FFP Guides

ServiceM8 how-to

Can ServiceM8 show service history per system instead of per client?

Yes, if you make each system a ServiceM8 asset (Asset Management, Growing plan and up). Every form completed against the asset is listed in its history, and each form question shows past values. Warranty and interval dates can be asset fields, but ServiceM8's help centre describes no reminder that fires from them.

Last checked 25 Sep 2026 against the sources listed at the end of this page.

Partly

Partly: model each system as an asset and complete forms against it for a per system history, but due dates on assets do not schedule anything by themselves.

Step by step

  1. Confirm your plan includes Asset Management (Growing and up) and turn it on in Settings, ServiceM8 Add-ons.
  2. If one client has several addresses, turn on Client Sites first, so each system sits at the site where it lives rather than on the head office.
  3. Create an asset type per kind of system in Settings, Assets, Setup Asset Types. Add Install date, Warranty expiry and Service interval fields only if techs can always fill them in.
  4. Build one service form per asset type, with the readings you want to trend as Number questions.
  5. On the first visit, label and scan each system to create the asset, then tap + on the asset to complete the service form against it.
  6. Train techs to record work in the asset's form, not only in job notes, because only forms appear in the asset's history.
  7. Set up the schedule separately: a Recurring Job per client or site, or a Form Inbox Follow Up automation (Settings, Automations) on an answer such as 'Further work required'.
  8. To see a system's full history, open the asset in the app or at Settings, Assets in the Online Dashboard (filter by client or type).

Gotchas

  • Every asset type field is mandatory at creation. An unknown install date blocks the save, so make uncertain fields Multiple Choice with an 'Unknown' option or leave them out.
  • Warranty expiry and next service dates on an asset do not send reminders or create jobs. Something else has to schedule the work.
  • Assets belong to one client. If a system changes hands, completing a form on the new client's job prompts ServiceM8 to reassign the asset.
  • Assets cannot be shared with another ServiceM8 account, so a subcontractor cannot add to the system's history.
  • A form completed at job level, not against the asset, never reaches the asset's history. Check the asset shows a green tick before the tech leaves.

What the official help article misses: It explains completing a form against an asset but not how to model a system as an asset, which fields suit warranty and intervals, or that job notes and date fields do nothing for the asset's history or schedule. Read ServiceM8's article.

Why client history is the wrong lens

ServiceM8 is built around the client card. Job history, the client diary and badges all hang off the client, so for a household with one hot water unit that is fine. It falls apart when one client has twelve rooftop units, three fire panels or a pump station, and the question is "what have we done to unit 7 in the last three years?" Scrolling a client's job list and opening each job diary does not answer it.

The fix inside ServiceM8 is to stop treating the system as a line in a job note and give it its own record: an asset. An asset belongs to a client (or to a site, if you use Client Sites), has a type, fields, a photo and a map position, and keeps its own list of every form completed against it. Open the asset and you see the system's history, regardless of which job or tech did the work.

Modelling a system as an asset

Decide what counts as one system. A good test: if you would ever write a report line, a warranty claim or a quote about it on its own, it is an asset. A ducted air conditioner is one asset; its individual zone dampers usually are not.

Then design the asset type. Fields can be Text, Numeric, Date or Multiple Choice, and all of them are mandatory when a tech creates the asset. Useful fields for systems: Make, Model, Serial (a Text field with "Serial" in the name gets a barcode scan button in the app), Install date (Date), Warranty expiry (Date), Service interval in months (Numeric) and Refrigerant or fuel type (Multiple Choice with a "Not applicable" option).

History comes from forms, so build one service form per asset type and always complete it against the asset rather than as a job level form. Each question in that form shows the asset's past values while the tech fills it in, which is where trends such as pressures, amp draw or filter condition become visible.

Where native assets stop

The asset's history is a history of forms. The help centre describes forms, a photo and the asset details on the asset record; it does not describe job notes, invoices or photos from the job diary appearing there. If a tech writes "replaced capacitor" only in the job notes, that fact is not on the asset.

Date fields are data, not triggers. The help centre describes no reminder that fires when a warranty expiry or next service date on an asset arrives. Scheduling is still done by Recurring Jobs, which are set up per client from a job template, or by a Form Inbox Follow Up automation that drops a message in your Inbox when a form answer meets a condition you set. Per asset due dates across a whole customer base need a report built from ServiceM8's API, which exposes assets and form responses (each form response carries the asset it was completed against).

Sources

  1. Once a form is completed for an asset it is listed in the asset's history and saved in the job diary; while completing it, each question shows a history of past values for the asset. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  2. Asset types can have Text, Numeric, Date or Multiple Choice fields, all fields are mandatory when an asset is created, and the Assets view shows assets for the client or for the site when Client Sites is used. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  3. In the ServiceM8 app, a scan button appears on text fields of assets whose names include Barcode, Number, Serial or Model. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  4. Form Inbox Follow Up automations create a ServiceM8 Inbox message when up to three conditions on a form's answers are met, either when the form or when the job is completed. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  5. Recurring jobs need a job template and the Recurring Jobs + Reminders add-on, and can create and schedule themselves or arrive in the Inbox as a reminder. ServiceM8 Help Center, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  6. ServiceM8's API form response record includes an asset_uuid field identifying the asset the response relates to. ServiceM8 Developer, checked 25 Sep 2026.
  7. On ServiceM8's Australian pricing, Asset Management and Electronic Forms are listed from the Growing plan. ServiceM8, checked 25 Sep 2026.