Record parts, labor, and items
Record the items used during an inspection from the office or mobile app. Your report must include a Parts, Labor, and Items field. It can appear once for the visit or separately on each asset.
Where to find it: Open the inspection report, then the step or asset containing the items field.
Search for an item and select it from your pricebook.
If the item is missing, type its name and add it as a custom item.
Enter the quantity. Add more items or remove an entry as needed. On web, use the trash-can icon beside an item to remove it.
Save the report using the report's normal save action.
Some reports show only the items that fit the equipment you're working on. For example, once you pick a tool's model, the picker lists just the parts for that model. If the equipment doesn't match any list set up on the report, the picker shows your whole pricebook. You can still add a custom item either way. Changing the equipment later doesn't remove items you already added. These item lists are set up on the report by Essential; see Contact Essential for setup changes.
When Inventory is on, items your business tracks in inventory take whole-number quantities only, because their stock is counted in whole units. Other items, such as labor, can still use fractions like 1.5.
In the mobile app, pricebook items that have a photo show a thumbnail in the item search and beside items you've added. Tap the thumbnail to view the photo, then open it full screen and pinch to zoom. Tapping a thumbnail never adds an item or changes its quantity; in search, use Add Item in the photo view or tap the result itself. Thumbnails are available offline once the visit has loaded. See Item photos.
The picker lists frequently used items first, based on how many submitted reports for the same asset group type in your business contain the item. Repeated entries and large quantities in one report count only once. Items with equal usage, or no history, appear alphabetically. When you type, search relevance takes priority. Mobile keeps this ranking available offline after refreshing its report data.
Items captured on the report are available to the visit's job summary. Once a job summary exists, the report's items remain visible but cannot be changed there. On web, saved items and quantities appear as a read-only list, and a notice replaces the editing controls. Manage them in the job summary instead. This applies as soon as the summary exists, including before it is submitted.
Review these items in the technician's Job Summary and submit it to record their usage on the job. With Job Costing on, pricebook items also populate the job's Parts & Items list and material costs automatically, whether Inventory is on or off. Non-inventory pricebook items add costs without changing stock. Custom items remain in the summary for billing. See Job Costing on a job.
A required items field needs at least one entry while capture is open. If no items are normally needed, leave that field optional. After a summary exists, an empty required items field does not prevent completing the inspection report.
Set up the field and printed report
Adding a Parts, Labor, and Items field to a report's form — on a normal step or inside an asset list, required or not — is report setup, handled by Essential; it isn't a self-serve Settings change, and the Assistant's report-editing chat can't add it either, since that chat doesn't change report forms. Contact Essential through the Talk to a human tab and say whether you want items recorded once for the visit or separately for each asset, and whether the printed report needs a consolidated total or a grouped breakdown. If technicians should only see the items that fit certain equipment, send the list of which items go with which equipment (for example, a spreadsheet of models and part numbers) and say which answer on the report identifies the equipment.
The printed report must also have an items section in its rendering template, which Essential sets up as part of the same request. A template can display items for the visit, for each asset, and as a consolidated total. The total excludes hidden fields and deleted or skipped assets. Adding the field alone does not change your printed report.
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