What's included
The honest list
Buying field service software is mostly an exercise in finding out what the demo skipped. So here's the other half of the pitch: what this product genuinely doesn't do, what it does instead, and what we're looking at next.
What it does
Thirteen modules, all included
Every one of these is built and in use. Follow any of them through to the detail.
What it doesn't do
No asterisks
If any of these is a hard requirement for your shop, we'd rather you knew now than three weeks into an implementation. Several have a genuine answer in the product; where they do, it's noted.
Card processing
PulseService does not take card payments. There is no card reader, no saved card on file and no pay-by-link.
What you get instead: Payments are recorded after you've collected them, by any method, including drawing down a customer's account credit. Balances, invoice status and AR aging all update from that record.
Text messaging
There is no SMS gateway. The platform will not send a text message to a customer.
What you get instead: Customer messages and phone calls are logged manually against the account, so the communication history is in one place even though the sending happens elsewhere.
Live technician GPS
Technician positions are not tracked. There is no live location on the map, no breadcrumb trail and no automatic ETA.
What you get instead: The map plots scheduled work for the next 14 days, and the dispatch board shows who is booked when, with utilization per technician.
QuickBooks Online
The QuickBooks integration is for QuickBooks Desktop, through the Web Connector. QuickBooks Online is not supported.
Automatic sales tax
Tax is not calculated on quotes or invoices. There are no tax tables and no jurisdiction lookup.
What you get instead: Historic imported records keep whatever tax they were created with, so your existing history stays accurate.
Unattended recurring billing
Nothing raises an invoice purely because a date arrived. A billing schedule's next date is a reminder, not an automation.
What you get instead: Contract invoices are raised either by one click on the billing schedule row, or automatically the moment a technician completes an agreement work order. Recurring work orders do generate on their own schedule.
Route optimization
There is no automatic routing, no drive-time optimization and no automated assignment of jobs to technicians.
What you get instead: Dispatchers assign by dragging on a board that shows utilization, existing bookings and time-off, so the decision is informed even though it's manual.
A broad alerting engine
One event generates a notification: a technician being assigned to a work order. There are no automatic alerts for overdue invoices, low stock or expiring agreements.
What you get instead: The screens that matter surface these directly: a low-stock banner on inventory, AR aging in reports, and warranty-expiry filtering on equipment.
Marketing campaign sending
Campaigns are tracked for attribution. The platform does not send marketing email or run the campaign for you.
What you get instead: Lead source is captured on both the customer and the individual job, and the sales-by-source report tells you what each channel actually invoiced and collected.
A customer self-service portal
Customers have no account, no login and no history page. They cannot book their own appointments or pay online.
What you get instead: Customers get a secure no-login link to review and approve or decline a quote, and receive quotes, invoices, agreements and inspection reports as PDFs by email.
What's next
On the list
Ordered by how often it comes up, not by a committed delivery date, because a date we haven't earned is just another asterisk.
Card payments and pay-by-link
Taking payment inside the platform, and letting a customer settle an invoice from the emailed copy.
Text messaging
Appointment reminders and on-the-way notifications, sent from the platform and logged to the account automatically.
Wider alerting
Extending notifications beyond job assignment to overdue invoices, low stock and agreements coming up for renewal.
Calendar-driven contract billing
Letting a billing schedule raise its invoice unattended, for contracts where that's genuinely wanted.
Customer portal
Extending the existing quote-approval page into a place customers can see their history and settle a balance.
Skill and zone based dispatch
Using the technician skill and service-zone data the system already stores to suggest the right person for a call.
Still a fit?
If you've read this far and nothing on the list is a dealbreaker, the demo will go well.