Maintenance terminology can be confusing, and this article aims to clarify how to identify and record your vehicles' maintenance and repairs in Fleetio.

Service Tasks and Issues are ways to describe one-time problems or regularly recurring preventative maintenance services that arise over the course of a vehicle's lifetime.

Service Entries and Work Orders are methods for recording this maintenance as performed, allowing you to track the date services were completed and log a history of associated data, such as meter readings, technician or vendor assignments, and parts and labor costs.

Service Tasks

Service Tasks are the regularly recurring preventative maintenance tasks that keep your vehicles running smoothly. These are routine services that can be tracked by date and/or meter interval. Examples include Oil Changes, Air Filter Replacement, or Tire Rotation.

In addition, a Service Task might represent a one-time repair, such as a gasket replacement or diagnosis.

Standard Service Tasks are specially designated tasks that enable Fleetio to integrate with other systems and exchange service data electronically. Your Fleetio account is pre-populated with a list of Standard Service Tasks.

For maximum efficiency, you may create a Service Task structure of Main Tasks and Subtasks. A 30,000-mile Major Service might include subtasks such as fluid and filter changes, checks, and inspections.

Service Tasks may be logged for a vehicle via a Service Entry or Work Order.

Issues

Issues are typically one-time problems that represent an unexpected or unplanned service need. Examples include Fluid Leaks, Brake Failure, or Transmission Noise.

Fleetio allows you to follow Issue Statuses from Open to Resolved/Closed.

Issues can be resolved directly in the Issues module or logged when recording a Service Entry or Work Order. Recording Issues in Service Entries and Work Orders gives you the advantage of keeping track of the reason for repair, service history, and associated costs.

Service Entries

Service Entries are a quick and easy way to log service for a vehicle. This method is intended for basic summary data (work accomplished, cost, etc.) and is particularly useful when work has been completed by a third-party vendor, and you simply need to track the history.

A collection of Service Entries for a vehicle is referred to as Service History.

Work Orders

Work Orders are more robust than Service Entries, allowing for greater detail in planning and execution. Each “line item” can have its own parts/labor subtotals, and you can easily identify which specific parts were used and the in-house Technician or third-party Vendor who completed the work.

A completed Work Order generates a Service Entry; these records also become part of the Service History.

Update your Work Orders through various Work Order Statuses to track workflow progression from Open to Completion. When a Work Order is marked as Complete, a Service Entry will be automatically generated. This allows users to see all maintenance history on the Service Entries List screen or Report, with powerful Filter options available to control the results displayed.

Both a Service Entry AND a completed Work Order will update Service Reminders for a vehicle.