Is a job card the same as a work order?

No, though they are often merged. A work order is the instruction issued before the visit. A job card is the record of what was actually done during it. Digital systems commonly hold both on one job, with the instruction at the top and the evidence below.

Does a digital job card work without signal?

In Omni Field, yes, within limits. The technician app is offline tolerant: entries, notes and photos are held in a sync queue and uploaded once the connection returns. It is not a fully offline application, so plan for a sync rather than assuming every feature behaves identically without a network.

How long should job cards be kept?

Keep them at least as long as your warranty period and your tax record retention obligations, and longer for safety critical trades. Digital storage makes this cheap. Check the retention rules that apply to your trade and your jurisdiction rather than relying on a general rule.

Job card

A job card is the on-site record of what a technician actually did. It captures arrival and departure times, the work performed, parts used, photographs, notes and the customer's signature. In a paper system it is the sheet left on a dashboard. In a digital system it is completed in the app and attached to the job.

What goes on a job card

A job card records the visit as it happened. Time on site, the fault found, the work carried out, the parts and materials consumed, any follow-up needed, photographs before and after, and the customer's acceptance.

The photographs do more work than people expect. A picture of a corroded isolator before replacement answers most of the questions a client will ask about the charge.

Paper job cards and what they cost

Paper job cards cost you at the office end, not the field end. They get damaged, left in vans, or handed in a week late, and until they arrive the invoice cannot go out. Every day a job card sits in a bakkie is a day added to your debtor days.

They are also unsearchable. When a client asks what was done at their site in March, someone has to find a file.

Digital job cards

A digital job card is completed in the technician's app while they are still on site, which is when the detail is accurate. It is attached to the job immediately, so the office can invoice the same day.

Omni Field's technician app is an installable PWA. It captures notes, photos, time on site, materials used and an on-screen customer signature, and it tolerates a dropped connection by holding the entries in a sync queue that uploads when signal returns. A job completion report can then be generated as a PDF for the customer.

Common questions

See it in the product

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