A job is where tools and material go: a building site, a project, a client, a service van. Tools and equipment are checked out to a job and checked back in...
Jobs
A job is where tools and material go: a building site, a project, a client, a service van. Tools and equipment are checked out to a job and checked back in when they return. The Jobs screen is the custody register for that loop. For every job it shows what is out with it right now, item by item and since when, and what it has used in value. Nothing gets lost in the field without someone being able to see where it went. In warehouse terms it is a check-out / check-in log for returnable assets, kept on the same inventory ledger as every receipt, issue and count.
Where to find it: Workspace → Logistics → Inventory → Jobs. It only appears when the Inventory module is on (Warehouse settings → General). An administrator can also take it off the menu with Hide from the menu. The page then still opens from a link.
Who can use it
Anyone with any Warehouse permission can see the jobs list, open a job's card and read its history.
To create and close jobs and to check tools in and out, you need the permission Move stock, pick lists and jobs. You also have it if your role has the whole group Gate in and out, move units, fill and empty tanks. Without it, the New job, Checked in and Close the job buttons do not appear.
A role with Does not see → Inventory ticked never sees this page. The Inventory menu disappears for that role and the page is closed to it.
A role with Cannot use bulk actions cannot select several jobs and close them at once.
Administrators can always do everything.
Where it sits in the operation
An item becomes checkable when it is marked This is a tool or equipment on its card under Items. From then on its stock is in one of two places: on the shelf (the item's quantity) or out with a job. A check-out takes the quantity off the shelf and puts it on the job. A check-in puts it back. Ordinary material (no tool tick) is never checked out. It leaves stock as Taken out and does not come back.
Figure 1: A tool is either on the shelf or out with a job. Checked out and Checked in move it between the two. A lost tool is closed off with Checked in followed by Taken out, so the ledger shows what really happened.
What you see
New job sits at the top right of the card. Below it are the filter tabs Open (the default), Closed and All.
Column
What it shows
Job
The job's name. Click it (or the eye at the end of the row) to open the job's card.
Client
The client it is for, if any.
Project
The project it belongs to, if any.
Out now
How many tools and pieces are checked out to it and not back yet. This is the sum over all items, so 3 drills and 2 ladders show as 5.
Value used
The value of what was checked out with this job minus the value of what came back. Each line is valued at the item's Value of one as it was at the moment of that check-out or check-in.
Status
Open or Closed.
The list can be searched, sorted, printed and exported to Excel like every list. On a phone each job shows as one row: the job name, the client under it and Out now on the right.
The job's card
The card heads with the job name, its client and project, and its status. The Out now section lists each item still out, with how many, the unit and "since" the first check-out. If you may operate, each line has a Checked in button. If nothing is out it says "Nothing is out with this job." Below is the job's History: the last 30 check-outs and check-ins on this job, each with the item, the quantity, the time and who recorded it. While the job is open, the card has a Close the job button.
Create a job
Click New job.
Type the Job name, for example "Renovation Main Street 12" (up to 150 characters).
Optional: the Client, the Project (only open projects are listed) and a Note.
Click Save. The job is created as Open and appears at once in the Job picker of Update quantity and of new pick lists.
A job's name, client and project cannot be changed after saving, and a job cannot be deleted. Choose a name that stays meaningful for the whole life of the job.
Check a tool out to a job
Only items marked This is a tool or equipment can be checked out. For those items, Update quantity opens on Checked out by default.
Find the tool under Items (or scan its label under Scan) and click Update quantity.
Choose Checked out, type how many, and choose the Job. Only open jobs are offered.
Optional: a Reason and a Note.
Click Record it. "Drill 18V checked out." The quantity on the shelf goes down at once and the job's Out now goes up.
Or make a pick list for the job. When a tool line is picked, it is checked out to that job. Material lines on the same list are taken out of stock as ordinary issues against the pick list, not against the job.
Check a tool back in
Open the job.
Click Checked in on the tool's line.
Type how many came back and check the Job it comes back from. When you start from the job's card the job is already filled in. From anywhere else you have to choose it. Only then is the tool taken off that job's Out now list.
Click Record it. "Drill 18V checked in." The shelf quantity goes up and the line on the card shrinks or disappears.
A partial return is fine: check in 2 of 3, and the line stays with 1 out and the same "since" date.
Close a job
Make sure every tool is back: the card must say "Nothing is out with this job."
Click Close the job. "Job closed." A closed job no longer appears in the job pickers, and it moves from the Open tab to Closed.
To close several finished jobs at once, select their rows in the list and choose Close them (only jobs with no tools still out). Jobs with something still out are skipped. The message says how many of the selected jobs were closed, and why the others were not.
Figure 2: A job has two statuses. It can only close when nothing is out. Closed is final: the job stays in the Closed tab and in the Jobs report, but leaves every picker.
Controls and exceptions
"Type a name." A job needs a name.
Checking out without a job: "Choose the job it goes out with."
Checking out more than you have: "There are only 2 pcs of Drill 18V." You can only check out what is on the shelf.
A quantity of zero or below: "Type a quantity above zero."
Closing a job with tools still out: "Things are still out with this job. Check them in first."
Double taps and bad connections. Every Update quantity form carries its own one-time key. If the same form is sent twice, the second one is not recorded again ("This was already recorded."). A check-out is never counted twice.
Check-in without a job. A Checked in recorded from an item card without choosing the job puts the quantity back on the shelf, but the job still shows it as out. Always check in from the job's card, or choose the job. If it already happened, record the check-in again from the job's card so the job clears. Then set the shelf to the real figure with Corrected (or a stock count), so the tool is not counted twice.
A tool that will not come back. There is no separate "lost" status. Check it in on the job (so the job can close), then record Taken out on the item with the reason Lost or Damaged. The ledger then shows both steps, and Transactions and Item flow show the loss.
Material for a job. Consumables (no tool tick) cannot be checked out. Taken out has no Job field. Material picked on a job's pick list is booked against the pick list. So the job's Out now, Value used and History only ever cover tools.
Audit trail. Nothing in the custody log can be edited or deleted. Every check-out and check-in is a ledger row with who, when and from where (screen, scanner, AI assistant).
For the manager
The Jobs list answers two questions every day: which equipment is in the field and with whom, and which jobs are holding on to it. Sort the Open tab by Out now to find the jobs carrying the most, and open the card to see "since" dates. A tool out for months on a job that has finished is a lost tool that nobody has written off yet.
Daily: the Open tab after the vans return. Out now should match what is physically not in the store.
Weekly: close finished jobs (bulk close skips the ones still holding tools, which is your chase list).
Monthly: the Jobs report under Reports compares Out now and Value used across all jobs, open and closed, and exports to Excel.
Keep in mind that tools out with a job are no longer in the shelf quantity. The Inventory summary, Low stock and the monthly snapshots value only what is in the store. What is in the field is in Value used here. Value used is the custody value of equipment on site, not a cost that is billed. The App does not turn it into an invoice line.
Figure 3: Out now counts pieces and Value used counts money. Both are computed from the job's check-out and check-in rows. Value used uses the item's value as recorded on each row.
Tips
Make one job per site or project, not one per day.
Check tools in as soon as they are back in the warehouse. The Out now column then shows exactly what is still in the field.
Print QR labels for tools with Labels on the item card or the Items list so the van crew can check out and in with the phone under Scan.
Use the Jobs report under Reports to compare what jobs used.
Glossary
Job
The place or purpose tools go out with: a site, a project, a client. Open or Closed.
Tool or equipment
An item marked This is a tool or equipment. A returnable asset that can be checked out and in.
Checked out
A ledger row that takes a tool's quantity off the shelf and books it on a job.
Checked in
A ledger row that puts a tool's quantity back on the shelf and off the job chosen.
Taken out
An issue: stock leaves for good (used, sold, thrown away, lost). Not linked to a job.
Out now
What a job holds right now: checked out minus checked in.
Value used
Value of what went out with the job minus what came back, at the Value of one recorded on each row.
Value of one
The single value an item carries. Inventory value is quantity × Value of one.
Custody
Who holds an asset at a given time. Here: the shelf, or a named job.
Ledger
The append-only list of every stock change, with the quantity after each one. Every report reads it.
Pick list
A list of items to pick for a person or job. Picked tool lines on a job's list become check-outs.
