Create first work order
Raise a job against a client, add the parts as positions, and generate a document from them.
A work order is one job for one client. This page takes a new one from empty to a finished PDF, which is the loop the whole app is built around.
Two things need to be in place first: your financial data, so the job is priced in the right currency, and at least one client to raise it against. Both are covered in the previous two pages.
Creating work orders is limited to Admins and Moderators.
Raising the work order
Open Work Orders and add a new one
The number is filled in for you, carrying on from your highest existing job. It is assigned automatically and cannot be edited.
Choose the client
This decides whose name and address print on every document raised against the job.
Set the status and priority
A new job usually starts at Received, or at Offer Sent if you are quoting first. Priority decides what the shop picks up ahead of what.
Add a deadline
Optional, but jobs with deadlines are the ones that show up on the dashboard when they get close.
Decide on VAT
The VAT toggle controls whether tax applies to this job. With it on, the rate comes from your financial settings.
Adding positions
Positions are the individual parts. A work order without them has nothing to make and nothing to bill, so this is where most of the setup work happens. Each position is added on its own.
Drop in the drawing
A PDF drawing can be attached to the position. Dropping the file in fills the part name from the filename, so name your drawings the way you want the parts to read.
Attach the 3D model
Optional. STEP files are accepted, as .stp or .step.
Fill in the details
Part name, quantity, price, status, priority, and deadline. Price is what makes invoices and offers add up later, so it is worth entering even while you are still quoting.
Repeat for each part
There is no bulk import. A job with twenty parts means twenty positions, entered one by one.
Drawings and models use your storage allowance
Drawings and 3D models are counted separately against your plan's storage. A job with large STEP files can eat into it quickly, and the Usage page shows what is left.
Once a position exists you can open it and record operations against it, which is what produces machining times and a traveler worth printing on the shop floor.
Closing the loop
Open the work order's Documents tab and generate something: an offer while you are still quoting, an invoice once the work is done. The form arrives filled in from the positions you entered, which is the reason for entering them.
That completes the sequence. A client, a job, its parts, and a document produced from them without anything being typed twice.
Work orders count against your plan every month
Both work orders and documents have a monthly allowance that depends on your plan, and the counters reset with the calendar month. The Usage page shows where you stand.