How do service companies manage purchase orders and inventory?
Service companies track stock by location, the warehouse and every truck, with minimums and reorder suggestions. Purchase orders record vendor, lines, required-by date and what was received; transfers move parts between the warehouse and trucks; and technicians request restocks from the field.
This walkthrough shows stock and purchasing at Summit Home Services, a demo HVAC, plumbing and electrical company: inventory by location, out-of-stock items, one truck's stock, purchase orders and a PO's lines, transfers, trucks and restock requests.
Chapters
Summit Home Services is a demo company with fictional customers. Every screen is the real Fieldproxy product; some sequences are sped up.
Step by step
See what's on hand
Inventory value at cost, items below minimum, open purchase orders, transfers, counts and truck restocks at a glance.
Find what's out
Filter stock to low or out, by warehouse or by technician's truck.
Check one truck
Pick a truck to see what it carries, what's low and the reorder suggestions.
Track purchase orders
Each PO shows vendor, ship-to, lines received and required-by date; late orders stand out.
Receive the order
Open the PO to see each line and receive the items when they arrive.
Move stock
Transfers move parts from the warehouse to a truck or between trucks, with approval and receiving.
Restock trucks
Technicians request a restock from their phone; the warehouse loads and receives it.
Questions people ask
- Can I track inventory on each technician's truck?
- Yes. Every truck is its own stock location with on-hand quantities, minimums and maximums, and the trucks view shows total stock value and which trucks need restocking.
- How do purchase orders work?
- A PO lists the vendor, where it ships, each line with quantity and unit cost, and a required-by date. Its status moves from draft to sent to received as items arrive.
- Can parts move between trucks?
- Yes. Transfers move stock from the warehouse to a truck or truck to truck; a transfer can wait for approval and is received at the other end.
- Can technicians ask for parts from the field?
- Yes. Technicians request a truck restock from the phone app, and the warehouse loads it and receives it on the stock screen.
- How long does it take to set up?
- Fieldproxy builds your own field service management system around your workflows, and it can be live within a day.
- Is Summit Home Services a real company?
- No. Summit is a demo company with fictional customers. The screens are the real Fieldproxy product, recorded live and sped up.
Transcript
Show
- 0:00How does a service company keep parts on the trucks without losing track of them?
- 0:05Stock is counted by location, the warehouse and every truck.
- 0:09Purchase orders track what's on order and what's late, transfers move parts between trucks, and technicians ask for a restock from the field. Here's how it looks at a demo heating and plumbing company.
- 0:24The stock screen starts with the money and the problems: eighty-four thousand dollars of inventory at cost, forty-three items below minimum, four open purchase orders worth thirteen thousand, three of them late, plus the transfers and truck restocks still open.
- 0:42One click shows what's out of stock, and where: the warehouse, or a technician's truck.
- 0:49Pick one truck and you see exactly what Marcus is carrying, what's running low, and reorder suggestions, with a button to turn them into a purchase order.
- 1:01Purchase orders show every vendor, where the parts ship to, what's been received, and the required-by date, so late orders stand out in red.
- 1:12Open one: fifty-six hundred dollars to Carrier Enterprise. Refrigerant, smoke detectors, PEX and breakers, line by line, with the vendor's terms.
- 1:23When the boxes arrive, receive the items right here.
- 1:28Transfers move parts from the warehouse to a truck, or truck to truck.
- 1:32This one to Leah's truck waits for approval. These two are in transit, ready to receive.
- 1:39The trucks view adds it up: twelve trucks carrying thirty-seven thousand dollars of stock, and which ones need restocking.
- 1:47And technicians request a restock from their phone. This one, for Marcus's truck, is forty-three units, about a thousand dollars.
- 1:57The warehouse loads it and receives it here.
- 2:01Every part, every truck, every order, in one place. Get your own custom field service management within a day, tailored to your workflows. Start at fieldproxy dot ai.
