In order, because the order is why nothing gets lost.

The Inbox entry, first

The customer’s first message creates an Inbox entry the same as any new enquiry, before the assistant says a word. Whatever happens next, the enquiry exists in ServiceM8. The customer’s later messages do not each become another Inbox entry; they stay with the conversation.

The job

When the customer confirms a time, the job is made.

  • A service you set up from a job template is made through that template, so it arrives with whatever the template holds: badges, checklist, line items and their prices.
  • A service you set up from scratch is made directly, filed under the job category you chose, with the line items you picked from your materials list already on it, at list price.

The Inbox entries for that customer are cleared and the conversation is filed against the new job.

The description and the address

The job’s description is written from the whole conversation: “Leak under kitchen sink, stopcock off. Urgent, this week. Booked Thu AM.” The address is the one the customer gave, or the one on file that they confirmed.

The dispatch board

A job activity on the engineer with the most room in that window, among the staff you allowed. It shows on the board like any hand-booked job. If the assistant could not put it on the board, the job still exists and the alert says so, so a person can drag it on.

The diary

Every message the assistant sent is on the job diary and marked as the assistant’s, along with the customer’s messages, so the whole exchange is on the job and you can see which words were the machine’s. In the conversation those replies carry an Assistant tag.

What to check on the first few

Open the job. Is the description right? Is the time what the customer was told? Is it on the right engineer? Booking is only as good as the services list and the rules, and the first few bookings are how you find a length that is too short or a rule you forgot. Adjust in the settings; the next booking uses the new values.

If the job exists but is not on the board

The add-on needs permission to write to the dispatch board, and a connection made before that permission was added does not have it. One reconnect needed.