Knowledge Base

What are Job Variations?

The Variations add-on allows you to propose changes to customer jobs without immediately applying them. Variations enable flexible scoping and versioning of job scope, cost, and deliverables while maintaining a clear audit trail of all proposed and applied changes.

When creating variation quotes/invoices, you can choose the relevant Xero branding theme for that variation document, or leave it as the organisation default.

There are two types of variations you can create:

• Standard Variations: Modify the existing Bill of Materials (BOM) by changing line items, quantities, or costs. Standard variations compare against the current job state and lock if the job’s base structure changes.
• Section Variations: Add entirely new sections to the job scope. These are purely additive and never become outdated, even if the base job is modified.

Creating Standard Variations

Standard variations allow you to modify or update line items in the existing job’s Bill of Materials before customer approval.

To create a standard variation:

1. Navigate to the job’s Variations page via Job Actions
2. Select Create Variation
3. Modify existing line items, add or remove line items, adjust quantities, or update line descriptions as needed
4. Review your changes in the comparison of the modified items
5. Add a description explaining the scope change (optional but recommended for customer and internal clarity)
6. Optionally, expand the Quote Information section and modify the information to present to the customer.
7. Click Create Variation to save

Your variation is now in Pending status and ready to be reviewed and rejected or approved, and thus applied to the job. You can view it at any time.

Important: If the job’s base BOM is modified after you create a standard variation, your variation may become locked and marked as outdated. In such cases, you will need to create a new variation.

Creating Section Variations

Section variations add entirely new scope to the job without modifying existing line items. These are useful for proposing additional work, services, or optional upgrades that can be added independently.

To create a section variation:

1. Go to the Variations page from a job’s Job Actions
2. Select Add New Scope
3. Enter a name for the new variation and for the section (e.g., “Additional Flooring” or “Premium Installation”)
4. Add line items to the new section with descriptions, quantities, and costs
5. Add a description explaining the additional scope
6. Click Create Variation to save

Section variations remain available for application regardless of any changes to the base job scope.

Applying or Rejecting Variations

Once a variation is created and ready for review, you can apply it to the job or reject it entirely.

To apply a variation:

1. Go to the Variations section on the job page
2. Locate the variation in Pending status
3. Review the proposed changes (the “Before” and “After” snapshots for standard variations)
4. Click Apply Variation
5. The variation status will change to Applied

To reject a variation:

1. Locate the variation in Pending status
2. Click Reject Variation
3. The variation status will change to Rejected