What is a work order?

It is the document that records a job from start to finish: what the customer asked for, the approved quote, who did the job, what was done, the materials used and the customer's acceptance. It is used to do the work, bill, issue the invoice and back the warranty.

What should a work order include?

Number, customer and address, equipment or site, reported problem, approved quote, technician in charge, times, checklist, materials, before and after photos, customer signature and warranty period.

Is a customer signature on a phone valid on a work order?

It can be. MP 2.200-2/2001, in art. 10, § 2º, accepts other means of proving authorship and integrity, as long as the parties accept them. Keep the date, time, name and photos of the service together with the signature.

What is the warranty period for a service?

Under art. 26 of the Consumer Protection Code, the customer has 90 days to complain about an apparent defect in a durable service, counted from the end of the service. Any warranty you offer by contract is added to this legal period.

Work order: what it needs to include, from the quote to the customer's signature

By Victor Ferreira · October 26, 2026 · 6 min read

A work order records the job from start to finish: the request, the approved quote, who did the job and what was done. It also records the materials used, the photos and the customer's signature. Done well, it is the basis for billing, the invoice, the warranty and the real cost of each service.

What does a work order need to include?

It needs four blocks: who asked, what was agreed, what was done and who accepted. Each field answers a question someone will ask later.

Field	Question it answers	Who uses it later
Sequential number	Which job is this?	Everyone
Customer, contact and address	Where and with whom?	Technician, route, invoice
Equipment or site, with model and serial	What was serviced?	Warranty, history
Reported problem	What did the customer ask for?	Technician, dispute
Approved quote, with date	What was agreed and when?	Billing, dispute
Technician in charge	Who did it?	Commission, quality
Departure, arrival and finish	How long did it take?	Cost, route
Service checklist	What was done, step by step?	Quality, warranty
Materials and parts used	What came out of inventory?	Inventory, cost, invoice
Before and after photos	How was it, and how did it end up?	Warranty, dispute
Customer signature	Who accepted, and when?	Billing, dispute
Warranty and notes	Until when, and under what conditions?	After-sales

A paper work order usually has the customer and signature fields. It loses the ones in the middle: times, materials and photos. Those are exactly the ones that show whether the service made a margin.

What is the difference between a quote and a work order?

The quote is the proposal. The work order is the execution of the approved quote. The two need to be linked, with the same reference number.

The Consumer Protection Code covers the quote in two articles:

Art. 40. The prior quote itemizes labor, materials and equipment, payment terms and the start and end dates. Unless otherwise agreed, it is valid for 10 days. Once approved, it binds both parties and only changes through a new negotiation.
Art. 39, item VI. Doing work without a prior quote and the customer's express authorization is an abusive practice. The exception is prior dealings between the parties.

In practice, this sets the order of the steps. First the quote, then the recorded approval, and only then the work order.

And when the technician finds another problem in the middle of the job? The work order needs a supplementary quote field. The technician describes it and takes a photo, the customer approves the new amount, and only then does the work continue.

Under § 3º of art. 40, the customer is not liable for added third-party services outside the quote. If you subcontract part of the job, it needs to be in the approved quote.

Is the customer's signature on a phone valid?

It can be, and what supports the signature is the proof stored with it. For a work order between a company and a customer, the most used rule is MP 2.200-2/2001.

The MP (provisional measure) created ICP-Brasil, the digital certificate infrastructure. But art. 10, § 2º, accepts other means of proving the authorship and integrity of an electronic document. The condition is that they are accepted by the parties or by the person the document is used against.

Law 14.063/2020 classifies electronic signatures as simple, advanced and qualified. It covers interactions with the government. For an ordinary work order, it serves as a reference on the level of proof of each type.

What to keep so a phone signature holds up:

The name of who signed, and their link to the customer: owner, building manager, store manager.
Date and time of the signature, recorded by the system, not typed in.
The photos of the service, linked to the same order.
The approved quote and the supplementary one, if any.
A copy for the customer, by email or link, right after signing.
Acceptance of the terms on the screen itself: the customer sees what they are signing.

A work order that cannot be changed after it is signed is worth more than a nice signature. If someone changes the materials later, the record needs to show who changed them and when.

Why do photos, the checklist and materials matter?

Because they answer the three most common disputes after a job: the warranty, the part and the price.

Warranty. Under art. 26, item II, of the CDC, the customer has 90 days to complain about an apparent defect in a durable service. § 1º counts the period from the end of the service. The after photo and the checklist show how the service was delivered.
Part. Under art. 21 of the CDC, repair services use original, new parts, or parts that keep the manufacturer's specifications. A different part only with the customer's authorization. Record the part used and, if applicable, the authorization.
Price. Materials entered on the order come off inventory and go into the cost of the service. Without that, the margin of each service is a guess. See how to calculate the price of a service.

The checklist also standardizes the service across technicians. The new technician's installation follows the same steps as the veteran's, and management sees where they stopped.

How do you move work orders from paper to digital?

In five steps, one type of service at a time. Start with the most frequent service, not the most complex.

One template per type of service. Installation, preventive maintenance and bench repair have different checklists.
Required fields. The order doesn't close without an after photo, materials entered and a signature. An optional field stays empty.
Unique numbering. The same number on the quote, the order, the invoice and the payment. That is what lets you cross-check the data later.
Inventory and invoice linked. Materials on the order come off inventory, and the service invoice is issued from the confirmed payment.
History by customer and equipment. On the next visit, the technician sees what was done on the previous one.

If you already use a field service system, check whether it exports the data. Auvo, for example, publishes a work orders API. The product page shows the quote with products, service and travel on the same screen. With an API, you can bring the orders into finance without retyping.

How CERNE solves it

CERNE gives you the work order linked to the quote, inventory, invoice and cost, from the approval link to the signature.

Quote approved by link. The quote adds up hours, materials and travel. The customer approves on their phone, and the approval is recorded with date and time.
Order with checklist. The technician follows the checklist for the type of service, takes the photo and collects the customer's signature.
Materials that come off inventory. The part used comes off inventory and goes into the order's cost.
Travel tracked. Departure and arrival record the time and distance.
NFS-e and finance. The signature closes the order, and the service invoice is issued from the confirmed payment.
Already use Auvo or Field Control? CERNE offers the integration to bring orders into finance and into the cost of each service.
Everyone sees what is theirs. The technician sees their orders and route for the day. Cost, margin and commissions stay with management.

The services package uses modules already running at CERNE clients. Two of them are the board with owner and deadline, and customer approval by link. See the on-site work order workflow on the services page and the cards for each function.

Start with the assessment

The fields in this text are the starting point. Your business's work order depends on your services and your team. Start with an assessment of your operation: our team maps the path from quote to invoice and builds the templates with you. Book the assessment.

Frequently asked questions

What is a work order?: It is the document that records a job from start to finish: what the customer asked for, the approved quote, who did the job, what was done, the materials used and the customer's acceptance. It is used to do the work, bill, issue the invoice and back the warranty.
What should a work order include?: Number, customer and address, equipment or site, reported problem, approved quote, technician in charge, times, checklist, materials, before and after photos, customer signature and warranty period.
What is the difference between a quote and a work order?: The quote is the proposal: labor, materials, payment and dates, as art. 40 of the CDC requires. The work order is the execution of the approved quote, with what actually happened on the job.
Is a customer signature on a phone valid on a work order?: It can be. MP 2.200-2/2001, in art. 10, § 2º, accepts other means of proving authorship and integrity, as long as the parties accept them. Keep the date, time, name and photos of the service together with the signature.
What is the warranty period for a service?: Under art. 26 of the Consumer Protection Code, the customer has 90 days to complain about an apparent defect in a durable service, counted from the end of the service. Any warranty you offer by contract is added to this legal period.

CERNE for Services. The schedule for each professional, room and equipment, the deposit at booking, the work order with photo and signature, and the NFS-e in one system. Each service's cost adds up hours, materials and travel. The AI only acts once a person approves. See how it works or start with an assessment of your operation.

Sources

Victor Ferreira · Partner at IF Soluções and responsible for CERNE's architecture: the modules many companies share, the API integrations with the systems clients already use, data and security. Makes sure a workflow built for one client becomes a module that serves other markets.