Services
A Service is a catalog record, just like an item, but for what you sell or buy that is not a physical product: labor, consulting, fees, installation work, memberships, commissions, and so on. It shares the same catalog as Items, and quotes, invoices, orders and other documents use it exactly like an item, automatically taking its price, taxes and GL accounts.
What is it and what is it for?
Since it is not a physical product, a Service never carries stock, location, lot or serial control: it only has sales and purchase data (price, taxes, GL accounts), which makes its card simpler than an Item's. It still uses the same pricing mechanism by level and currency, classification by class/family/ brand, custom fields and web store.
Don't confuse a Service with a Service Contract or a Service Request. This screen is the catalog of the service itself (what you bill, for example "Air conditioner installation" or "Monthly maintenance fee"); tracking a one-time customer visit is done in Service Requests, and a recurring service agreement with a customer over a validity period is done in Service Contracts (both part of the Enterprise Customer Service module). A Service from this catalog can be used inside those screens, but it is managed separately.
A Service can also be linked from other screens in the system: as an employee's billing service (on their Employees/Relationships card, for payroll) or as a Fixed Asset's maintenance service.
Screens in this area
| Screen | What it does |
|---|---|
| List | A table of the service catalog with Active, Inactive and All tabs, and filters by service, class, family and brand. You can customize which columns are shown (image, SKU, name, class, family, brand, sales and purchase tax schedules, inactive, and others hidden by default such as sales/purchase and descriptions) and save your setup. From here you create, delete and open the catalog report. |
| Create / Edit | The card form: general data, classification, taxes, GL accounts, the Prices tab (price level, currency, price, discount and, if your plan allows it, destination), subsidiaries, photos and linked files. It lets you create custom fields and, if your company has the feature enabled, fill in the form with Smart Paste (artificial intelligence) from a pasted text or a copied image (a screenshot or a photo), whose text is read automatically. |
| Details | The same card in read-only mode, with its prices, subsidiaries and images. Includes shortcuts to Duplicate, the Dashboard and, if your company has the feature enabled, the anomaly analysis. |
| Dashboard | A 360° view of the service: its image, its sales with a chart (document, date, type, customer, currency, quantity, price, discount and amount) and its related quotes and sales orders. It only populates if the service is marked as a sales item. |
| Inline editing | A grid to quickly fix the SKU and name of several services without opening each card. Requires the edit level of the items and services permission. |
How to create a service step by step
- Open the list and click New. You need the "add" level of the items and services permission; if you don't see the button, ask your administrator for access. The service is created flagged as both sales and purchase by default.
- Enter the name and the SKU. The name is required (up to 500 characters). If your company has automatic numbering for services, the SKU is assigned automatically on save; otherwise enter a unique code.
- Classify it and assign taxes. Class, family and brand are used to filter and group in reports (depending on your plan's capabilities). The system proposes your company's default tax schedule for both sales and purchases; adjust them if the service is taxed differently.
- Set its roles. Sales service and Purchase service control which documents it can be used on; with the Manufacturing module you can also flag it as a Manufacturing service and give it a production expense account.
- Register the prices. On the Prices tab add one line per price level and currency (and destination, if your plan handles it), with its price and an optional discount. You cannot repeat the same level/currency (and destination) combination twice.
- Fill in subsidiaries, photos and files if it applies. With subsidiaries enabled, indicate in which ones the service is available; add an image if you'll show it on the web store, and attach any files you need.
- Save. After saving you can open its Dashboard, use it right away on sales or purchase documents, or link it as an employee's billing service or a fixed asset's maintenance service.
Key fields
| Field | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Name | Identifies the service in searches and documents. It is required (maximum 500 characters), and can be complemented with sales, purchase and alternate descriptions. |
| SKU | The service's short, unique code. It can be generated automatically if you configure numbering; in that case only an administrator can change it later. |
| Barcode | An optional code to identify the service, for example when searching for it on a document. |
| Class / Family / Brand / Division | Classify the service for filters, reports and analysis. Available depending on your plan's capabilities. |
| Tax schedules | One for sales and one for purchases; they determine the taxes calculated on documents. |
| GL accounts | Sales account, sales discount account and sales returns account. They must exist and their currency must match the company's. |
| Sales service / Purchase service | Control whether the service can be used on sales and/or purchase documents. Both enabled by default when creating. |
| Manufacturing service | Enables it for use in production costs, with its production expense account. Available with the Manufacturing module. |
| Prices | One line per price level, currency (and destination, if your plan allows it), with an optional discount. These are the prices proposed on sales documents. |
| Vendors | If you buy the service from a third party, their reference, currency and price. |
| Subsidiaries | If your plan handles subsidiaries, controls in which of them the service is available. |
| Web store | Commercial description, image and visibility on the online store, if your plan includes the web store. |
| Report UOM | Used to include the service in Batch Hour Entry, if your company has that feature enabled. |
| Include in anomaly analysis | Enables the service to be evaluated by AI Anomaly Detection, if your company has the feature enabled. |
| Tags | Free-text keywords (maximum 20 characters each) to make the service easier to find. |
| Inactive | Hides the service from searches without deleting its history. |
| Custom fields | Additional fields defined by your company; they can be marked as required on custom forms. |
Validations when saving
- Name required and within the maximum length (500 characters).
- Unique SKU. It cannot repeat another service's code; if it is missing and there is no automatic numbering, the system requires it. With automatic numbering, only an administrator can change the SKU after creation.
- Consistent GL accounts: the sales account, the sales discount account and the returns account must exist and their currency must match the company's.
- Class, brand, family, vendor, report UOM and web-store image must exist if you specify them.
- No duplicate prices: you cannot register the same price level, currency (and destination, if it applies) combination twice; the specified price level, currency, unit and destination must exist.
- No duplicate subsidiaries on the same card, and every subsidiary specified must exist.
- Tags up to 20 characters each.
- Required custom-form fields completed, if your company defined any.
- Attached-files limit according to the contracted edition (plan).
Availability, permissions and conditions
- Access is controlled with the "Items and Services" permission of the user group, with separate levels for browsing, adding, editing and deleting. It requires no additional Enterprise module: it is available on every plan.
- The Class, Family, Brand and Division fields appear depending on the classification capabilities included in your plan.
- The Manufacturing service flag and its production expense account require the Manufacturing module.
- The Report UOM and "Include in Batch Hour Entry" require that feature enabled for your company.
- "Include in anomaly analysis" requires the AI Anomaly Detection feature enabled.
- The web store fields require that your plan includes the web store.
- The Destination column on the prices table only appears if your plan handles prices by destination.
- With subsidiaries enabled, services can be limited to specific subsidiaries.
- Smart Paste (AI-assisted fill-in) is a feature enabled per company.
- A service with history cannot be deleted: the system blocks deletion if the service is referenced on sales or purchase documents, budgets, promotions, CRM opportunities, projects, bills of materials, kits, kit components, maintenance plans, construction types, POS item groups, or if it is an employee's billing service or a fixed asset's maintenance service. Mark it as inactive instead.
Tips and common mistakes
You will not be able to delete a service with history. If it appears on documents, budgets, projects, kits, maintenance plans, or is assigned as an employee's billing service or a fixed asset's maintenance service, the system blocks the deletion to protect your information. Mark it as inactive instead.
A service, not a contract or a request. If you need to track a recurring agreement with a validity period and covered equipment, use Service Contracts; if you need to log and handle a customer's one-time incident, use Service Requests. This catalog only defines what the service is and at what price it is billed.
Need to fix many names or codes? Use Inline editing to adjust the SKU and name of several services in a row without opening each card.
Looking to see items and services together, or bulk-update prices? Check the Item & Service List and Price Calculation guide, a companion to this screen for browsing both catalogs combined or mass-recalculating prices.