When technicians carry parts in their vans, the question "do we have it, and where?" decides whether a job is finished on the first visit. Field Service has a complete inventory model built in. The key is setting it up so technicians can use it naturally as they work through assigned jobs.

The building blocks

  • Location: anywhere stock lives. Mark warehouses and vans as inventory locations, and mark vans as mobile. Link each technician's Service Resource to their van location.
  • Product Item: the quantity of one product at one location, with its unit of measure. Changes are tracked automatically as Product Item Transactions.
  • Product Required: the parts a job needs, defined on the Work Type so every work order of that type inherits them, or added on the Work Order itself.
  • Product Consumed: the parts a technician actually used. Saving it reduces the Product Item's quantity on hand.
  • Product Request and Product Transfer: how technicians ask for more stock and how it moves between locations. Receiving a transfer updates quantities at both ends.

The technician's flow on a job

  1. A Service Leader assigns the job from the Dispatcher Console.
  2. In the mobile app, the technician sees the job's Products Required and checks them against their van stock.
  3. If something is missing, they raise a Product Request before driving out.
  4. On site, they record Products Consumed against their van's Product Items, and stock updates immediately.
  5. Low stock triggers replenishment through Product Requests and Transfers.

Lessons from real projects

  • Get units of measure right on day one. Mixing "box" and "each" for the same product makes on-hand counts meaningless.
  • Use Work Types for required parts. Defining Products Required once on the Work Type is far more reliable than relying on dispatchers to add parts to every job.
  • Make consumption quick to record. If logging a part takes more than a few taps, technicians will log it at the end of the day from memory, and stock accuracy drops.
  • Plan stock counts. Periodic cycle counts, recorded as adjustments, keep van stock honest.
Migration note: Loading historical Products Consumed reduces stock on hand. If you are migrating, read my post on load order before loading inventory.