How to Generate a Service History Report | Latner Software Documentation

The Service History report gives you a single PDF of everything the workshop has done to a machine, so you can hand a service record to a customer, a buyer or an auditor without digging through work orders one at a time.

Overview

Every completed work order leaves a trace on the equipment record, but nobody wants to read a machine's life story one screen at a time. The Service History report pulls that trace together into a dated, printable summary you can generate on demand.

It is generated from the equipment record itself, through Options › Generate Service History.
It is available for Serialized equipment only - bulk equipment has no individual service life to report on.
The report covers the whole equipment number, not just one branch's copy of it, so transfers between branches don't split the history.
Only Completed work orders are listed. Open, in progress and cancelled work stays off the report.
Latner builds the PDF in the background and opens it as soon as it's ready, so you can keep working while it runs.
The report is built fresh every time, so it always reflects the current state of the equipment.

Before You Begin

There is very little to set up - the report works out of the box - but it's worth knowing what controls it.

Requirement	Where to Find It
Access to the Equipment screen	Security › Configuration › Permission Groups, then Equipment › Screens › Equipment
The equipment must be Serialized	The Type field in the header of the equipment record
Service History PDF Template ID (optional)	Security › Settings › PDF Templates

Leave Service History PDF Template ID blank and Latner uses its standard Service History template. Fill it in only if your business has had a custom template built.

Service History PDF Template ID sits under the PDF Templates module and is blank on most tenants, which means the standard template is used

On a bulk equipment record, Generate Service History is greyed out and the tooltip reads "Service History can only be generated for Serialized equipment". That is expected - bulk equipment is tracked as a quantity, so there is no individual machine to report on.

Generate Service History greyed out on a bulk equipment record, with the tooltip explaining why

Generating the Report

Step 1 - Open the Equipment screen

Go to Equipment › Equipment. Use the search box or the column filters to find the machine you want a history for, then click its Equipment Number to open the record.

The Equipment screen - the Equipment Number in each row is the link through to the record

Step 2 - Check the equipment is Serialized

The header strip across the top of the equipment record shows Type. If it reads Serialized you can generate a report; if it reads Bulk, the option will be greyed out.

The equipment record for DS39001 - Type reads Serialized, so the report is available

Step 3 - Choose Generate Service History

Click Options in the top right of the record and choose Generate Service History. There is no form to fill in - the report always covers the machine's full history, so there are no dates or filters to set.

The Options menu on an equipment record - Generate Service History sits between Upload Equipment Photo and Add Meter Reading

Step 4 - Wait for the report to build

A Generating PDF message appears while Latner assembles the report. This runs in the background, so you can keep scrolling the record while it works. Larger service histories take a few seconds longer.

The Generating PDF message - the report is being built in the background and the record stays usable

When the message changes to File Generated, the report is ready and Latner has already opened it for you.

File Generated - if you don't see the PDF, check your browser hasn't blocked the new tab

Step 5 - Read the report

The report opens in a new browser tab. It is laid out in two parts:

Equipment Details - Equipment Number, Equipment Description, Serial Number, Make and Model, plus the date and time the report was generated.
The service table - one row per completed work order, newest first, showing Date, Type, Description, Last Meter Reading and Serviced By.

Dates and times are shown in the time zone of the equipment's branch, and Serviced By is the mechanic the work order was allocated to.

The finished report - the header block identifies the machine and each completed work order gets a dated row

After Generating

The report opens in a new browser tab, where you can print it or save it like any other PDF.
If Auto-download files is ticked on your user settings, the report goes straight to your downloads folder instead of opening in a tab. You'll find it under User Settings › File Settings, reached from your name in the top right corner.
Generating a report changes nothing on the equipment record - you can run it as often as you like.
Reports are not filed anywhere in Latner for you to open later. If you need the report again, generate a fresh one, which has the advantage of picking up any work completed in the meantime.

Auto-download files under User Settings decides whether generated files open in a tab or land in your downloads folder

The report is a snapshot taken the moment you generate it, not a live document. If you send a copy to a customer and more work is completed afterwards, their copy will be out of date - generate a new one rather than assuming the old file has kept up.

FAQs

Generate Service History is greyed out. Why?

The equipment is Bulk rather than Serialized. Bulk equipment is tracked as a quantity of interchangeable items, so there is no individual machine whose history could be reported. Check the Type field in the header of the equipment record.

The report generated, but the table underneath the equipment details is empty. Why?

Nothing has been completed against that machine yet. Only work orders with a status of Completed appear - work that is still open, in progress or cancelled is left off, and so is a work order that has been marked complete by the mechanic but not yet completed in the office.

The equipment was transferred between branches. Does the report only cover one branch?

No. The report is built against the equipment number rather than a particular branch's copy of it, so work completed before and after a transfer all appears on the one report.

Can I include inspections or parts and labour costs on the report?

Not on the standard template. Latner also gathers the machine's completed inspections and its associated supplier invoice costs when it builds the report, so a custom template can display them - including category, reason, meter reading, notes and the labour, parts and expense figures for each work order. Talk to Latner about having one built, then enter its id in Security › Settings › PDF Templates › Service History PDF Template ID.

I got an error message instead of a report. What should I check?

The usual cause is a Service History PDF Template ID that has been filled in with a template id that no longer exists. Clear the setting to fall back to the standard template, or correct the id. If the setting is already blank and the report still fails, raise it with Latner support.

Can I email the report to a customer straight from Latner?

Not from this menu - there is no email option for the Service History report. Save the PDF and attach it to an email yourself. If you want to send a customer the detail of one particular job instead, generate a Work Order PDF from that work order, which can be emailed directly.

Watch the Demo

Prefer to watch it? Step through the same flow here.