There are two ways a service ends up on a booking, and they behave differently. The Billing tab tells you which is which, so nothing comes as a surprise later.
The two ways
Added to the booking. You opened the booking and added the service there, as an add-on. It is part of the booking. You can put a member of staff on it, start it, finish it, and it shows on the day's work lists.
Added on the invoice. You were making the invoice and added a line to it. The customer gets charged correctly, but the booking itself never learned about it, so there is nothing to assign or to tick off.
What you see
An item that came from the invoice carries a small grey note beside its name:
· Added via invoice
Under the list you get the reason in full:
Items added via invoice don't support staff assignment. Add it as an add-on instead.
Boarding, daycare, grooming and your own booking types all mark them the same way.
Which one should you use
Ask whether somebody has to do the work.
- Somebody has to do it, like a nail trim or a medicated bath, so add it to the booking as an add-on. Then you can assign it and track it.
- Nobody has to do it, like a bag of food or a bottle of shampoo the customer took home. Adding it on the invoice is fine.
If you added it in the wrong place
Nothing breaks, and the money is right either way. If you need to assign somebody, add the service to the booking as an add-on. Then remove the line from the invoice, so the customer is not charged twice.
Why it works this way
An invoice is a record of what was charged. A booking is a record of what is being done, and to whom, and by whom. A line typed onto an invoice has no pet, no time and no member of staff attached to it. There is nothing for the booking to schedule.