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After receiving a service call from a client and assigning it to the service person, is there one term for the whole process that follows, up to the moment the service person is back at the headquarters?

= one term for the process of servicing person in a car leaves the HQ, drives to client, services some device, drives back to HQ, gets out from a car, reports at the HQ?

would it be something like "service trip" ("trip" as in "business trip")?

When we want to answer the question what John did, what would it be? The term we are looking for should be something what could be used for example in a sentence "Hey John, go and do the servicing XY" where XY is the term we are looking for.

BTW: in Czech and Slovak languages there is a term for it: "výjazd", "výjezd", but so far I have not found some good translation for it, so I look for a further help here, please.

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I think the concept you want to get across is "on assignment"

Someone who is on assignment is doing a particular job or piece of work, usually in a particular place where they have been sent for a period of time. (Cambridge dictionary)

You might say

John is not in the office. He's on assignment all afternoon."

Parts of the assignment would be "driving to the client", "servicing the device", and "reporting back".

It would be possible to describe the assignment:

John has a servicing assignment in the afternoon and an installation assignment in the morning, so he will be out all day.

In context it would often be possible to drop "assignment"

John is doing an installation in the morning.

In context "doing an installation" would include "travel to the place of installation" etc.

There is no maximum time for an assignment. A journalist may be on assignment for several years, but an assignment could take only an hour or two.

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  • thanks a lot @James K and when we want to answer the question what John did, would it be "John did the service/servicing assignment"? The term we are looking for should be something what could be used for example in a sentence "Hey John, go and do the servicing XY" where XY is the term we are looking for. Many thanks for your precious help. – J. Doe Oct 31 '18 at 0:12
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    Always better to make sure details like that go in the original question. – James K Oct 31 '18 at 6:22
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To add on to James K's answer: Another possibility is "on a call".

John is not in the office right now, as he'll be out on a call all afternoon.

As compared to "assignment", a "call" is usually for a short period of time, no longer than a day. While you might say "an extended call", more often anything that involves an overnight stay (or at least significant travel) would be termed a "business trip".

John is on a business trip to our client in Los Angeles, and won't be back until Monday.

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  • thanks, and would it then be possible to say "John was on a servicing call." ? – J. Doe Oct 31 '18 at 22:40
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    @J.Doe "A service call", yes. "Servicing" is not idiomatic, and in some contexts might even be somewhat risque. – Andrew Oct 31 '18 at 22:42
  • I see now, and that "service trip", could that be a possible alternative too? – J. Doe Nov 1 '18 at 22:07
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    @J.Doe Possibly, but "service call" is more idiomatic. – Andrew Nov 1 '18 at 23:19

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