Service Visit Checklists

This article explains how to create, manage, use, and review visit checklists that technicians complete before completing a service. Checklists ensure specific tasks are done before work tickets are completed and gives you insight into work trends.

Overview

Before you read this article, it can be helpful to understand the workflow for creating and using checklists. Here are the basic steps involved:

1. Enable checklists for your Aspire system

2. Enable checklists for one or more branches

3. Create checklist items

4. Add checklist items to a service

5. Add services with checklists to an estimate

   1. (Optional) Add or remove checklist items on an estimate

   2. (Optional) Add, remove, complete, or incomplete checklist items on a work ticket.

6. Complete checklist items in Aspire Mobile.

Requirements

• To enable checklists for your system, you must have the System Admin permission.

• To create checklist items, you must have either the System Admin or Branch Admin permission.

  • You must have the Make Visit Checklist Items Mandatory in the Service Catalog permission to make checklist items mandatory.

• To edit checklist items in an estimate, you must have the Edit Estimate Items permission.

  • To make one-time checklist items mandatory, you must have the Make Opportunity Service Visit Checklist Items Mandatory permission.

• To edit checklist items for a visit, you must have the Full Access to Schedule Board permission.

• To view the Visit Checklists Report you must have the View Visit Checklists permission.

Configuration

Before you can create checklists, you need to enable them at the system level and the Branch level. The instructions below explain how.

Enable checklists for your system

1. On the Administration page, select the Configuration tab.

2. On the Configuration tab, select the Application sub-tab.

3. Under the Work Tickets section, turn on Enable Visit Checklists. 

4. Select Save. 

Enable checklists in branch settings

Notes:

• Even if your company has one branch you must still enable this setting at the branch level by selecting the Main Branch.

• If the Enhance Branch Admin Security feature is enabled, you can only enable checklists for the branches to which you have access, but you can still view all checklist items.

1. On the Administration page, select the Organization tab.

2. Select the Branches sub-tab, then select a branch.

3. Select the Enable Visit Checklists box.

4. Select Save.

Create checklist items

Once checklists are enabled for your system and at least one branch, you can start creating checklist items. Each item should be a single task that crew members should do before completing a service.

1. On the Administration page, select the Estimating tab.

2. Select the Visit Checklist Items sub-tab.

3. Select the New button. 
   

4. In the New Visit Checklist Item window, enter an Item Name that clearly describes the task. For example, “Trash pickup”.

5. Select all of the Branches for which the visit checklist item should be available, or leave the selection on All Branches to make the item available to every branch.

6. Select all of the Divisions for which the visit checklist item should be available, or leave the selection on All Divisions to make the item available to every Division.

7. Select Save. 
   

Edit or delete a checklist item

After creating a checklist item, you can use the Active toggle to deactivate a checklist item if you no longer want to use it.

If you want to completely remove a checklist item, click the three-dot icon next to the Save button, then select Delete.

Caution:

If you delete a checklist item that has been used on services, Aspire deletes it from those service checklists and removes all related data.

Add visit checklist items to a service

After you create checklist items, you can build checklists for existing and new services by following the instructions below.

1. On the Administration page, select Estimating.

2. Select the Service Catalog sub-tab.

3. Select an existing service, or select the New button to create a new service.
   

4. While editing a service, locate the Visit Checklist section of the page. Use the Select one menu to find and select checklist items you want to add to the service checklist.

   Tip:

   Add one item to a visit checklist multiple times to ensure the same task is completed on different floors or in different sections of a building or property.

5. Check the box in the Mandatory column next to each item that must be checked before a work ticket can be completed.

   Note:

   Branch Managers can only make items assigned to their branch mandatory. Admins who don’t have this permission can still view which items are mandatory.

6. Click and drag the grid icon next to items to reorder them. Select the trash can icon to remove an item from the checklist.
   

7. Select Save when you’re done making changes to the service.

After adding items to the checklist, you can use the Search bar to find an item you’ve added to the service checklist.

(Optional) View and manage visit checklists in an opportunity

Once you have services with visit checklists, the checklists are automatically included in opportunities you add those services to. When you’re building an estimate for an opportunity, you can select the hyperlinked service name to view the service details and manage its visit checklist.

Note:

For visit checklists to display in an opportunity, the service to which they belong must have been added to the opportunity after the checklist items were added to the service.

When viewing the service details from an estimate, you’ll find the same Visit Checklist section as when you created the service, with several key differences:

• Changes you make from the Service Details page in an estimate only apply to that opportunity.

• You can still add and remove items, but you can’t change mandatory checklist items to non-mandatory or remove mandatory items.

• If you need to add property-specific checklist items to a specific opportunity, like lockup procedures, you can do so when creating an estimate using the One-Time Visit Checklist Item feature. Use the steps below to add a one-time visit checklist item to a service.

Add a one-time visit checklist item to a service

1. After adding the service to the estimate, select the hyperlinked service name as shown in the previous section.

2. Select the Select One dropdown, then select Add One-Time Visit Checklist Item.

3. In the window that appears, name the item.

4. Select Save.
   

The item will now be included in every visit for the service.

Note:

You can make one-time checklist items mandatory if you have the Make Opportunity Service Visit Checklist Items Mandatory permission.

(Optional) Manage visit checklists for a scheduled visit

Once you’ve won an opportunity that has services with visit checklists, the checklist items are automatically included in each visit associated with a Work Ticket. If you need to modify or review the checklist for a scheduled visit, follow the instructions below.

1. In the Scheduling module, select a visit.

2. Select the three-dot icon next to the service title.

3. Select Edit Visit.
   

4. Scroll down to the Visit Checklist section.

When viewing a scheduled visit’s service details, you’ll find the same Visit Checklist section as when you created the service, with several key differences:

• A page icon next to the Visit Checklist heading offers an at-a-glance preview of a checklist’s completion status. A red icon means one or more mandatory items are incomplete, yellow means all mandatory items are complete, and green means that all mandatory and non-mandatory items are complete.

  Note:

  The checklist status icons also appear on the Time Entry screen.

• You can still add and remove items, but you can’t change which checklist items are mandatory or remove mandatory items.

• When you drag the grid icon next to an item to change its order, select Save Sort Order to save the list.

• When you add a checklist item from the checklist item catalog, you can choose whether to add the item to only the visit you’re editing or all future service visits for the opportunity.
  

• You can only add or remove checklist items for upcoming visits, not for past visits.

• You can add one-time visit checklist items that weren’t originally included in the service.

Add a one-time visit checklist item to a visit

1. Select the Select One menu, then select Add One-Time Visit Checklist Item.

2. In the window that appears, name the item.

3. Choose whether to add the item to only the visit you’re editing or all future service visits for the opportunity.

4. Select Save to finish adding the item.
   

Complete, delete, or uncomplete visit checklist items

Check the box next to one or more checklist items, then select the Bulk Actions menu to complete, delete, or uncomplete the selected items.

Notes:

• You can delete completed checklist items.

• When you uncomplete an item, Aspire deletes the completion time stamp.

• You can only edit visit checklist items within seven days of the scheduled visit.

Using visit checklists in Aspire Mobile

Crew leaders use the process below to view and manage visit checklists in Aspire Mobile.

1. From the Today or Tickets tab, select the work ticket.
   

2. Start work on the ticket.

3. After completing work related to a checklist item, select Visit Checklist. The number to the right of the Visit Checklist label indicates the number of completed tasks and the total number of tasks in X/Y format.
   

4. Check the box next to the item you completed. Check the Select All box to check all items. Mandatory items have a red page icon next to them. When you check an item a “Completed on” label appears under the item name with the date.

5. Select Save.
   

6. The completion status is reflected next to the Visit Checklist option in the ticket details.
   

7. When all work is done, stop work on the ticket. The app asks if you want to complete the ticket. If you select Yes and any mandatory checklist items aren’t yet marked as complete, time will stop, but the Visit Checklist screen automatically appears with a warning that there are incomplete mandatory items.
   

Caution:

If you don’t mark mandatory items as complete and you select Save on a visit checklist after choosing to complete the ticket, the ticket won’t be completed and you’ll be directed back to the schedule view. You must restart work on the ticket, mark mandatory checklist items as complete, and then stop work again to complete the ticket.

Visit Checklist Report

In the Reports module, select the Standard Reports tab, then click Visit Checklists to view and manage information associated with service visit checklists.

Like other lists in Aspire, you can search, sort, and filter items to quickly find what you’re looking for. You can also convert the visit checklist report’s default view into a Dashboard metric.

By default, information is grouped first by Work Ticket Number, then by Occurrence, and then by the Visit Scheduled Date. The following fields are displayed by default:

• Property Name - The name of the property where the work was done.

• Zip Code - The zip code of the property where the work was done.

• Work Ticket Number - The work ticket number the checklist item is tied to.

• Visit Schedule Date - The date the visit is scheduled for.

• Occurrence - Notes the number of times the checklist item has been completed for the opportunity, including the current time.

• Checklist Item Status - Displays the icon indicating the current status of the associated visit checklist items. 

• Mandatory - Notes either ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to indicate if a checklist item was mandatory.

More fields are available in the Display menu.

Select a list entry to view the visit detail page for the visit the checklist item is tied to.

Frequently asked questions

Can I modify a visit checklist for specific work tickets with a change order?

Yes, the changes you make will reflect on currently scheduled visits and visits that will be created in the future under the opportunity. If the ticket was created within the last seven days, you can modify the visit checklist of the original ticket.

Can I complete a ticket in Aspire Cloud that couldn’t be completed in Aspire Mobile?

Yes. Work Tickets that can’t be completed in Aspire Mobile can be completed from the Time Entry Screen in Aspire within seven days of the ticket creation date. After completing the Work Ticket from the Time Entry screen, the checklist icon indicating open tasks will remain.