Retiring the Free-Text Service Line
The free-text line got your services invoiced for years. Moving them into the catalogue is mostly a spreadsheet exercise, and the parts that are not are worth knowing before you start.
Every business that has sold services through a stock system has a habit: the typed line. "Installation, 2 days." "Annual support." "Callout, Saturday rate." It works, and it is the reason nobody can tell you what you earn from services.
Moving those lines into the catalogue as service items takes an afternoon for most businesses. This is the order to do it in.
Find the services you already sell
Export a quarter of invoices and sort the typed lines by description. Most businesses find that a dozen descriptions cover nine-tenths of the lines, typed in a handful of spellings. Those dozen are your first services. The one-offs can stay typed; that is what a custom line is for.
While you are there, look for products that are really services: stock items called "Delivery" or "Fitting" with a suspiciously round stock level. When a product becomes a service covers converting those.
Import them
The item import template has an Item Type column. Put "service" against each new service, with its name, code, category and selling price. Three rules apply, each designed so that an import cannot quietly damage what is already there:
- A blank type means stock, so an old template without the column imports exactly as it always did.
- An existing item's type is never changed by an import, so re-importing a price update cannot turn a product into a service by accident.
- An unknown type is refused, so a typo like "servise" fails the row rather than defaulting to stock.
How imports handle a bad row generally is in one bad row rolls back the file.
An import should be able to add services. It should never be able to turn a product into one.
Check what your other systems will see
| Where | What a service looks like there |
|---|---|
| Item exports, spreadsheet and PDF | An Item Type column |
| The accounting sync | A service item, with no inventory asset account |
| The developer API | An item type and a tracks-stock flag, filterable by type |
| Search | A Service badge on the result |
| The assistant | Answers that the item is a service and carries no stock |
The accounting sync row matters most if you keep a second ledger. Pushed as an inventory item, a service would need an asset account in the other system and would drag a quantity behind it. Pushed as a service, it arrives the way that system expects. A push is not a reconciliation is worth reading before you rely on any sync for month-end.
Start invoicing from the catalogue
From the next invoice, pick the service rather than typing it. The price comes from the catalogue, revenue goes to the service's income account, and from that day the service is countable in reports. Historical invoices keep their typed lines; the reports start from the day you switched, which is a clean line to draw.
Four checks after the import
Filter the items list by Service.
What to look for
Every service you imported.
If not
Rows with a blank type came in as stock. Change them by hand.
Open one service.
What to look for
No stock tab and a selling price.
If not
It is a stock item.
Run the accounting sync.
What to look for
The service arrives as a service.
If not
Check the connector mapping before month-end.
Read tomorrow's low-stock alert.
What to look for
No services in it.
If not
An item has the wrong type.
What AWRA OpsHub does today
- An Item Type column in the import template, with blank meaning stock and unknown types refused.
- Imports that never change an existing item's type.
- Item type in exports, spreadsheet and PDF.
- Services pushed to the accounting sync as services, with no inventory asset account.
- Item type in the developer API, with a tracks-stock flag and a type filter.
- A Service badge in search and an assistant that knows a service carries no stock.
More we can add to your workspace
- Converting historical typed lines to the new service items, so past revenue is reportable by service too.
- A Service badge in mobile search, matching the web.
Where we point you to a specialist
- We will not rewrite issued invoices to point at new service items. An issued invoice is a record of what was sent to the customer and stays as it was.
Matching historical typed lines to services for reporting, without touching the invoices themselves, can be scoped for your workspace.
If your history matters
Most businesses start reporting from the day they switch. If you need the last few years too, that can be arranged.
Historical line matching
Match past typed lines to the new services by description, for reporting only, leaving issued invoices untouched.
Mobile search badge
The same Service badge in search on the phone.
How it works: you describe the requirement, we return a written scope, timeline and cost, and once agreed it is built into your workspace and maintained with the product.
Talk to us about migratingStart with the sample service
Every new workspace has one, so you can see a service end to end before importing your own. The feature page has the full picture.
See how service items workFrequently asked questions
How do I import services?
Use the item import template and put service in the Item Type column. A blank type imports as stock.
Can an import change a product into a service?
No. An import never changes the type of an existing item.
What happens to old invoices with typed service lines?
They stay as they were. Reports by service start from the day you begin invoicing from the catalogue.
How are services sent to my accounting connector?
As service items, with no inventory asset account.
