A service report format is a fixed layout for recording each engineer visit: customer and site, equipment and serial number, the complaint, the fault found, the work done, parts used, job status and who signed off at the site. Use one row per visit in a sheet, and the same format works for breakdown calls, AMC preventive visits, installations and warranty jobs.
The template on this page is built for field service teams in HVAC, lifts, RO and water purifiers, CCTV, solar, generators and IT hardware. Change the equipment names and it fits most service businesses.
What a service report is for
A good service report does three jobs at once. If your format does not do all three, something will leak.
- It closes the complaint. The customer called, an engineer went, the fault was fixed or not. Without a report, the complaint stays open in someone's head.
- It proves the AMC visit. When the contract comes up for renewal, a list of dated, signed-off visits is your strongest argument. A customer who cannot remember you coming will not renew happily.
- It accounts for parts. Every filter, capacitor or hard disk that left the store should show up against a customer and a serial number, whether you bill it or not.
The columns a service report needs
Keep only what someone in the office will filter on. Every extra column is one more thing an engineer has to fill in standing on a terrace next to an outdoor unit.
| Column | Why it matters | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Date | AMC schedules and response times are measured in days. | 29-09-2026 |
| Job / complaint no. | Links repeat visits for the same complaint. Without it, a job that took three visits looks like three jobs. | SR-2291 |
| Engineer | Who attended. Needed for workload and repeat-fault questions. | Imran Shaikh |
| Customer and site | Many customers have several sites. Record both. | Green Park Co-op Society, Baner |
| Equipment and serial no. | The single most skipped column, and the one that makes history per machine possible. | RO plant 500 LPH · RO5-10392 |
| Visit type | Breakdown, AMC preventive, installation or warranty. Separates paid work from contract work. | AMC preventive |
| Complaint reported | What the customer said, in their words. | AC in OT-2 not cooling |
| Fault found | What the engineer actually found. Often different from the complaint. | Gas leak at flare nut |
| Work done | What was done on this visit, in one line. | Flare redone, gas topped up |
| Parts used | Part and quantity. Feeds billing and store reconciliation. | R32 gas 0.6 kg |
| Status | Done, partial or pending. The column the service manager reads first. | Done |
| Time on site | Shows which jobs and engineers take longer than they should. | 75 min |
| Signed off by | The name of the person at the site who accepted the work. | Mrs. Joshi (secretary) |
| Next action | For anything not "Done": what happens next and by when. | Return with HDD on 01-10-2026 |
A filled-in example
Here is one engineer's day as it should appear in the sheet. Note the third row: a visit that did not close the complaint still gets a row, with the reason and the next step.
| Job no. | Customer | Equipment | Fault found | Parts | Status | Next action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SR-2291 | Sai Krupa Nursing Home | Split AC 1.5 T | Gas leak at flare nut | R32 0.6 kg | Done | None |
| AMC-0417 | Green Park Co-op Society | RO plant 500 LPH | Pre-filter choked | Cartridge × 2 | Done | Next AMC 29-12-2026 |
| SR-2298 | Metro Mart Superstore | DVR 16 channel | Hard disk failed | Awaited | Pending | Return with HDD 01-10-2026 |
A filter on Status = Pending gives the service manager tomorrow's follow-up list. A filter on the serial number gives the full history of one machine.
Breakdown calls and AMC visits
Breakdown or complaint call
The customer reported a problem. What matters is the gap between complaint and fault: "not cooling" might be low gas, a failed capacitor or a tripped MCB. Recording the actual fault is what lets you spot a batch of bad parts or an engineer who always replaces instead of repairing.
AMC preventive visit
Nobody complained; the visit is scheduled by the contract. Record what was checked, what was cleaned or replaced, and the next due date. If your AMC promises four visits a year, the sheet should be able to show four dated rows per machine, each signed off.
Tip: for AMC-heavy teams, add one "Checks done" column with a short fixed list for your equipment, such as filters, gas pressure, earthing, battery. Keep it short enough that engineers actually fill it.
Seven rules that keep service reports useful
- One row per visit. Repeat the complaint number when a job needs several visits.
- Always the serial number. "AC at Sai Krupa" is not enough when they have eleven ACs.
- Separate complaint from fault. What the customer said and what the engineer found are different facts.
- Fixed choices for status and visit type. "Done / Partial / Pending" can be filtered. "Mostly done, will check" cannot. The template uses dropdowns.
- Parts with quantity. "Gas filled" does not tell the store how much gas left the cylinder.
- A next action for every open job. Pending with no date is a complaint that will come back angrier.
- Name the person who signed off. A signature on a paper job card is fine; note the name in the sheet so you can find it later.
Common mistakes
- Reporting only closed jobs. Engineers skip the visits that went badly. Those are the ones you most need to see.
- Paper job cards that never reach the office. They get wet, lost or handed in a week late in a bundle. By then, nobody remembers which part went where.
- Photos in a WhatsApp group. Useful as proof, impossible to search. A month later, finding the photo for one serial number means scrolling through hundreds of messages. There are better ways to collect field reports on WhatsApp.
- End-of-day typing. An engineer who has done six calls types three of them, from memory, at 10 PM.
Getting engineers to report every visit
The format is the easy part. The hard part is that an engineer finishing a job on a hot terrace wants to get to the next call, not type fourteen fields on a phone.
That is what vBol is for. The engineer saves one WhatsApp number as a contact and, before leaving the site, sends a short voice note and a photo of the work, in Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu or whatever language they speak:
vBol transcribes it, fills in the fields of your service job record (customer, equipment, complaint, work done, parts used, status, time on site) and reads the record back on WhatsApp in the engineer's language, with buttons to confirm or fix a field. Nothing is written until they confirm. The confirmed row goes into your Google Sheet, an Excel workbook on OneDrive or SharePoint, or Ekatm ERP, with the photo and location attached.
At 7 PM the service manager gets one WhatsApp message: which jobs were filed, by whom, and which engineers sent nothing today. There is no app to install and no training; Vritti sets up the record type and the sheet with you. It is free for 30 days (up to 5 confirmed reports per person per day during the trial), then ₹199 per user per month for teams of up to 100 users, with a custom plan for bigger teams. See pricing, or read the guide to field service and AMC reporting.
Prefer to stay on a spreadsheet? Download the free template on this page. It has the columns above, dropdowns for visit type and status, and three example rows you can overwrite.
Frequently asked questions
What is a service report?
A service report is the record an engineer or technician makes of one service visit: the customer and site, the equipment and serial number, the complaint, the fault found, the work done, parts used, whether the job is closed, and who at the site signed off.
What should an AMC service report include?
The same core fields as any service report, plus the AMC contract or visit number and the preventive checks done on that visit. The date and customer sign-off matter most, because they prove the scheduled AMC visit actually happened.
What is the difference between a job card and a service report?
A job card is usually the paper slip the engineer carries and gets signed at the site. The service report is the record the office keeps of that visit, ideally one row per visit in a sheet, so complaints, parts and AMC visits can be tracked across customers.
Should the service report be one row per visit or per complaint?
One row per visit, with the complaint number repeated. A complaint that needs three visits then shows three rows, which is exactly what you need to see repeat visits and parts waiting.
How do I get engineers to submit service reports on time?
Make reporting part of leaving the site, not a job for the evening. A short voice note or photo sent before the engineer moves to the next call gets done; a long form typed at night usually does not.