Managing Trades

Owned by Chellie Esters
Last updated: Nov 06, 2023 by Chellie Esters
6 min read

A Trade is a bucket that work orders are placed in for further categorization. Typically, a Trade is akin to a contractor or service provider in a specialty trade. Trades are required to create work orders, and are also used for reporting (for example: determining how many HVAC requests are open/in progress) and GL Coding. You may add or edit Trades/NTEs in the Work Order Properties section in Service Automation Admin. 

A few important notes to consider while creating Trades:

  • To optimally use the Service Automation Dashboard, you must add the Trade in the Admin module first before you add it to the Dashboard using the Dashboard Admin Template.
  • Trades listed in the Dashboard and Trades listed in Admin must be spelled exactly the same so that Service Automation can create work orders. For example, listing the trade “Roof Leak” as “Roof Leak” in the Admin module but as “Roof Leaking” in the Dashboard Template will cause errors.
  • You may automatically reassign a Trade to the next service provider listed in your provider assignments for a location. See Automatically Reassigning Work Orders for a Trade, below.

Adding a Trade


Trades listed in this module must also exactly match trades in your Dashboard Issues List. Once you adjust your Trades here, also adjust your Dashboard Issues List at the same time.

⦿ How to Add a Trade
  1. On the top-left of the page, click the menu icon, and select Admin > WO Properties > Trades/NTEs. The list of Trades currently in the system appears. 
  2. Click Add Trade. The Trade overlay appears.
  3. Enter the name for the new Trade in the pop-up.
    Creating a trade
  4. (Optional) Check the Auto Reassign box to turn on automatic reassigning of all work orders in that Trade. (See Automatically Reassigning Work Orders for a Trade , below.)
  5. Click Save. Your new Trade will appear in the Trade list.

   For Trades where Auto Reassign was selected: The Trades list will appear with the Auto Reassign box checked.

The Auto Reassign box cannot be controlled from the Trades list. You must edit the Trade in order to turn Auto Reassign on and off.

     6. Download your Dashboard Issues List and add the Trade to that list. 

Automatically Reassigning Work Orders for a Trade

While creating a Trade, you may elect to have related work orders automatically reassign to the next service provider in your provider assignment list. This is beneficial because you do not have to go into the system to reassign a work order manually when your first provider declines a work order.

You can auto-reassign in two ways: single auto-reassign and multiple auto-reassign.

Single Auto-ReassignMultiple Auto-Reassign

  • Single Auto Reassign only reassigns a work order once. This allows you to review a work order should the second service provider also decline. You must manually reassign the work order after the second service provider declines.

  • Single Auto Reassign will only reassign work orders when providers are listed in consecutive order. For example: Should the work order be assigned to a service provider listed in Rank 1, and the next provider is listed in Rank 3, Auto Reassign will not trigger once the service provider in Rank 1 declines. The second service provider must be listed in the Rank 2 slot in order for Auto Reassign to trigger.

    Your first-choice service provider can be listed at any rank you choose (Rank 1, Rank 31, Rank 101, etc.). However, the second-choice service provider must be listed immediately after (Rank 2, Rank 32, Rank 102, etc.) in order for Auto Reassign to trigger. 

  • Single Auto Reassign will not trigger when more than one service provider is listed in the next rank. Multiple service providers listed in the same rank typically occurs when users list these providers in the same rank while using the Upload Locations template. Review your provider assignments to ensure you have one provider listed per rank.
  • Single Auto Reassign will not trigger when a Provider override is configured in the Dashboard Issue List. You must reassign the work order manually in override cases. Review your configuration to understand where Provider overrides may interfere with desired automatic reassignments.
  • When a work order is automatically reassigned, a cancel notification is sent to the first provider, and a dispatch notification is sent to the second provider. For users using the Actionable Landing Page, when the second service provider declines the work order the Dispatch Declined metric updates, so you can easily reassign the work order manually.

Please reach out to your ServiceChannel representative to turn this feature on.

  • Auto Reassign will reassigns a work order multiple times. When the current Provider declines the work order, the work order will automatically reassign to the next Provider. You will not have to manually reassign the work order until all providers in the list have been exhausted. 

  • Auto Reassign can reassign work orders when providers are not listed in consecutive order. For example: Should the work order be assigned to a service provider listed in Rank 1, and the next provider is listed in Rank 3, Multiple Auto Reassign will trigger once the service provider in Rank 1 declines. You do not need a provider listed in Rank 2.

  • Auto Reassign will not trigger when more than one service provider is listed in the next rank. Multiple service providers listed in the same rank typically occurs when users list these providers in the same rank while using the Upload Locations template. Review your provider assignments to ensure you have one provider listed per rank.
  • Auto Reassign will trigger when a Provider override is configured in the Dashboard Issue List. Let's say when you configure your Provider Override in your Issue List to the provider in Rank 5, future auto reassignments will occur starting with the provider listed in Rank 6.
  • When a work order is automatically reassigned, a cancel notification is sent to the first provider, and a dispatch notification is sent to the second provider. Only when all Providers have been exhausted will the work order appear in the Open/Declined status.
    • For users using the Actionable Landing Page, when the second service provider declines the work order the Dispatch Declined metric updates, so you can easily reassign the work order manually.

You don't get notified when the first provider declines a work order — an email alert is only sent when the next ranked provider declines the request. You are notified only when you need to take action. Learn more about reassigning work orders.

Editing or Deleting a Trade

At anytime, you may edit a Trade so to control automatic reassign or NTE changes.

For Dashboard users, you must edit NTE changes through the Issue List in Dashboard Administration.

You cannot rename or delete a Trade with data associated with it — such as work orders, proposals or invoices. An error message will appear should you attempt to rename or delete a Trade associated with data.

Warning: We do not recommend deleting or renaming a trade that was associated with work orders unless absolutely necessary. All work orders and data associated with a trade name that is changed or deleted must be manually remapped. We recommend you contact for assistance.

⦿ How to Edit a Trade to Control Auto Re-Assign or NTE Changes
  1. On the Trades/NTEs page, locate the desired Trade and click the edit pencil next to it. The Trade overlay appears.
  2. Enter a new NTE in the associated text field.
  3. Check (to turn on) or uncheck (to turn off) the Auto Reassign box.
  4. Click Save. The Trades list will appear with your desired changes listed.
⦿ How to Rename a Trade Not Associated with Work Order Data
  1. On the Trades/NTEs page, locate the desired Trade and click the edit pencil next to it. The Trade overlay appears.
  2. Enter a new name in the Trade field.
  3. Click Save. The Trades list will appear with your desired change listed.
⦿ How to Delete a Trade not Associated with Work Order Data
  1. On the Trades/NTEs page, locate the desired Trade and click the red X icon. A confirmation page appears.
  2. Click OK. The trade will be removed from the Trade list.

About GL Codes and Trades

You may setup GL Codes on:

  • an individual Category
  • an individual Trade
  • a Category/Trade combination
  • a Location/Trade combination
  • a Location/Category combination, or
  • a Location/Category/Trade combination.

The table below shows an example of how Trades can be used with GL Codes:

CategoryTradeGL Code


Roof Leaks784322
MaintenanceHVAC344455
RepairsHVAC344457

See Managing GL Codes for more information.

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