A SimPRO virtual assistant from Workspaceco arrives pre-trained on the platform before they join your business — meaning they already know how to create and manage jobs, build quotes, process purchase orders, generate invoices, run reports, and keep your entire SimPRO workflow running accurately from day one. You’re not spending weeks walking someone through menus and modules; you’re plugging in a skilled operator who understands SimPRO and is ready to work.
If you’re an Australian tradie running your business through SimPRO, you know it’s one of the most powerful job management platforms on the market. It handles everything from leads and quotes through to project costing, purchase orders, scheduling, invoicing, and reporting. The problem is that SimPRO only delivers that power when someone is actually in there maintaining it. For most trades business owners, that someone is you — and you’re also the one on the tools, managing crews, quoting jobs, and trying to keep customers happy. Something always slips.
Workspaceco has been solving this problem for Australian trades businesses since 2015. Founded by Alex Waters, the managed partnership model pairs you with a dedicated Filipino VA who’s been trained on SimPRO before they ever log into your account. The average client stays for two to four years, which tells you the model works — because nobody keeps paying for something that doesn’t deliver.
Let’s get specific about what your VA does inside SimPRO every day.
Job Creation and Lifecycle Management
SimPRO’s job management is built around a structured lifecycle — from lead to quote to job to invoice. Every stage requires data entry, status updates, and attention to detail. When that lifecycle breaks down because nobody’s keeping up with it, you end up with orphaned leads, stale quotes, and jobs stuck in the wrong status.
Your Workspaceco VA manages the full job lifecycle in SimPRO. They convert leads into quotes, create jobs from accepted quotes, assign work to the right technician or crew, update job statuses as work progresses, and close out completed jobs with proper documentation. They understand SimPRO’s job types — service jobs, project jobs, and recurring jobs — and they know how to use each one correctly based on your workflow.
Site and asset management
For trades businesses that track customer sites and assets in SimPRO — HVAC companies managing plant equipment, electrical businesses maintaining switchboards, or plumbing firms tracking hot water systems — your VA maintains the asset register. They log new assets, update service histories, and ensure recurring maintenance jobs are scheduled correctly. This keeps your preventative maintenance program running without you needing to remember which chiller at which site is due for its quarterly service.
Quoting That Doesn’t Sit in Draft for Days
SimPRO’s quoting module is detailed and powerful. You can build multi-section quotes, include pre-builds and catalogue items, apply markups, attach terms and conditions, and send professional-looking documents straight to the customer. But none of that matters if the quote sits in draft because you didn’t have time to finish it after a full day on-site.
Your VA builds quotes in SimPRO using your catalogue items, pre-builds, cost centres, and pricing schedules. They pull job details from the enquiry, structure the quote according to your preferred format, apply your standard markups, and either send it directly or flag it for your review. For standard or recurring work, your VA can handle the quote end to end. For complex projects, they do the heavy lifting so all you need to do is check the numbers and approve.
Quote follow-up and conversion tracking
Your VA doesn’t just send quotes and wait. They follow up on outstanding quotes — a polite email at three days, a phone call at seven, and an escalation if the quote is ageing. They track conversion rates inside SimPRO so you can see which types of work are winning, which are losing, and where your pricing might need adjusting.
Purchase Orders and Cost Tracking
One of SimPRO’s strongest features is its purchase order system and cost tracking. Every dollar spent on materials, subcontractors, and plant hire can be tracked against a specific job or cost centre — but only if someone is actually raising the POs and coding them correctly.
Your VA creates purchase orders in SimPRO, assigns them to the correct job and cost centre, and tracks receipting against deliveries. When supplier invoices come in, they match them against purchase orders, flag any pricing discrepancies, and ensure everything is reconciled before it reaches your bookkeeper or accountant.
Margin visibility in real time
When purchase orders are raised properly and costs are coded accurately, SimPRO’s reporting gives you real-time visibility into job margins. Your VA makes that possible by keeping the cost data clean — so when you pull a profitability report, the numbers reflect what’s actually happening, not what someone guessed three weeks ago.
Scheduling and Dispatch
SimPRO’s scheduling tools — including the dispatch board and calendar view — let you see your entire team’s workload at a glance. Your VA manages this daily, assigning jobs to technicians based on location, skill set, and availability. They send appointment confirmations and reminders through SimPRO, and adjust the schedule in real time when jobs run over, cancellations come in, or emergency work needs to be slotted in.
For businesses running multiple crews across residential and commercial work, your VA acts as the central dispatcher — monitoring job progress, communicating changes to technicians and customers, and keeping the board tight so your team isn’t wasting hours on the road between poorly sequenced jobs.
Invoicing and Accounts Receivable
Your VA generates invoices in SimPRO as soon as jobs are completed. They ensure the invoice reflects the correct rates, includes any variations or additional work, attaches relevant documentation (photos, compliance certificates, test results), and sends it to the customer with your payment terms.
For project-based work, your VA prepares progress claims within SimPRO — cross-referencing completed stages, approved variations, and retention schedules. They submit claims on time so your cash flow keeps pace with the work being done on-site.
Overdue payment follow-up
When invoices go unpaid, your VA manages the follow-up process — reminder emails, phone calls, and escalation. They maintain a clear record of all collection activity in SimPRO so you always know where every outstanding dollar sits and what’s been done to recover it.
Reporting and Business Intelligence
SimPRO’s reporting module is where the platform really separates itself from simpler tools. You can pull reports on job profitability, technician productivity, quote conversion, outstanding invoices, work in progress, and dozens of other metrics. But reports are only useful if the underlying data is accurate — and that’s where your VA earns their keep.
Because your VA maintains clean data across jobs, quotes, purchase orders, and invoices, the reports you pull from SimPRO actually mean something. Your VA can also generate and distribute scheduled reports — a weekly profitability summary, a monthly outstanding debtor report, a quarterly quote conversion analysis — so you have the numbers you need to make decisions without logging in and building the report yourself.
Customer Communication Through SimPRO
Your VA manages customer communication using SimPRO’s built-in tools and your standard email and phone channels. They send booking confirmations, appointment reminders, ETAs, job completion notifications, and review requests. They handle incoming enquiries, log them as leads in SimPRO, and ensure every customer interaction is recorded against the correct job.
After completed work, your VA sends review requests to build your five-star profile on Google and Facebook. They monitor incoming reviews, respond to positive feedback, and flag anything negative for your immediate attention.
How to Set Up a Workspaceco VA in Your SimPRO Workflow
Getting a Workspaceco VA embedded in your SimPRO operation is a straightforward, structured process.
Step 1: Book your kick-off call
Head to workspacecooutsourcing.com/bookcall and book a free call with the Workspaceco team. You’ll walk through your business, how you use SimPRO, and the specific tasks you want to hand off.
Step 2: Document your SimPRO configuration
The Workspaceco team maps your SimPRO setup — your job types, cost centres, catalogue structure, quoting templates, scheduling preferences, invoicing workflows, and reporting requirements. This becomes the documented playbook your VA follows.
Step 3: Get matched with a pre-trained VA
Workspaceco matches you with a VA who’s already trained on SimPRO and has experience supporting Australian trades businesses. The match is based on your industry, workload, and communication style — not random allocation.
Step 4: Customised onboarding to your account
Your VA goes through a focused onboarding period learning the specifics of your SimPRO account — your customers, your pricing, your suppliers, your preferred workflows. Because they already know SimPRO, this phase is about learning your business, not learning the software.
Step 5: Go live and refine
Your VA starts handling tasks in SimPRO from week one. Over the first two to four weeks, you refine the workflow together — adjusting permissions, fine-tuning processes, and building the operational rhythm that works for your business.
Step 6: Ongoing management from Workspaceco
The managed partnership model means Workspaceco stays involved after go-live. Regular check-ins, performance management, and ongoing support are built in. If your SimPRO setup evolves — new modules, new integrations, additional cost centres — your VA is upskilled to match.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Workspaceco VAs certified in SimPRO?
Workspaceco VAs go through structured, hands-on training in SimPRO covering job management, quoting, purchase orders, scheduling, invoicing, and reporting. While SimPRO doesn’t offer a formal third-party certification program, Workspaceco’s internal training ensures your VA is proficient across every module you use. They arrive ready to work inside SimPRO from their first week — no software training required from you.
Can my VA handle SimPRO integrations like Xero or APS?
Yes. Workspaceco VAs are trained to work with SimPRO’s common integrations, including Xero and MYOB for accounting, payment gateways, and third-party scheduling tools. Your VA manages the data flow between SimPRO and your connected platforms — for example, ensuring invoices sync correctly to Xero, payments are reconciled, and supplier bills are matched against purchase orders before they hit your accounting software.
How do I control what my VA can access in SimPRO?
SimPRO has a robust permissions system that lets you control exactly what each user can see and do. You create a security group for your VA with the specific permissions they need — whether that’s full access to quoting and invoicing, read-only access to reporting, or restricted access to certain cost centres. Workspaceco guides you through this during onboarding so your VA has the access they need without compromising anything you want to keep locked down.
What if my SimPRO setup is heavily customised?
That’s exactly what the onboarding process handles. Every trades business runs SimPRO differently — custom job types, unique cost centre structures, specific catalogue configurations, non-standard quoting workflows, or custom report templates. Your VA’s pre-training covers SimPRO’s core functionality across all modules, and the customised onboarding phase maps your specific configuration so they operate your system exactly the way you need.
What happens if my VA leaves or isn’t the right fit?
Workspaceco’s managed model includes a replacement guarantee. If your VA moves on or isn’t working out, Workspaceco handles the full transition — recruiting, training, and onboarding a replacement VA who’s also pre-trained on SimPRO. Because your workflows and SimPRO configuration are documented during setup, the new VA gets up to speed faster than starting from scratch. Your business keeps running without interruption.
Stop Running SimPRO From the Cab of Your Ute
SimPRO is built to run your entire operation — but it can’t do that if you’re the only one in there, squeezing in data entry between jobs and updating quotes at 10pm. The platform needs someone dedicated to maintaining it, and that someone shouldn’t be the person who’s also on the tools generating the revenue.
A Workspaceco VA solves that with an operator who’s already trained on SimPRO and dedicated to keeping your back office running. No onboarding headaches. No weeks of hand-holding. Just a skilled team member embedded in your SimPRO workflow from day one.
Australian tradies have been trusting Workspaceco with their operations since 2015. Dedicated VAs. Pre-trained on SimPRO. Managed and supported. Average client retention of two to four years.
Ready to plug a pre-trained VA into your SimPRO workflow? Book your free kick-off call at workspacecooutsourcing.com/bookcall and see how it works for your business.