Creating a Dynamic Service Report

Digitalising onsite paperwork through dynamic service reports offers numerous benefits, including real-time data access and enhanced efficiency. By creating service reports that technicians can fill out onsite via the mobile web app, you ensure that information is accurately captured and readily available for viewing in the office.

The data entered by technicians is securely stored in the database, enabling the generation and emailing of reports at any time. This eliminates the need to collect physical paperwork from technicians and reduces the risk of misplacement, ultimately streamlining operations and improving productivity.

Navigating to Service Reports:

To begin creating a dynamic service report, navigate to the Admin Panel. You can do this by clicking on 'Admin' from the main menu located on the left-hand side of the screen.

Once in the Admin Panel, proceed to the Service Reports section. Here, you'll find various settings related to service reports under the 'Service Settings' heading. Click on 'Service Reports' to access these settings.

Creating a New Service Report:

Within the Service Reports section, you'll see options for managing existing reports and creating new ones. To create a new service report, scroll down to the bottom of the screen where you'll find the option to add a new report.

When prompted, enter a descriptive name for your new service report. This name will help you identify and manage the report effectively.

Choose the appropriate template for your service report. For dynamic reports, select the 'dynamic.xml' template from the dropdown menu. This template is designed to accommodate various types of questions and responses.

Once you've named the report and selected the template, click on the 'Add' button to create the service report. This will generate a new report with the specified settings and template.

Email Attachment Settings:

Consider adjusting email attachment settings based on your preferences. For example, you may choose to uncheck the 'Auto attach to Complete Email' option if you prefer to manually attach reports to emails.

Adding Questions to the Service Report:

Now that the service report is created, it's time to add questions to gather relevant information from technicians.

Click on 'Edit' next to the newly created service report to begin adding questions. This will allow you to modify the report and customise it according to your requirements.

In the question input field, enter the questions you wish to incorporate into the service report. It's crucial to be clear and concise to ensure both technicians and readers of the service report comprehend the required information. These questions will be displayed on the left-hand side of the service report, with corresponding responses on the right-hand side.

There are various question types, each tailored to different types of responses. To optimise your service report, experiment with different question types and select the most suitable one for each query. Here's a rundown of the different question types:

Pass/Fail/NA: Ideal for assessing whether a specific criterion is met or not.
True/False: Perfect for binary responses, indicating whether a statement is true or false.
Yes/No: Another option for binary responses, allowing respondents to answer affirmatively or negatively.
Text: Suited for longer, descriptive answers that may include various characters.
Number: Designed for numerical input, useful for quantifying data or providing numeric responses.
Tick Box: Enables respondents to select multiple options from a list of choices.
Multiple Choice (MC): Offers a selection of options, with respondents choosing a single answer from the list.
Photo: Allows for the upload of images, providing visual documentation if necessary.
Photo Large: Similar to the Photo type but designed for larger images, ideal for capturing detailed visuals.

Multiple Choice Answer Options:

Once you've inputted a multiple choice question or Tick Box, you'll encounter an additional editor where you can add options. Simply enter each choice, separating them with a return to ensure they're distinct.

To provide an option for another free-answer input, include "Other*" at the end. Conversely, adding "None*" will cause the entire question to vanish from the Service Report. If you wish to include the question and the "None" option, simply write "None" with a return after it, omitting the "*".

Sub Questions:

If your primary question is of a 'Yes/No' or 'True/False' nature, Consider incorporating sub-questions to gather supplementary details based on the technician's initial response.

Once you've created your main question, navigate to the option to add sub-questions.
Select either 'Yes' or 'No' as the conditional answer, depending on the anticipated response to the main question.
Select the appropriate question type for the sub-question, then type the question into the designated input field.
Click 'Add' to include the sub-question in your service report.
For further depth, you can nest sub-questions within existing sub-questions, however, it's advisable to stick with 'True False' or 'Yes No' types for optimal functionality.

Hiding Questions:

If certain questions are not relevant or necessary to be seen on the Service report, but you’d like the questions answered by the technician you have the option to hide them. Simply edit the question and check the 'Hide On Report' option to exclude it from the final report.

Using Data Fields:

Data fields can seamlessly populate essential details such as job, visit, customer, and technician information into your service report. This not only streamlines the reporting process but also ensures accuracy and consistency by minimising manual data entry. To use data fields effectively, follow these steps:

Navigate to the Nexus Help section.
Click on 'Word Templates' under the Administration tab.
Identify and copy the relevant data fields that correspond to the details you wish to autofill in the service report.
Paste the copied data fields into Paragraph or heading Question types within the service report.

Link to Word Templates.

Finalising the Service Report:

Once all questions are added and configured, review the service report to ensure it meets your requirements. Make any final adjustments as needed before finalising the report.

Now that you've created your service report, it's crucial to link it to a service so that technicians can easily complete it whenever a service is added to a job.

If creating digitised templates from scratch seems daunting, consider our digitisation services. We can assist in converting existing templates for a fee.

Updated: 17 May 2024