Capture a draft job after a site visit

A draft is a site visit saved before the work is a job. You capture the customer, photos, a rough scope and notes, and the draft takes its job number straight away, such as JOB-0158. Nothing is booked, and it is not on anyone's schedule. When the work goes ahead, you turn the draft into a job and it keeps that number.

Before you start

• Only the owner, admins, dispatchers and office staff can capture drafts, open Drafts and turn drafts into jobs. Site supervisors, technicians and contractors do not see Drafts. If you have given someone access to Leads, they can see a draft's details there, but not its photos or its rough value.
• Drafts are on every plan. You do not need the Sales pipeline module.
• Adding photos needs a signal. Photos upload while you have the draft open, one at a time. They are not saved on your phone to send later.

Capture a draft

1. Open Jobs, select Drafts, then select New draft.
2. Choose Existing customer and select the Customer, or choose New customer and enter their Business or name. A customer is the only thing a draft needs.
3. Add Who you met (or Contact for a new customer) and their Mobile if you have them.
4. Add photos with Take photo or Choose from library. You can pick several at once. Type a caption under a photo to label it. A draft holds up to 40 photos.
5. Write the Scope of work, draft and any Notes.
6. Further down, all optional: choose the customer's Site (or Other address to type one; for a new customer, type the Site address), a Job title, a Rough value, Rough dates, a Follow up on date and the Owner. The Rough value is for the owner only: other roles do not see it. Rough dates are marked not a booking. The owner defaults to you.
7. On a laptop or desktop, select Save draft. On a phone, select Save at the top.

The sheet then shows Saved as JOB-0158 draft. If you added photos, each one shows its progress as it uploads. Keep the sheet open until they are all sent. A photo that cannot be sent shows why under it, with a Retry button: Needs signal to upload when the connection dropped, or its own message for anything else, such as a full storage plan or a photo that is too large. When every photo is sent, select Done, or Turn into job to make the job now. To go before the rest are sent, select Leave without the rest: the unsent photos are not kept. You can add more photos later from the draft.

Find and manage your drafts

Select Drafts at the top of Jobs. The number beside it is how many drafts are open. Drafts also appear in Leads at stage New when saved, marked Draft with their title, if your plan includes the Sales pipeline module.

Use the filters Open, New customer, Follow up due and Not going ahead, or search by title, customer, contact, scope or job number. The list shows 50 drafts at a time, newest first. Select Older drafts at the foot of the list to see the next 50. Select a draft to open it. On a laptop or desktop it opens beside the list. On a phone it opens on its own screen, with Drafts at the top to go back.

An open draft shows the customer (marked New customer if they are not in ONYX1 yet), the site, the photos, the scope and notes, the Rough value if you are the owner, the Rough dates and the Follow up. You can:

• Select Edit to change any detail.
• Use Take photo or Choose from library under Photos to add more, then select Upload (it reads, for example, Upload 3 photos). Select the cross on a photo to remove it.
• Select Turn into job to make the job.
• Select Not going ahead, with an optional reason, when the work will not happen. The draft moves to the Not going ahead filter and is kept for the record. Select Put back in Drafts to bring it back.

Turn a draft into a job

Select Turn into job. The New job form opens filled in from the draft. Each field that still holds what the draft said carries a From draft tag: the customer, site, site contact, title, scope, photos, and the notes, which go into Description.

• If the customer or site is not in ONYX1 yet, they are created when you select Create job, not before.
• The photos move onto the job. They do not count toward the three photos you can add on the form.
• The draft's rough dates are offered, not copied, because a start date is a booking. Select Use these dates to use them.
• Choose the crew, dates and safety documents as for any job. If your business requires the pre-work safety pack, add it here.

Select Create job. The job keeps the draft's number, and the draft closes as won. If something stops the job, such as a missing safety pack, nothing is created and the draft stays as it was.

Save a draft from the New job form

On a laptop or desktop, Save draft on the New job form saves a draft in Jobs, Drafts. It keeps the customer, site, site contact, job title, scope, notes, the photos you added and your Follow-up date, and your Start and Finish dates become rough dates. The crew, safety documents and everything else are chosen when you turn the draft into a job. You need to select an existing customer first. Only the owner, admins, dispatchers and office staff can save a draft.

If you added photos, a sheet shows each one uploading. When they are all sent, the draft opens. If a photo cannot be sent, it stays on the sheet with its reason and a Retry button, and the form does not move on. Select Retry when you have signal, or Leave without the rest to open the draft without the unsent photos.

If something goes wrong

• Pick a customer, or choose New customer and type their name. A draft needs a customer.
• Needs signal to upload. The photo did not send because the connection dropped. Select Retry when you have signal.
• Your plan's storage is full. Retry will not help until there is room. Delete old photos or documents, or change plan in Settings, Plan & billing.
• Too many uploads at once. Wait a minute, then select Retry.
• The draft's address belongs to its own customer. On Turn into job, the draft's typed address can become a site only for the draft's own customer. Pick one of the chosen customer's sites instead, or switch back to the draft's customer.
• A draft holds up to 40 photos. Turn the draft into a job to add more on the job.
• This is a draft job. Open it in Jobs, Drafts and choose Turn into job. A draft was converted as a lead, for example by a connected AI assistant. Open the draft and select Turn into job.
• This draft has already been turned into a job. The job exists. Select Open the job on the draft.

Related

• Create a job
• The Jobs hub and its views
• Track leads