Process repair orders¶

Sometimes, products delivered to customers can break or be damaged in transit, and need to be returned for a refund, delivery of a replacement product, or repairs.

In Odoo, repairs for products returned by customers can be tracked in the Repairs app. Once repaired, products can be redelivered to the customer.

The return and repair process for damaged products typically follows the below steps:

Process return order for damaged product
Create repair order for returned product
Return repaired product to customer

Repair orders do not always start from a manual return, though: see Create repair orders automatically for the two settings that let Odoo generate them on its own.

Return order¶

Returns can be processed in Odoo via reverse transfers, created directly from a sales order (SO) once products have been delivered to a customer.

To create a return, navigate to the Sales app, and click into an SO from which a product should be returned. Then, from the SO form, click the Delivery smart button. Doing so opens the delivery order (DO) form.

From this form, click Return. This opens a Reverse Transfer pop-up window.

screenshot: repairs-reverse-transfer-return

menu: Sales ‣ Orders ‣ (order) ‣ Delivery (smart button) ‣ Return
shows: The "Reverse Transfer" pop-up window with a "Product" line, its "Quantity", "Unit of Measure", and a trash icon to remove the line, plus "Return" and "Discard" buttons.
module: stock
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the pop-up window.

This pop-up lists the Product included in the order, the Quantity delivered to the customer, and the Unit of Measure the product was in.

Click the value in the Quantity field to change the quantity of the product to be returned, if necessary.

Click the 🗑️ (trash) icon at the far-right of the product line to remove it from the return, if necessary.

Once ready, click Return to confirm the return. This creates a new receipt for the returned products.

Once the product has been returned to the warehouse, receipt of the return can be registered in the database by clicking Validate from the reverse transfer form.

Tip

Once a reverse transfer for a return is validated, the value in the Delivered column on the original SO updates to reflect the difference between the original Quantity ordered, and the Quantity returned by the customer.

screenshot: repairs-quantity-delivered

menu: Sales ‣ Orders ‣ (order)
shows: The order lines of a sales order after a return, with the "Delivered" column showing a lower quantity than the "Ordered" column.
highlight: The "Delivered" column (red frame).
module: sale
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the order lines.

Create repair order¶

Once products have been returned, their repairs can be tracked by creating a repair order (RO).

To create a new RO, navigate to Repairs app, and click New. This opens a blank RO form.

screenshot: repairs-left-hand-form

menu: Repairs ‣ New
shows: The left-hand column of a blank repair order form: "Customer", "Product to Repair", "Return", "Under Warranty" (unticked), and "Scheduled Date".
module: repair
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the left-hand column.

On this form, begin by selecting a Customer. The customer selected should be for whom the order will be invoiced and delivered.

In the Product to Repair field, click the drop-down menu to select the product that needs repair. If necessary, click Search More… to open a Search: Product to Repair pop-up window, and browse all products in the database.

Once a Product to Repair is selected, a new Product Quantity field appears below it. In that field, enter the quantity (in a 0.00 format) of the product that requires repair.

To the right of that value, click the drop-down list to select the unit of measure (UoM) for the product.

If the product to repair is tracked By Unique Serial Number or By Lots, a Lot/Serial field also appears. Select the specific lot or serial number of the returned unit; this ensures the repair (and, later, its traceability report) is linked to that exact unit.

In the Return field, click the drop-down menu and select the return order from which the product to be repaired comes from.

Tick the Under Warranty checkbox, if the product being repaired is covered by a warranty. If ticked, the Customer is not charged for all the parts used in the repair order.

In the Scheduled Date field, click the date to reveal a calendar popover window. From this calendar, select a date for the repair, and click Apply.

screenshot: repairs-completed-repair-form

menu: Repairs ‣ New
shows: The right-hand column of a filled-out repair order form: "Responsible", "Company", "Tags".
module: repair
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the right-hand column.

In the Responsible field, click the drop-down menu and select the user who should be responsible for the repair.

In the Company field, if in a multi-company environment, select which company this RO belongs to.

In the Tags field, click the drop-down menu and select which tags should be applied to this RO. New tags can be typed directly into the field, or managed from Repairs app ‣ Configuration ‣ Repair Orders Tags.

Next to the RO reference, at the top of the form, click one of the ⭐⭐⭐ (stars) to set the Priority of the repair (Normal or Urgent).

Tip

If custom fields were configured for the Repairs operation type used by this RO (see Inventory app ‣ Configuration ‣ Operations Types ‣ Repairs), they appear in a Properties widget below the main fields.

Parts tab¶

Add, remove, or recycle parts in the Parts tab. To do so, click Add a line at the bottom of the form, or click Catalog to browse and add products from a visual product catalog.

In the Type column, click the box to reveal three options to choose from: Add (selected by default), Remove, and Recycle.

screenshot: repairs-type-column

menu: Repairs ‣ (order) ‣ Parts ‣ Add a line
shows: The "Type" column drop-down on a new parts line, with "Add", "Remove", and "Recycle" options.
module: repair
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the line and its drop-down.

Choosing Add adds this part to the RO. Adding parts lists components for use in the repair. If the components are used, the user completing the repair can record they were used. If they were not used, the user can indicate that, too, and the components can be saved for another use.

Choosing Remove removes this part from the RO. Removing parts lists components that should be removed from the product being repaired during the repair process. If the parts are removed, the user completing the repair can indicate they were removed.

Choosing Recycle recycles this part from the RO, designating it for later use or to be repurposed for another use in the warehouse.

In the Product column, select which product (part) should be added, removed, or recycled. In the Demand column, change the quantity, if necessary, to indicate what quantity of this part should be used in the repair process.

In the Done column, change the value (in a 0.00 format) once the part has been successfully added, removed, or recycled.

In the Unit of Measure column, select the UoM for the part.

Finally, in the Used column, tick the checkbox once the part has been used in the repair process.

To add additional columns to the line, click the (optional columns drop-down) icon, at the far-right of the header row. Select the desired options to add to the line.

screenshot: repairs-additional-options

menu: Repairs ‣ (order) ‣ Parts ‣ (optional columns icon)
shows: The optional-columns drop-down at the top-right of the "Parts" tab list, with checkboxes for additional fields.
module: repair
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the drop-down.

Once at least one part is confirmed, a Component Status indicator appears next to the Scheduled Date field, showing whether all the parts needed for the repair are Available, Expected, or Late.

Repair Notes and Miscellaneous tabs¶

Click the Repair Notes tab to add internal notes about this specific RO, and anything the user performing the repair might need to know.

Click the blank text field to begin writing notes.

Click the Miscellaneous tab to see the Operation Type for this repair. By default, this is set to YourCompany: Repairs, indicating this is a repair type operation. Each warehouse automatically has its own Repairs operation type, visible (read-only) on the warehouse’s own form, under Inventory app ‣ Configuration ‣ Warehouses.

Once all desired configurations have been made on the RO form, click Confirm Repair. This moves the RO to the Confirmed stage, and reserves the necessary components needed for the repair. If a component is out of stock, click Check availability to try to reserve it again once it comes back in stock; click Unreserve to release components that were already reserved.

A new Forecasted column appears on the product lines under the Parts tab, displaying the availability of all components needed for the repair.

Once ready, click Start Repair. This moves the RO to the Under Repair stage (in the upper-right corner). If the RO should be cancelled, click Cancel Repair; this can be reversed later by clicking Set to Draft.

Once all products have been successfully repaired, the RO is completed. To register this in the database, click End Repair.

Note

If all parts added to the RO were not used, clicking End Repair causes an Uncomplete Move(s) pop-up window to appear.

screenshot: repairs-uncomplete-moves

menu: Repairs ‣ (order) ‣ End Repair
shows: The "Uncomplete Move(s)" pop-up window listing a part line with a difference between the initial demand and the quantity used, and "Discard" and "Validate" buttons.
module: repair
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the pop-up window.

The pop-up window informs the user that there is a difference between the initial demand and the actual quantity used for the order.

If the Used quantity should be changed, click Discard or close the pop-up window. If the order should be confirmed, click Validate.

This moves the RO to the Repaired stage. A Product Moves smart button also appears above the form.

Click the Product Moves smart button to view the product’s moves history during and after the repair process.

screenshot: repairs-product-moves

menu: Repairs ‣ (order) ‣ Product Moves
shows: The stock move lines of a completed repair order, showing the parts consumed, removed, and recycled.
module: repair
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width.

Return product to customer¶

Product is under warranty¶

Once the product has been successfully repaired, it can be returned to the customer.

Product is not under warranty¶

If the product is not under warranty, or should the customer bear the repair costs, click Create Quotation. This opens a new SO form, pre-populated with the parts used in the RO, with the total cost of the repair calculated. Once created, a Sale Order smart button appears at the top of the RO form, linking back to it.

screenshot: repairs-new-quotation

menu: Repairs ‣ (order) ‣ Create Quotation
shows: A new sales order form, pre-populated with the repair's customer and the parts used in the repair order as order lines, with the total.
module: repair
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width.

If this SO should be sent to the customer, click Confirm, and proceed to invoice the customer for the repair.

Tip

If the customer should be charged for a repair service, a service type product can be created and added to the SO for a repaired product.

To return the product to the customer, navigate to the Sales app, and select the original SO from which the initial return was processed. Then, click the Delivery smart button.

From the resulting list of operations, click the reverse transfer, indicated by the Source Document, which should read Return of WH/OUT/XXXXX.

This opens the return form. At the top of this form, a Repair Orders smart button now appears, linking this return to the completed RO.

Click Return at the top of the form. This opens a Reverse Transfer pop-up window.

screenshot: repairs-reverse-transfer-customer

menu: Sales ‣ Orders ‣ (order) ‣ Delivery (smart button) ‣ (reverse transfer) ‣ Return
shows: The "Reverse Transfer" pop-up window, on the return of the repaired product to the customer, with the "Product" line, "Quantity", and "Unit of Measure".
module: stock
notes: English UI, light theme, 1440px width, crop to the pop-up window.

This pop-up lists the Product included in the order, the Quantity delivered to the customer, and the Unit of Measure the product was in.

Click the value in the Quantity field to change the quantity of the product to be returned, if necessary.

Click the 🗑️ (trash) icon at the far-right of the product line to remove it from the return, if necessary.

Once ready, click Return to confirm the return. This creates a new delivery for the returned products.

When the delivery has been processed and the product has been returned to the customer, click Validate to validate the delivery.

Create repair orders automatically¶

Besides creating a repair order by hand, Odoo can also generate one automatically, in two cases.

Repair a returned product directly¶

To be able to create a repair order directly from a return, without going through the Repairs app, enable Create Repair Orders from Returns on the warehouse’s return operation type: navigate to Inventory app ‣ Configuration ‣ Operations Types, open the Returns type for the relevant warehouse, and, in the Repairs section, tick Create Repair Orders from Returns.

Once enabled, opening a validated reverse transfer shows a Repair button next to Return. Clicking it opens a new RO form, pre-filled with the product, its quantity, the customer, and the return itself in the Return field.

Create a repair order when a sale is confirmed¶

To have Odoo automatically create a repair order whenever a specific product is sold, go to the product’s template form (Sales app ‣ Products ‣ Products), open the Inventory tab, and tick the Create Repair checkbox.

Once confirmed, a sales order containing this product creates a linked, Confirmed RO for each unit sold (one RO per serial number, for serialized products), using the warehouse’s Repairs operation type. A Repair Order(s) smart button then appears on the sales order, linking to the generated RO\(s).

Important

This is intended for repair or maintenance services sold on a sales order (for example, a “diagnostic and repair” line), not for regular product sales; enabling it on a regular product would create a repair order every time that product is sold.

Link with other apps¶

Depending on which apps are installed, additional smart buttons appear on the RO form, and on the documents linked to it:

If the Purchase app is installed and some parts had to be reordered, a Purchase Orders smart button appears on the RO, and a Repair Orders smart button appears on the resulting purchase order(s), linking the two records together.
If the Manufacturing app is installed, a Manufacturing Orders smart button appears on the RO when parts are replenished through manufacturing, and a Repair Orders smart button appears on the corresponding manufacturing order.

Calibration repair orders¶

Note

Requires the Equipment Management - Measuring Devices module, which depends on the eYssen Equipment Management app. See Measuring Devices for the module itself.

When this module is installed, ticking the Calibration checkbox near the top of a RO form turns it into a calibration record for a measuring device, and reveals a Calibration group with the following fields:

Equipment: the measuring device being calibrated; required, and restricted to equipment of the Measuring Device category of the eYssen Equipment Management app (etalons and other categories cannot be selected). A device can be found by its name, serial number, internal ID, or equipment ID; measuring devices are named after their serial number and model (see Names of measuring devices and etalons).
Calibration Date: the date the calibration was performed.
Calibration Quality: Accredited or Werks, indicating whether the calibration was performed by an accredited lab or in-house.
Result: Pass, Fail, Conditional Pass, or Conditional Fail.
Performed By: free-text name of the person who performed the calibration.
Certificate Number: a read-only, gap-less certificate number, automatically assigned from a dedicated sequence as soon as the RO moves to Under Repair. It can never be entered or edited manually, cannot be cleared by turning Calibration back off, and a calibration that already has one cannot be reset to New or deleted.
Certificate: an uploaded PDF or scan of the issued certificate.
Signed By and Sign Date, and a Customer Signature field.
Work Performed and Calibration Notes text fields.

Important

The certificate number is a regulatory requirement: it is issued exactly once per calibration and cannot be changed by a user, even a database administrator, through the form.

Click Print Worksheet, in the header, to print the calibration worksheet report for this RO (a plain repair prints the standard repair order report instead).

The Calibrations menu, under the eYssen Equipment Management app (Equipment Management ‣ Measuring Devices ‣ Calibrations), lists every calibration RO across all measuring devices, with its reference, certificate number, equipment, calibration date, quality, result, customer, and status. From there, the search filters Accredited, Werks, and Voided Certificate (cancelled repairs that still carry an issued certificate number) can be used to narrow down the list, and results can be grouped by Calibration Quality.

The same list opens from the Calibrations smart button of a measuring device, limited to that device. When searching by Equipment, a device is also found by its serial number, internal ID, or equipment ID.