Table of Contents
Maintenance terminology can be confusing, and this article aims to clarify the complexity of identifying and recording your vehicles' maintenance and repairs in Fleetio.
Service Tasks and Issues are ways of describing the one-time problems or regularly recurring preventative maintenance services which arise over the course of a vehicle's lifetime.
Service Entries and Work Orders are methods to record this maintenance as having been performed, allowing you to track the date that services were completed and log a history of associated data like meter readings, technician or vendor assignment, and parts and labor costs.
Service Tasks
Service Tasks are the regularly recurring preventative maintenance tasks that keep your vehicles running smoothly. These are routine services that can be tracked by date and/or meter interval. Examples include Oil Changes, Air Filter Replacement, or Tire Rotation.
In addition, a Service Task might represent a one-time repair such as a gasket replacement or diagnosis.
Standard Service Tasks are specially designated tasks that enable Fleetio to integrate with other systems and exchange service data electronically. Your Fleetio account is pre-populated with a list of Standard Service Tasks.
For maximum efficiency, you may create a Service Task structure of Main Tasks and Subtasks. A 30,000-mile Major Service might encompass subtasks to include the various fluid and filter changes, checks, and inspections.
Service Tasks may be logged for a vehicle via a Service Entry or Work Order.
Issues
Issues are typically one-time problems that represent an unexpected or unplanned service need. Examples include Fluid Leaks, Brake Failure, or Transmission Noise.
Fleetio allows you to follow Issue Statuses from Open to Resolved/Closed.
Issues can be resolved directly in the Issues module, or they can be logged when recording a Service Entry or Work Order. Recording Issues in Service Entries and Work Orders gives you the advantage of keeping track of the reason for repair, service history, and associated costs.
Service Entries
Service Entries are a quick and easy way to log service for a vehicle. This method is intended for basic summary data (work accomplished, cost, etc.) and is particularly useful when work has been completed by a third-party vendor and you simply need to track the history.
A collection of Service Entries for a vehicle is referred to as Service History.
Work Orders
Work Orders are more robust than Service Entries, allowing for greater detail in planning and execution. Each “line item” can have its own parts/labor subtotals and you can easily identify which specific parts were used and the in-house Technician or third-party Vendor who completed the work.
A completed Work Order generates a Service Entry, thus these records also become part of the Service History.
Update your Work Orders through various Work Order Statuses in order to follow workflow progression from Open through Completion. When a Work Order is marked as Complete, a Service Entry will automatically be generated as well. This allows users to see all maintenance history on the Service Entries List screen or Report, with powerful Filter options available to control the results displayed.
Both a Service Entry AND a completed Work Order will update Service Reminders for a vehicle.
