FAQ & Troubleshooting

Support

FAQ & Troubleshooting

The most common Field Service questions and the fastest fixes. Most issues come down to a sibling module being off, a missing HR schedule, or a feature flag that is not set the way you expect.

Troubleshooting

No availability slots appear when I assign a technician

The technician needs an HR weekly schedule in their Team Member record. Availability is derived from that schedule (matched against skill and zone). Add the schedule, then reopen the assignment.

Parts I add to a job are not reducing stock

Stock movement requires the Warehouse module to be enabled. When Warehouse is off, parts are recorded on the work order only, with no reservation or deduction. Enable Warehouse to post consumption to stock.

I can't create an invoice from an approved job

The billing hand-off needs Sales (for the customer) and Finance (for the invoice). Enable both, confirm the user has field_service_billing, and make sure the job is in approved/billing_ready. The official invoice is created in Accounting/Invoices; Field Service only hands off the snapshot.

AI assist is unavailable or greyed out

AI assist is off by default. Confirm all three: the field_service.ai_assist flag is on, the user has accepted the data-privacy acknowledgement (DPA), and the AkbAI service is configured. The user also needs field_service_ai (and field_service_ai_approve to apply suggestions).

I don't see the Field Service menu at all

Either the module is disabled or your role lacks the base field_service permission. Enable it in Settings → Manage Modules and grant the permission in Settings → Roles. Administrators always see it.

The Dispatch Board, Contracts or SLA tabs are missing

Those are Pro surfaces, and they are now tabs rather than their own sidebar rows. Turn on field_service_dispatch_board, field_service_contracts or field_service_sla in Settings → Field Service and the tab appears. Each is also gated by its permission (field_service_dispatch, field_service_contract, field_service_sla), so you will only see a tab you are entitled to.

The sidebar row itself does not disappear with the switch. Dispatch Board holds the board and the Calendar, so with the board off the page is the Calendar alone. Agreements holds Contracts and SLA Policies; with both switched off the page says there is nothing you can open, which is the expected state on a Lite installation.

A technician's captured work never syncs

The offline app syncs when the device regains a connection. Check that field_service_mobile_offline is enabled and the device is registered. Devices that have not synced within the threshold are flagged by the fs_stale_sync job so dispatch can follow up.

Preventive maintenance created duplicate jobs

It shouldn't — occurrences use a unique key, so re-running the fs_generate_maintenance job is safe. If you see duplicates, confirm the maintenance plan itself was not created twice for the same asset and cadence.

Customers can't open their tracking link

Portal links use time-limited tokens. Expired tokens are revoked by the fs_expire_portal_tokens job. Re-issue the link from the work order, and confirm field_service_customer_portal is enabled.

Reminders and status notifications aren't arriving

Notifications need the core Notifications module enabled and Advanced Cron running the scheduled jobs. If an event is not yet registered in the core notification config, the call is a safe no-op — the operation still succeeds, but no message is sent.

Glossary

Service request

The initial intake record for a customer's problem, before it becomes a scheduled job.

Work order

The operational record for a job at a site — the spine of the module, with its own status lifecycle.

Assignment

The booking of a technician (or crew) to a work order, with its own proposed → working lifecycle.

Dispatch board

The Pro drag-and-drop screen for assigning jobs with skill, availability and SLA-risk indicators.

Customer site

A serviceable location belonging to a customer.

Customer asset

A piece of equipment serviced at a site, with warranty and meter history.

Service template

A reusable definition of a standard job, pre-filling tasks and expected duration.

Quote

A versioned, immutable price snapshot the customer approves before work proceeds.

Billing candidate

An approved job ready for the one-click invoice hand-off.

Maintenance plan

A schedule that generates recurring preventive work orders across one or more sites.

Service contract

A customer agreement tracking entitlements and their consumption.

SLA

A response/resolution target that is monitored, flagged at risk and escalated on breach (Pro).

Offline app (PWA)

The installable technician app that works without a signal and syncs when back online.

DPA

The data-privacy acknowledgement a user must accept before using AI assist.

Lite / Pro

Feature-flag operating modes — SME defaults vs. multi-branch dispatch — not separate products.

Good to Know

• Customers, stock and invoices stay in their owning modules. Field Service references them; it never forks the customer, inventory or accounting record.
• Records are soft-deleted (recoverable), not erased. Prefer closing or cancelling over deleting when a record has real history.
• Dates are stored in UTC and shown in your local time.
• Location is operational only — live position and route history are separate permissions, and a tracking indicator is shown in the app.

Support Escalation

If a problem persists after the checks above:

1. Note the exact screen, the work-order or request number, and what you expected vs. what happened.
2. Check the tenant's audit log for the related event (see Reference → Audit Event Keys) — it often shows the last state change and who made it.
3. Confirm the relevant feature flags and permissions with an administrator.
4. Contact the ERPat Team with those details for anything unresolved.