Operations playbook

Intake and triage of requests

Every job starts as a request, and most problems later in the job trace back to a thin request. A customer calls and says the unit is making a noise. Someone writes it on a sticky note. The tech arrives without the model number, without the gate code, and without knowing the customer already tried a reset. The fix is not more effort in the field. It is a better first conversation.

Treat intake as a short, repeatable interview. Whoever answers the phone or reads the inbox should collect the same core facts every time: who is asking, where the work is, what is wrong in the customer's own words, what equipment is involved, how urgent it is, and how the site can be accessed. If the request comes in by email or a web form, the same facts still apply. Missing items become a follow-up question before the request moves on, not a surprise on site.

Triage is the decision that comes next. Not every request becomes a job right away. Some are quotes, some are warranty questions, some are duplicates, and some are emergencies that need to jump the line. Decide on a small set of urgency levels that everyone uses the same way, and write down what qualifies for each. An emergency should mean the same thing on Monday morning and Friday night.

Keep requests in one queue. When requests live in a phone log, two inboxes, and someone's memory, nobody can tell what is waiting. A single list, sorted by urgency and age, makes it obvious what needs attention and lets anyone in the office pick up where someone else left off.

In Servora, service requests can arrive from a public web request form, email, or phone, and are triaged in one place before being converted into work orders. If you want customers to book themselves, an embeddable online booking scheduler shows availability and your booking types.

• Customer name and best contact method
• Service address and access notes
• Problem description in the customer's words
• Equipment type, and model or serial if known
• Urgency level, using your written definitions
• Anything the customer already tried

Scheduling and dispatch

Scheduling is a promise to the customer. Dispatch is how you keep it. The two get blurred in small shops, but separating them helps: scheduling decides when the customer should expect someone, and dispatch decides who goes and in what order.

Be honest about what you can commit to. An exact appointment time is easy to promise and hard to keep when the job before it runs long. An arrival window, such as eight to noon, gives the route room to absorb the unexpected while still giving the customer something to plan around. Some work, like a planned maintenance visit, only needs a date. Pick the mode that fits the job instead of forcing every job into the same shape.

Assignments should be clear before the day starts. Every job needs a lead who owns it, even when a helper or a crew goes along. When ownership is vague, follow-up calls go unanswered and paperwork goes missing because everyone assumed someone else had it.

Keep an unassigned queue and look at it on purpose. Jobs that are approved but not yet on anyone's schedule are the easiest ones to forget. Review the queue at a set time each day, and do not let anything sit there without a reason.

Finally, plan for the day to change. A sick call, a part that did not arrive, or an emergency will reshuffle the board. The office should be able to see where everyone is and move work without a round of phone calls.

In Servora, the dispatch board has day, week, and month views with drag and drop, an unassigned queue, and technician assignment as lead, secondary, or crew. Each job can be scheduled as an exact time, a date only, or an arrival window, and a map shows live technician locations.

1. 1Pick one schedule mode as your default and write down when to use the others.
2. 2Name a lead on every job currently on the board.
3. 3Set a daily time to review the unassigned queue, and put it on the calendar.

Checklists and evidence standards

A checklist is how you make good work repeatable. It captures what your best tech does without thinking and turns it into something every tech does on every job. It also protects the business, because when a customer disputes the work, the record of what was checked and found is your answer.

Start small. Pick your most common job type and write down the steps that must happen every time. Keep each item specific and checkable. "Inspect system" is not useful. "Record supply and return temperatures" is. If an item cannot be marked done or not done by someone looking at the job afterward, rewrite it.

Then decide which items need evidence. Evidence is anything that lets someone who was not there confirm the work: a photo of the nameplate, a before and after photo, a meter reading, a customer signature. Not every item needs proof, and asking for too much slows techs down and trains them to skip it. Reserve evidence for the items that matter if questioned later, such as safety checks, readings tied to warranty, and anything the customer will be billed for.

Mark a few items as required. Required means the job cannot be closed until they are done. This is the difference between a checklist people fill out and a checklist people pencil-whip at the end of the day. Keep the required list short so it stays credible.

Review your checklists every few months with the techs who use them. They will tell you which items are noise and which ones are missing.

In Servora, checklist templates support required items and evidence types for photo, reading, and signature, and they can attach automatically based on work order type. Completion can be blocked until required items and evidence are done.

• One checklist written for your most common job type
• Every item phrased so it can be verified afterward
• Evidence type chosen for items that matter in a dispute
• A short list of required items
• Review date set with the techs

Closing out a job

A job is not done when the tech drives away. It is done when the work meets your completion criteria, the customer has acknowledged it, and the record is complete enough that someone else could answer a question about it next month.

Write down what complete means. For most shops it looks like this: the problem described in the request is resolved or a reason is recorded, required checklist items are done, evidence is attached, time is logged, materials used are noted, and the customer has signed. If a follow-up visit is needed, it is created before the current job closes, not remembered later.

The customer signature matters more than it seems. It confirms someone was on site, that the customer saw the outcome, and that they had a chance to raise concerns while the tech was still there. Ask for it at the end of the visit, after a short walk-through of what was done.

The service report is the document the customer keeps. It should be readable by someone who was not present: what was found, what was done, what readings were taken, photos of the work, and any recommendations. A clear report reduces callbacks, supports warranty claims, and makes the invoice easier to accept.

Close-out is also when time gets recorded accurately. Work time, travel time, and breaks logged at the end of the day from memory are rarely right. Log them as they happen.

In Servora, techs capture customer signatures on the job, log time as work, travel, or break, and generate a service report PDF that includes evidence, signatures, and the job timeline.

1. 1Write your completion criteria in five or six lines.
2. 2Walk the customer through the work before asking for a signature.
3. 3Create any follow-up job before closing the current one.
4. 4Send the service report the same day.

Invoicing and getting paid

Cash flow problems in service businesses are often timing problems. The work was done, the customer was happy, and the invoice went out two weeks later. Every day between the job and the invoice is a day the customer has to forget how good the visit was.

Invoice as close to completion as you can. If the job is closed out properly, with time, materials, and a service report, the invoice is mostly assembly. When invoices wait for someone to reconstruct the job from notes, they wait.

Make paying easy. A link the customer can open and pay from removes a step that otherwise depends on finding a checkbook. Still record payments that arrive by check, cash, or bank transfer against the right invoice so your balances stay accurate.

Set clear terms and follow them. Decide when payment is due, when a reminder goes out, and who makes the call when an invoice is overdue. Write it down so the process does not depend on one person's mood that week. A short, polite reminder sent on schedule collects more than an annoyed call sent late.

For larger jobs, take a deposit before ordering parts or committing crew time. It confirms the customer is serious and reduces your exposure if the project stalls.

Keep the books in sync. If invoices live in one system and accounting in another, reconcile them on a schedule rather than at tax time.

In Servora, invoices can include Stripe online payment links, and manual payments can be recorded against them. Invoices sync with QuickBooks Online or QuickBooks Desktop.

• Target time from job close to invoice sent
• Payment terms written down
• Reminder schedule for unpaid invoices
• Named person responsible for overdue follow-up
• Deposit rule for larger jobs

Weekly operating review

The weekly review is thirty to sixty minutes where the owner looks at the business as a whole instead of the next fire. It works best on the same day each week, with the same few numbers, so changes stand out.

Pick a handful of measures and stick with them. Too many and nobody looks. A useful starting set: requests received and how many became jobs, jobs completed, jobs still open past their scheduled date, jobs that needed a return visit, revenue invoiced, and money still owed to you, grouped by how overdue it is. Add quotes sent and quotes won if you sell larger work.

Do not chase someone else's benchmarks. The point is to compare your business to itself. If callbacks went up this month, that is worth a conversation whether or not some industry figure says your number is fine.

Look for the stories behind the numbers. An open job past its date is usually waiting on a part, a customer, or a decision. A rise in return visits often points to a checklist gap or a training issue. A growing overdue balance often means invoices are going out late, not that customers stopped paying.

End every review with a short list of actions, each with an owner and a date. Next week, start by checking those actions before looking at the new numbers. The review is only useful if it changes what happens on the route and in the office.

Keep notes from each review in one place. After a few months, they become a record of what you tried and what worked.

1. 1Choose five or six measures and write down where each one comes from.
2. 2Put a recurring weekly review on the calendar.
3. 3End each review with actions, owners, and dates.
4. 4Open the next review by checking last week's actions.