Estimate a service order's costs

Article • 4/27/2026 • 2 min read

You can enter the estimated labor hours or a margin percentage or amount by entering the expected costs for each listed expense.

The system fills in the Bill Customer for: check boxes based on the active warranty for the machine associated with this service order when the service order is created.

To estimate a service order’s costs

  1. Open the Field Service Control (FSORD) page.

    1. Select Customer Relationship Management > CRM Transactions > Field Service> Field Service Control.

    Or

    1. Search for FSORD or Field Service Control in the Navigation box and then select Field Service Control.

    The Field Service Control (FSORD) page appears.

  2. On the Toolbar, click More Actions.

  3. Select More Actions > Actions > Service Order Estimated Costs.

    The Service Order Estimated Costs (FSEST) page appears.

  4. Type the estimated time that is expected for each type of service labor in the Labor Hours boxes.

  5. If a warranty is not in effect and you want to bill the customer for one or more of these types of labor, click the appropriate check boxes in the Bill Customer for: area.

    The labor rate appears in the Labor Rate boxes based upon the billing rate of the assigned field-service technician.

  6. To estimate a margin, type its percentage in the + Additional Margin @ (%)

    box.

    Or, enter the amount in the Of Sub-Total = box.

    If you enter a percentage, the system uses the estimated subtotals to calculate the margin. If you enter an amount, the system calculates the percentage margin rate.

  7. On the Toolbar, click Save.

    You can create expenses for individual technicians for travel and lodging.