Jobs vs Service Orders

(0) Share

Report

Posted on by Community Member

One of my clients is considering ExpandIT for their service trucks. One of their companies is hard-core field service - loads of trucks out in the field all day - using stock from their trucks and replenishing at night, and scheduling preventative maintenance calls. The other company is more construction oriented doing custom work back in the warehouse and loading the truck specifically for a job.

I just learned that ExpandIT works with both jobs and service orders. Are there other differences between these two modules that should be considered (beside the edition and cost of BC licenses).

I have the same question (0)

All responses (6)

Answers (2)

Suggested answer

JAngle 133 on at

Like (0)

Report

Jobs isn’t as well linked to warehousing. You can reserve stock but you cannot raise warehouse tasks like shipments or picks. Jobs cannot be linked to sales with customisation, to enable those features. ExpandIT may have that dealt with

Visibility of profit and loss is simple from jobs. You could have one job that lasts a long time and just create tasks every time something new comes up and invoice just that task. So you’d only have one place to access all the stats. Service is more like sales where you have many orders but you can hold contracts with specific detail on certain service items

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Verified answer

Ben Baxter 6,575 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

Like (0)

Report

Sounds like you need both. Daily or Hourly service calls, tracking of warranties, and contracts and PM work is much better handled by Service Management. Long duration projects, profitability analysis, and labor intensive actual cost tracking is better handled by Jobs.

If they have already signed up for Premium licensing to handle Service, there is no additional licensing cost for Jobs. ExpandIT is a great option for the "mobilization" of field service trucks. Their scheduling component should pick up the Resource demand for both Service Orders and Jobs, so it should be a win win.

Good luck!

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
AriaConsulting 2 on at

Like (0)

Report

Cindy,

Is there a reason you wouldn't suggest using the D365 Field Service app?

It does everything ExpandIT does and more. And has the advantage of being a 1st party MS native app. I will be the first to say that if you had posed your question 3 release waves back, ExpandIT would have been my choice as well. But MS has massively improved it. Heck, it FINALLY has FLOC's! And you get the native Bing maps integration, obviously. Of course, if the client wants to go all in MS also offers RSO (Route Scheduling Optimization), which ExpandIT can't compete with at all as far as I know. And the newest version of the mobile application for the trucks, that is built in Power Platform, is wayyy better than the older Xamarin app.

Of course, if they go with the Native D365 FS, there is also the opportunity to introduce D365 Sales, CS, and even Marketing (though I do find MS' pricing for Marketing to be tough to swallow unless the org can and will really, really leverage everything it provides). Plus Customer Voice for immediate after-service surveys and such can also be added in.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Verified answer

Jason Nicolaou @ Si... 120 on at

Like (0)

Report

Jobs is better suited for the construction based side because it includes multiple tasks. Service Orders are good at managing single tasks, fix item X, that still consumes items, labor, and expenses. If you need to manage multiple tasks and/or multiple disciplines (electrical, plumbing, etc.) jobs is a better fit. Many times we find that an additional tool is needed for the construction side that enhances liens, draws, subcontractors, and advanced billing (AIA billing, progress billing, etc.). Project Pro by NetSmartz is one and there are a couple more out there that focus on construction.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Member on at

Like (0)

Report

Thanks to everyone that shared some thoughts on this. We are probably going to tie into JC for the construction company and Service for the Repair Company.

Was this reply helpful? Yes No
Community Member on at

Like (0)

Report

Project Pro is part of the solution for both companies. Good to see their name pop up. :)

Was this reply helpful? Yes No