Work Order Line Item
A child record of a Salesforce Work Order that represents an individual task or line item within the larger work order, allowing complex jobs to be broken into specific sub-tasks with their own scheduling and tracking.
Definition
A child record of a Salesforce Work Order that represents an individual task or line item within the larger work order, allowing complex jobs to be broken into specific sub-tasks with their own scheduling and tracking.
In plain English
“A Work Order Line Item is a child record of a Work Order that represents an individual task or line item within the larger job. It lets you break complex work orders into separate trackable steps, each with its own status, skills, and scheduling.”
Worked example
When Sterling Marine's Field Service team takes on a complex 4-hour boat-engine repair, the dispatcher creates a Work Order with three Work Order Line Items: "Inspect engine compartment" (30 min, requires diagnostic skill), "Replace fuel pump" (90 min, requires plumbing skill + the part inventory), "Test and certify" (60 min, requires certification authority). Each Work Order Line Item is an individually-trackable task with its own status, parts list, and skill requirements. The Service Optimization engine schedules each line item appropriately; the technician completes them sequentially. Work Order Line Items break complex jobs into managed sub-tasks.
Why Work Order Line Item matters
A Work Order Line Item is a child record of a Salesforce Work Order that represents an individual task or line item within the larger work order, allowing complex jobs to be broken into separately trackable, schedulable, and assignable components. Each line item can have its own service appointments, skills, and status.
Work order line items are essential for complex field service jobs that involve multiple distinct tasks. A single work order for 'office setup' might have line items for electrical, plumbing, and network installation, each requiring different skills and possibly different technicians. Mature Field Service deployments use line items for granular job tracking.
How to create Work Order Line Item
Work Order Line Items break a Work Order into trackable tasks — "Diagnose," "Replace compressor," "Test," "Clean up." Each line item has its own status and duration; the parent Work Order rolls up totals. They're how field service tracks granular work completion.
- Open the parent Work Order
Line items live on a Work Order.
- Open Work Order Line Items related list → New
Or use Add Line Items if your org has the bulk-add feature.
- Set Subject (description of the task)
Brief description of what this line item covers.
- Set Status
New / In Progress / Completed / Cannot Complete / Cancelled.
- (Optional) link Asset, Service Appointment
Asset: which piece of equipment this line touches. Service Appointment: the scheduled visit when this work happens.
- Set Duration and Duration Type
How long the task takes. Drives the schedule on the parent Work Order.
- Save
Line item is created. Mobile workers see it in the Field Service Mobile App as a task.
Required.
Required.
Required by association.
- Work Order Line Items are different from Work Orders themselves — a Work Order can be Status = Completed even with line items still open. Don't trust Work Order status alone to know what's done.
- Service Appointments roll up from Work Order Line Items. A line item without an appointment isn't scheduled — it stays as work-to-do.
- Asset linking is optional but useful for service history reporting. "Has this asset failed three times this year?" requires line items linked to the asset.
How organizations use Work Order Line Item
Breaks complex work orders into line items for separate tracking and assignment.
Uses line items when a job requires multiple skill sets and technicians.
Tracks line item completion separately for granular job progress visibility.
Trust & references
Straight from the source - Salesforce's reference material on Work Order Line Item.
- Work Order Line Item FieldsSalesforce Help
Test your knowledge
Q1. What is a Work Order Line Item?
Q2. Can line items have different skills?
Q3. When should you use them?
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