A job that is waiting on somethingNew
Putting a job on hold, giving its diary time back, telling the customer, and picking it up again when the part arrives.
Written 8 October 2026
What is said in this recording
Work stops for all sorts of reasons — a part has to come from the merchant, the customer was out, something turned out to be bigger than it looked. Putting the job on hold gives its booked time back to the diary, so the slot is free for work that can actually be done, and the job stays on the Needs booking list so it cannot be forgotten.
Step by step
- 1
On the job, press Waiting on parts.
If you know when it is coming, put the date in. If you do not, leave it blank — the job is then flagged as worth chasing rather than quietly waiting.
- 2
Press Put on hold.
Any visits still to come are cancelled and the time goes back in the diary. Nothing in the past is touched.
- 3
The customer is NOT emailed. Ring them.
Nothing goes out automatically when work stops for a part — that is a call to make in your own words, usually with when you expect to be back. The released slot and the customer's name are on the alert the office gets, and on the job's activity, so the call is not forgotten.
- 4
Find it again under Jobs, then Needs booking.
The list has two headings: Ready to book, and Waiting on parts. Everything under the second one shows the date it is due, or says there is no date yet.
- 5
When the part turns up, press Parts have arrived.
The job moves up to Ready to book. It does not book itself — you decide when it goes back in somebody's day.
- 6
Press Book a visit and put it back in the diary.
Then press Ready to book again on the job to take the Awaiting parts flag off it.
Worth knowing
Why nobody is emailed about a part
It used to send, and it was wrong. An engineer pressing Need parts on site is talking to the office, not to the customer, and “we can’t carry on until a part arrives” is a conversation a business wants to have itself — with when it will be back, and usually an apology. An email that lands before anybody has rung turns a delay you could have managed into a complaint already in writing. A visit that MOVES or is CANCELLED still emails them, because those say what is happening next rather than what has gone wrong.
Times go in quarter hours
Every time box in TaskMyJob lands on 00, 15, 30 or 45. Type 10:17 and it reads 10:15 once you move on — to the nearest quarter, so 10:23 becomes 10:30 rather than quietly moving the booking earlier. A time already saved is left exactly as it is until somebody edits it, so nothing in your diary changes on its own.
A date from a merchant is not a booking
The expected date changes nothing in anybody's diary and assigns nobody. All it does is sort the list and make a late part visible. A part with no date at all counts as worth chasing, because a wait nobody put a date on is the one that quietly becomes three weeks.
Marking the part as arrived is not the same as booking it
They are two decisions and often two people. Whoever takes the delivery can tick it in without having to also work out whose Tuesday it goes in.
Time already worked is not lost
Only visits still to come are cancelled. A visit that has already happened stays on the job as a record of it, and so does anything the engineer photographed or noted.
The engineer can do this from site
Need Parts on their own job card does the same thing, with a note and photos of what is needed, so the office orders from what they can see rather than from a description.
It does not order anything
There is no supplier, no purchase order and no stock. This records that the work is waiting and what for; buying the part is still done however you do it now.