I do a lot of break/fix work and have many estimates (quotes) and parts (expenses) that are primarily linked to specific tickets.
Our current flow is: create customer, asset, ticket, quote, approval, work, invoice using time taken (ticket timer), parts/materials used (linked expense), payment, receipt, resolution, closure after 14 days of no re-opening or reply. Right now this requires jumping between multiple pages and losing context, only being able to really reference things like "this expense here," "that expense there" in the ticket comments etc.
I would love to be able to create, link, and manage all this from within a single ticket using modules or enhanced functionality. I'd be fine with a link to button (where you can associate this ticket to other things like expences, quotes, invoices, etc.) but if someone wants to go ape here is my wet dream:
Proposed Additions:
Workflow Progress Tracker Under the breadcrumb section, add a visual progress bar with 4 phases. Each phase starts grey and changes color based on status:
Diagnostics → Quote → Work → Invoice
Diagnostics: green when completed
Quote: green when approved, red when declined
Work: green when done
Invoice: yellow when created, green when paid, red when overdue
This gives instant visual status of where each ticket stands in the break/fix process.
Quick Action Buttons To the left of the existing SUMMARY button, add:
Quote button (creates quote linked to this ticket)
Part Order button (creates expense/purchase order for parts)
Invoice button (generates invoice from ticket time and linked parts)
Enhanced Tech Assignment The assigned tech should be clearly marked as the primary Technician, with ability to assign additional techs for larger jobs or handoffs (front desk for lead -> tech for diag -> back to front desk for quote/approval/deposit/etc -> tech for work -> front desk for hand off -> finance for billing reconciliation… etc)
Communication Enhancements
Read receipts on emails sent in ticket comments so we know if customers actually saw our updates
SMS capability via Twilio or similar service for urgent follow-ups. More thought needed here, just want to put it out into the wild.
Parts & Charges Module Add a module on the right sidebar (near existing project/tasks) showing:
Appointments Module Add module for scheduling multiple appointments since break/fix often requires:
Initial diagnosis appointment
Parts installation appointment
Follow-up/testing appointment
