An electronic work order is a work order kept as a record rather than a sheet: the customer, the work, the assignee, the price and the status, held where the office and the technician both read it, with a date on every change. The phrase is older than digital work order and means the same thing. What matters is not the medium but what the record carries, and an electronic order that holds a typed total and a status has kept less than the carbon copy it replaced. This guide is what an electronic work order has to carry, and how the free worksheets on this site and Jobcardo Pro divide the job.
The lines behind the price
An electronic work order has to hold the figures that made the price: labour hours at the rate, parts at cost with the markup, the trip charge and the tax on the parts line, so that the total can be shown as the sum of things the customer can check. The work order template on this site prices those lines on the page with no account, and the printed or PDF version is the sheet the technician hands over. Keeping the lines as lines is what the paid plan adds.
The status, and the date on every change
Raised, in progress, done, invoiced and paid, closed: an electronic order carries one of them and dates each change against the login that made it. That history is the whole reason to go electronic; it finds last month's order in a second and settles who added the extra parts. In Jobcardo Pro the status and the history are the record, with a login for each technician and one flat price for the team.
The export, so the order reaches the invoice and stays yours
An electronic work order that cannot leave the system is a trap. Jobcardo exports customers, orders and documents whenever you ask and for 90 days after you cancel, and the exported lines are what the invoice and the books read. The order is raised, priced and kept here; the invoice is raised elsewhere, and the two agree because the second reads from the first.
Questions people ask about electronic work order
What is an electronic work order?
A work order kept as a record on a screen instead of on paper: the customer, work, assignee, price and status, with a date on every change and the figures exportable to the invoice.
Is an electronic work order legally valid?
What a work order must carry for your trade's licensing, and whether a customer's acceptance of it binds them, is a question for your state and your attorney. Jobcardo prices and keeps the order you write and does not decide that.
Can I print an electronic work order?
Yes. Every worksheet prints from the browser or saves as PDF as it stands; in Pro the print carries your name and logo and no watermark.