# Create a service order

Send worn tools to a vendor for refurbishment, pick and dispatch them, and bring them back into inventory.

Source: https://support.toolingmetrics.com/en/purchasing/guides/create-service-order/
Updated: 2026-10-29

**Prerequisites:** Items to send have Service Info configured (Service Vendor, Service Order Code, Service Price). A vendor is set up.

**Required permission:** Purchase → Purchase Orders — User or above to create, send, and confirm the order; Purchase → Service Picks and Purchase → Purchase Receipts — User or above to dispatch and receive. The order's **New Service Pick** and **New Receipt** buttons show only to Admins and to the user who created the order, and Managers and Users validate only the documents they created.

A Service Order is a Purchase Order with its Service Order flag set — see [Service Orders Reference](https://support.toolingmetrics.com/en/purchasing/reference/service-orders/) for what's different about it.

## Create the service order

1. In the sidebar, click **Purchase → Purchase Orders**.
1. Click **+ New Service Order** (next to the regular **+ Create** button).
1. Select the **Vendor** performing the service and the **Deliver To** warehouse.
1. Click **Create** to create the order in Draft status.
1. Click **⊕** to add a line for each tool or item going out for service. Select the **Item** — the line's **Order Code** and **Unit Price** pre-fill from the item's **Service Order Code** and **Service Price** — then enter the **Quantity**.

## Send to vendor and confirm

1. Click **Send**. This opens an email preview — confirm the vendor's contact address.
1. Click **Send** in the preview to actually email it. The order status changes to Sent.
1. When the vendor acknowledges, open the order and click **Confirm Order**. The status changes to Confirmed.

With the **Automatic creating Service Pick** preference on (the default), confirming builds the Service Pick for you in the background — see [Set up automatic service pick](https://support.toolingmetrics.com/en/purchasing/guides/set-up-automatic-service-pick/). If the preference is off, create the pick yourself as described next.

## Dispatch the items

1. With the order open, click **New Service Pick** (or open the pick the automation created under **Purchase → Service Picks**).
1. Select **Pick From** — the Warehouse Access Point where the picking happens — then for each line pick the storage location the item is actually sitting in and confirm the **Quantity to Pick**.
1. Click **Validate** once every line is collected.

This decreases the item's on-hand quantity and increases its quantity out for service, and sets each serialized piece involved to **Under service**. See [Purchase Receipts Reference](https://support.toolingmetrics.com/en/purchasing/reference/purchase-receipts/) for the parallel status flow (Service Picks use the same Draft → Waiting → Ready → Done states).

## Record the return

There's no dedicated "record return" action. When the vendor sends the serviced items back, process them the same way you would any other delivery:

1. With the Service Order open, click **New Receipt**.
1. Confirm the **Quantity** received. For serialized items, select each returning piece by its serial number; the row shows the piece's condition but doesn't let you change it.
1. Click **Validate**.

For a Service Order specifically, validating this receipt moves the quantity from "out for service" back into on-hand stock, sets each serialized piece to **Refurbished**, and adds the service cost into the item's cost.

## Next

If a serviced item comes back defective or the regrind is rejected, use **New Purchase Return** on the same order — see [Purchase Returns Reference](https://support.toolingmetrics.com/en/purchasing/reference/purchase-returns/).