to finalize the billing record.

Finance integration options

Dynamics 365 Field Service supports multiple approaches for connecting service execution with downstream financial and ERP processes:

  • Dynamics 365 Finance with Project Operations: Organizations can use the Dynamics 365 Project Operations integration to connect Field Service transactions with project financials, including estimates, actuals, costs, billable transactions, and invoicing. This option can be used with Dynamics 365 Finance or as the project financial layer before integrating with another ERP system.
  • Dynamics 365 Business Central: Organizations using Business Central can use the available integration to connect Field Service invoices and inventory transactions with their accounting processes.
  • Third-party ERP systems: Organizations can also integrate Field Service directly with another ERP system by using Power Automate and Dataverse APIs. The integration design can use work order transactions, invoices, or other Field Service data based on the organization’s financial architecture and system-of-record requirements.

Learn more in Overview of integrations.

Troubleshoot common posting issues

Issue Possible cause Resolution
Work order doesn't change to Posted status Not all bookings are completed or canceled Open each booking and set the status to Completed or Canceled
Invoice isn't generated after posting Invoice generation is turned off in Field Service Settings Go to Settings > Field Service Settings > Work Order / Booking and verify the invoice creation setting
Invoice amounts are incorrect Price list is missing or products aren't in the price list Verify the work order has a valid price list and that all used products and services are included in it
Inventory levels aren't updated Product type isn't set to Inventory Open the product record and verify the Field Service Product Type is set to Inventory
Actuals records are missing Field Service Settings aren't configured for actuals creation Check Field Service Settings for actuals configuration

Next steps

  • Last updated on