Work order app: The best digital solutions for your field service

What is a work order app and why is it relevant?

A work order app, and in particular, a digital work order app makes life much easier for both back-office staff and field service employees. Just think about it: you're working in the office, and your technician is on the road to perform a repair. Without a digital work order app.

How often does it happen that the technician neatly writes down all the information on paper? And even if that happens, sometimes it’s not legible. Then there’s also the problem of lost documents, error-prone manual data entry, and so on.

Fortunately, there is a solution: a digital work order app. A seamless digital workflow where you, as an office employee, assign a job directly from the planning system to a technician via the work order app. The technician receives all the information in real time and can complete the work order on-site, including hours, materials, photos, and the status, which is immediately sent back to the office.

This eliminates double work, reduces errors, and makes the entire team much more efficient.

Top 5 work order apps right now

Are you looking for the best work order app for your organization? We've listed the top 5 digital work order apps of the moment for you.

Key features to look for in a digital work order app

A digital work order app can add tremendous value, but only if it meets several important requirements. Here’s what to look for when choosing the right digital work order app:

Mobile accessibility

Technicians and employees should be able to easily view and complete work orders on their mobile phones or tablets.

Digital signatures

Customers can sign work orders directly on-site. This speeds up administration and reduces paperwork.

Add photos and files

Ability to upload photos and documents. For example, as proof of work completed or to record damages and deviations.

Time registration

Insight into worked hours. This prevents errors and speeds up invoicing.

Which sectors are work order apps ideal for?

Work order apps are ideal for sectors where daily tasks must be carefully planned, recorded, and followed up. Think of construction, installation and maintenance companies, cleaning services, logistics, and business services. In these industries, multiple teams or employees often work at different locations, making oversight and communication crucial.

With a digital work order app, you always have insight into tasks, time tracking, and progress. This prevents information from being lost on paper work orders. As a result, companies work more efficiently, save time, and improve collaboration between office staff and field service teams. In short: a work order app is a perfect fit for organizations that deal with projects, service assignments, or customer appointments.

Connecting a work order app to your administration

We briefly mentioned it earlier: connecting a work order app to your ERP system or administration. By integrating a digital work order app with your administration, you not only save time but also prevent errors. All entered data, from worked hours and materials to customer details and signatures is directly sent to your administration or ERP system.

This eliminates the need to manually retype work orders, reduces errors, and speeds up invoicing.

Tips for choosing the right work order app for your organization

In the overview above, we already compared the pros and cons of different digital work order apps. But how do you tailor this to your organization? How do you really choose the digital work order app that meets your needs?

1. Pricing & licensing model
   • vPlan: transparent pricing, scalable from small to large; no hidden costs
   • Simple-Simon: affordable for small business, often modularly expandable
   • Crafter: suitable for companies seeking customization; pricing may increase with complex processes
   • TimeMate: competitively priced for time tracking and work orders, especially attractive for smaller teams
   • Woub: flexible subscription options with no long-term contracts, offering multiple packages zo business can choose the features they require.
2. Ease of use
   • vPlan: intuitive interface, clear planning and work orders
   • Simple-Simon: easy to use, quick to set up for new users
   • Crafter: more features, but requires more attention and adoption time
   • TimeMate: user-friendly for time tracking and simple work orders
   • Woub: designed to be simple and immediately accessible for field professionals, combining job sheets with project communication, chat, and task management
3. Scalability & integrations
   • vPlan: seamless integrations with ERP, accounting and planning. Very scalable with business growth
   • Simple-Simon: scales well for SMEs, integrates with many accounting packages
   • Crafter: strong in customization, suited for companies digitizing specific processes
   • TimeMate: fewer integrations, mainly suited for smaller teams
   • Woub: scalable through different subscription tiers and optional modules, bringing together project communication, job sheets, checklists and scheduling in one central system for expanding teams
4. Support & service
   • vPlan: personal onboarding, fast support and extensive knowledge base
   • Simple-Simon: reliable support, less personal with complex questions
   • Crafter: strong guidance during implementation, especially for larger projects
   • TimeMate: basic support, less extensive than bigger providers
   • Woub: support includes responsive customer service, a comprehensive help centre, and access to the Woub Academy

Why companies choose a work order app like vPlan

Companies with a field service benefit greatly from working with a work order app like vPlan. Technicians always have their up-to-date work orders at hand, including all customer details, notes, and any photos or files. Whether you are on the road, at a customer site, or in the office, with vPlan you always carry your planning in your pocket. Plan new tasks and assign them to colleagues with ease!