Practice safely: sample data, sandbox companies and the practice company

Overview#

TradesWork has three safe places to practice. Each is a separate company, so nothing you do there reaches your real customers, invoices or books:

• Sample company (office): made-up customers and jobs with your trade's starter price book.

• Import sandbox (office): your own ServiceTitan or other exports, imported into a test company first.

• Practice company (field app): a personal company with demo jobs for a technician or dispatcher to try the field app.

Before you start#

• The sample company and the import sandbox need the Owner or Admin role.

• The practice company is for Technicians and Dispatchers (Owners and Admins can use it too) in the TradesWork Field app.

Steps#

Open the sample company (office)#

1. Open the Dashboard. In the Get set up checklist, find Explore with sample data.

2. Press Open sample company. TradesWork creates a company called "your company name (sample data)" with a few obviously made-up customers (555 phone numbers, example.com emails) and jobs on today and the next two days.

3. A blue banner across the top says Sandbox company: … Nothing here touches your real account.

4. When you're done, press Back to your company in that banner.

5. Pressing Open sample company again later takes you back to the same sample company.

Try an import in a sandbox first#

1. Open Settings › Tools › Import / Export Data and drop your export files.

2. At the Import step, choose Try it in a separate sandbox company first instead of Import into your company.

3. Press Import. You become the owner of the new sandbox company and land in it.

4. Look around. When you're happy, go back with Back to your company in the banner and import into your real company. See Try an import in a sandbox company first.

Use the practice company (field app)#

1. In the TradesWork Field app, open settings and find Practice company.

2. Tap Open practice company. The app fills a personal company with demo jobs and shows Practice company · demo data, nothing here is real across the top.

3. Work the demo jobs: on my way, arrived, estimate, invoice, payment.

4. Tap Back to your company when you're done. No sign-out needed.

Settings that change this#

• Settings › Tools › Import / Export Data: the Your companies card lists your real company and any sandboxes, with Switch buttons.

Tips#

• Train new CSRs and dispatchers in the sample company before they book real jobs.

• Practice is the safest way to show a technician the field app on their first day.

• Sandbox and practice companies don't have a subscription, so they never bill you.

Troubleshooting#

• The field app says changes are still waiting to sync → the phone has unsent changes from your real company. → Get signal, let them sync, then switch.

• I don't see Open sample company → the checklist only shows to Owners and Admins of self-serve companies. → Use the import sandbox option instead, or ask your owner.

• I can't find my way back → use the Back to button in the blue banner, or Settings › Tools › Import / Export Data › Your companies › Switch.

FAQ#

Can I turn a sandbox into my real company? No. Sandboxes stay separate. Import into your real company when you're ready; re-importing the same files is safe.

Does anything in a sandbox send texts or emails to real customers? The sample company only has made-up contacts. In an import sandbox, treat the data as real people: don't send messages from it.

Who else can see my practice company? Nobody. It's yours alone.

Coming from ServiceTitan#

ServiceTitan doesn't give each office user a sandbox. In TradesWork you can import your ServiceTitan exports into a sandbox first, look at your own customers and price book in TradesWork screens, and only then import into your real company.